Category: Self-Improvement

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September Second Friday Retirement Adventures

Retirement officially began for me August 1st, and each second and fourth Friday of every month, I’m reflecting on the first year of retirement and what it’s like in this new chapter of life. These have become some of my favorite blog posts of the month because they become a lot like what I believe Sarah Ban Breathnach was driving at in her book Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. Focusing on the gratitude and appreciation for a new phase of life by looking at all the joy it brings is a balm for the soul. At the beginning of my first week off, I used a green spiral notebook to make a list of all the things I wanted to do — something enjoyable each week, blending in some new hobbies and routines as well. Friends and family who are still working seemed genuinely curious about what I would do with each day, and that’s what gave me the idea to plan and reflect on the course of my days and adventures. I remember my late father’s words, on retirement: You don’t retire FROM something, you retire TO something, and you’ll be busier than you’ve ever been. He was right, but the busy part is optional, like changing out of loungewear and wearing real clothes on most days.

Here are some things I’ve enjoyed in my first official six weeks of retirement. I’m keeping a running list, adding to the previous post each time I pause to reflect.

1. Mahjong 101

2. Rag Quilting

3. Morning Walking

4. Yoga

5. Friends of the Library Book Fair –

6. Local Bookstore Book Club

7. Summer Reading Poetry Book Club

8. Postcard Poetry Fest

9. Wayfaring to FDR for camping

10. Wayfaring to Margaritaville for a concert

11. Mahjong 102 and Free Play

12. Zinnia Arrangement

13. Fabric Postcards

14. Porch Sitting

15. Lounge Pants Spree

16. Novel Writing with Nick

17. Kindred Spirits Book Club

18. Barnes and Noble Virtual Book Club

And picking up where I left off at the end of August, here is how September has begun as I make my way down my list of 100 Things:

19. Re-vamping the Reading Room – I have breathed life back into my reading room and updated it by replacing some shelving and adding a few other personal touches to make it what my husband calls my own unique version of a she-shed. No matter what all is on the list of things I’m doing in retirement, the reading chair is a place I sit each day to adjust my sails. I have a Goodreads personal goal of 60 books this year – – (it’s fitting….it’s the year of 60)…..and I’m trying to get on track to accomplish the goal. By the end of this day, I will have read 31 books, leaving me 10 books behind. I’ve got some reading to do, and Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth wins the prize for September! My older daughter gave me a personalized book count tracker for Mother’s Day to go in my reading room, and it keeps me ever-aware of having the next book ready.

My Book Count Update in the reading room

20. Office Cleanout – Some of the furniture I brought back from Dad’s house on St. Simons had been occupying space without real purpose or function until I could think it all through, and one is an antique desk that my brother convinced me I need – – and he was right. I’m so glad I let him persuade me to bring it home. As I find the places for each treasure, I am rethinking the best location. And in rethinking the best location, I discover that other things need to shift. And as other things need to shift, I’m cleaning up and cleaning out. I’m reminded of the children’s book If You Give a Mouse A Cookie by Laura Numeroff…..the cycles of how things take on a circular pattern. The office was one of those spaces this month, and already it feels like the air is lighter in that room.

21. Monthly Small Postcard Group – I loved the Cascadia Postcard Poetry Fest so much that I’ve already registered for 2027. Meanwhile, I’ve joined a small-scale monthly postcard group with some of my writing friends after I was invited by Denise Krebs of Yucca Valley, California. Here is the link to more information if you are interested – you can email Barbara Robinette and jump into the October round. Some of the postcards I’ve received with poems have literally taken my breath away with their beauty and depth. The artwork of these artists has inspired me to try other forms of art on my own postcards, using theirs as inspiration. I have a lonnnnng way to go, but what joy creativity brings, no matter the lack of artistic talent inside.

22. Watercolor Postcards – I created fabric postcards for Postcard Poetry Fest in August, and I have also picked up the paintbrush for watercolor postcards. My friend Glenda Funk of Chubbuck, Iowa recently shared Alex Kincaid’s Flower of the Month watercolor link, and while I will never be as talented as Glenda, I’m inspired to try the flowers. I also use the postcards that arrive to try painting similar ones, in the same way I used the fabric postcards to try that medium as well.

