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Happy Fourth of July

Independence Day!

Image by CR Artist via Flickr

Stop and smell the fireworks

I’ve been inspired by Bob over at Satisfying Retirement to lighten up this weekend. We aren’t going away on a family trip like Bob. For us, it means spending the day with one of our sons , cooking some ribs and maybe watching a ball game. There is stuff I need to do but the whole idea of retirement lifestyle design is enjoying life. Work is a necessary part of the overall plan but if I’m not having a good time along the way, then I might as well have a job. So today will be a light duty day. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Saturday my wife and I did some shopping and had lunch in town and Sunday I did my shopping to prepare a feast on The Fourth. We are having ribs with coleslaw and homemade ice cream. Maybe some guacamole and margaritas to set the mood. Our local son who works retail got the fourth off and we will try to talk to our LA son on the phone. I’m getting all the ingredients lined up today. so tomorrow I can just put it all together.

A mix of new and old favorites

I like to try new things but my family prefers the old favorites. I don’t understand how they think we ever discovered the old favorites until we tried them but I try to mix things up. I’m trying some new twists. I’m improvising chocolate ice cream from a favorite recipe and I’m trying a new lick on the ribs. I have a rib recipe that works great in the oven but I recently discovered something I never knew. It seems that you are supposed to peel the membrane off the back of the ribs. You learn the darnedest things on YouTube so I’m going to strip the membrane -or at least give it the old college try. I think it will let the rub penetrate the back side more than usual. Whatever they try to tell you, I’m proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

When it’s all over maybe we’ll go looking for fireworks, maybe not. ‘

So Happy Fourth of July. I hope that you are enjoying the time with friends and family because it’s a big part of retirement lifestyle.

 

 

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Mondavi Center for the performing arts

Image via Wikipedia

I have a confession.

My wife of 40 years and I are not compatible. I have long avoided any kind of personality test that purports to match people by personality because what has kept us going for all these years is the fantasy that we actually like each other. I don’t want to be confused by the facts.  Let me explain.

We don’t like the same things.

Over the course of our long shared life experience, we have discovered one thing that we enjoy doing together- visiting art museums. Everything else is like walking a minefield. She doesn’t like any activity that involves sitting in a crowd. This lets out concerts, sports events, political rallies and so on. Her idea of a perfect day is to read a book by the fire and listen to the rain. Me, I’m OK with that but I like to get out once in a while. Early on, I stopped trying to get her to go to events and I stopped going myself because I felt bad when I enjoyed myself alone. [continue reading…]

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