Retirement Stuff

What’s Your Type?

/ Tracey / 16 Comments

Old typewriters have been slipping into my photo essays for years. They never had anything to do with what I was writing about, yet there they were…..like random dreams of old boyfriends my father didn’t like; too old for me or that wouldn’t fit well with my long term plans. Both getting my attention at the time, for whatever reason, whether they were my “type” or not. Here are a few oldies from The Print Museum in Houston, Texas, the New Dungeness Lighthouse in Sequim, Washington, and an old hotel in Birmingham, Alabama. Something about their old, steampunk style was “striking.”

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Writing What I Sea: Foul Weather Bluff

/ Tracey / 18 Comments

We live on a heavily wooded peninsula. It is nearly surrounded by the sea except for a small land mass on the South/Central end. We are connected to “modern times” by ferries and bridges. It’s a different, but special, life style that we have chosen for retirement. We enjoy the geography and wildlife here. We look for a new trail to hike each week. Sometimes the trails are recommended by friends or guide books, other times we find them by poking around on our own.

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Grocery Challenge -Shopping in Our New Town

/ Tracey / 23 Comments

We left our natural gas grill in Texas because our new house is on propane. We said goodbye to HEB, (best grocery store ever) because they only operate in Texas. We sacrificed fresh grilled gulf seafood and the conveniences of a 100,000+ Houston suburb to live in a town of 2500 with milder weather, great views and no HOA. In other words, we love it. However, the move created meal planning dilemmas. The first time we went grocery shopping we went to 3 stores in 2 towns to get the things we needed for meals through the weekend. In the “main stream” grocery store, there was very little fresh fish and the produce was outrageously priced ($9 for 1-1/2 pints of blueberries?) Now into our third week, I’ve accepted this may be the norm until farmers’ markets open in the spring. Meanwhile, I’ve found several local gems that have taken the pressure off of meal planning:

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Deer Distractions

/ Tracey / 25 Comments

My husband and I live on a 2 acre wooded lot that backs up to a large section of undeveloped land. When we moved in last summer, we heard a lot of wild life stories from our neighbor. He boasted of raccoons lounging in his pool, possums nesting in the hole of one our trees, and deer giving birth in our very yard. Some of the stories were so comical, I thought he was kidding.

Then one day about six weeks ago, I was looking out our bedroom window and watched a doe give birth to twin fawns right before my eyes. I’ve been wondering what to do with some of these photos, so I’m sharing them now via Terri at Second Wind Leisure Perspectives photo challenge on “The Great Outdoors.”

First born fawn:

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A Sign of the Times, Vacationing in Coachella Valley

/ Tracey / 30 Comments

We love spending time visiting Coachella Valley in December, visiting friends and family. Only no one was going in 2020. We had to get out, so we packed up the car and headed west for a two week road trip anyway. In our planning for the trip, we knew some of the things we normally do would not be open. However, our favorite thing to do wherever we vacation, is visit National and State parks. This was still an option.

We stopped in West Texas and Arizona for rest and to visit friends, but our ultimate destination was a vacation rental in Indio central to several parks. Shortly after we arrived, California went on a serious lock-down. We even got an emergency alert on our first hike. That night, we had a nice dinner at one of our favorite outdoor dining spots, then stocked up on groceries. We would spend the rest of our time hiking and picnicking during the day, then cooking meals hunkered down at “home” each night.

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Variations of Violet

/ Tracey / 21 Comments

In response to Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge Views in Violet, I’m scrolling through my photo log recalling experiences where our photography brought variations of the color violet.

The following photos are from Orkas Island, Washington….an absolute dream land. We love the Pacific Northwest and are missing it so much. Here are lavender plants near a harbor restaurant and my favorite pottery place, Orkas Island Pottery (now reopened!)

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What’s On Your Plate: Simply Eggs

/ Tracey / 18 Comments

Why should I stop writing about eggs? Especially now that Deb at The Widow Badass and Donna at Retirement Reflections have started the “What’s On Your Plate” writing prompt challenge.

I have a love-hate relationship with eggs that started after the end of my first marriage. Broke and single, eggs were a cheap, easy and versatile source of protein. Sixteen years of flying solo and newly into retirement, my first blog was about trying to poach eggs in a Berndes pan. It was a 72 hour disaster that ended in the disposal of an otherwise incredibly good cooking pan. I whined to a good friend who told me to write about it. Suddenly, I was a blogger who wrote about eggs (and then other things.)

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Sunday Stills: Passing Time in the Rain

/ Tracey / 21 Comments

We’ve been contemplating a move to Washington State for the last year and a half. In January 2020, we took a vacation/house hunting trip to North Kitsap County to see if we could tolerate the wet winter. We expected it to rain, and it did….every day for 10 days. We challenged ourselves to find things to do and to not get in a funk (mainly me) over the weather. We figured if we could have fun and stay busy, we might survive a move there. In addition to house hunting, we went to parks, trails, beaches, museums, restaurants and even grocery stores in every town where we looked at houses. Here are a few photos of how we passed the time in the rain.

Kingston, where I have family, is where we started with a short hike at North Kitsap Heritage Park and a long visit in a local museum of nostalgia. There is so much to see at “My Girl Drive In Museum,” which is good because the rain never let up that day.

A light hike in North Kitsap Heritage Park, Kingston, WA
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