What's After Work?

 Hi all, it's been a while. I guess with the continuing pandemic and all it's variations I just got complacent. Riding my bike, shopping online and planning a wedding. But now Christmas and the wedding are over and I can get back to telling about what happens during retirement.   Last year my son Austin became engaged to his now wife Morgan.  A tradition that my mom started is to make the newly weds a memory quilt. At the beginning of last year Jan and I began to make Morgan and Austins memory quilt. To the right are the fabrics we bought. The lighter blue is the fabric was sent to 40 family and friends.  We asked them to create a memory they have of Austin or Morgan on the square. As we got them back I started sewing them together into a quilt top.   As we got them back I started sewing them together into a quilt top. ...

I've been noticing that a lot of people I know are retiring. I guess it is that time of my life. People my age are retiring. When I was a kid birthdays were the big party event. In elementary school I remember going to many of my friends birthdays. W, e would spend an inordinate amount of time discussing, planning and attending birthday parties. Having the best birthday party ever was always the plan. It never lived up to that ideal. I could never talk my parents into building a go-cart track in the back yard for the party. Sigh! Later in Junior High we were more interested in boy & girl parties. There me and my buddies saw a darkened living room with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" or even "American Pie" playing and hoping not to hear " Gilbert O'Sullavan "Alone Again (Naturally). Then the big party was prom in High School. Oh we had plans....but as in most of life the expectations never live up to the reality. We did have part...

Last Thursday I had yet another retirement party. This one was family and close friends. Jan has wanted to have a celebration with our kids while they were in town for Christmas. We had dinner at " The Kitchen and Bar at Safety Harbor. " It was quite good. I had the lamb chops with mint jelly. I really like lamb, my grandmother Meme introduced me to lamb when I very young. She use to make it for special occasions like Christmas or New Years. This was served with cheese grits. Not normally what I have with lamb but it worked. We had a great time and I enjoyed seeing everyone. Photo by Amelia Cashen

Last Tuesday my school had a surprise retirement party for me/ I had no idea that a party was in the plans. On Tuesday Mrs. Oberschall called my room and asked if I would be available to show Ms, Salles how to do the school web page after I'm retired. I net with her at about 2:00pm that afternoon. She asked a lot of questions and I thought wow she is really interested in taking over this job of mine. Well it turns out that there was more to her interest than just the web site. Kaitlyn was also there to distract me, keep me from wandering around the school and discovering what EVERYONE else was up to. After I had given a very brief but comprehensive workshop on managing the school web site, complete with visuals, handouts and note taking points. I guess even to the end I am the consummate educator. Then came the announcement. "There will be an emergency faculty meeting in the multi-purpose room" "That can't be good" I thought to myself. Some if the car...