I’ll have to work to be abstract, and my sun has too many rays….I’ll keep trying

23. Labor Day Camping at F. D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia – It was just too hot to be outside much, so we did some reading and movie watching (Secondhand Lions and Arthur the King). We caught up on the recent episodes of our favorite YouTubers, Mark and Tricia Leach of Keep Your Daydream. Before leaving, we packed up the dogs, threw in our loungewear and a couple of outfits into our new “suitcases” and shopped for groceries on the way, grateful we don’t overthink the camping like we used to do when we strung up lights and used an outdoor rug. And those “suitcases?” They’re the 99 cent TJ Maxx bags that hold as much as a standard airplane carryon and are flexible enough to slide right into a wardrobe cabinet in the camper, without the bulk of a big bag. My friend Christian Jackson shared this trick. So now I have a new set of four seasonal suitcases. Who knew???

Under $1 Seasonal Suitcases from TJ Maxx

24. Dolly Parton Tribute at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee – We love to go to the Grand Ole Opry from time to time, but we’d never been for a tribute or celebration to see the way all the singers come out onstage at the end. I’d seen recordings, but we finally got to be there for a momentous tribute in person. We somehow managed to score two tickets in the nosebleed section, deciding that just being there would still be a treat, even though we’d be watching on a screen with a far-off view of the stage from our high-altitude seats. There’s not a bad seat in the Opry, we’ve found, even though we were nowhere near our favorite Section 17. We took small, high-powered binoculars and sang along, breathing the air of that amazing sold-out evening and sharing stories with people all around us. I got to sit next to an 84 year old from Mississippi who had come to Opryland as a child each year and continued bringing her son throughout his childhood. She’d lost her husband five years ago, and when her son heard about the tribute, he snapped up three tickets and jumped in his plane with his new pilot’s license and flew his wife and mother to see the show. I got to see two shows that night: the tribute to Dolly, and the joy spilling out in tears on the face of that lady next to me. We heard the story that evening from one of the performers that a yellow butterfly had been flitting about the Opry, and I found a video of it here. I like to think Dolly was right there on the stage, too, all evening, soaking in the love everyone had for her.

In Opry Mills Mall, my racecar driving husband found that Cobra he’s been wanting…..
Outside the Grand Ole Opry on the afternoon of the Dolly Parton Tribute

25. September Stafford Challenge Small Group – The first Monday of each month, my small group of Stafford Challenge writers meets to talk about what we’re writing and to catch up. We share what we’re working on, we share prompts for writing, and we enjoy time together from our homes in California, Iowa, Idaho, and Georgia for one glorious hour. This month, we each read a poem we’d written and shared some of our favorite resources, including the Art of Flash Institute, Audrey Gidman’s prompts, Joy Sullivan’s Necessary Salt Substack, and Ten Poetry Notebooks of Robin Farr. Barb Edler also shared a favorite publication, Moss Piglet.

26. Stafford Challenge Writing Workshop – I attended a workshop led by Melissa Helton of the Hindman Settlement School, and it was fabulous. She shared poems of Appalachia and gave us writing prompts to lead us in the writing of four poems during this time. My favorite was Requiem for a Dollar Store Christmas Bear by Willie Carver, which we read prior to writing our own poems about precious lost childhood toys. Milk (scroll down to page 4 or so) by Diane Fisher led us to write about a time we broke a rule to do the right thing. Soon the Red Wolf by Annie Woodford inspired us to write poems about wildlife or extinct species in our own areas, and Affrilachia by Frank Walker had us writing about the intersection of two unexpected events or circumstances. Melissa Helton is one who is able to reach into a writer and awaken the muse.

