It's a Real Challenge

One of the things mentioned often when telling people how to manage retirement and getting older is to keep your mind active. Challenge your brain, they say. Don’t become mental couch potato. Just because you are no longer working doesn’t mean your mind goes on a permanent holiday.

what I'm learning now - how to knit using
double pointed needles

In fact, they (the people who think they know) say that it is just as important to keep your brain active as it is to keep your body active. It is a good way to keep you both interested in life and an interesting person, and at the same time stave off depression and dementia. Check out this BrainyApp from Alzheimer’s Australia.

There are many different lists of things to do to keep the brain active, but some items are on ALL those lists:

• Learn a language
• Exercise
• Learn a musical instrument
• Do crosswords, or other such brain games
• Be creative

Well, not trying to be negative (actually, thinking positive is another item that is on many lists), but for some people, these just aren’t going to happen. Maybe these are just excuses, but this is my story.

the Serbian textbooks and notepad,
along with books about other things
(creative things) on the To Learn list

I had all good intentions of learning a language. I enjoy words, discovering the stories about words, and learning how other languages work, so it seemed a good idea. But which language to learn? English is coming pretty easily to me these days,so not that language, although sometimes I just can’t find the word I really want to use. I studied German for my HSC so try something different. I had a brief flirtation with Spanish when I had a holiday in Mexico, so again, I wanted something different. I know! Go for something where not only the words are foreign, but so is the script, to make it even more of a challenge for me – Serbian!

I found an online resource where I could progress through structured lessons, and hear the words being spoken. I got some books to help. I even knew a person who spoke Serbian fluently. I set myself a goal of learning at least one new verb (fully conjugated) each week. I made heaps of notes in my notepad (the paper kind). I took my notepad with me everywhere, and got some strange looks as I was practising words on the train. All good so far.

But it just wasn’t sticking in my brain. Gradually I did less and less, until eventually I stopped altogether. It just wasn’t going to happen for me. My excuses:

• I didn’t have enough opportunities to practise with other, real, people
• I chose a language that had too many new things to learn (words and script)
• I chose a language that isn’t very common in Australia, and particularly in regional Australia
• Whilst I enjoyed learning a new language, I didn’t enjoy it ENOUGH – well not enough for me to try to overcome the problems I was having and make it a priority

These days, the words that have stuck are the ones you would expect – hello, please, and cheers!

the exercise bike is a bit dusty

the victim - testing the glove for size -
double pointed needles have NOT beaten me!

Maybe I will get back to it and increase my vocabulary a bit more, and at least re-learn to count. Then I will be able to work my brain and my body when I’m counting repetitions during my exercise. Yep, there’s a story there too – stay tuned!

I can't help myself!

Time, always a flexible thing, at least as far as I’m concerned, has done it again. I’m one of the many people who say “where has the time gone?”. Is it my imagination, or are most of those many people who say it of the slightly older generation?

All those statements like:

• I can’t believe it’s June (or substitute whatever month of the year you like) already!
• The year seems to go by faster every year!
• It seems we’ve only just had Easter and already we are thinking about Christmas!
• How on earth did I ever have time to go to work?

We finally managed to find time to visit Dunn's Swamp

part of the walk at Dunn's Swamp

All this is just me trying to find excuses for neglecting my blog. Yep, I’ve been busy. Nope, I can’t really detail all the things I’ve been doing to be so busy.

One thing I’ve been busy with is a new project. I can’t help myself, I suppose. Once a business analyst, always a business analyst? I saw a problem, and just had to try to solve it.

The problem? How to stop our craft cottage from going the same way as many others – closure as a result of not being financially viable. Without boring people with my thought process, it’s meant that I’ve spent the last few months working to get Rankin Cottage Crafts Inc onto the internet. Have a look !

