So here is the thing. I haven’t written in a while. I don’t
seem to have much to say. It’s not that there isn’t much to write about. This
season I seem to be more into doing and less into talking. Talking seems to be
something that is overdone anyway. I hear people, especially those in the news,
saying things and I think, “What’s the point? Words seem to be quite
meaningless since we can’t agree on reality. No matter how eloquent or
impassioned a speech, what is the point?”
So, what is the point of writing. I have one very selfish reason for
writing. It helps me remember where I’ve been, who I’ve spent time with, and
what I did. When I post on my blog, I am forced to pick out pictures and so out
of the thousands of pictures I’ve taken, a few will remain part of my story.
When I hear that someone follows my blog, it makes me happy. I love that
someone is enjoying what I’ve written so I try to make it interesting and add a
little humor. That’s a good point.
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| The White Board |
This morning I went to yoga. Yes, we now have yoga at 8:00
AM twice a week. I never feel like going, don’t always enjoy it but of all the
activities I’m involved in, I know that this is the best one for me. Kind of
like eating kale, but I don’t do that unless someone sneaks it into food at
potluck. One of my fellow yogis said to me, “You seem to do everything here.
You are in every exercise there is.” There is some truth to that but some days
I have to choose like between line dancing and golf. I even play shuffleboard
this year and have had my name on the white board a couple times.
Besides those
activities, Don and I also go 3 times a week for a half hour walking exercise
class. So now when the doctor asks if I exercise at least a half an hour 5 days
a week, I’m not lying when I say yes.
My brother Dick is now a Winter Texan and brought his own
camper down. He is parked out by the front gate. His favorite activity is
sitting at his picnic table reading mystery novels.
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| Dick's Scamp |
He is working his way
through the Palmdale library and getting a pretty good tan in the process. He
brought his big Kitchen Aid mixer and keeps it at my house. If he had it in his
camper, it would take up most of the space and besides, he doesn’t have an
oven. So it stays here and he comes over sometimes to bake. Yesterday he made
some dinner rolls to take to potluck. I love having him here.
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| Some of Dick's work | | | |
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We have some new friends, Penny and Elmer from Alberta,
Canada. Actually, they are from Alberta kind of like we were from South Dakota.
Their son lives there so they are using him as their mail forwarding service
though they say he is not very reliable. Penny and Elmer have joined our little
group that gets together frequently to eat and drink on our screen porch around
the Texas table. We enjoyed the Super Bowl together and have plans to do the
Port of Brownsville tour and have a going away party for Ray and Cyndi. Big sad
face. Ray and Cyndi have decided not to come back next year. It has gotten too
difficult to manage in their camper so they sold it and are leaving before the
first of March. We will miss them.
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| The best of Palmdale |
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| Better than the best at the Kite Fest SPI |
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That brings me to one of the hardest things about living in
a retirement community – losing people. Ray and Cyndi will settle in Florida
sometime later this year. Maybe we will get to Florida sometime to see them but
possibly not. We will for sure stay in touch. Palmdale won’t be the same for us
without them as they came the same year we did and we have enjoyed many adventures with them. We have other friends who
didn’t come back this year for the same reason. Living in a place like this
requires some kind of emotional nimbleness. To form good friendships, celebrate
the time together and be able to let them go and mourn the loss. All the while
making new friends, not to replace old friends because they are not
replaceable. So I guess it’s just kind of like life…only on steroids.
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| Kite Festival South Padre Island 02-02-2020 |
I went to Minnesota again this year. So far, I
haven’t missed Edie’s birthday though technically this year I didn’t actually
see her on her birthday. It was on a Tuesday and I was in Coon Rapids (35 miles
away) and I could have borrowed a car but driving after dark on a freeway in
January in Minnesota is way too intimidating for me.
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| A sample of our water colors |
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| I had some alone time so I took it out |
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| Jean, Elaine, Kay and me |
I had all three of my
sisters at my house in Coon Rapids for a few days and that was a lot of fun. We
did a jigsaw puzzle, worked a crossword puzzle,
Unless I had visitors, I didn’t have a car. So I used Uber,
the commuter train, light rail and bus to get around. That worked pretty well.
My biggest problem is that the trains are set up for people who work for a
living. There are 5 trains heading into the city before 8:00 AM so on Friday,
Kelly was flying in from Pennsylvania in the morning and a big snow storm was
forecast. I thought I’d better get to Greg’s house and be prepared to spend a
couple of days. My Uber ride came early so I ended up on an earlier train and
watched the sun come up as I went into the city getting to his house around
8:00 AM. That was a little early. Kelly arrived and we hung out for a while
before going for lunch and as it turned out we were able to go back to Coon
Rapids for a couple of days of the long weekend.We played some games and tried
to walk in the new snow fall but the wind was biting cold and we stopped pretty
quick. Greg had to work on Saturday so we had some groceries delivered and
cooked him a pot roast when he came home. That was the third pot roast that I
enjoyed while I was in Minnesota as we made one at Greg’s house the first
weekend I was there. We went to a community theater to see “The Dot” on Sunday
and Greg took his family home for a day of rest. Kelly and I stayed in Coon
Rapids and made some fish chowder from some food I had left in the house.
Enjoyed a lovely quiet evening. 