27. Mahjongg Group Formation – Now that my former colleague and dear friend Christian Jackson and I have taken lessons in Mahjong, we have branched out into the world of group play. We’re finding our best fit, and we’ve learned that even the best players who are in leagues and tournaments are no more likely to win or lose at the table, because Mahjong is one of those games that requires luck AND skill, and good decision making. We’re fending off cognitive decline, too, according to recent scientific research that shows the cognitive exertion needed for the game keeps the brain cells sharp.

We like to take pictures of our winning Mahjongg racks so we can track our wins and know our favorite neighborhoods and streets on our 2026 National Mahjong League cards

28. Birthday Pedicure with my Sister-In Law – It’s fun going for birthday pedicures during the day and being able to walk right up to a chair without the wait. My sister-in-law Bethany usually schedules our appointments at our favorite nail salon, and we enjoy using the time in neighboring chairs to catch up and get our legs massaged and toes painted. Unfortunately, her best friend’s father died and she was headed out of town to the funeral on her birthday, but not before we sat and chose Plum Wine (her) and Iceland (me) paint colors as colors for our feet to welcome autumn. We missed our bookstore outing to buy each other a birthday book, so I found a couple of gifts from Natural Life and got us matching mugs and socks.

Coffee mugs and socks if not books……all the cozy things

29. Lunch with Friends – From Angelo’s Italian corner restaurant and Bank Street Cafe in downtown Griffin to Mangia on Main in Barnesville, lunch with friends is one of my favorite retirement indulgences. I recently caught up with former colleague Jayne Midura, who gave me a fabulous retirement t-shirt. We talked dog rescue and enjoyed catching up. She is, sadly, in the same place I was during May when I was facing the grief of letting go of an aging dog too tired and sick to carry on. Prayers for Jayne in these coming days. It’s heart wrenching to say goodbye to our fur babies.

Mangia! on Main in Barnesville, Georgia

Over the next two weeks, we’ve planned to take a birthday weekend getaway with Briar’s brother and his wife to North Georgia to stay in a cabin on a creek and have cake, and also camp in Vogel State Park in Blairsville, Georgia. I’ll share a virtual poetry reading of my poem Timestamp Tanka for the Art on the Trail celebration on Sunday as part of the Time in the Landscape series this year in Southborough, Massachusetts. My poem was selected to accompany the work Phases of the Moon for this year’s chapbook, and I couldn’t be more excited!

Retirement III Haiku

a year full of firsts:

weekdays like weekends, slow-paced

~ Mahjongging with friends

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Autumn Cometh

I enjoy making fabric postcards for the Poetry Postcard Fest

Ahhh, the month of the Autumnal Equinox when we officially welcome fall and the cooler temperatures begin to tease us. Hobby Lobby has been tempting us for months to put out all the colors and scents, and grocery stores have been selling pumpkin spice everything for weeks on end, but this month assures us we can accept all those invitations to put the leafy wreath on the front door and invite fall into our homes, along our stair rails, and into our hearts. We can start fluffing our sweatshirts and get out our boots. We can change our summer Birkenstocks for the fall and winter pairs.

With all the cool weather ahead, what could be a better way to celebrate this favorite season than by focusing on the art and beauty that surrounds us? This month, I’m participating in another poetry postcard exchange that may interest other poets as well. Here is the information about how those who’d like to participate can jump onboard for the next round starting in October (see the photo below). This one is free, unlike Cascadia, and it’s fun to send out poems and receive postcards from all over the world. It’s a great opportunity to create small works of art on postcards to share with others.

Simply email Barbara Robinette at rosablue722@gmail.com for more information. Join the fun, and celebrate postcard poetry! And if you don’t want to join the postcard group but would still like a postcard with a poem, I’m happy to send you one! Just email your address to Kimjohnson66@gmail.com

postcard poetry

is one small, powerful act

of sharing kindness

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Mahjongg After 101 & 102 Classes

It’s time to play. I’ve learned the basics, played in practice, and taken good notes. I have the card and the desire to play. Now it’s time to join a group.

After 101 and 102

comes 103

Mahjongg open play~

And all the things……

the groups

the days and places

the tables

the tablecloths

the mats

the tiles

the lamps

the bags to carry it all in.

