Practicing Retirement

Not long ago, I was talking with someone who commented that being retired would be so boring. I was startled because I think the opposite. There are so many things I’d like to do. It seems to me that when I’m retired, I will have time to do more of them. I decided to practice being retired!

Ideally, I would be able to devote three or four days a week to that experiment, but that won’t happen often. Yesterday, unexpectedly, ended up being a free day so I decided to make it a “Practicing Retirement” day!”

I planned to do some canning that day, so on Wednesday I purchased blueberries and peaches at the farmers’ market. I was ready for the big day.

The first thing in the morning I checked my email and blog and then reblogged a post from @contentedness.net. Next I ate breakfast, showered and dressed.

The first project on my list was to gather tomatoes from the garden and make some roasted tomatoes.

Sliced tomatoes from garden

Add oregano and garlic cloves

Mix with olive oil and put on a baking sheet

After 30 minutes of roasting at 300 degrees

After 2 hours of roasting

Keep what I need for soup and put the rest in a jar to freeze

Then I baked a sweet potato that I will use later in the week for making Immune Booster Orange Smoothies!

Cut in half, rub with olive oil, bake on tin foil

Finished!

On to making crock-pot soup for tonight. The garden isn’t producing much now, and the vegetables tend to be small, but there is still enough to make soup.

Garden Vegetables

Add roasted tomatoes

Next, time to make blueberry freezer jam. I needed to get some supplies at the store to be able to do that. I started feeling strange when I was there and realized I had been so eager to start my “Practice Retirement” day that I had forgotten to take my blood pressure medicine in the morning. Not good. I carry extra pills in my wallet for occasions like that though, so took one right away. I will need to make sure I don’t get too engrossed in activities when I’m retired.

The medication wasn’t working yet so I decided to use the regular checkout line rather than the self checkout. That seemed reasonable for a retiree to do! When the bagger asked if I wanted him to put my bag in a cart I said “No, I can carry it.” I soon realized that it was heavy and that my blood pressure was up, and besides I’m retired, so I changed my mind. I could have even asked him to take it to the car for me, but I didn’t go that far.

Back home, it was time to make the freezer jam!

Blueberries from farmers’ market

Mash blueberries

Add juice, lemon and pectin

Add honey

Put the jam in jars, refrigerate over night, and then place them in the freezer

Time to rest and have some lunch. I shouldn’t be busy all of the time!

From time to time throughout the day, I worked with the graphic artist on September’s Pacific Northwest GreenFriends newsletter. By late afternoon, it was finished and I started sending it out to Amma groups in the region. I plan to continue working on the newsletter when I’m retired so it definitely fit into my practice day.

http://greenfriendsna.org/Downloads/04_Newsletter_50-September2015_v2.pdf

Time to can four quarts of peaches.

I have at least 6 more quarts of peaches to process, but that was enough canning for one day. I was tired.

After some rest, I was ready for dinner and my “Practice Retirement” day’s big finale.

This was the last of the preseason games and we won. If the Seahawks are playing this well without our starters, I wonder what the regular season is going to be like. I look forward to finding out! I also look forward to discovering which rookies make it onto the team. (I can’t believe I’m talking like this! I NEVER thought football would become an important part of my life.)

I loved my “Practicing Retirement” day. I know I won’t be able to do this much in one day when I actually retire; in fact I couldn’t keep up this pace even at the age I am now. When I retire, I will make sure I spend time being quiet and still, perhaps even having picnics with friends and looking at beautiful scenery like in the picture at the top of this post. Even when my body isn’t able to do the things I want to do, with my family and friends support, I believe I will live a fulfilling life. I do not think I will be bored when I retire.

Playing with Filters

I love the true beauty of nature so much that I almost never think of using the filters. Today I decided to take one of my favorite photos from this season and see what it would look like if I applied filters to it.

That was fun! And a good reminder to use the filters from time to time. Which filtered pictures do you like best?

Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Every Angle

Front middle

From the top looking down

Back middle

Back towards ground

From the nearby path

Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: From Every Angle

Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Photo Challenge: Today Was a Good Day!

I woke up Friday morning to find a very supportive email in my inbox. It was from a friend who is visiting India. What a great way to start my day.

Soon thereafter, I read a funny post on my son’s blog. Next, I harvested vegetables from the garden, made some homemade ice cream and then started canning peaches. What a day and it was still morning!

In the early afternoon, I discovered that the Weekly Photo Challenge for this week was to create a photo gallery representing “Today was a Good Day.” We could use the present day or one from the past.

I realized I was in the middle of a day that was my conception of an especially “Good Day.” I had even taken some photos of some of my earlier activities. So I kept on living, and photographing, my life!

This was definitely a good day. If the Seahawks had won the game it would have been even better, but this was a pre-season game and they played well so I have no complaints!

The Fascinating Tromboncino

I have been fascinated by tromboncino squash ever since I discovered them in 2013. Generally they are eaten when they are small. At that time they are considered summer squash and can be used in the same way you use zucchini. However, if you let a tromboncino squash continue to grow, it will turn into a winter squash.

The winter form may become very large.

In 2013, one of those squash grew in a very fascinating way.

This year I let one grow into the winter form. When I picked it, it weighed five pounds and was two feet long.

While that is big, it doesn’t come close to the one that grew in 2013. That one was 5 feet long! My memory is that it weighed 15 pounds, but I’m wondering now if it was less. Regardless, it was HEAVY. Below you will see a picture of that squash. It isn’t a clear photo, but it makes the point! I took it by snapping my reflection in a mirror. At that point, I had never heard of a selfie!

Wordless Wednesday

Around the Campfire

I knew that today I would be writing my 400th post. That’s 400 posts since I started my blog in March 2014! I’m very excited about this landmark. I never would have guessed when Sreejit encouraged me to start blogging that I would love it this much. I decided 400 was important enough to me that I would spend some time thinking about the topic for that particular post.

When I was growing up, I belonged to the Brownies and then the Girl Scouts. I used to love to go on camping trips with them. My memories are of sitting around the campfire singing and making s’mores. I belonged to other groups in my teen years. We also roasted marshmallows, and put them, along with pieces of a chocolate bar between graham crackers to make the much loved s’mores.

But that wasn’t the only thing we made during these early years of my life. We also made banana boats! Most people nowadays know about s’mores but I don’t ever remember talking with anyone who knows about banana boats. Some years back, I realized I could make them without the campfire, so today I will show those of you who are new to banana boats how to make them in your house! Hopefully even if you already know about them you will still enjoy making and eating them vicariously.

All you need is a banana, marshmallows, chocolate, some aluminum foil and a way to cook them. I have always used the tiny marshmallows but I’ve been making s’more ice cream so I used the marshmallow creme I already had at home.

First, peel the top of the banana skin from the banana without breaking it off.

Then hollow out the banana like a canoe. Do leave some of the banana in the boat though!

Time to add chocolate chips…

and roasted marshmallows, small marshmallows or marshallow cream.

Put the banana pieces that you scooped out to make the boat on top of the chocolate and marshmallows.

Cover it all with the peel.

And then wrap it in aluminum foil.

If I were camping I would put it in the campfire to cook. I’m at home, though, so I put it in the toaster oven!

How long you bake it depends on how much you want the banana to cook. What is most important is that the marshmallow and chocolate melt. I wanted my banana to be well cooked so I decided to bake it at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Time to open it up and see what happened!

Ready to eat! Yummmmm….

All gone until the next time!

Thank you for accompanying me on my trip down memory lane, and for reading my 400th post!

Let me know if you decide to make banana boats too!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Creepy

I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to use this picture and this is definitely the time. I took it when two friends and I were meeting to sing under the cedar trees in my back yard. Be sure to scroll down!