This morning I canned 4 pints of sugarless applesauce and this afternoon I canned 6 more. There are at least enough apples left to make another 6 pints! I decided to leave it slightly chunky and to add cinnamon!
So the jars of applesauce are now added to the jars of unsweetened canned peaches, pears and blueberry jam. While part of this endeavor has been about reconnecting to activities I enjoyed doing forty years ago, I’m realizing what I have also done is provide myself with some healthy comfort foods. Hopefully they will replace the cookies, donuts, ice cream and chocolate anything that I all too often indulge in!
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
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.
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.
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”-William Shakespeare
Living, Learning and Letting Go 