And so it begins.

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4th Friday Retirement Adventures – August

Retirement officially began four weeks ago, and there are both upsides (travel in the RV) and downsides (having to replace a wheel – not a tire – on the RV) to this new chapter. At the beginning of my first week off, I used a green spiral notebook like the one in the image above to make a list of all the things I wanted to do — something enjoyable each week, blending in some new hobbies and routines as well.

Here are some things I’ve enjoyed in my first official four weeks of retirement, as teachers and students have returned to school (#1-7 I blogged about two weeks ago):

1. Mahjong 101

2. Rag Quilting

3. Morning Walking

4. Yoga

5. Friends of the Library Book Fair –

6. Local Bookstore Book Club

7. Summer Reading Poetry Book Club

The past couple of weeks have included two getaways in the Wayfarer along with a few other new endeavors. Everyone kept asking what I would do in retirement, and I’m so eager to share the ways I’m enjoying it! I have 100 things on my list…..so I continue sharing the list:

8. Postcard Poetry Fest – I signed up to send at least 31 postcards out to those who joined the Postcard Poetry Fest 2026. I have written over 31 original poems and have mailed them to my assigned recipients. It has been exciting receiving postcards from all around the world – many with original works of art on them by the artists. I’ll share the postcards I mailed and many of the ones I received in the coming months.

9. Wayfaring to FDR for camping….and…..10. Wayfaring to Margaritaville for a concert – We went to our favorite nearby state campground for a weekend on a remote campsite and enjoyed the fun and frustration of an unplanned hike. The following weekend, we took the Wayfarer to Lake Lanier to camp at Margaritaville RV Resort and saw the Eagles tribute band The Long Run. We rented a golf cart to get to the venue, and we learned the next morning that Boo Radley is not a candidate for riding in the golf cart because he cannot mind his own damn business and loses his mind and acts a fool.

11. Mahjong 102 and Free Play – I added a new segment of learning Mahjongg by attending the second course of lessons and engaged in an evening of open play at the McDonough Truett’s Restaurant with my friend Christian. We are riding around places meeting new friends and sharing the joys of “going Mahjongg.” I won my first game last Friday, and Christian swept all three games the night we drove over to McDonough.

12. Zinnia Arrangement – my sister-in-law who grows zinnias has brought me several batches, and I love arranging and rearranging them in my mother’s pitchers. I received an extra-special arrangement when I checked the mail last week. My friend Glenda Funk from Idaho created a watercolor painting of zinnias when I wrote a poem about them, and she framed the print with my poem as a retirement gift, along with a gorgeous boho blanket from Natural Life, a really cool pen and toothbrush holder, and a bracelet from Thailand – and the most heartfelt card ever! I shed tears of joy opening it, thinking of my friend who is so giving and has been suffering such pain in her leg lately. These are treasures I will cherish – so personal and meaningful.

13. Fabric Postcards – I’ve been working on creating fabric postcards for Postcard Poetry Fest for the next round. I sent out a few to see how they would hold up in the mail, and my small group of Stafford Challenge writers all received them and they held up fine.

14. Porch Sitting – I’ve enjoyed late morning coffee with my sister-in-law Bethany and an evening visit with my friend Jayne, who brought me a retirement t-shirt gift. Porch sitting and visiting is a great way to adjust pacing.

15. Lounge Pants Spree – I ordered lounge pants for each day of the week so that at least I could change into clean pajamas each day, but I ended up keeping only one set. I’ll add them more gradually so I can be sure of the fit instead of ordering online. My writing friend Margaret is changing my thinking, though. She says she replaced loungewear with activewear, and perhaps I should consider the same. There are some yoga pants that do not fit quite as tight as leggings, and those would work for me better than the tighter fit.

16. Novel Writing with Nick – I met a friend and fellow writer in Eastman, a couple hours south of here, to go through the first round of edits for the unfinished book left by my father that we are co-authoring. We look forward to bringing this novel to print in the coming months.