This is just part of the solution to the problem – a solution that I haven’t got fully detailed yet, but at least it’s a start. Watch this space (or at least, the Rankin Cottage Crafts space) for further developments.

a vest I knitted - now in Rankin Cottage,
waiting for someone to love it

In the process of setting up the Rankin Cottage Crafts page, I’ve been learning about how to do all sorts of different things with a blog. I’ve even been forced to use html – much as I tried to avoid it, I just couldn’t. One of the things suggested for retired people is to learn a language to keep the brain active, but I don’t think html is the kind of language they were talking about. Mind you, at the moment, I’m only at the stage of being able to do the equivalent of reciting things from a phrasebook whilst not really understanding what they mean. I don’t think I’ll ever be fluent, but I hope to be able to make myself understood.

I have had a little time to update my own blog – to add a page to show a gallery of things I’ve made. This is a work in progress – I’m just mucking around, practising my language skills. Who knows what will happen as I learn more.

It's No Holiday

near Lithgow

Well, actually, it is kind of like a holiday – retirement, that is. It all depends on how you define a holiday.

Of course I researched this – what is the definition of a holiday? The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) says it is “an extended period of leisure and recreation, especially one spent away from home or in travelling”. Wikipedia says it is “a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work, are suspended or reduced”. If I go by the OED, then my retirement certainly is a holiday, because it most definitely is an extended period of leisure and recreation, even though it isn’t always away from home or travelling. But if I go by Wikipedia, it isn’t.

All the time I was working, I had this vague idea that when I retired, it would be like I was on holiday all the time. And according to the OED, I am. But it doesn’t feel the same, and I think it’s because my idea of what a holiday is has changed. Well, maybe it hasn’t changed so much as it has been clarified.

one of the waterfalls on our most recent holiday
near Leura

I have definitely come down on the side of Wikipedia. A holiday is really a break from doing whatever it is I do every day. When you are working, a holiday is when you don’t go to work, and do something else instead. But just because I don’t go to work doesn’t mean I don’t have normal activities that I occasionally need a break from. And that, to me, is a holiday.

Holidays are a total necessity. When I was working, I wasn’t one of these people who accumulated an enormous annual leave balance, or got a visit from the company accountant telling me to “at least put in a leave form, so we can pretend you will go on holidays”. I usually had to check I had a balance at all before I could go on my next holiday! In some cases, I think I actually owed leave days to the company. I really needed my holidays.

some steps on a walk we DIDN'T do
near Leura

I think I used to get into a real rut, heading off to work each day, doing the same things each day, week, month. The enjoyment wears off a bit. Taking holidays meant I could recharge my batteries and go back to work and “real life” with a renewed enthusiasm for the job. The time off was also a chance to take a step back and look at my working life to see if it was what I wanted, and if anything needed changing.

Holidays were also a chance to see things, go places, and do things that I couldn’t see, go to or do when I was at home (or work).

Well, guess what – it’s exactly the same in retirement. No matter how much I enjoy doing the things I do in my “real life”, I need a holiday from it sometimes. The days, weeks, months would all blur in together and become years, and whilst I wouldn’t dislike it, I wouldn’t be enjoying it as much.

Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely enjoy being retired, and am not looking for sympathy. I really am at the beginning of “an extended period of leisure and recreation” (see OED definition of “holiday” above).

the results from my most recent "real life" activities

But, my advice is to make sure any retirement planning includes holidays – real, specific times designated as holidays, when you do something different to the normal activities of your retirement. Retirement is not just the rest of your life being one long holiday – it can be so much more! 

The Best Laid Plans

I may have mentioned before that I like to plan. But sometimes things don’t go according to plan. Sometimes things can work out when they haven’t been planned. And sometimes, no matter how much I plan, it’s just not going to happen the way I want/think/hope.

The basil that I have nurtured since it popped its head up
over 3 weeks ago! It's sad.

Once again, the vegie patch is my best example. By the way, it is now after Melbourne Cup Day, and the tomatoes are still alive – this gives me hope that they might actually survive to produce those beautiful, tasty tomatoes I’ve been dreaming of. But that is beside the point. Where I have planned ahead, improving the soil, growing seedlings in the greenhouse, transplanting out into the vegie patch only after the 2^nd set of leaves have grown and in the season the packet tells me, diligently watered with seasol every 2 weeks, some plants just don’t work. Some go really well. Some just outright go and die. Some just don’t do anything much. But why? I’ve done all the right things, planned what needed to be done. Very frustrating.

