There's Always Something...

Retirement. Yes! Yes! Yes!

Here's a great article by blogger buddy Ronni. By great I mean, "my feelings exactly".

http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2010/09/cool-things-about-being-retired.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TimeGoesBy+%28TIME+GOES+BY%29

Coming Soon...

Only a few weeks now and I'll be able to get back into the desert with my trusty Nikon. The temperatures are getting back to the range where a guy can survive. No, not survive, enjoy!

(photo by RB) 

Independent Living...

We live in a life-care community that features independent living, meaning that we live in a Casita, a free-standing very nice home that is almost identical to what we lived in before - except we don't own it. We have a life-time lease on it - plus all kinds of privileges regarding meals (if we want them), special events, magnificent swimming pool and other recreational facilities plus life-care benefits. It is a bit of heaven and costs a tad less than what we used to pay for home ownership and independent living just a few miles away.

One of the nice features that goes along with our community is the worry free maintenance of the property. No lawn to mow, snow to shovel, repairs to make or appliances to repair or replace. It is all taken care of for us.

Why bring all this up? Yesterday we had an interesting experience. Our microwave oven began making strange, groaning sounds. Jo Ann made a call to the front office and reported this (plus a sluggish drain in the bathroom) about 1 PM. 

By 4 PM the microwave was replaced with a brand new one and the drain was fixed. No cost. Included in the plan.

We're both extremely pleased as you might imagine. We shake our heads at what we would be going through before we moved to Colonnade some 3 years ago!

Just to Celebrate Her...

Jo Ann...

(photo by RB) 

Mystery Church...

Last time we were in Massachusetts, I captured several photos of a striking church a block away from where we were staying. I've loved editing and creating this photo - while never forgetting the unforgettable and deeply personal trip.

Contest: who can identify the denomination and the location of the church?

 

"THE LAST THING"

"The Last Thing" 

by

Monk Gibbon

Who'd be afraid of death?

I think only fools are.

For it is not

as though this thing were given to one man only,

but all receive it.

The journey that my friend makes,

I can make also.

If I know nothing else,

I know this,

I go where he is.

O Fools, shrinking from this little door,

through which so many kind and lovely souls have passed before you,

will you hang back?

Harder in your case than another?

Not so.

And too much silence?

Has there not been enough stir here?

Go bravely,

for where so much greatness and gentleness

have been already,

you should be glad to follow.

(Discovered in Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir by Stanley Hauerwas, a fine book if there ever was one.)

Go Naked

Garrison Keillor shares a delightful poem that started my day off just right. What do you think?

Just to Feel Human

by James Tate

A single apple grew on our tree, which
was some kind of miracle because it was a
pear tree. We walked around it scratching
our heads. "You want to eat it?" I asked 
my wife. "I'd die first," she replied. We
went back into the house. I stood by the 
kitchen window and stared at it. I thought 
of Adam and Eve, but I didn't believe in Adam
and Eve. My wife said, "If you don't stop
staring at that stupid apple I'm going to go
out there and eat it." "So go," I said, "but
take your clothes off first, go naked." She 
looked at me as if I were insane, and then
she started to undress, and so did I.

"Just to Feel Human" by James Tate, from Memoir of the Hawk. © The Ecco Press, 2001. Reprinted with permission.

Madonna...

The most beautiful woman in the world and one of our children.

Which one, I can't quite make out. 

Hallelujah

Don't have the faintest idea why k.d. lang is on the short list of celebrities I adore - but there you are. For your weekend contemplation and enjoyment.  Remember the winter Olympics? That was k.d.

Sex in the Country...

Garrison Keillor shares this wonderfully earthy poem with us this morning. How could it be lovelier?

Letter To My Unborn Child

by Young Dawkins

            Someday you will want to know
and I might not be here,
so 
this is how you were made.

It was a soft night
near the back of June,
clear, for a change, no rain.

Old women were out
gathering healing herbs,
fennel, dog rose and rhu.

Bonfires burned on all seven hills,
drunken young men
leapt through the flames.

Down in the bogs
the foxfire glowed,
will o' the wisps edged the meadows.

In our bed my wife laughed out loud
at the loving pleasure
of being a woman.

Like any man, I suppose,
I was proud,
and we fell to our sleep both smiling.

You were created
of passion and magic,
in Scotland, on Mid-Summer's Eve.

Here in the North,
that augers you special,
your mother and I believe.

"Letter To My Unborn Child" by Young Dawkins, from The Lilac Thief. © Sargent Press, 2009. Reprinted with permission