17. Kindred Spirits Book Club – I have a Goodreads personal goal of 60 books this year – – (it’s fitting….it’s the year of 60)…..and my Kindred Spirits sisters (missing one of us in the photo below who are the regulars) and I met at our local coffee shop to discuss the August selection: Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden. Our book choice for September is The Sideways Life of Denny Voss. Currently, I’m finishing Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth and I can’t turn the pages fast enough to see what happens next.

18. Barnes and Noble Virtual Book Club – I was looking for a way that my daughter in Nevada and I could connect in a book club, so we participated in the reading of a Brazilian thriller author’s latest book, The Secret Dinner. We downloaded the book on a Tuesday and had 48 hours to read it before the Barns and Noble Monday Mystery event. It’s definitely a great way to participate with family readers across the miles. The novel was disturbing in its subject matter, but reading outside the comfort zone is what readers do sometimes.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be busy. One excursion that we will take this weekend will likely be one of my favorites of all time….. (hint: It will take place in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday night).

Art borrowed from a Facebook posting

Retirement II Haiku

it’s a fresh chapter

new adventures, living strong

~ sing love like Dolly!

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Loungewear Spree

I took a loungewear

shopping spree on Amazon

(returned every pair)

I took a loungewear

shopping spree in a Walmart

bought the pumpkin spice……

For six months leading up to retirement, I dreamed about loungewear past 9 a.m. like on Saturdays. I’ll always and forevermore get up early, before the sun usually – – no alarm clock needed. I’m wired up that way, unfortunately. But what I enjoy about weekend mornings (now weekday mornings) is not the sleep; it’s the sitting around in comfortable clothes. Lingering over coffee. Writing and reading. Eating breakfast slowly before walking on the treadmill.

So I figured that in retirement, I would be needing a pair of lounge pants for each day of the week. I thought back to those younger years of Day of the Week underpants. This was going to be my retiree’s version of Day of the Week lounge pants. I found a 70% off sale and ordered 5 pairs of the soft, flowy cotton knit kind that have pockets and thick elastic waists. I didn’t care that some were Christmas at all – I’d wear Easter egg pants in October with a non-matching soft t-shirt and my hair going every whichaway without a passing thought if it meant comfort and value.

But when these lounge pants arrived, I discovered they “don’t make them like they used to.” These lounge pants were “new and improved,” and they didn’t fit me like my watercolor dot pair and my paisley pair. So back to the store they went, and I went on an in-person spree to find a suitable pair at Walmart.

The pumpkin spice pattern and color caught my eye, and I even added a top so I’d have the full set – – an actual matching shirt instead of an unquestionably long-worn cozy unmatched t-shirt. That way, if the Amazon guy shows up before I’m dressed, I’m still halfway presentable. Or so I figured. When I put on the shirt, it’s a cropped shirt. My midriff shows, and this is not a good thing. These remind me of my harem pajamas I had when I was little and every girl wanted to be Barbara Eden in I Dream of Jeannie.

Someday, I’ll have a selection of loungewear that checks all the boxes. That day is not today.

For today, I’m in a comfy pair of blue paisleys with a faded gray v-neck t-shirt from a group event five years ago.

And for today, it’s the only loungewear I need. I’ll sip my coffee, breathe in, exhale, and remind myself that I can double down on the days wearing three pairs of lounge pants and the math works just fine that way.

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Mahjongg 102

My friend Christian and I attended our second Mahjongg class on Friday, August 21, and it was so much fun! We knew we were addicted to the game when we found ourselves playing online after our first session and sharing our wins against the bots at http://www.mahjong4friends.com. Playing on the computer helped us learn strategies for playing at the 4-player table with real tiles. After the first session in one of the public libraries in our region of rural Georgia, we were barely out of the parking lot before we ordered our own Official National Mahjongg League 2026 Mahjongg cards each player must have to play and began watching Facebook and YouTube tutorials on the game.

