Weekend Wrap Up
Well, another vibrant weekend is in the books! As a retiree still trying to live a big life (I can rest when I'm dead, as my Dad, who is still going strong at 88, always reminds me when we chat.), I often wake up on Monday mornings with gratitude that the life I've worked hard to build since we moved here eight years ago is now at a place where it pretty much moves along without me needing to be push it quite so hard.
Everything we did this weekend built off of earlier efforts I/we made to establish a connection with friends or community. I say that simply to encourage any who might be floundering a bit in retirement. You do have to work to get things going, but you can then take your foot off the throttle and pretty much coast.
Friday - I spent a really enjoyable morning at our new fitness center. This is the first gym we've belonged to since retiring that I am actually enjoying. During my working years, I loved going to the gym in the early AM because lots of my friends and work colleagues were also there, and we'd chat as we worked out. That changed when I retired and stopped going in at 5AM, and I've been struggling a bit since to find my gym mojo.
But I really like our new fitness center. It feels lively, but not in any sort of look-at-me way that a lot of gyms do. There are just lots of active people of all ages, they are friendly, and I now look forward to my indoor workouts after many years of not.
My workout consisted of 10 minutes on the StairMaster, from which I'll begin to build, 3 miles on the treadmill, about 1/2 mile of which I ran, and a full body weight workout.
I stopped by two supermarkets on the way home in order to 'steal' their advertised loss leaders -
- Two containers of Thrifty ice cream at $2.50 a container
- 5 ears of corn at .50 cents each
- A pound of Hormel bacon at $5.00
- A small watermelon at $2.00
All of the above are in preparation for our soon-to-be-here family, which will include my two (yeah!) granddaughters.
We officially kicked off the weekend in the late afternoon with a visit to our membership winery's new waterfront location. As we took our glasses of complimentary wine out onto their new patio, I thought, 'Oh my goodness, I am not going to hate this new location whatsoever!'
Dinner back home was another of my frozen stash of Pot Pie savory dinner pies, plus some roasted asparagus.
Saturday - I met my regular walking group for a four mile walk along the beach, during which we observed a Paddle Out. A Paddle Out (described in greater detail here) is a ceremony where people paddle out to the waves, form a circle, and honor the memory of someone recently deceased. I've seen several of these over the years, and they are always moving to observe.
Post walk, we all gathered for coffee where, surprisingly, a robust discussion about Shakespeare occurred. I was delighted, as I've read and attended about a dozen Shakespeare plays since retiring, one of my retirement goals that stuck.
The process I follow before seeing a Shakespeare production is to download the play we are going to see, and read it while simultaneously reading SparkNotes online to assist with understanding the dialogue as written.
After returning home I spent the afternoon baking Ina Garten's Carrot Cake with Candied Ginger Mascarpone Frosting for a social wine event we were attending.
Sunday - Spiritual services in the AM, then home to prepare to host my Book Club. For tonight's meeting, which I host once a year, I made a slow cooker honey & beer pot roast with carrots and potatoes, steamed green beans, warmed Challah bread slices my mom made, and this Giada de Laurentis Ricotta Orange Amaretto Pound Cake that I served along with small scoops of orange sherbet.
The book club discussion - How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn - was interesting and robust, and the dinner turned out nice, with seconds enjoyed by several of the guests (including me!). Clean up afterward, which my lovely husband did since I did all the cooking, was considerable, so we headed straight to bed once he finished.
Today, Monday -
Although I didn't touch any dessert, I did eat more pot roast than I should have last night, so I'm headed out the door shortly to try and undue any damage with a long walk. I'll weigh myself tomorrow! 😄
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How was your weekend???
Who gets to enjoy your cakes? I'm trying to keep putting myself out. It's hard because my a "younger" widow and retiree as it's still a couples and working gal world with my peers.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoy entertaining, so I'm actually now fine baking and serving the items to others. I did immediately freeze the leftovers for both cakes, which I'll be thawing and serving to my younger daughter and her family once they arrive this week. Even though I currently feel close to 100% under control, there's no point testing or torturing myself unnecessarily!
DeleteSo, I retired at age 48, and though I would never, ever compare my situation to yours, the being a bit younger than my retiree peers was similar. My advice, therefore, is to simply keep trying new things, because it's a numbers game, and if enough things are tried, eventually you'll hit one that feels right, and then progress from there.
Some of the group activity things I enjoy currently without my spouse are 1) an amateur music group, 2) a womens club, which most cities seem to have, and that provides lots of no-partner-needed social opportunities, 3) hiking, kayaking, biking, yoga, and running Meet up groups, 4) volunteering at several places I enjoy, all which place me in contact with other people, and all of which have grown to provide social events as well, 5) a monthly women's luncheon group thru my spiritual community, 6) a women's bridge club, and 7) a retiree foreign language class.