The lettuce that is going well after a rocky start

On the other hand, I’ve had success where I was flying by the seat of my pants. Take the lettuce. They got planted before they were supposed to. One got dug up by a bird scratching around looking for nesting material, so I just shoved it back in the ground and hoped for the best. It’s thriving.




part of Ferntree Gully

I have another example. We had a day out last week (a Mid-Week Meander). It was my birthday, and I’d told Les what I wanted to do – the Ferntree Gully Walk, followed by lunch at the Bizzy Birds café in Rylstone. Les had it all planned, what time to leave home so we would get to the walk in time to have morning tea before we set off, allowing enough time to do the walk then make it to the lunch spot at a good time for lunch. All was going well until we got to Rylstone – café closed!!! What do we do??!! Picture me with a very disappointed face.

the steps out of Ferntree Gully - just
a little bit steep, but luckily not too many

Luckily there are other lunch options in Rylstone, and I’m not just talking about the pub (although I’m told it has a good bistro). We wandered up the street and found another nice little café (Café 47), in a huge building that is also a gallery space. We had a lovely lunch, and I had a quick look at the artworks on display. So, we discovered something new – that is what can happen when the plan doesn’t come together.

What got me thinking about plans was a sign in the window of the café, saying that planning to have a bush fire survival plan is NOT a plan. It is a very timely reminder, given the recent fires in the Blue Mountains, and the onset of summer when we have had way less than our usual amount of rain. But this is one of the plans we just haven’t done. We don’t even have a plan for having a plan! I wonder why 2 people like us (both Les and I are planners) haven’t done this most important plan? We live in a place that has open farmland behind us, and if a grass fire came through there, we would be in trouble. Maybe I’m not as plan-obsessed as I think I am.

I don’t think I will ever be really comfortable without things being planned, but I’m not so stuck in that planning rut that I can’t appreciate the fact that plans can change, things don’t always go to plan, and that’s not always a bad thing. And sometimes, just sometimes, not having a plan can work too. Now I’m going to check out the RFS site for a bush fire survival plan.

the surviving tomatoes in front of the
carrots going great guns, then the peas
right at the back - all good

 

The Learning Curve

Thank you to those who kindly answered my plea for comments on my last post. It might seem a small thing, but it really makes a difference to me to know there are people out there, and I’m not talking to myself. So please, if you have any thoughts about what I’ve written, or even on something completely different, take the time to make a comment, just for me!

the apples are coming along nicely
I have no idea what I'm doing!

Different people learn in different ways. I learn best by doing. If I’m just reading about something, chances are I’ll forget it pretty quickly. Learning things by rote also doesn’t really work for me – with the exception of the main rivers along the coast of NSW, from north to south, which for some reason I can still recite all these years after learning them when I was about 10 years old. I also learnt all the train stations from Broken Hill to Sydney Central - it was a good party trick when I was at university, but for some strange reason, I can’t remember them all now. Maybe I just don’t have any reason to anymore.

If I have to use the thing I’m trying to learn, I might actually remember it for next time. But the best way for me to learn something is for me to understand it. If something makes sense to me, and it serves some sort of purpose, then even if I don’t remember all the details, those bits that I don’t remember, I can work out.

the peas are a success!

So, like many people, I have to make my own mistakes. If someone tells me “blah, blah”, and it doesn’t make sense to me, I have to try it myself, just to make sure.

Take, for example, growing tomatoes. I love eating tomatoes. I love the flavour of home-grown tomatoes – they have real flavour, much more so than the ones bought from the supermarket. I love the idea of growing my own tomatoes, so I can just wander out the back and pick one when I want one. I love the idea of being able to snack on cherry tomatoes instead of chocolate – well, maybe that is going a bit too far!