By watching the tutorials and playing online, we’ve discovered more purpose in the Charleston and how to navigate that part of the game and also how to sort our tiles after the breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert draws. We know how to find our “neighborhood” on the official 2026 card, and how to select our “street,” or line to be played. We’ve had an amazing teacher, and I won my first game and got a tiny duck to celebrate the win.

Our next step is playing in the Open Mahjongg days where we show up with our Mahjongg cards and find a seat at a table with others there to play the game. We’ve cleared our Friday afternoons and look forward to all the excitement of this game that has taken firm hold of us!

My winning Mahjongg: 13579

Our amazing teacher (left), Christian, (center) and me (right)

the thrill of winning

a Mahjong game with real tiles

~ true euphoria!

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Virtual Author Conversation with a Brazilian Thriller Writer

Retirement affords time to do those things I’ve been meaning to get around to doing, and one of them is attending more virtual author events. As I searched for upcoming opportunities, I discovered that Barnes and Noble has a Mystery Lunchtime series, and I signed up to hear Raphael Montes discuss his latest book – The Secret Dinner. I hopped on to order the book, only to discover that it would not be released until two days prior to the event. That left one option: Audible. Neither my small town library nor our local bookstore would have the book available in hard copy in time for me to get it.

One of my daughters decided to join in on the book talk Thursday and reminded me on Tuesday, release day, by text: Do you have your audio? Today’s the day! I used an Audible credit and began listening. I was not prepared for the ride of this book.

Jeneva Rose, American author of thrillers, moderated the discussion. She introduced the book and the author, and the discussion began. She asked questions of the author, including the ones we added to the Q&A.

With such a dark subject matter in this book, I was not expecting the laughter and joy of this author. I enjoyed his Brazilian accent and his way of putting things in such an enjoyable way, and I enjoyed the time reading the same book with one of my daughters and having the time to talk about it with others. Even though we are many states away, it’s a great way family members can share our common love of reading and participate in book clubs together even if we aren’t sitting around a bookshop on couches to talk about what we loved most about a book. And what we liked least about it, too.

reading has a way

of reaching across the miles

to keep our hearts close

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Kindred Spirits Book Club

Book Club T-shirts

Once a month, our Kindred Spirits book club meets at our local coffee shop on the Zebulon, Georgia courthouse square to discuss our monthly pick. Last year, we chose our next book month by month when we met to discuss the current book. This year, we each brought two book choices and created a schedule for the year so that we could read ahead if we finished our book ahead of time.

We are a group of six colleagues who became reading sisters through shared interest and choice, and even though two of us have retired and one has taken a position in a different place of employment, we still come back together to read, discuss, and have adventures together.

We discuss reading guide questions, but we always ask what the book inspired us to do and how it changed our lives. Generally, there is some kind of adventure that follows – whether it is to see the movie or do some kind of activity mentioned in the book. For example, after reading The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan last December, we decided to take our own girls’ winter getaway and will be doing that in January 2027 to a place a couple hours north of where we live, where there will be a big fireplace so we can lounge around sipping coffee or Kindred Spirits cocoa concoctions and have girl time in our pajamas and talk about books and life and go shopping. We haven’t named our book-related adventure for Dear Debbie yet, but we all decided that it will not involve infesting anyone’s rose garden with Japanese Beetles or using poppy seeds to impair anyone’s faculties. Nor will it involve visiting any fraternity houses.

If any readers have suggestions about what to consider reading for 2027, please share! We follow Goodreads and The Book Girls and are always looking for our next great read.

We were missing one of our sisters at last night’s club meeting at our local coffee shop

reading together

strengthens our sisterly bond

of Kindred Spirits

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August Open Write Day 3 of 3 with Joanne Emery: Deep in Nature

Our host today for the third and final day of the August Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com is Joanne Emery, who inspires us to write poems about being deep in nature and the sensory and inner feelings associated with it. You can read her full prompt, and the poems of others, here. My poem today will follow the photos of our trail walk we took on Saturday.

