Retired on Golden Pond

Comfort in Him by Texas Artist Laurie Pace

2011-09-06T15:40:00.001-07:00

COMFORT in HIM

Life moves forward around us every single second. Those seconds make minutes and those add up to days, months and years. Moments can be filled with joy or sorrow, peace or chaos, but through it all despite discontentment or circumstance I must trust that God's hand is in everything. I have to turn to Him.

Truly making a day would be impossible with out His presence in our lives. Some days are harder than others when the situations involve those I love and I feel so helpless to meeting their needs. I have to remind myself, only God can meet those needs not me. In the depths of 'hell' the only source for good and light is the Father.

You will find if you can get to that place of relying on Him you will have balance in the moment and regain your ground. This works through times of discord and despair.

God brings harmony if you are listening and waiting on Him and through this you will find peace.

Laurie

" I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow." Jeremiah 31:13

My Blog My Website Giclees on Canvas, Prints and Cards The Five Graces The Artists of Texas Daily Painters Contemporary Fine Art International Artists of Texas Blog Daily Painters of Texas Blog

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Mirada Fine Art Denver CO,

The Rare Gallery Jackson Hole WY

The Dutch Art Gallery Dallas TX

Our House Gallery El Dorado Hills CA

SR Gallery Hong Kong Gillian Jones Gallery Ohio

Dressing Up by Laurie Pace

2011-09-05T16:12:00.001-07:00

DRESS UP

We arrived at Tara and Justin's house last week and Tara brought out this special box. It was medium large in size and we were all inquisitive. As she pulled the box open out erupted beautiful fabrics in every imaginable color. It was memorizing just to witness the box opening. These rich fabrics were her collection of dance costumes over the years of dancing. After every performance her mother had carefully packed away the costume, collecting many years together in this one special box.

Lady L was in awe of the colors and the fabrics and she reached out, eyes sparkling with a growing smile across her face. Tara carefully pulled each one out and spread them across the floor as Lady L ran between them giggling try hard to make a choice of a favorite one to put on.

In this life we are often faced with decisions about things. That is where my dad would say, "Laurie, have you made your list of priorities?" Artist friend from Colorado, Armella Benton, reminded me of that this summer when I was struggling with health issues and the heat. Sometimes we have very limited choices and other times we are overcome with too many choices.

Finally Lady L choose a beautiful pink netted dress with white dots and black ribbon. ( I wish I could show you the whole picture... it is awesome.) She even managed to hold her dress up as she waltzed around the room dancing in this floaty puffy netting.

Choices we make in life usually affect deeper things. Sometimes our choices affect other people. Our negative choices often weigh heavily on those that love us, forcing them to make choices of their own creating a domino affect in a family. With every choice is a consequence and we must always consider what will follow with the decisions we make.

Brings back vivid memories of Sesame Street when they would run that story about 'IF I DO THIS...then this will happen, which will make this happen and then that will happen.' Maybe we need to think about things in a simple way like this... Make your list first and then a second list of the things that could happen from your initial decision.

Seems like in today's world the pressure is so intense we make hasty decisions often regretting them later in the day or even later in life. Too bad life is not as easy as Lady L sees it. It should be...God wants it to be. He wants us to live our life and be happy, NOT stressed.

I had to throw in a picture of my outdoor boots for a laugh.... quite a contrast from Lady L's precious pink... but it brings me back to what I wanted to blog about this morning. Dress Up or dress down with boots? Is it important to dress up to impress people with who we think we are? That is where I was going originally with this blog. What does your 'dress up' have to do with who you are?

James 2:2-4

New International Version (NIV)

"Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts"

Know a man/woman by their actions and their travels through life. We all leave a trail on this planet with our choices and our actions. How we 'Dress Up' our lives and our appearance means very little if we are dark of heart. Do not judge by appearance but judge by heart and actions. Those decisions you make today create changes in the future, basically echoing on forever.

Laurie

2 Kings 1:1 "And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD."

GALLERY LINKS

Mirada Fine Art Denver CO,

The Rare Gallery Jackson Hole WY

The Dutch Art Gallery Dallas TX

Our House Gallery El Dorado Hills CA

SR Gallery Hong Kong Gillian Jones Gallery Ohio

Empty Tubes and Full Tummies Texas Artist Laurie Pace

2011-02-10T13:05:00.001-08:00

It was cold yesterday when I got up so I started the two small heaters I have in the studio to warm it up. Terry had not slept well last night, so he was sleeping as I answered email... waiting for the warmth to fill the space where I paint.

There are times when the need to paint overcomes the cold, but with sleet falling outside early, I knew snow would follow, and it did. As I finished up my computer work I felt like a kid wanting to hurry and finish my homework so I could go play.. . play in my paints. No more thoughts of Mr Tax Collector that wants me to pay tax on my 'play' stuff... just thoughts of thick buttery paint and working this canvas in the palette Tom wants.

He asked me to avoid greens and no outlining in black or white... leave the painting dark... This may take some layer building. When you tell me NO to colors it is like tying one hand behind my back. Making art is hard that way.

I placed my Ipod on my player and scrolled through the music and found some good tunes to work by. I had downloaded some olden goldies, Rolling Stones and Little River Band. I slipped on my blue plastic gloves and grabbed my palette knife... "Let the play begin."