Now I have enough space in the backyard for a vegie patch, I want to grow tomatoes. With lots of help from Les, the vegie patch was set up, and sensible things like peas, carrots, and spinach, planted. But the tomatoes couldn’t go in. Whenever I mentioned tomatoes to a local, all I got was “oh, you can’t put them in yet!”. Maybe if the “when” message had been consistent, I would have just left it at that. But one person said “only after Melbourne Cup Day”. Another person said “not before the end of November”. Yet another person said “only plant them out after the last frost” (how can you know when it is the last frost?). The biggest challenge to my way of thinking was when I was told that it was the aim of every Bathurst gardener to have home-grown tomatoes for Christmas lunch. I’ll show them!

current tomato seedlings in the ground
carrots and peas going great guns in the background

Why shouldn't I be able to grow tomatoes? It had worked for me before. So I planted some seeds, in the greenhouse. They germinated nicely, and were going along OK. Then died. Maybe too early.

So I tried again. This time, they got to 2 sets of leaves (they must have 2 sets of leaves before they can be planted out). Yay! So, out they went. Then died. Still too early.

So I tried again. 2 sets of leaves, out into the vegie patch, and each day I checked what the temperature was going to be overnight, and if a frost was possible, covered them. They lasted about 2 weeks. Then died. Still too early.

seedling at back - plant next week
seedlings at front - hopefully ready to plant in a couple of weeks

I know that I’m still about a week too early (ie before Melbourne Cup Day), but the next set of tomato seedlings are in the ground. I obviously still haven’t learnt my lesson, but I’ve got to learn it myself. If these ones die, and the ones that will be ready to go in after Melbourne Cup Day survive, then next year, the learning curve won’t be so steep.

It's a Small, Small World

Should I regret the purchase of
these as my gumboots?

I’ve often thought that it is a small world we live in, and that it’s risky to do something that I may regret because sure as eggs, someone who knows me will be there to see it. Even when I was travelling a long way from home, this thought was in my head.  I can’t say it ever really stopped me from doing anything, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if, just after I had done something, I’d heard a familiar voice call out “hey Joy!”.

My parents had an uncanny knack of running into people from Parkes, where I grew up, when travelling. They could be in Far North Queensland, or in Europe somewhere, only to run into someone who lives just up the road. Each didn’t know the other was travelling, so hadn’t arranged to be in the same place – it just happened. This was one of my first indicators that the world is small.

Then when I was working for a small company in Sydney (total employees of maybe 20?), my mother commented that the company must be going OK since we were hiring new people. Now that was information that was news to me, so how on earth did she know that? Turns out that the mother of the new employee lives directly opposite my Mum in Parkes, and they’d been chatting (as you do). I also knew the new guy quite well, because he had been in the same class at school as my little brother. Small World.

Then when I was leaving my last job to retire, I was asked to interview one of the people who had applied for my job. I thought I recognised the name, and sure enough, he turned out to be the husband of a good friend of my sister. Small World.

Turns out, Bathurst is part of this small world too.

When we moved to Bathurst, we went into the bank to change the address details on an account. We got chatting to the person who looked after us, as you do (well, we had to wait for the computer system to do stuff), and not only did he go to school in Parkes, but my father was his teacher. Small World.

Spectators at our tennis venue

Before we moved to Bathurst, we knew just one person who lived here (apart from Real Estate agents and the person we bought our home from, and they don’t really count). We’ve been here 3 ½ months now, so we know a few more, but still not a lot. Then we went to a Christmas in July dinner on the weekend, at a little village halfway between Bathurst and Lithgow. Since it was a fund-raiser for the Bush Fire Brigade there, and we were there because I play tennis with someone who lives there, I wasn’t really expecting to know anyone else. But within minutes of sitting down at our table, we discovered that the husband of one of the tennis people is the boss of that one person we knew. Small World.

Kevin Bacon has a lot to answer for (the Kevin Bacon effect – you know – six degrees of separation?). I am now convinced that the world is small, and getting smaller. I still won’t really stop from doing anything because of it, but take it from me – there is a big risk that just after I have done something, I’ll hear a familiar voice call out “hey Joy!”.

Variety is the Spice of Life

I knew it had been a while since my last blog post, I just hadn’t realised how long. But that kind of fits in well with my topic this time – how I’m dealing with the fact that I have so many things to do and not enough time!

