What's After Work?

  Our March trip was a visit to Evansville Indiana to celebrate Art's (Jan's dad) 97th birthday.  But before our trip north we headed south. For one of my varied aliments I see Dr. Castro at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston Florida. I can't say enough good things about the Doctors and staff of the Cleveland Clinic. Every time I visit I am made to feel that my care is their first thought. Also there is some great artwork on display through out the clinic. I really enjoy seeing all the art on the walls. And I got a good review by the Doctor! After visiting Weston we headed north via the Florida Turnpike. Jan and I traveled the entire length of the Turnpike.  All 312 miles of it. Along the way we passed several Turnpike Travel Centers. These advertised gas and food as well as restrooms. We decided to stop and give it a try. These are really big rest stops. They are in between the north and south roads so if you don't pay attention or get a little confused when leaving you ...

 It is October and I'm done with the Great Cycle Challenge. Jan and I spent the first part of last week RVing it. We rented an RV to travel north to visit Austin and Morgan in Raleigh. This was our first visit with Austin after he proposed to Morgan. We are very excited about the coming nuptials. Morgan is a nice girl and we are happy to have her become part of our family.  We rented an RV from a company called RVshare . It is kinda like Airbnb on wheels.   We chose for this trip a 24 foot class "B" RV. The family we rented from were quite nice and explained about traveling in an RV quite well. My favourite part of traveling in an RV is that packing you just carry clothes from your closet to the closet in the RV. My least favorite part was empting the "holding" tanks.  Click to see the inside of our RV This trip also gave us a chance to meet Austin's new dog Roo. Roo is an Australian Blue Heeler and is very active.  She likes to play and go on long walks, f...

I like to cook. Now I have the time to devote to perfecting this art. This is good because several times after Jan retired she has stated that she has no desire to cook any more. This is not to say Jan is a poor cook, actually she is a very good cook. For may years while the kids were at home she provided us with healthy and delicious meals each day, while also working a full time job. Cause that's what moms do. And she does now on occasion cook for us. I enjoy cooking and exploring new tastes. Lately I have been learning about paella. The Spanish rice and seafood dish that I cook on the grill outside. A few years ago I saw  José Ramón Andrés Puertaon a cooking show abut Spain. While there he visited a  restaurant that served paella cooked over an open wood fire. Oh! it looked so good. I had had paella before but was not impressed, it appeared to be just fish and shrimp served over rice. But what I saw  José tasting at this little Spanish restaurant near the coast...

With my retirement looming I feel that I need an activity, a reason to get up in the morning. A quest to give my life meaning. I've been puttering around the house the last few days. Cleaning and arranging things around the house. Moving stuff from one place to another to create what I imagine is order in my life. I'm beginning to realize I've got about as much order in my life as I want. I have found that my most creative ideas come from the chaos around me. So L'm going to take a different route. Last night I was watching "The Hobbit" and thought a quest is what I need.  A quest is what it is then. But unfortunately there is no Smaug for me to battle. Using Bilbo Baggins and the Hobbits as my guide on this quest I decided that meals should be part of this retirement quest. Here is my plan. A Quest " Seafood Resturants I'm Goina Eat At "  Some of these places I have already eaten at but they deserve a second try. Others are new to me and ...