Hours later as evening began to set in on the studio... even the hum of the heaters could not fight off the cramps in my feet from the cold tile floor. I have a thick rubber mat in front of my easel, but even that did not seem to halt the cold creeping through my thick soled shoes and up through my feet and ankles. Mr Hubby appeared telling me dinner was ready and it was time to put my 'toys' and paints away for the day. Where had the time gone to?

I felt foot cramps coming on and quickly capped my paints. I wiped my palette knife and threw away my empty tubes. I had eight of them. I will have to order paint today.

As I limped into the kitchen, Mr Hubby took pity on me and gently grabbed my hand and led me into the couch. As we both sat down, he pulled off my Earth Shoes and begin massaging my cold cramped feet. Such gentle tenderness made me remember why I fell in love with him years ago.

At age 11 we spent our summers swimming and walking to Flag Pole Hill with out worry of responsibilities. Our anniversary is just a few months away...but my thoughts as he rubs my feet are watching his head as he bends to concentrate on pressure points in my feet... his brown hair now almost totally gray; we have too many responsibilities now.

Forgotten is the painting in the studio... thoughts are on the hot left over vegetable soup he heated up and the soft tacos he has made us. Time to take our fill of each other and enjoy our dinner.

God has given us much to give thanks for in our life together. Today is a new day with new times to work and to play. I will be back in the studio... I already started my heaters blowing...working on a Texas painting that will ship to Norway. Tom, are you sending the snow this way for a reason? We have had 24 inches now since January 1st in an area that rarely gets snow.

Laurie

"We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.” - 2 Thessalonians 1:3

GALLERY LINKS

Mirada Fine Art Denver CO,

The Rare Gallery Jackson Hole WY

The Dutch Art Gallery Dallas TX

Our House Gallery El Dorado Hills CA

SR Gallery Hong Kong Gillian Jones Gallery Ohio

WHAT IS A FAMILY?

2010-11-20T15:25:00.001-08:00

AS I SEE IT

Thanksgiving, Christmas, the time of year when, for many, myself included, thoughts may turn to family more frequently than the rest of the year. This brings up the question, “what is a family?” Sadly, we don’t all answer that question in the same way.

The older I get the more bewildering it is to me at how so many people turn that into a problem for them. Why do that when you have the option of simplifying it? Well, to simplify we must first learn how to truly forgive others, we must learn how to not make mountains out of molehills, we must learn that we are not any more perfect than the next person, we must learn to not judge others but to treat them as we would have them treat us.

So, family………what makes a family, who is in a family? First, the obvious answer is, those who share the same genetic material. (In this category I include the stepparents who love as deeply as if they gave birth). We don’t get to choose our relatives but we do get to choose to either love and accept one another as we are, or choose to turn away from those who disappoint us in one way or another. When push comes to shove it is this group that we can or should be able to count on. I choose to love, respect and accept, unconditionally.

The second group that comes to mind are the in-laws and every family has in-laws and most of us will become in-laws. Now here is where I really get confused…….how is it that one can love another human so much that you make a commitment to spend the rest of your life with that person ? Here are some reasons I have heard over the years…………..he/she is loving and affectionate, kind and gentle; he/she is a loyal person; he/she is a responsible person, and accountable for his/her own actions and words; he/she is respectful of others and helps others; he/she is a good communicator and a good listener, not self-centered; he/she is honest, trustworthy, dependable; he/she gives me my space when I need it and values my opinions; he/she is a Christian. I am sure that I could list more but these are enough to make my point which is this: if the person we fell in love with has such great qualities, qualities that we want in a spouse/partner, who do we think laid the groundwork for he/she to be that way? His/her family, that ‘s who! So why are the in-laws now the folks we cannot stand to be around, the ones who we seldom see but spend countless times with our genetic partners in life? Why can we overlook and forgive our friends yet those same flaws we will not overlook or forgive in our family, genetic or the in-laws? How did that happen? Do we really think that when we become in-laws we will be better in-laws than our in-laws? Yes, it takes more energy to love some in-laws than it does others but the bottom line is that our genetic family should not be valued more than our family of in-laws. I have been down the road where my parents-in-law did not think I was the right person for their son but I finally learned that by being patient and by loving them in spite of everything they might change their opinion of me enough so that time spent with them was enjoyable; and yes, time with them became very enjoyable. Now my second parents-in-law were accepting of me from the get-go so it was extremely easy for me to call them “my family” from the very beginning. I have seen and heard so many horror stories about in-laws and stepparents and I always think, what a shame that so much time and breath is wasted on relating all the bad to anyone who will listen when all that time and breath could be spent on building or repairing a family. I now choose to love, respect and accept, unconditionally.

Another group that we call family are friends, the “real friends” in our lives. This group gets off easy. Why? Because they come into our lives with no baggage but with a clean slate………..how very sad that we are a people who will be so accepting of this group in our lives, at times putting them on a pedestal ,yet we do not give our genetic or in-law family the same acceptance, care, respect and love.

Sooo, for me, my family is not only the ones with whom I share genetic material but also those who married into this core family, and those who will marry into each generation thereafter. Family……. after God, there isn’t ANYONE or ANYTHING more important than this every growing family of mine. We are all equal in the sight of God so I cannot think of any of you as anything less than that.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all the families out there.

What Day is it?

2010-10-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

Should I be able to tell by the picture what day it is? You never get a day off when you are retired. So the days are confusing. Terry has been busy painting the kitchen and today cleaning windows inside and out in that room. His bustle of energy lasted from 9 am until 12 noon. We ate lunch and he has been snoozing and watching TV ever since. It is now five pm. He will wake in time for dinner.