One of the things I was really looking forward to in retirement was having the time to spend doing all the things I wanted to do but couldn’t because I didn’t have enough time. I was spending all that time going to work. I had so many ideas, things I wanted to try, things I wanted to get better at. It was exciting to think I could do them – at last!


One interest - doing cross-stitch

Another interest - making cards

But, and of course there is a but, it hasn’t worked out that way. Yes, I have way more time to do all those things, but I still don’t have enough time. Maybe I have too many ideas, too many things I want to try, too many things I want to get better at. Maybe I should cut things from the list. But which should I cut?

laying out for the coffee table I
started over a year ago

Maybe I should focus on just a few things, and give them more time. Then I could do them “properly”. I’ve heard the phrase that it takes “10,000 hours of practice to perfect a skill”, and the thought of that is pretty scary. 10,000 hours is an awful lot of practice. That’s a full time job for more than 6 years! And that’s just for one thing.  I gave up work so I could spend time on more things, not less.

Getting back to my point, though, is it a problem that I have so many things I want to do? Sometimes, yes. Sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming, and it’s easier to do none of them than to decide which one to do. Sometimes I think that not spending lots of time on one thing, and flitting between many projects, is a bad thing.


I’ve envied people who have a passion in life. I don’t have one passion. I have many interests! As a result, I won’t ever be able to spend enough time on any of them to be great at them. Instead, I spend as much time on them as makes me happy. I will try not to be too critical of my efforts, though. I will try to remember that I don’t need to be perfect at the skills – good enough will do.

working on another interest - the vegie patch
(yes, it was cold)

In my work life, I did OK by knowing a little about a lot of things. And I enjoyed the kind of work I did because I got to talk to lots of different people, and find out how many different people did their jobs. That was hugely interesting to me. And people kept paying me to do it! So maybe being easily bored, and liking variety, aren’t faults – that’s just the way I am.


So mostly, no, I don’t think having so many things that interest me is a problem. I just can’t do them all now. I will have to live to about 150 to get them all done, though. At least I know now that the answer to the question people asked me when I retired – “Won’t you get bored?” – is No.

another interest - making mosaics

yet another interest - making bags

Actually, thinking about it, that phrase about “10,000 hours” may well be one that, through repetition, has gone from a catchy phrase someone thought up, to something people think is true. Don’t believe everything you hear!



Coffee, and Rituals

I’m not a coffee snob. I draw the line at International Roast (it’s not really coffee, is it), but other than that, if it’s after 10:30am and I haven’t had a coffee yet, I’ll drink pretty much any kind of coffee. But I do have some preferences.

I like my coffee to be in a proper mug, not one of those takeaway things. I have been known to send a coffee back because I asked for it in a proper mug but it came in a takeaway one. If I have to have a takeaway (because I’m taking it away), I like it to be without a lid. I mean really, since I’m getting a cappuccino, there isn’t a lot of point if most of the creamy top of it, along with all the chocolate sprinkled on top, is stuck to the lid.

I like to have the time to actually enjoy my coffee. Savouring the creamy top and the lovely coffee flavour are a major reason why I love coffee. If I have to rush it, or do something else at the same time, I can’t do it justice.

My morning tea ritual

I like the creamy milk on top of my coffee to be just that – creamy. Not frothy, creamy. Frothy is just all air, and quite disappointing. I’d rather have a thin layer of creamy than a huge pile of frothy.

I like my coffee like Goldilocks does – not too hot, and not too cold, but Just Right! Too cold means I have to drink it faster than I’d like. Too hot means it burns my mouth and I have to wait for it to cool down a bit. Just Right means I can start sipping right away, taking my time to finish it, and not have it go cold before I do.

I like my coffee to have a bit of flavour. Sometimes the smell of the coffee is just wonderful, but the taste is a real let-down.

I like my coffee to come with a spoon. That way, I can spoon the creamy top off and “eat” it first, then sip the rest of the drink. Those paddle-pop stick things do a reasonable job if you just want to stir the coffee, but they just don’t work well as spoons.

