When I ask my kids, “Do you want a “thing” or an “experience” for your birthday?” their answers these days are an experience. We are finding that in the days of online shopping, we all have so many “things” that spending intentional time together seems to win out every time. In the past, my daughter […]
Last year, with the pandemic raging, hospitals overflowing, no vaccines available, and a lack of understanding of how this virus was spreading, we chose to follow the guidance and essentially cancel our holiday. It felt really sad and bleak to be home just the two of us while many members of our extended family still […]
A few days after purchasing our motorhome which is allowing us to start this new chapter of our retirement life, we realized that it would be really convenient to have a towing vehicle. What we didn’t think about before we made this monumental purchasing decision is that my Ford Explorer can’t be flat towed. When […]
After a summer of fun following my retirement earlier in the spring, the weather has changed suddenly and Fall arrived one rainy weekend in the Pacific Northwest at the end of September. It was so sudden it caught many of us off-guard, including my husband and me. With the cool, crisp days and leaves falling […]
One of my favorite birthday gifts this year was the one I received about 8 months ago from my daughter. She paid for a subscription for me to something called “Storyworth.” I received an email that explained the gift I was being given and what was involved. The concept is deceptively simple but I’m finding […]
A dear friend wanted to take a last minute get-away to Mexico at the end August. Since this is my year of “Yes!” I went with her. But I’m learning that traveling during a pandemic is a much different experience than previous trips. The noise, music, laughter, and crowds were all missing. Added to traveling […]
After two days of learning about our Viking Heritage, it was time to change it up and have a cousin’s day! For Day 3 of Nana Camp, we invited my niece’s three kids to participate in a day planned just for them. All seven cousins worked on making tie-dyed T-shirts – our first time! Then […]
One of the reasons I retired was to spend more time with my grandkids, while they were still young. In the early months of the pandemic, during the spring of 2020 when many of us started working from home and our kids transitioned to online learning for safety reasons, we just didn’t see each other. […]
Over the years I have really enjoyed bike riding. But as I’ve aged it seems like I spend more time going uphill than down. It is easy to coast down a hill creating a gentle breeze with the wind in your face. But traveling back home, I call climbing up a hill on a bicycle […]
I read somewhere that retail sales have been surging on lipstick, dresses, and shoes. I imagine this is because, following a year of mandatory masks and lockdowns, contrasted with vaccinations and lower infection numbers, the entire world has decided to reschedule weddings, parties, family reunions, and travel for the summer of 2021. We had been […]