Being older you often forget what jobs you need to get done and this is an obvious need here for him to have a written down job list. Makes sense as he got "cards" at work and when he completed his job he turned in a card signed off on the job. Hey that might work?

So I will add to my list making him little cards of jobs to be done. Then he can get up and see what he feels like doing! He can whittle down the stack day by day until all is accomplished.

Okay, so I need some cards too. I definitely get off track easily and am terrified I will forget something somewhere. We were suppose to be at Stacey's house helping out with Tink this week and Terry would not go. Last trip in he caught a cold from Tink. I TOLD HIM NOT TO KISS all over her, but he did anyway and paid the price for it. Now he says we will see her when she turns 16. Should I make a card that says VISIT STACEY, LARRY and TINK? I might get there sooner.

Tomorrow we will travel into Mt Vernon to hear and met the Attorney General of Texas, Greg Abbott. He is an impressive figure in our government. He is in a wheelchair after a freak accident running broke his lower back. That has never slowed this US veteran, attorney and now Attorney General of Texas down for a single second of his life. IF I can remember I will take pictures.

So from Golden Pond...make a list and get some sleep...preferably at night.

Laurie

The Hot Tub is up and Ready and the Temperature this morning was in the Fifties!

2010-09-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

The hot tub...that is my thought this morning. It was 54 degrees outside and Terry cleaned up the hot tub yesterday and we hit it this morning. I feel like a wet noodle slightly overcooked, but pretty good. A shower, clean hair drip drying and a good breakfast coming up next.

Yesterday while the computer was tied up with the upload to LULU, I spent part of the morning cleaning up the kitchen. God knows HOW MUCH I LOVE MY HUSBAND ....but.... the man has no sense in housework and keeping things simple. Like for instance: he needs some tomato puree for spaghetti sauce. He opens the cabinet up where all these things reside, soups, tomato paste, puree, beans, veggies etc., and despite the fact that the puree is in front, he empties 75% of the cabinet on the counter to make sure he likes what he has in hand. He finished up the cooking and even cleans up the dishes....but everything he removed from the cabinet is still on the counter. Now after you do that a few days in a row, you have nothing left in the cabinet, it is all over the counters. Next issue was the dead space above the cabinets. He had that filled with hummingbird feeders, wire vegetable racks for his grill, the fish wire cooker, cereal boxes, empty egg cartons... I would literally tense up every time I walked into the kitchen. There was NO open counter space.

The agreement was when he retired, and I had to still work with my art, that he would be in charge of the kitchen. I have to renege on this deal or I will go crazy. Within three hours I cleaned out every cabinet, throwing away expired cans, boxes etc, restacked everything...cleaned out the hall linen closet which is partial pantry and loaded it with cans of fruit, extra sugar, brownie mixes etc., and took the quilts and photos from that same closet and he carefully packed those in his mother's cedar chest in the guest room.

So I feel slightly more civil with a calm kitchen that does not look like it is on the attack every time I walk into it....

Keep your life simple. Begin cleaning out and eliminating clutter in your life. That is how you will find simple ABUNDANCE.

Laurie

Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.--Psalm 16:1

Giving up the Good for the Better.

2010-08-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

I just got through writing my regular blog and the main thought is not clearing my mind. The bible verse was "Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight." Proverbs 9:6

I know how easy it is to sit and begin to pray and those 'needs' jump out that you ask for. I have to slow my thought patterns down for those overactive squirrels that want to get in the way... and concentrate on praising and giving thanks, asking for forgiveness and then addressing the 'needs'. Those could include 'wants' as well.

Any way back to the blog writing I was thinking about. We all agree life changes and I truly know that with retirement. I have learned I can live with out a lot of things that use to have such special meaning to me. Our homes are filled with surrounded comfort and memories. Those are the things that are MINE.

Truly we only have what God has given us. The big thing this morning that struck me was He has given me much more and I have not claimed it. Think about it. You are now age 10 and you have been turned loose in a toy store. You can have ANYTHING you want that you can pick up in your two hands and get to the counter with out dropping it. You race in and grab five or six things and on your way back to the counter you spy three more things you really really want. How do you decide what to let go of? There is a time limit you know. Life is only so long just like this grab and go is only allowing you one minute to gather and return.

God has given you gifts in your life. They are all encompassing of family, home, job, church, friends, hobbies, etc. Then there are gifts of talents He has blessed upon you. You have typically chosen to develop your favorite ones. Maybe it is time to set one of them aside and develop some of the other gifts. Be open to change in your life as the need appears. Be ready to release some of what you have in order to receive more. What will serve others as well? In my other blog writing I hinted of people out on their journey waiting to be touched by you and your gifts. But what if you can't put down one thing and allow God to bring in the next thing to you? These other lives may suffer because you could not let go and authenticate a new path with a new gift.

Divine Direction is never our direction. What is there waiting for you ready to be discovered?

Every day in retirement there are new things to learn and get accustomed to, from changes in our medical plan, to buying our meds, to grocery shopping ...and all the way down to staying up late to finish watching a movie because you don't have to get up and work in the morning. It is time for changes for Terry and I to add into our lives serving the people in the new community where we now live. Slow but steady progress will reveal to us where we are needed and allow us to participate in activities that enhance our lives and the lives of others.

Jan is one of the finest examples of someone that serves others graciously. She sets the standard high and I have a ways to climb...but God is climbing it with me and He will direct me. I have to let go of the old things in life to take hold of the new things that are waiting for me.

