What I did on my summer vacation

Flowers at Kansas City market

...in the last month anyway...





Suffice it to say that this summer was a whirlwind of activity.  Kind of like when you were a kid and summer vacations flew by and all of a sudden you were getting ready to go back to school.  I know, I know, you are wondering why summer vacation matters if you are retired.  Good point, but since Mike starts teaching again next week, we both feel like kids counting down our final free days.

So here's a quick glimpse what we've been up to since late July:

Taking shelter during Fogerty concert

We went to a John Fogerty Concert at White River Park on a stormy night in late July.  We had to evacuate the park because of pending storms, and we rode out the storm under the roof of the maintenance shed.  

Crazy people in a POD

And a few people took shelter in PODS.  What can I say?

John Fogerty and band rocking it

John Fogerty came on the stage about an hour later than planned, but was it worth it.  He played his heart out with one Creedence song after another.

And then the rains came again, and no one left this outdoor venue.  We were soaking wet watching this amazing concert, singing every song and dancing in the rain.  And I knew God had a sense of humor when John Fogerty began singing "Have you ever seen the rain?" in this torrential downpour.

Mary and Stan

Next up came a trip to Kansas City with our friends Mary and Stan.  Stan was attending a Veterinary Convention, and it was a great opportunity to get together for the weekend.

Can you find Mikie in the bubble?

We packed a lot into a couple of days including bars and restaurants in the Power and Light District, visiting the Aquarium and shopping at the City Market. We had amazing meals with breakfast at Sasha's and ribs at Jack Stack's at Country Club Plaza.

Do you believe it?  105 degrees!

And Sunday night was the big Vet Conference extravaganza that included food, drinks and a great band.  The next morning we said our goodbyes to K.C. and 105 degree temps.

At the class reunion

And this past weekend we went to Mike's 40th high school class reunion.  I met lots of people , and we enjoyed an action packed weekend of activities.  First was the reunion dinner which was a little boring, but several of us then headed to the American Legion bar, and that's when things got a bit more lively.

Reunion class at the American Legion

..

Gary and Peggy at Labor Day Festival

On Sunday we toured the high school, and I LOVED the big smiles on the classmates' faces as they went into classrooms and the gym and relived so many memories.














Later that day we headed to St. Mary's Catholic Church Labor Day festival.  Good food, cheap beer and a wonderful 80''s band called "The Brat Pack" made for a fun day.  And my brother and his wife happened to be in town for the weekend so they joined the festivities.








And then there's the major project of the summer.  THE PORCH!  Seems like every spare moment is spent working on it or talking about next steps.  But we're making progress, and it looks great!

And it wouldn't be my blog if I didn't include some flowers from summer gardening...

Newly planted hydrangea and white rose

So this summer has been crazy busy, and yes, maybe I'm ready for some down time.

But I'm sure things will slow down this Fall when Mike starts teaching and the porch is finished!  Until then, I keep moving with the tide of activities and falling asleep exhausted each evening.

And I thought life was busy before I retired...

Diane

A day in the life of a retiree

I thought I understood busy when I was working 50-plus hour weeks as a Program Manager  in an international  insurance company.  Long hours at work, chores in the evenings and hundreds of miles of weekend driving to see my husband who lived in another state. Now that was busy.

But much to my surprise, life seems equally busy in retirement. And my retired friends all say the same thing.  They still don't have enough time to do everything they want. 

Like most, I wasn't sure what to expect in retirement.  How would I spend my days when I didn't awaken at 5:45 a.m. each day, spend countless hours in project meetings, eat lunch at my desk and leave work around 6:00 p.m.?   Surely I would much more time available once I left the work rat race.

I dreamed of a retirement where I would relax, read books, take leisurely walks and bike rides with my sweetie, spend time with friends and family, travel and write a book. In my dreams retirement would be an idyllic, calm environment where I could stretch my creative wings.  Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

But here's the reality.  My retirement is crazy busy!   And as I talk to retired friends about how busy they are, I decided this might be a good blog topic.

At the risk of boring you to death, here's a summer day in the life of this retiree.  Not glamorous but certainly action packed...

