Another Year of Living in Retirement ... Ends Tonight

Free poinsettia - following the NYE Candlelight Service

I plan one more year, not yet another year, but one last year of this blog sequence. The original retiring rose will then be retiring this ten-year blog adventure and do something else. Stay tuned!

I do not want to end the last post of yet another year with fragmented thoughts and trailing dots...

And yet, as usual, I have nothing profound with which to end the year.

And even though I am a little down (mellow, sun-deprived, fat), with no party to attend to end the year …  I am OKAY.

I did attend the candlelight service at church. I asked my friend Bill to share a photo I saw him taking prior to the service:

Another year has come and gone and I have much to be grateful for!

I have some good holiday leftovers to finish for a few days before the dreaded January diet begins. I am still too thrifty/Dutch to throw food away.

There is way too much leftover cheese. Maybe I should follow a low-carb regimen, yet again!

I have a new conical burr coffee grinder. I plan to buy better beans this year. It will definitely be yet another year of coffee consumption. And I have yet another water filter pitcher, so no excuses for bad coffee.

I have plenty of new and old books to keep me entertained through the cold winter months. Book Club meets again Sunday night with Proof of Heaven. I need to distribute a new book for April. It is my turn. Six books are to be delivered Thursday. After reading reviews and some quick looks (and a quick click at Amazon by the husband), I have chosen a book! But I need to finish reading it before Sunday night to be in compliance with the rules of the club. Stay tuned!

I have a supportive husband, three great daughters and two delightful sons-in-law. (One of them does read my blog, so I had to find a suitable word, lol.)

I have a wonderful church family, a book club, a few really fun friends, a garden team, a few relatives in town and many interesting ones on Facebook.

I have lots of time in the winter.

And I have some money in my bank account!

I have (all new this year) a great smart phone, a new, big and smart television, a new blue tooth speaker that connects to my phone, a Kindle from last year with some downloaded books, and a really old laptop that is limping along, barely.

I am planning more trips to Florida and NYC for sure. Another more exotic trip is being planned for mid-year. Stay tuned!

The economy has been good, although the stock market has been extremely volatile of late. Gas prices are once again low. But none of this is of any immediate concern to me.

We sold our student rental house last summer at a fair price and are a little farther down the road to simplifying our life.

We are debt free. Here me SCREAM.

We got our last will and testament--and all end of life issues in writing and signed as of November. That was a very good thing!

The husband remains entertained by sports (mostly golf) even though his body occasionally protests the necessary twisting movements. Sometimes he twists something just rolling over in bed!

I remain nearly pain free as I do less physical work in winter. I still have all my original parts, for better or for worse, except for a few molars shaved down to accommodate crowns! My lower back is my most vulnerable body part, but I am very comfortable while horizontal on the couch!

The news from Washington D.C., the media and the current administration has kept me entertained this year. And exhausted...

Trump Derangement Syndrome is real! (TDS or PTTDS)

There have been plenty of bad news stories this year. Some remain poignant--the Parkland school shooting for one. And then there was that good news stories of the rescue of the boys trapped in a mine.

Then we watched the California fires. Hell on earth!

Sometimes the bad news (and the fake news) became overwhelming!

The death of most who passed on this year did not affect me personally.

The passing of a young nephew-in-law in Minnesota was tragic, but I barely knew him.

I bought Charles Krauthammer's posthumously published book yesterday at Costco. I do miss his thoughtful commentary.

I watched the George H.W. Bush funeral. My faith in the good and kind and eternal values that remain in our society was renewed.

Billy Graham was more than ready to enter into his eternal reward, I am sure--just short of his 100th birthday.

I hope your life has been as good as mine or even better this year, and continues so through the coming new year!

I am going to try to savor each moment more (and not savor as much good food). I will try harder to be a blessing to those in my life.

I managed to send a few Christmas cards this year ... some pretty cards with Forever Christmas stamp birds ... some to the church shut-ins. A little late...

But I didn't put up a tree! I am finally too old. That's what they say...