Laurie

Preparation

2010-07-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

Today Laurie, - dear, sweet Laurie- wrote in her blog, http://lauriepace.blogspot.com/2010/07/sketches-preparation-is-important-in.html, about preparation. Preparation for a healthy and beautiful lawn, preparation for a meal, and preparation for a painting.

She brought to mind the many other things that require preparation in our lives - one is retirement and yet so many people do not begin early enough.......too many other things in our young lives that seem more important. And as witnessed over and over again, in today's shaky economy, people can no longer depend on a nice retirement check from the company for which they have worked most of their lives, if in fact they were retained by the company to which they gave their time, hard work and loyalty for many years.

There is not only the financial planning aspect of retirement that is important but we should also prepare mentally and emotionally. For years we have our set routine for our workdays and for our weekends when we have to catch up on all of the home-front things we could not get done during the week. For some people the transition from the work-a-day life into retirement life is seamless; as for us, we looked forward to not having to get up at a set time, being able to 'wing" our days, looked forward to traveling whenever we pleased, etc. For many others the mere thought of not being employed, for not having a set routine is not something they look forward to. Whichever group you fall into you must do some preparation.

Financial planning for me is best left to a professional as accounting/finances are not my strong suit. In my case, I am blessed to have a husband who is knowledgeable in this arena. We are in the group who looked forward to a more relaxed way of life and thus far I consider retired life very near perfect. Did we plan far enough ahead to be what many consider "well-off" financially? No. But we are able to live a comfortable life and the bigger things we want to do require some planning, financially and mentally. So back to preparation .... we cannot get away from it in any aspect of our lives for if we do we will be going about our days in a "willy-nilly" fashion which can lead us down unpleasant, undesirable, and unhealthy paths.

So yes, we still prepare our days; although we do not get up at a set time each day, only those days where it is necessary and we like it that way. Hubby plans on which day he will do yard-work which falls into several category's............they are lawn mowing, tree trimming, vacuuming leaves, weeding, vehicle maintenance etc. He is also in charge of the financial end of this household plus he is working on his memoirs, loves to read among other things. My days revolve around taking care of the household, being available to my family for whatever need arises, seasonal flowerbed prep and care, communicating with family and friends on a regular basis, reading, word games to keep the old brain functioning, volunteer work etc. For both of us there is church and small group. In the spring we take in a few spring training baseball games which we both enjoy. We also travel a bit during the year taking weekend trips, day trips and at least one longer trip, of a week or two, during the year.

Speaking of trips we are again back to preparation; how long will the trip be, mapping, hotel reservations if we take a road trip, otherwise airline and car rental reservations, what clothes will we take, put newspapers and mail on hold, get someone to care for the yard if gone for more than a week, find someone to take care of the pool daily, etc.

So you see preparation is very important whether it be for the smaller or bigger things in our lives; it helps to keep our lives somewhat orderly, at least it does mine. And I am happy to say that my retired life is one of peace, joy, contentment, fulfillment, usefulness, and yes, 99.5% stress free. Are there bumps in this "retirement road, from time to time?" Sure, but we get in there and do what needs doing and I don't fret over the things that I cannot change - I pray about them and release them to the Lord - even that took some preparation on my part, to finally be able to "let go and let God."

I wish for all of you a happy, stress-free, fulfilled, contented and healthy retirement AND do not forget to sit

on the patio/porch to reflect on all the good things in your life, watch the birds, simply take in nature that surrounds you and be grateful for the privilege to enjoy all God has created for us to enjoy. !

I Can't Wait Any Longer, What Day Is It?

2010-07-28T07:05:00.000-07:00

I debated for awhile on writing and have been too busy to know what day it was. That is sad but so true for retirement. If you miss church on Sunday it messes up your entire week in more ways than one.

Here is my funny to share first...

This is a RED NECK BASS BOAT Terry came across on the internet.

It even has a trolling motor.

We missed church last Sunday. I wish I could say we were out fishing or doing something productive, but Saturday morning Terry decided to make breakfast. I truly am not sure WHAT it was that I ate but I could taste familiar things in it. It smelled horrible while it cooked and I truly hesitated to go in the dining room to eat, but when I did arrived with knitted eyebrows... I saw on the table tortillas, scrambled eggs with cheese and fresh fruit. Yummm...so what was all the other smell? We sat and ate breakfast enjoying every bite. I then ask what was in everything. The eggs turned out to be a mixture of red mashed potatoes from the night before with fresh onions, tomatoes sauted and thrown in along with raw eggs. Sort of like baked potato and egg. Tasted good. We ate around eleven and by mid afternoon we were both not feeling well. The resulting symptoms took almost 36 hours to abate. We miss Saturday night out to eat with good friends. We missed church. We missed Sunday Brunch with our Sunday School Class. What made it worse was the quick trip to town to the store for ice and bread for toast and I picked up a Sunday paper thinking it was for Sunday July 25th and when I got home to read it, I was half way through it when I realized it was Sunday July 18th news I was reading. We rarely watch the news and we do not get a paper, so I guess we are a bit behind on that too.

So I have no clue what day it is. I have to process by deduction what happened in the days prior. I feel like I need one of those First Grade Teaching things that you change out the day and the date each morning. Yes, I do have a computer. I need to glance up at the top right to know it is Wednesday 9:04 am.

