From Bill Bryson's, Neither Here Nor There
Waiting for the Northern Lights in a remote town in Norway
Never had I had this kind of leisure just to potter about. Suddenly I had time to do all kinds of things: unlace my boots and redo them over and over until the laces were precisely the same length, rearrange the contents of my wallet, deal with nose hairs, make long lists of all the things I would if if I had anything to do. Sometimes I sat on the edge of the bed with my hands on my knees and just gazed about me. Often I talked to myself. Mostly I went for long cold walks, bleakly watching the illuminated sky, then stopped for coffee. It occurred to me that this was just like being retired. I even began taking a small notebook with me on my walks and keeping a pointless diary of my daily movements, just as my dad had done when he retired. He used to walk every day to the lunch counter at our neighborhood supermarket and if you passed by you would see him writing in his notebooks. After he died, we found a cupboard full of these notebooks. Every one of them was filled with entries like this: "January 4. Walked to supermarket. Had two cups of decaf. Weather mild." Suddenly I understood what he was up to.
This sounds a bit too much like many days of my retirement. Yikes
But on those days when I'm out and about...there is the beauty of nature
Time to enjoy the grandchildren
Enjoy visiting friends who live in beautiful places
Absorbing the beauty nearby
Lucky to live close to San Francisco and Marin and Sonoma Counties
Visiting with family
Wine Tasting
Come to think of it....I have a very nice retirement!