We ritually take photos of our Kids, doing naughty things

But these preferences are just me. Most coffee drinkers have their preferences, and I don’t judge them if those preferences are not the same as mine. My Dad, for example, had a simple preference for “ordinary coffee with ordinary milk in it – none of that frothy crap” (that’s a direct quote from him ordering a coffee in a café on the North Shore in Sydney). A good friend always orders hers “extra hot, and if it isn’t hot enough, I’ll send it back”. Another friend always leaves half the cup.

But what do I do at home? Well, that is where the ritual comes in. I didn’t realise how much of a ritual it had become until I was thinking about routine in my day. Morning tea is a significant part of the routine. (Maybe I should call it “morning coffee”?) Coffee in the plunger. Taken to the Viewing Area (the name we have given to the part of our home that looks across the back yard to the farmland). Let sit for just the right amount of time, to brew and cool slightly. Poured into “my” mug. Topped up with creamy milk (Les gave me a milk frother for Christmas). Drinking chocolate sprinkled on top. Creamy milk eaten with a spoon. The remainder of the mug sipped as I chat with Les and look out at the world that is our view.

This ritual calms me. What more need I say?

Our Christmas Ritual - the Santa salt and pepper shakers,
the Christmas bonbons, the sparkling wine

We all have rituals. They help us feel safe. We get a bit tetchy when they are challenged, but that’s just because we are scared, and unsure of how we will cope with change. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as we don’t hang on to those rituals at all costs. We need to know when to let them change, or even let them go.

Midweek Escapades

Sydney is a very busy place. Nothing is done slowly. Everyone is in a rush. Very few people take the time to stop and smell the roses.



the view looking south from somewhere on the Coogee to Bondi walk

So many times when we were working, we would head off on the weekend for a walk somewhere, only to find that half of Sydney had the same idea. That resulted in a whole heap of stress for me – having to negotiate the crowds even to find a parking space, then to get to where we wanted to go, was like a kind of hell.

But now that we don’t go to work anymore, we aren’t limited to weekends when we want to get out and about. We can wake up on a Thursday, for example, see that the weather is glorious, and decide that yes, today is a great day to go for a walk along the coast somewhere. And we don’t have to take a sickie to do it!

And that is exactly what we did on Thursday this week. Well, we didn’t just wake up and decide right then, because we had been thinking about it since last week, but the fact that the weather was good meant that we could actually go.

the wonderful Sydney traffic

 

When we move to the country, I will miss being able to easily get to the coast to go for a walk. But I definitely won’t miss the Sydney traffic. I don’t think there is any such thing as peak hour anymore – the traffic is bad no matter what time of day. But, once we got to Coogee (the starting point of our walk), we easily found a parking spot right at the start of the walking path. On a weekend, we would probably have had to park a couple of suburbs away!

certainly not crowded here!

The walk we did goes from Coogee to Bondi, a distance of approximately 6km. It is a very popular walk. Many people also use it as a running route. On the weekends, there is a constant push and shove to keep moving. Midweek is a completely different story. There are certainly people around, but I never felt crowded.

And when we got to Bondi, just on lunch time, we had our pick of cafes where we could have a restorative coffee. In fact, we had our pick of tables in our pick of cafes. Bliss!

The walk back to Coogee (yes, another 6km) was also very pleasant. I tend to give Sydney a hard time because I really don’t like living in it, but it really is a beautiful city. There are many walks that can be done in all parts. There are national parks right in the city, and within an easy drive of the city. The harbour is amazing. There is always something on, or something to do.

If you are retired, don’t sit at home all the time. Take the opportunity to get out and about. Midweek escapades are a great way to do that. You can see all those things you’ve always wanted to see, do those things you’ve always wanted to do, and some that you haven’t, and not have to compete with hordes of other people.

Take the time to stop and smell the roses.

Too Busy to be Bored

One of the questions I was asked when I said I was retiring was “Won’t you be bored?” The answer at the time was a slightly cautious “No, I don’t think so…I hope not!” The answer now is a definite “No! I’m too busy to be bored!”

Sometimes I think retirees fall into one of two categories – those who are bored out of their brains, and either go back to work, or fall into a decline (sometimes, sadly, they die before they realise); and those who are busy enough that they think “how on earth did I fit going to work into my life?”

