Leaving Town
We have gotten used to Christmas without family around. We don't put up a tree or worry about presents to each other. And by the time Christmas is here, packages and cards and parties have all been done. This year we are leaving town. Will drive down to the San Francisco area tomorrow (it will take a few days) and visit with a friend who is in school down there. And maybe we will go dancing there.
When I started this blog, I was unsure if I would find a "voice". Not even sure how long it would last. I will try to continue in the NY and see where it goes.
Leaving Comments
I just left a comment on the Time Goes By blog. It was about the need for more social interaction than just faceless blogging. Since I dance, hike, etc. I see lots of other elder folk doing the same. For opinions, we often drop in at a long-standing beer group on Fridays. In leaving the comment, I found I was not as comfortable voicing my comment in cyber space as I want a dialogue. Maybe I will get one.
Socks for Christmas
I think socks are always an appropriate gift. Today I gave a pair to the person who organizes the reading program where I volunteer. They are from a purple yarn that was given to me years ago by a friend who got the yarn when her grandmother died. I hesitated to give it as I wasn't sure how the yarn would hold up. But the color and the pattern seemed so appropriate for Slyvia. I made the socks from a pattern in Nancy Bush's book
Knitting on the Road. The pattern is called Traveler's stockings.
I have also completed a pair made of Opal Lollipop yarn. I am going to give these to Cecy, my Spanish teacher. I think they will suit her very well.
Happy Holidays and other greetings
The first real frosty day here. My husband got our Christmas lights up and the dove on the chimney just in time. I never tire of seeing the dove up there. A long time ago, he set off to the garage and made it and I have always appreciated it. To me the season is about peace and joy and it doesn't matter whether we say holidays or Christmas.
This year, as in many before, I ordered cards from UNICEF. I love the idea of wishing Merry Christmas in many languages. This year I got the greeting that says, Peace, Joy and Friendship (also in many languages). It made me feel good as I mailed cards to friends all over the world. Because to me that is what it's all about.
Christmas parties and a recipe
They are fun but I have got to stop eating. One would think this would cease to be a problem as we get older - I mean just wear sweatshirts and be done with it. But I have a great dress for New Year's Eve and I am determined. So after pigging out at a Christmas party last night, I am off to the gym.
And what did I bring to the party? Well to begin with, I went to the store with my husband and he resisted the usual cookies, nuts - he wanted sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes! I hardly ever make them but together we found a great recipe and got lots of compliments on them:
Cranberry glazed Sweet PotatoesCut the potatoes into 1 in chunks.
Boil for about 10 min. or until just able to get a fork in them.
Coat with the following glaze.
Mix together and microwave for 2-3 minutes
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbs frozen concentrate orange juice
2 tbs butter or margarine
pinch of salt
Mix with 1 cup of whole berry cranberry sauce.
I mixed the potatoes with the glaze in a bowl and then spread them on a baking sheet. Before we left for the party I put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 5 min. Then I covered them with foil and we were on our way.
Restless
I really don't know what to call this post. But ever since I retired, I keep thinking what do I want to do with the rest of my life. In a way I can do anything I want since I have good health and reasonable funds. I find myself thinking in decades and marking the next decade as the important one to do something in. Why this obsession with doing something? I am retired. I can just relax.
I talked to someone today who is retired and leaving this area and moving clear across the country. He is building a home - presumably the last one he will live in. But the idea of this is such an adventure that I am jealous. I like adventures and want one too.
When we are in the mountains and out for a day hike, I see folks with backpacks on and want to go with them. When we hike up to the top of a peak, I look off in the distance and want to go up another.
This must drive my husband nuts. He is busy taking classes to gain the skills to build parts for an old plane he has. He loves working with his hands and solving problems.
And yet I am often content - at home reading, taking my Spanish class, hiking around here, taking friends flying, reading with 1st graders, dancing. But I never could sit still when I was young and somehow it is still the same.
I will figure this out sometime.
An example for the "young"
Yesterday my Spanish teacher and, on Monday, my friend Sylvia, who I help in a school reading program, both voiced these thoughts. They want to be like me when they are "older". The comments came because I had sent Sylvia some pictures of my hiking and I was late for Spanish because of ice-skating.
I remember when I turned 40. I had a gal working for me (Sandy) who loved to ski. On my birthday that year, we had spent a week skiing. I remember it well because I got a bike odometer as a present and it recorded the 40 mile roundtrip
up the mountain to the lodge midweek. I was pretty proud of that. When I returned to work, Sandy commented that she hoped she would be doing all these things when she turned 40!
Then, and now at 62, I never thought doing those activities were the important thing. I love doing them and know how lucky I am to be able to still do them. Call it luck, good genes, whatever. I hope they don't define me. I think (and I remember telling Sandy this) that the important thing is to keep an open mind to new ideas and new things to do. Many of us will have physical challenges as we age. Learning, trying new things, acquiring new friends - these are more important to keeping one young. I learned to fly an airplane at 50 - I certainly won't say everyone should (or can) do that but learning a musical instrument would be just as challenging and exciting for me. Taking Spanish is the same. And friends. My friends today include many that I did not know at 40. Making new friends also comes in the category of challenging and exciting.
It is a great world to keep growing in!
Knitting
I can't remember when I learned to knit. My mother was from Lossiemouth, Scotland and learned to knit when she was young probably from her granny. She came to this country as an orphan when she was a teenager. I was most likely around 10 when I first knit something - and no doubt that something was most likely a scarf. My mother never seemed to follow patterns, it was just in her head.
I knit a hat for my boyfriend in college, then a sweater. I have both items still because I married him. I have sweaters I made in the 60's. I knit for the kids in the 70's and then mainly for myself. I knit alot during our younger boy's basketball games - they were too nerve-racking and knitting calmed me down.
In the last five years I have knit a few sweaters, lots of socks and scarves. Right now I have an Opal patterned sock going. And I just finished a pair made of yarn from Knit Picks - the yarn is the color of Brie, our calico cat. I wore a multi-dimensional scarf today which I made from some Noro yarn - hmmm, the best.