I did learn to shoot the BB gun two days ago. That was pretty cool. I was frustrated that it was load one BB at a time, but I hit the target every time I shot. That was Monday. Tuesday, yesterday, we took a trip up to see my Dad who has Alzheimers. There is NOTHING amusing about that right now, altho in the past there has been incidents to bring chuckles. I read in the newest Sunday Paper that they will soon have a blood test to identify Alzheimers Disease. IS this good or bad?

My newly retired pearls of wisdom are to stress less but it could be important to know what day it is.

May the frost never afflict your spuds.
May the leaves of your cabbage always be free from worms.
May the crows never pick your haystack.
If you inherit a donkey, may she be in foal.

Laurie

A MOTHER'S LOVE NEVER RETIRES

2010-07-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

As promised, in an earlier post, here is part two of my original thoughts for this blog. This part is about four-legged family members, one in particular whose name is Max....by the way Max is a girl. Yet another plus to being retired....it will unfold, you 'll see.

Here you see Max, a few brief minutes, after coming to live with us for a while. She settled in almost immediately. So what does Max have to do with a Mother's love? I will try to explain.

Once upon a time there were two sons who shared a home, one single and one divorced with children. The single son brought home a dog who immediately was named Max and who was loved by the entire household. There came a time when the divorced son had to make a move out of state and a few months later the single son had to move from the house into an apartment. As you may have guessed Max could not stay with his master in the apartment. Max was and is loved greatly by his master and the decision for her to live elsewhere broke the master's heart. However, he knew that Max would have a good home with his brother who lived out of state so arrangements were made for Max to make the trip to the Midwest. So far so good, right? Not so fast.

When Max and his master arrived at the airport, last Saturday morning, the master was told that they do not fly animals when the temperatures are over 85 degrees. Why this information was not imparted at the time of the reservation, for Max, is a mystery. The only thing to do was to take Max back to the house, with hopes that someone, locally,could take her in until some other arrangements could be made for Max to make the trip to the Midwest.

We have now reached the point in this story about a mother's love and yes, that mother is me. The Midwest son calls Mom and relays the events of the day. Mother's being mothers do not have to be asked to help out, they simply go into action; in this case, mom says that she and her husband will go and get Max and all of her belongings and care for her until other arrangements can be made. You would do the same thing, wouldn't you? Of course you would, retired or not, but having the freedom of retirement certainly made this decision a no-brainer.

Later in the day Max tests the security system, not intentionally mind you; she is innocent in all of this. Our system sensors were set for a much smaller dog, our dear departed Bichon Frise, Teddy. We go out to dinner not giving that a thought and set the system as we always do. On our arrival back home we find a business card from a police officer, on our front door, requesting that we call them. As we do we see that we have two messages on our answering machine, one from our security company and another from the police department. I have to wonder what Max's reaction was to the system alarm when it went off as it is very loud and has a shrill sound.....we will never know. A huge plus is that she has shown no signs of being traumatized by the sound. So now we know, thanks to Max, that the police do respond to security system alarms and in a timely manner.

Next.................twenty-four hours after Max comes to live with us we welcome 9-month old great-granddaughter, Logynn, for a couple of days while her mommy and daddy enjoy a mini-vacation. (see the post "Babies - Grand and Great.") Max was excited because she thought we bought her a new play toy. When Logynn crawled, Max would crouch, ready to pounce her "new play-toy." Since either my husband or myself or both, always had our eyes on Logynn all we needed to say was "no Max" and she would back off. It really didn't take long for Logynn and Max to get along; this photo shows, what I think, is the special communication between them agreeing to get along. Isn't that just the cutest photo?

There are two messages in this "tail": First, because we are retired we can, and do, at a moments notice, do whatever needs to be done. Secondly, it speaks to a Mother's love which has no end; a Mother's love is the kind of love that evolves into whatever it needs to be at any given moment....it is NEVER-ENDING! Steve and Jeff, I love you very much and we also love your Max. She is a very, very good girl.

A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
~ John 16:21 (NKJV) ~

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH??? A Love Hate Relationship with the TV.

2010-07-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever stopped to see how long your TV is on in your house? Have you ever tracked how much TV is watched? The funny cartoon is from a website that talks about why TV makes you fat.... it should be hyperlinked if you are interested.

I am not sure what is normal for retirement compared to pre-retirement. I know I am 15 pounds overweight from all the sitting at the computer for my home business... I am an artist and when I am not painting, I am corresponding or marketing and it is all at my computer. I am not a huge TV watcher. If I watch it might be for one hour at night or maybe two if it is a movie.

I found this info on the internet .... at CSUN.edu

"The average child will watch 8,000 murders on TV before finishing elementary school. By age eighteen, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders. At a meeting in Nashville, TN last July, Dr. John Nelson of the American Medical Association (an endorser of National TV-Turnoff Week) said that if 2,888 out of 3,000 studies show that TV violence is a casual factor in real-life mayhem, "it's a public health problem." The American Psychiatric Association addressed this problem in its endorsement of National TV-Turnoff Week, stating, "We have had a long-standing concern with the impact of television on behavior, especially among children."

Millions of Americans are so hooked on television that they fit the criteria for substance abuse as defined in the official psychiatric manual, according to Rutgers University psychologist and TV-Free America board member Robert Kubey. Heavy TV viewers exhibit five dependency symptoms--two more than necessary to arrive at a clinical diagnosis of substance abuse. These include: 1) using TV as a sedative; 2) indiscriminate viewing; 3) feeling loss of control while viewing; 4) feeling angry with oneself for watching too much; 5) inability to stop watching; and 6) feeling miserable when kept from watching."