No one complained. I threw up some lights on the Norfolk pine...

Christmas is now basically over. 12 days is too long...

The Wise Men, traveling from (not so) afar off...

But the wise men are still wending their way to worship the manger baby ... to see the King, whose first "throne" was a manger!

Too many trailing dots...

Good night, 2018. Goodnight wise men. Goodnight all.

Creating Christmas Coziness

Midnight at the window

We did not enjoy a classic white Christmas this year, although a few flakes started falling during the morning church service, accumulating by evening to a light frosting on the grass.

However, we had plenty of Christmas cozy here without snow: a rich lasagna, fresh brioche bread, the aroma of homemade Dutch apple pie baking, a warm fire in the sun room stove and the ambiance of candles flickering everywhere we could find a safe spot. And there is a word for all that coziness: hygge.

Also, I think most of the gifts opened here and afar off could be classified under the words hygge or techy.

As far as I can determine the Danish hygge which has entered lately into the American vocabulary is pronounced with a hoo or hue beginning (but with an umlaut u sound) and an ending gah sound but not with an a but rather the schwa e. This helps me pronounce it correctly, I think! Non-Danish folks pronounce it in a wide variety of ways, including hig-ie--the worst!

However one says it, defining it seems to be the bigger challenge. I have some familiarity with the Dutch concept of gezellig, which also is not easily defined.

My NYC daughter has been trying to achieve a measure of hygge in her lovely but limited lower Manhattan apartment. For Christmas she sent me the book The Little Book of Hygge--Danish secrets to happy living, by Meik Wiking. I have always loved Danish (teak) furniture, but I'm not sure how much of the hygge lifestyle I have achieved or even aspired too. The Danes rank among the happiest people on earth, so it might be worth trying to discover why that is.

In the introduction to my new book the author attempts to explain hygge with these descriptions: "the art of creating intimacy," "coziness of the soul," "absence of annoyance," "taking pleasure from the presence of soothing things," "cozy togetherness," and the author's  personal favorite, "cocoa by candlelight".

So how much hygge did we create so far this Christmas--in addition to the food, the fire, the flickering candles and the freshly baked pie? Or is hygge something that just happens when you are not trying so hard for it? I'll have to read more of the book!

We did not sit around the fire in wool sweaters ... that is for sure. Or knitted woolen socks. Some of us are too itchy to enjoy wool--and furthermore, the fire was too warm. I did gift the husband with a pair of red cashmere socks. He is able to tolerate soft wool.

And we did not sip hot chocolate by candlelight--or coffee or tea.

I did gift two daughters with cozy L.L. Bean slippers, with arch support for added comfort. The third daughter received a blue cotton weighted blanket from Dream Hug, which seems like pure hygge to me!

I sent socks to the NYC son-in-law from BOMBAS, a company which claims to make the most comfortable socks ever. The socks come with a 100% happiness guarantee. They also give away a pair of socks to the homeless for every pair sold, so a little hygge for the homeless, too!

A cozy pink ponytail beanie hat is still in transit to NYC.

Comfy pants are in transit (slow boat from China?) for E.

The other son-in-law G. received some chocolate covered fruit, which may also have some hygge value … more perhaps if enjoyed while staring into the flames of his outdoor Florida firepit.

I gifted the husband with retired-man-recliner-wear: two cozy, generously sized and budget-priced (it is also important for hygge to be thrifty) sweatshirts. He received a nicer Columbian brand top from the Floridians--potential cruise wear? Also, the traditional Hershey bars, a new car scent for his Avalon and hand warmers for his golf gloves. More hygge, am I right?

There was a mystery box here which we opened last. Some kind of mistake or errant click? From K-Mart! It was a very soft, "superminky" burgundy robe (size 4-6!). I am going to keep it as a feel-y blanket. It is amazing! The most hygge thing of all!

The rest of the gifts were more techy: Bluetooth noise cancelling headphones for S. A Go-Pro type camera for G. A bluetooth speaker for my S9 smart phone, Nintendo and Super Nintendo consoles for E. I'm not sure the techy gifts have any hygge value. They likely have a negative value, as they tend to isolate. A board game would qualify.