Luckily, I’m one of the busy ones. I can’t imagine going back to work. I did try it for a short time, as I was missing some of the things I got out of work, but I found that it interfered too much with my other activities. My coming out of retirement didn’t last all that long.

Let’s take yesterday as an example. After some chores in the morning (I don’t count these as part of my activities, as they are necessary whether you are retired or not), I finished the crochet part of a top that I’m making.

 

All I have to do now is weave in the ends, and it will be ready to wear. Mind you, I’m not ready to wear it, as it has turned out to be a bit small (I’m new to crochet, so didn’t properly work out what size I needed to make). Luckily I’m in the process of getting healthier, so losing weight is part of the plan anyway.

Once I’d done that, I got stuck into making a birthday card for a dear friend. I make pretty much all my own cards now – I enjoy making them and tend to collect bits and pieces of tools, equipment, paper, cardstock, decorations etc (some bought new, some acquired from people who no longer use them, some improvised from other things), so it’s not a cost saving exercise, by any means!

Then I thought I’d do my exercise for the day (as I said, I’m trying to get healthier). Since it was Tuesday, it was my Strength andFlexibility day (I do it every 2^nd day), going along to the podcast from the UK National Health Service. It’s a good podcast to start out with (I need something to tell me what to do, otherwise I don’t work myself hard enough), but I’m going to try to find something a bit more challenging.



some shorts I made for when I'm doing my exercises

I’m also doing the C25K program, also using the NHS podcast. I do it every 2^nd day also. I’m on Week 4, and have been for 2 weeks! I’m finding it quite challenging, so won’t be looking for a different podcast. There are a zillion podcasts for this program out there but the hard part is finding one that has music that I want to listen to (I’m not into that techno-crap).

So I get home from my exercise, and decide that I want to try to knit another dishcloth. I’ve already knitted a few, using the WaffleWeave pattern from Deb at Homespun Living, but wanted to expand my knitting repertoire, and saw her lovely Baby Fan Dishcloth pattern. If you haven’t cottoned on (pun intended) to homemade dishcloths yet, give them a go. They are lovely and soft, yet still clean the dishes really well. So easy to wash (throw them into the washing machine), so you don’t just throw them out like you would the ones you buy from the supermarket.

In between all that, I found time to do a couple of Sudoku (I have to keep my brain working!), catch up on my internet reading, research some books I want to get out of the library, annoy the cat (I have the scratches to prove it).

So, no, I’m not bored. In fact, the challenge is in choosing which of the many things I want to do that I’ll actually get to each day.

A truly joyful retirement!

Just Being Realistic

There I was, thinking I could blog every day. How unrealistic was I! Now I have changed my expectations, and hope that I will be able to blog once a week. But I am not going to be obsessive about it – if I blog, good, if I don’t, OK.

Now that the chaos of the festive season is over, I’ve managed to get a few things done. One thing was to make some more soft toys. My first attempts were Wonky and Notso (pattern from Funky Friends Factory), and I was quite happy with them.

Then I set myself the challenge to make Patty the Cow (also from Funky Friends Factory). Much more difficult, with more pieces, and made in cotton so not as forgiving with the stretch as the fleece I used for Wonky and Notso.

 

 

My 2013 challenge was Stu the Sea Turtle (and yes, again from Funky Friends Factory). Again, a challenge because, although the number of pieces wasn’t greater, the fabric I used was plush, and something new to me. But I’m happy. I hope my niece likes him.
 

Something else I’ve started this year – I want to complete the Couch to 5km program (Google C25K and you will find HEAPS of info). I started it once before and didn’t get further than Week 3, mostly because the music on the podcasts just wasn’t to my taste, and having to listen to the voice of the man telling me what to do was just horrible – I’m not a fan of broad American accents.

But luckily I found a series of podcasts that (so far) suit me. I got them from the UK National Health Service website – why doesn’t Australia produce something like this?

Yes, this sounds like a typical New Year Resolution, and you are possibly thinking that it will go the way of all such things (ie give up before February). That may well happen, but I hope not.

Enjoy! And I’ll be back some time soon.