Egads, how many murders has Terry seen on TV at age 59? I decided after this week, as soon as I can encourage it, we have to get out of the house more. While I am here working, he is literally here glued to the TV. Yesterday he caught 2 1/2 hours in the morning. We went and ran errands. We were back at 3 and he watched all the way until midnight last night. I came to bed to watch "Little Dorety" a movie with him about 9:30 or 10:00. While he is obviously mezmorized by the TV, I in turn am chained to this computer and chair.

I have made the executive decision that we will go fishing later this afternoon as the sun is setting. Right now the heat index in Texas is very high, probably 108-110 degrees. (Yes Jan, I heard it was 116 in Phoenix today.) No one wants to be outside in this heat, or we would be sailing. I just think that poor TV needs a rest and we need exercise. eek, my exercise is usually the wii, and that is the TV. I need some good old fashion Jack Lalane...oops that was TV too. How about a long walk early tomorrow morning before it does get so hot.

Hey Debbie, how are those temperatures up in Colorado where you don't have electricity or running water? Are you eating trout every night? Can't wait for you to (Pardon the pun) weigh in on the blog. There is no TV where you are.




Dear Lord, Give me a few friends who will love me for what I am, and keep ever burning before my vagrant steps the kindly light of hope... And though I come not within sight of the castle of my dreams, teach me to be thankful for life, and for time's olden memories that are good and sweet. And may the evening's twilight find me gentle still.

Laurie

BABIES - GRAND AND GREAT

2010-07-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

Today I reflect on my past 2 days filled with gifts more valuable than all the money in the world; gifts of love, cuddles and snuggles, giggles and squiggles, bottles and diapers and baby gear galore, hugs and kisses, play-times and sleep-times, new memories made and stored for retrieval at will. So, you are probably asking yourselves, who was the giver of these precious gifts? She is my 9-month old GREAT-granddaughter, Logynn Taylor Holmes.

Logynn is the daughter of my first GRANDchild, Jacob and his beautiful wife, Cristy shown here at a 60's themed birthday party. Jacob is the son and first child of my daughter, Gail.

This beautiful family lives an hours drive from us and why we seldom make that drive is beyond me. Jacob's sister and her family, who have three of our seven great-grandchildren, also live down that way so we certainly have many good reasons to make that drive. As a result or our not making that drive we do not see those four great-grandchildren very often.

That being said, a few weeks ago Cristy and Jacob asked me if I would want to take care of Logynn for a few days while they take a mini-vacation. Now how else would I answer that question but with a resounding YES!

Logynn even accepted Max, the dog, which is a story for another day. There were a few times that Max thought that we had presented her with a new play toy but all in all Max was very good with Logynn.

Your next question might be, "what has this to do with retirement?" It has EVERYTHING to do with retirement! Being retired affords me the opportunity to say "yes" when I am asked to take care of grand children or as in this case, a great-grandchild. During the childhood years of our first twelve grandchildren, out of 14, I was employed and it was very difficult to have more than a few hours here and there with them plus the fact that some of them live out of state. Now I am free to help out the family when asked and enjoy these precious extensions of myself for more than a wee bit of time here and there. It was a fabulous few days and I pray that there will be many more like it!

Here is a photo of Arlo,aka Papa, with Logynn. A big thank you to my loving husband who understands that when a baby is here he and/or she gets my undivided attention.
______________________________________________________

Retirement (per Jan): the freedom to give of your time to the young of the family which builds new and precious memories while passing along a piece of yourself for them hold onto for all time and eternity.

PSALM 128:6.....Indeed, may you see your children's children!

Logynn Taylor Holmes

Who are the "People" in my Neighborhood? and Where's Waldo?

2010-07-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went on birthday adventures with Terry to Mt Pleasant to eat. Nothing spectacular like being in Colorado trout fishing...but okay. We are content and smiling when we wake in the morning... and I hope we get the room painted soon. I predict October, but TP says it will be sooner.

Today was my Mom's birthday. I wish we were there to celebrate and raise a toast to the new year. Happy Birthday Mom. She said Brother Bill took her out to eat some scrumptious salmon. (Debbie is having trout tonight.)

BUT back to yesterday. Remember with retirement... the days run together.
Yesterday I could not find our little camera anywhere. I was forced to use the iphone camera which is NOT the best in quality. I wanted to record what was in our neighborhood and surrounding areas besides the lake. Again East Texas cannot compete with the Rocky Mountains. We passed some zebras, camels and other exotic animals on our way to Mt Pleasant. That definitely is not normal....There is a large compound about 8 miles from the house.

I decided not to bore you with the restaurant shots... so we will skip back over to the neighborhood. We drove all through 85% of our neighborhood subdivision for about an hour just exploring. Only saw two people out mowing... everything else was nature, tons of birds and animals.

This is an area on the north side where there are not paved roads, only dirt roads, but it is beautiful. Not many houses or people, just lots of woods and roads.

On the south side where we live next to the lake... this is a common site to see groups of deer. It is unusual for them to allow us to get close in our diesel Passat. The noise drives them back into the woods. If we were in our truck we could drive right up and get out and feed them.

ABOVE, This is one of those Where's Waldo pictures. There is one mother deer and two baby fawns...can you spot them?