The husband received a book. Snuggling up with a book and a blanket is very hygge, especially in a window seat. He also received a "conversation" game much like the one he had created years ago, a game which could arguably be hygge-promoting.

And then the kitchen-y gifts which are for achieving hygee in the heart(h) of the home--a frying pan set, a water filter pitcher and a gourmet coffee bean grinder (hot brewed coffee is definitely hygge-ish when consumed in a gezellig environment) for me, a Kitchen Aid mixer for E. and a cookbook for R. These are some of the gifts that come to mind. Plus, we all got salt and spice and other things nice from the Land of Fire and Ice.

Oh, and the New Yorkers got some kind of light from E. to combat SAD. Is that techy or hygge, both or neither?

The Florida dog got a cooling mat from E, which certainly seems non-hygge. Maybe a different kind of comfort word is needed for the cooling needs of hairy creatures residing in more tropical climes.

The evening ended with just the two of us and a movie from 2018 that was based on one of my favorite books, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Snuggled under my sherpa throw with that superminky robe brushing my (facial) cheeks, sipping from a (shared) crowler of Big Bad Baptist Quadruple Barrel Imperial Stout beer I had filled at Horrocks...

...it was totally hygge-gezelligheid!

The starring female character in the film was pretty and the male pig farmer star had some rugged hygge-handsomeness happening. (My Dad, among other things, was also a pig farmer.) It turns out he is Dutch, an actor and a musician, and even shares a birthday with me! (Except he is only 37.) My eyes were moist at the end, although it had a totally happy hygge ending!

More of Thanksgiving in Florida

Poolside in Maitland, FL - under the bamboo canopy

We spent two full weeks in Florida, 5 nights visiting with R. and G. They were busy working and focusing on their Iceland trip most of the time and we tried to stay out of the way.

One night we cooked lomo al troppo in the outdoor fire pit. It was more delicious and succulent than all the other loin-encrusted-in-a-salt-cloth experiences of previous visits, I thought.

"lomo" in the fire

The husband played some rounds of golf but I didn't go out much on my own. So I relaxed in the mostly very nice weather, occasionally sitting in the sun by the pool and doing a little picking at and watering of the garden plants. The husband went into the pool once (it was chilly!) and the hot tub once.

We didn't know how to change the AC settings, so sometimes the house got a little stuffy in the afternoons and I got more than a little hot under the collar. The nights were cooler to cold, with no bugs, allowing for the patio door to be wide open (well, not while we were sleeping).

We always try to do something a little fun while dog-sitting in Florida. Last year we went to see a SpaceX launch at Cape Canaveral. This year the husband had purchased tickets to a Black Hawks/Panthers game in Sunrise, Florida. He was able to obtain some re-sold season ticket holder seats which included parking, but no free food--like everyone else in our section, who were indulging in all sorts of gourmet things like chocolate covered strawberries. It was an exciting game in which the Hawks won in overtime after they were behind the whole game. It was the best live game the husband has ever seen. He was hyped! On the way to the parking lot I picked up a Panther scarf from the ground ... not sure what to do with it, but we still have it.

Room with a view on Pompano Beach

It was a bit of a trek to and from the BB&T Center to our hotel on Pompano Beach where we had a nice room with a balcony/view of the ocean. On Sunday morning the husband sat and read under an umbrella on the beach and floated in the ocean, which he quite enjoyed, while I putzed around and ate brunch at the outdoor bar. The bartender was from Port Huron, Michigan and had some time to chat. I think he got $7 for his efforts, which was primarily making me one Bloody Mary. We ate dinner and breakfast at the hotel for convenience. After all, valet parking was $30 a day plus tips. It turns out they don't have much selection in dark beer in south Florida. Too heavy, I guess, but we found a Havana Amber brewed in Miami that was malty/nice.

