One Year into Retirement

Hiking in Banff National Park

What? I’ve been retired a year? Yep, I retired a year ago on February 3 from a 38 year career at Johnson & Quin, a direct mail printing company. Time has moved along quickly, yet at times it seems longer than a year. There have been a few times when I felt at loose ends, uncertain about what to do with my day. But I now have plenty of projects to work on and my days are full. 

Retirement started with a trip south, out of the Minnesota winter. With our friends Vicki and Fred, Steve and I spent 5 busy weeks starting in Texas, then heading east to Florida. We enjoyed the Texas Hill Country, New Orleans, Clearwater Florida, Nashville, and many sites and attractions along the way. 

New House Projects 

Over the spring and summer, I added a small garden in the backyard, planted perennials, and went overboard as usual with pots of annuals. Unfortunately Steve started to have back problems which hampered his ability to build a deck and get his work areas organized. He was finally able to maneuver the medical worlds between Illinois and Minnesota to find a doctor here that was able to solve his back pain. And with the mild December winter, he built a shed in the back yard to store yard tools. 

The shed which will be painted in the spring.

We organized closets and pantries, put up pictures and made our new house feel like our home. This spring a deck will be built on the back of the house, with finishing the basement on the project list next. We’ve had several family and friend gatherings in the past year, so our house has been broken in. 

Golf 

We joined the Northfield Golf Club. Little did we know what a good decision that was! Steve is a golfer, but I have golfed maybe a total of a dozen rounds in my life, and none for years! In addition to being outside on a beautiful golf course getting exercise, we have met many new friends. I golfed with 7 other lovely ladies on Wednesdays, Steve golfed in the men’s league on Tuesdays, and we golfed as a couple on Friday afternoons. Of course, after golfing there were drinks and dinner and great conversations. It was a good brain workout to remember everyone’s name, and then details on their familes and lives. Looking back on the year, I certainly didn’t predict that we would meet so many wonderful people in our first year! 

Fresh Fruit and Veggies 

Northfield has a great little farmers market where I bought fresh veggies every week. Silkey Farms is near our house where I picked strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and apples. Now that I had the time, I made a lot of freezer jam, as well as freezing the fruit for future smoothies and baking. My Mom and Aunt Joan froze sweet corn when I was growing up. I used their recipe (with cream and butter so it had to be delicious) and froze bi-color corn from a local farm. 

Raspberries and ingredients, ready to make jam.

Cutting corn for freezing. Delicious in the winter!

Girls Weekends and More

I was lucky to spend weekends with high school and college friends. I hosted three long-time high school friends this summer, and we explored the Northfield/Dundas area. In October six Iowa State roommates met in Galena, Illinois. It had been many years since we had seen some friends, so the weekends were such fun catching up and reconnecting. We enjoyed a family weekend up north in Crosby MN - biking, hiking, kayaking, games, and just hanging out with our children and our grandson, Xander! In addition, there were weekends to Wisconsin to see Steve's mom and Iowa to see family. 

More Traveling 

We plan to travel a lot these next few years. while we can. In August Steve, our daughter Alyssa, and I took a road trip to southwestern Colorado to see several national parks and historical sites. Along the way we avoided the interstate highways and stopped to see many local and state attractions. 

Alyssa and I at Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Alyssa and Steve at Scottsbluff National Monument in Nebraska.

In September we took another road trip with college friends, the Behrs and Goldsmiths, to Glacier and Banff National Parks. The scenery was amazing in both the U.S. and Canada, and we met so many interesting people along the journey. Hiking and driving through national parks reminds us of the beauty of this world. And spending time with friends was the best! 

Having lunch at Seeley Lake MT on our way to Glacier.

Creative Outlets 

In addition to writing a blog, I have recently started getting back into art. I took art classes in high school, and majored in Advertising Design and minored in Journalism at Iowa State. Alyssa nudged me back into painting by giving me a watercolor set over a year ago. Painting on my own wasn’t working when my Silver Sneakers membership started offering painting and drawing classes. Taking those basic and intro classes has made the difference, and I now have direction in my painting. I have also found artists and videos on YouTube that are providing further instruction. 

Online watercolor classes resulted in these paintings.

A class on Zentangle drawing, described as meditative doodling, introduced me to this type of drawing. I love it! Check out Zentangle.com for more information if you are interested. Examples of the drawings I have done are shown below. 

Examples of Zentangle drawings.

Future Projects 

I have discovered that I need a plan for the day. It can be a very loose plan, but I like to have a list in my head of things to do as I start the day. In the future, I would like to start quilting since I was an avid sewer until my babies arrived. Our families genealogy also interests me. We have bins of pictures and historical information from my mom, as well as Steve’s mom, so those need to be organized, scanned and shared with our families. 

The big travel destinations are planned for 2024, so look for information on those as we venture out this year. Until next time, enjoy whatever the remaining winter brings!