Over the weekend, we took our two four-legged sons Boo Radley and Ollie to F. D. Roosevelt State Park for a quick getaway in the Wayfarer. While there, we took a hike along Mountain Creek Trail, and even though it was hot, the shade provided a respite from the extreme temperatures and the heat advisory in effect.

We like to start the day at the top of the mountain with a picnic breakfast overlooking the valley below Pine Mountain. Where many campers cook full breakfasts on outdoor kitchens, we like to take the easy route and buy coffee and muffins at the registration center and find a picnic table. The boys expect bites of blueberry muffin, and sometimes we cave in to their pressure.

The hike begins with Briar and Boo Radley in the lead, and Ollie and I follow. We make sure they stay on leashes in case we encounter other critters – human, canine, or reptilian, or other – on the trails. On Saturday, we did not meet or pass one other person. In fact, the trail was eerily silent of birdsong, traffic, voices, and even rustling of leaves in the wind.

The different types of mushrooms are always fascinating to me, including this one that is a shelf/bracket fungus that is either turkey tail or a lookalike. We also saw several patches of bright orange colored chicken of the woods and oyster mushrooms as well.

F. D. Roosevelt State Park has a naturalist who offers foraging classes on occasion when mushrooms are bountiful, and I have always wanted to attend the session and learn more about mushrooms and their benefits. I would still be reluctant to eat a wild mushroom, but I’d love to learn more about them.

Getting across the bridges is always interesting. Boo Radley hesitates and sometimes decides to go around the side. Ollie never hesitates and always turns around to be sure I made it across safely once he’s on the other side (how your dog tells you you’re old without telling you you’re old). Even though they’re schnoodles, they have the sense of adventure of sled dogs sometimes – they put themselves in four-wheel drive and pull us along.

They like to play in the streams, and as long as the water is running clear, we let them. On Saturday, they took drinks and walked around to cool off when we took a short break to let them play in the creek.

The natural ferns speak to me in whispers of my mother, reminding me I’m fortunate not to have crippling anxiety, my father echoing her: stress is a killer, I can hear him say. But not in these woods, not on this trail, not deep in nature. Nature heals.

I’m surprised I remembered the fairy tree door, but I knew when I reached the top of one hill that it would be on the other side. Sure enough, it was there, protecting the forest treasures inside – fairies, woodland critters, swag for those who take one and leave one.

And I kept watching for signs of fall in all the heat. Here and there, dotting the trail, were red or yellow leaves. I picked up several fallen acorns and put them in my pocket. I reflected on yesterday’s post about Noah and his wife, and the hope God sends in leaves. Yes, my answer is clear: God does still send hope in leaves. Ask and ye shall receive.

On Mountain Creek Nature Trail, Saturday August 15

Boo Radley leads

Ollie follows

four-wheel drive kicks in

along the trail

splashing in creeks

crossing bridges

inhaling fresh air

underfoot crunch of pine needles

and acorns giving us

out-of-office peace

resetting the focus

to the moment

with each step

deeper and deeper

into the woods

red leaves bringing

the hope of autumn

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Yoga

Yoga

eleven minutes

I made it half the set time

before collapsing

Let’s just say I have some work to do. Some stamina to build. Some endurance to increase.

On the heels of walking one mile this morning, I squeezed into my yoga pants, rolled out my mat, and clicked on the Yoga With Adriene YouTube channel my daughter recommended, determined to feel the Namaste vibe and increase my elasticity of muscles and ease of mobility. After half of the session time, after coming back to my knees from Downward Dog and stretching an arm upward and behind me, I keeled over like a waterlogged canoe and gave up on the quest for deep inner peace through slow movement and bodily stretching for the morning.

I have a long list of all the things I want to learn, do, and try. Yoga is one new practice that I’m determined to stick with, and as I go through the steps of learning new and different things, I am reminded in powerful ways as a recently retired educator that learning, no matter the age and stage of life, is a process. I’m also convinced that you can teach and old dog new tricks.

This Old Downward Dog is looking forward to the challenge of growing and keeping the learning and living going full steam ahead. As they say: a body in motion stays in motion. And I’m determined to keep my canoe upright.