I had to move Terry's tomato bushes back by the fence for sunlight... but the crepe myrtles hide the big orange buckets he planted them in. The bag on the left is the bag of sulfur we spread to keep snakes out of the yard, the bag on the right is compost. The raccoons keep coming through the fence to munch on everything. Paddy has been working on catching a squirrel when they come near the bird feeder. Ben said he would lend us his pump BB gun.

And my desert roses... in bloom....

Evening hit our little neighborhood just an hour ago. The deer were at the pond drinking and the sun was setting.... No Deb, I am not out catching trout, and Jan, I have no grand-babies here to love on...but I am ready for more posting from you when you can!

Here is our grand-baby Tink skyping with her mom tonight.... we miss her!

May God be with you and bless you.
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortunes
and rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
from this day forward.

Laurie

NO Electricity or Water....

2010-07-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

No Electricity or water? What century is this?

This was the short email from Debbie this morning. She and Mike are in Colorado escaping the Texas heat....Not sure what they call Texans leaving the state and migrating north in the summers.

"We are in LaVeta, Colorado - south central - near the Spanish Peaks - not yet really in the mountains. Tomorrow we go to "30 Mile Camp" for a week - NO computer at all there - no electricity or water, either. But the RV has a generator and carries 50 gallons. This place is at the headwaters of the Rio Grande River and there is a reservoir at 9300 feet - FULL of trout (hopefully waiting for me!)"

Debbie

Now or Never

I googled info and pictures and here is want I found. The site is linked below the pictures.

"The headwaters of the Rio Grande river, which flows along the border between Texas and Mexico, are in the Weminuche wilderness of Colorado. The popular Thirty Mile campground is next to the Rio Grande reservoir, which serves handily as a base for hiking into the Weminuche. The trailheads for two popular trails, the Squaw Creek trail and the Weminuche trail, are in the campground, and the trailhead for the Ute trail is about 4 miles up the road. The Rio Grande river flows by the campground below the dam which created the reservoir.

Afternoon thunderstorms are a frequent feature of the Colorado mountains, as air cooled by being pushed up the mountains reaches the limit of its ability to hold moisture. Hikers are well advised to be cautious about being caught on the peaks after noon. Here is one such storm as viewed from the Thirty Mile campground." arcanamavens.com

and at sunset:

May the blessing of the rain be on you—
the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.

Laurie

New Lessons for the newly Retired...

2010-07-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

First off the most negative thing about being retired is you never have a day off. The second thing, is you never know what day it is to even think about having a day off.

We did make is to church this morning altho we were two minutes late. (We have a 20 minute drive in from the lake and if we get behind a slow moving tractor it is all over with.) After church is Sunday School at the Mount Vernon Cafe where a group of us have breakfast together and enjoy sharing the week and the news with every one.

The lesson learned today came after that. We were home... I chopped up the left over Rib Eye steak from dinner last night and added onions, carrots, Vicky's yellow squash, some Vicky zucchini, tomatoes from my bushes, and red potatoes... a little bit of water and a lot of spices. The induction stove had it boiling and simmering in less than two minutes. Now what to do. I had decided against painting today.

I looked out at the backyard and realized the plants needed to be planted that we bought over a month ago. The bird feeders were all empty; Paddy's water dish had raccoon prints in it; the stacking blocks we got for the flower beds were there and ready as was the organic soil. So I changed into shorts and a tshirt, grabbed my sailing cap, donned my socks and outside boots...( I am convinced they offer some protection from snakes but Terry shakes his head at me...NO... don't think so...but it has to better than flip flops.) and I went to work. He knew I would be in trouble so he began to prepare to come work beside me.

Before he made it out the door I had busted my knuckle on my right thumb and it was squirting blood. He helped me clean it and bandaged it and found me some thick gloves to wear. Together we raked, pulled out grass, roots and mushrooms, and stacked those blocks for the bed. We ran out of soil and only one bed got done.. the other will be done after a trip to Lowes for bed soil. While we were out there several times he got severely dizzy and had to sit down. I plowed on picking up huge stones (they were very heavy) and he felt good enough to finish the stacking. I then suffered the same starbursts as I lifted up too quickly from planting a Lantana bush... and almost fell straight over.

We both decided we were done. We had worked about an hour and the heat and humidity were horrible. It was 4 pm and very near the hottest part of the day. The birds were feed, the planters finished, one planter planted, the other ready to go... the patio cleaned up and all the plants water.

The Lesson was simply not to be stupid and go out in the late afternoon and work with shovels and moving dirt and large stones. This is a task we have done many times...but not in the past four years. We both had fluctuation in blood pressure causing the star bursts and the heat and bending is what caused it. So next time, we wait until October. Should have been out sailing instead.

Here is my favorite Cornbread recipe. We worked together when we came in mixing it up. I showered while it baked and we sat done to a fabulous meal created from left-overs.

Cornbread and Homemade Peach Jam

I had a call from Debbie Grayson Lincoln this evening and I think she has consented to add little things about their retirement life too. They are in Colorado right now traveling in their fifth wheel. For those of you NOT from Texas, this is not a type of tricycle with extra training wheels (5 wheels), it is a retirees second home if you like to travel. This way the pets can come with you. A house on wheels...with all the comforts of home in miniature. She does a lot of serious fishing and painting on the road. (NO, not painting the stripes on the road, she paints on canvas....visit her blog: NOW OR NEVER

Jan are you going to post soon?

Laurie

Out of the Jam... well sort of, Jan doesn' t have to get an unlisted phone number.