• Get up around 7:30 a.m. without an alarm
• Enjoy a leisurely breakfast in Mike's sunny study, drinking tea and catching up with news, emails and blogs on my iPad.
• Clean the kitchen, and as much as I hate to admit it, this sometimes includes washing dishes leftover from the previous night's meal.
• Shower and get dressed in my usual attire of shorts and a t-shirt.  I absolutely love this carefree style of dressing compared to that of the financial services industry. 
• Do laundry. Repeat. 
• Work on the day's projects.  Fortunately we don't need a lot of meetings, but similar to work  there are always more projects than time or money.
• Here is a quick list of our summer projects: 

• Clean and paint antique cast iron chairs I bought at a garage sale

  

  
  

  
  

  

  Removing chipped paint with wire brush

  
  

  

  Painted with rust-converting primer

• Help Mike re-build the screen porch 

  

  Buying red cedar posts at an amazingly large lumber yard

  
  

  

  Mike cutting an existing beam (don't worry, the porch is held up by floor jacks)
  
  
  

• Create a new flower bed



You just can't have too many flower beds

• Remove ornamental grasses from the yard, till the soil, add peat and plant grass seed 

  

  Mike tilling "away the moments that make up a dull day" (to quote a Pink Floyd song...)

• Paint the music room

  

  No longer a boring white color

• Dig weeds taller than me and remove a tree stump the side yard

• And when I really need a chance to relax I escape to my study for some creative projects like jewelry making, sewing purses or denim tablecloths.

  

  
  

  
  
  

Oops, perhaps I got carried away with projects.  Here's the rest of the day...

• Head out to lunch with Mike at one of our favorite restaurants where we leisurely enjoy lunch with iPads and lots of iced tea.  
• Run errands on our way home including necessary project stops at Menard's, Lowe's, Target, Joanne's, Michael's, and yes of course, Goodwill.  
• Spend the next 4-5 hours working on projects.
• Exercise if we have time.  I know. I know.  Excuses still exist when you retire.
• Start fixing dinner around 7:00 p.m.
• Eat dinner on the screened porch around at 8:00 p.m.
• Finish the evening on the porch with a glass of wine or Mike's recent drink concoction of a "light" raspberry/pomegranate martini.
• Watch the evening news.
• Call it a day and crash for some of the best sleep I've had my entire life.

And I want to mention the great times with family and friends staying overnight at our home, which we've lovingly named The Red Bird Inn bed and breakfast.  This summer has been especially busy with guests starting with Kevin and Kathy and Gretchen and Craig during the Indy 500 weekend and continuing with:

• My mom's visit in late June

Eagle Creek pontoon boat ride with mom

Lunch with mom in Broadripple

• Gretchen and Craig stopping by on their return from a wedding in New York

Great visit with Gretchen and Craig

• A visit this week with my friend Ruth from Des Moines

Lunch with Ruth after biking the Cultural Trail in downtown Indy

And we continue to enjoy time with our friends in the Indy area.  We spent a cool July evening with our friends Atanas and Elena and their sons.

A lovely evening with Elena and Atanas

Martin and Alex enjoying musical instruments 

• For the July 4th weekend, we traveled to south eastern Indiana with friends for a George Thorogood concert followed by a day of wine-tasting.

George Thorogood Concert

Lunch with Chris and Garth, Terri and Darwin and Terri and Scott at Huber Winery

Ok, I admit it.  I'm tired just thinking about all of this activity.  But really this is a path of our own choosing.  We love this life, even though it's busy.  We recognize that we have a lot of interests and projects and are fortunate to have great people in our lives.  And maybe it's just our personalities, or the busy 21st century, but we still have too many things to do in not enough hours.  Just like when we were working, but a key difference now is that we have the luxury of choice.  We can decide how to spend our waking hours.

Just like working days, I still collapse into bed each night.  But now I fall asleep smiling about a fun visit with friends or accomplishing a task I'm excited about instead of agonizing over a work-related problem.  Not dull, this retirement life, but definitely a new definition of busy...

Diane