We were back in Winter Park by 4:15 PM to pick up Toffee from Val's house (yes, we needed some overnight doggie care). Val had gifted us with a couple of donuts from a local shop:

Yum. Treat after hockey game.

Later we picked up R. & G. from their Icelandic Air flight. They had a bad flight and were starving. A hamburger and fries at Five Guys on the way home helped.

As is our tradition, we found a Netflix series for the week, which I cannot recommend and will not name! It was someone's concept of life in heaven, which somehow takes place in an abandoned community with perfect mid-century-styled houses. It all made about as much sense as a long dream sequence on a sleep-challenged night.

We also had a dinner and a movie night, intending to see "The Girl in the Spider's Web" with Claire Foy, but one of us got a coffee headache and had to walk out! A dinner at Cheesecake Factory was postponed until after the service at FPCO on Sunday. I had the Monte Cristo, the best version I have had so far, although it did not photograph well. I am on a quest, searching for the best ever marriage of ham and jam!

One day we spent a couple of hours shopping for Thanksgiving food and one day I spent preparing it. One day we went shoe shopping for golf shoes and I bought some plastic "Birks" which I didn't even know existed. R. says Birks are not cool in Florida. We lunched at Tijuana Flats.

Me: NOT cool, even in leather...

And another day I browsed the local Whole Foods, and ate lunch at the The Glass Knife, a recent addition to Winter Park. I brought home a tabletop balsam fir with stand included from Whole Foods, from North Carolina, for $30.

Can't get away from the popular Founders brews! - At Whole Foods, Winter Park

We also made our annual pilgrimage to The Coop in  downtown Winter Park for an inexpensive meal of fried chicken and southern fare.

On the last night in Florida we viewed Iceland photos on the big screen--a fresh Icelandic travelogue. Now I don't have to go!

So I learned a few things about the land of "fire and ice" that has become such a hot tourist spot in recent years. I didn't realize that the whole island is heated with geyser steam--not just a few spas. The landscape is varied and surreal, with black sand, high cliffs, clear streams, and waterfalls everywhere. Very few trees grow on the island, and limited species of animals thrive there. Greenhouses are used to grow food. And they DRINK.

The kids brought back "spirits" from Iceland, Arctic Char, delicious herring in a jar, chocolate, thyme, salts and a cookbook. I was gifted with a bottle of birch liqueur and found out that the Icelanders use birch bark and angelica archangel as unique botanicals in their distilling process. I think I grew that plant once in my aunt's garden. but we didn't use the seed pods for flavoring. Or distilling! R. and G. ate lamb, fish and reindeer, and even sampled fermented shark, a thing you apparently must do as an authentic tourist. When in Asia, stinky tofu and 100-year-old eggs. When in Iceland, fermented shark!

 After watching the video they shared on Facebook, I almost threw up myself, imagining the taste of this aged, ammonia-imbued. disgusting stuff. And I've eaten some pretty odd stuff: sea slugs, Colombian ants, peacock breast.

R. made a board of Icelandic herring and things left over in the refrigerator for us:

And then we returned home to enjoy that horrible Icelandic Horse Flu which they, so generously, also shared with us...

Turkey for Two

My turkey dinner (plus pie and ice cream!)

Once again, we spent Thanksgiving in central Florida. We did get a last minute invitation to join some of the husband's older golfing buddies from our denomination who winter in a gated community in the Orlando area. I did not know any of them and asked him to decline. They had some other unexpected guests who maxed out their table, so it was all good.

Except that I had to (or rather decided to) cook a qualifying turkey dinner for two.

At Costco on Wednesday afternoon the fresh turkeys all looked way too large, but we selected a generous pumpkin pie, which tastes good for several days (unlike turkey leftovers)--especially good topped with Publix premium vanilla ice cream! Later that day at Publix I found a Li'l Butterball that looked perfect:

All the buzz seemed to be about spatchcocking this year, so I asked the husband to google it to see if he thought he could manage the process. He first googled cock spatch. I don't know what he learned but it made me laugh just thinking about it!

Ready to spatchcock! Notice the photo-bombing dog.