2010-07-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well as you know, I was following Jan's instructions late last night finishing up our jam. Terry had bought pectin stuff, but Jan was pretty confident we only needed sugar and lots of stirring power. ( by the way, Jan is hosting this blog with me... so she can add anything she wants to it to about her days on Golden Pond in Arizona!)

Here is what happened... We placed the peaches in the pot and added close to the same amount of sugar as there were peaches. We had about six to seven cups of peaches and I think we used five or six cups of sugar.

I was doing all the stirring. Terry was watching the civil war stuff on Netflix streaming from the internet. He is rather addicted I am afraid. Even this delectable peaches could not lure him into the kitchen.

Wanted to show a shot of our Induction stove. It is made by Electrolux. I LOVE IT. I will never want anything else again. I use to swear by gas burners, but never again. It boils water in a blink... and while these peaches were cooking...BOILING... the top edge of the pot never got hot. I could lean my arm on it comfortably while I stirred.

As the peaches "reduce" (Terminology from Jan) they boil down and begin to thicken. The color deepens as well.

Then Terry joined me in the kitchen for the jar filling. He told me I was doing it wrong so I grinned at him and handed him the ladle.

Carefully he began to fill the sterilized bottles. They were hot to hold, so I am relieved he was doing this.

Here you can see the filled jars with out their lids and with their lids.

They cool overnight and you can hear the tin's on the top popping as they seal tightly. It was rather musical.

So for two old retired folks, we managed to "jam" together for the first time. We will probably make one more batch and that should last us a year until it is peach time again.

We had dinner tonight at the local marina with Paul and Vicky Fletcher. If you start reading this blog you will come to know him as Sheriff Paul. We were celebrating Vick's birthday and Terry's birthday. They came back to the house for "Spinner". When we were young we played "Spinner" but it was truly called "Spin the bottle." I have pictures of Terry and I playing that in our early teens. It was spin the bottle and kiss the person it pointed to. Never did figure out how the boys made it work correctly every time.

As you get old and retired, (or is that just tired?) "Spinner" is a domino game. He kissed me when we were through playing.

Oh yes, he also figured out if he added a small teaspoon of peach jam in the iced tea it was really very good. He treated me to a large glass of sweet peach tea as I wrote this blog. Morning comes early with church and it is almost eleven at night here on Golden Pond.

Dear Lord,
Give me a few friends
who will love me for what I am,
and keep ever burning
before my vagrant steps
the kindly light of hope...
And though I come not within sight
of the castle of my dreams,
teach me to be thankful for life,
and for time's olden memories
that are good and sweet.
And may the evening's twilight
find me gentle still.

Laurie

THE MANY FACES OF RETIREMENT

2010-07-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

Laurie, thank you for including Arlo and myself in this newest blog..... I hope that our contributions will be "mind-stirring", hopefully insightful and speak to the hearts of others and along the way, fun.

Stay tuned and come back often. My contributions will not begin until later in the next week as I will be enjoying the company of one of my great-granddaughters, who is 9 months old, for three days and helping one of my grand-dogs feel at home with us until she can be reunited with one of our other sons. Her loving master had to move and sadly she could not make the transition with him.

WAIT! I have a topic for my first venture into the "face of retirement"............ the freedom to have "over-nighters" with grandchildren and great-grandchildren, no matter their age, and fun filled days with family pets when they need someone to care for them and love them in the absence of their loved ones.

Now, aren't you just a wee bit curious where I will go with that one? Me too, as right now I have not a clue where I will take you on that journey. So I leave you for now to ponder that, if you are so inclined.

Until me meet again, God Bless You all,
Jan

Finding Yourself in a Jam

2010-07-09T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well here it is almost eight pm on Friday night. We spent the afternoon skinning peaches through boiling water and ice water. I cut up five quart bags for the freezer and have about 8 cups sitting on the sink right now waiting for SOMEONE to make fresh peach jam.

I consulted with Mother and with Jan, my heart sis in Arizona. I can do this. RIGHT? Is this not something all retired people do? Make homemade jam?

If I think about it, it was Terry that wanted to do it, not me. I did not sign up for this duty, but as soon as I post the pre pictures of our mess this afternoon, I get to go make jam! I would definitely say I am in a jam now.

We found home grown peaches and I was way excited about them until I bit into one and they were so sour I almost gagged. Jan told me it would take extra sugar. I hope I have enough sugar to do the deed. Mom's advice was not to do it. Just go buy pretty jars at the store. I told her we DID buy pretty jars at the store, they were for putting the newly made jam in them and sealing them shut.

This was the bag of peaches for cooking. It was only $3.00

That would be about one jar of jam... $3.00. These were two peaches attached at the hip. Often in retirement folks become either attached at hip or down in the hip.

You make a cross slice on the bottom of the peach before you drop it in boiling water. This makes the peach easy to peal after you cool it in ice water.

Terry manned the pot on the stove adding the peaches to fresh boiling water.

After the boiling water and being cooled in ice water... they came back to me for hand peeling.

This is the peach mess after I cut them up.

So I am going to be brave about this. As soon as this posts, I will head to the kitchen to get us out of this jam. Those peaches cannot sit there all night long while he is watching a history channel program on WWII. This will be my first attempt to do this. Stay tuned for pictures and taste testing tomorrow.

From our Golden Pond... may the Lord watch between me and thee while we are apart.

Laurie

Coming soon!

2010-07-09T17:04:00.001-07:00

Retirement is here.