I also bought two sweet potatoes, a bag of cranberries, haricot verts (thin French green beans), mushroom soup, portabellas, and on sudden inspiration, a jar of Smucker's orange marmalade with Splenda, which, along with a little added sugar and cinnamon made an easy, tasty cranberry sauce. The other total shortcut was purchasing a container of prepared potatoes. I did cook the giblets and used them for a tiny blob of stuffing which I tucked under the spatchcocked bird. I  pre-cooked the beans and sauteed the mushrooms. I smeared a washed sweet potato with Land O'Lakes butter and wrapped it in foil to cook alongside the turkey. I made a little gravy from the pan juices.

I had nothing else to do for the day except feed the dog, empty the pool filter and vac and water 5 plants, so it was just enough cooking to make me feel good about myself.

Do not tell the parent/owners, who never feed the dog people food (and he does not beg), but I snuck a small bit of hot turkey broth into his food and sliced up the inedible parts of the cooked gizzard into tiny pieces. Such a subtle and harmless thing to do, and sooo delicious! Who heard of eating deer on Thanksgiving! Even if you are in Iceland and eating reindeer! This was the dog's can:

That's about it for Thanksgiving Day this year. No church. Just a laid-back day, with enough good food to satisfy!

Icelandic Horse Flu Update

Clouds and sunshine - dump view

I managed to get out of the house yesterday! I blew the deck and driveway clean and raked up a few piles of honey locust pods, and along with 3 bags I had left out on the driveway back on the 13th, took a full load to the yard waste facility. I also dumped the one pumpkin the squirrels had not yet demolished.

It was a sunny day, with beautiful clouds. It was a busy day at the dump--a small window of good weather. More snow has now once again refreshed the landscape overnight.

Returning late in the day as the gray clouds were tingeing pink. I was thankful to be out in the world again.

But I am not better! And nobody wants to be around a cougher, I woke up this morning with a stuffed head, a productive cough, still clinging to a roll of Cottonelle--this one retrieved from the husband, whose "Icelandic virus" never really progressed, like mine, to full-blown, so to speak.

It is a week now since that first raw patch in my throat appeared. If things weren't bad enough I now have developed a (tiny) cold sore on my upper lip! I found a tube of Abreva (that only expired two years ago) and applied it liberally.

I am not a happy camper! I am not yet ready for this kind of forced hibernation, but frankly, haven't missed that much. I did waste a ticket I bought myself to a comedy show at 20 Monroe Live, but it was a nasty night to be out. I should feel well enough for our book club Christmas party Sunday night. I even finished the *book!

*The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

From Coast to Cottonelle

In the distance: the husband, floating in the Atlantic

Three days lost.

Three rolls of Ultra Comfort Care Cottenelle gone.

(Have you noticed? That stuff is getting pricey! I can see why it is scarce in some countries).

It was a tough transition from sunny Florida to a barren brown and white Michigan.

One of us had recently been floating happily in the ocean near the Pompano Beach Marriot. One of us had been sipping a Sunday brunch Bloody Mary at the pool-side bar.

The transition might have been tolerable if the sore spot on one side of my throat (first noticed on the flight home) had not developed overnight into a full-blown raw and painful cough. And then into a raging cold.

Yes, we have just returned from (once again) dog-sitting the "royal" red golden for a couple of weeks.

When the children are young, they sometimes bring home nasty viruses shared by sick classmates. Well, our 40-something "kids" brought home with them a particularly virulent virus from Iceland, of all places. One would think the germs would all remain frozen there...

We stayed with them a few days following their trip, finishing off a few turkey dinner leftovers--just enough time for them to share their fresh Icelandic germs with us!

G. became so ill after taking us to the airport that he took to his bed for three days. I don't know how many rolls of Cottonelle he needed, but I had purchased a fresh pack while we were living there.

He dubbed this one the Icelandic Horse Flu, which gave it a certain exotic gravitas. A significant fever accompanied his version and I'm sure it felt like flu. Whatever it was, we won't get that one again, thankfully. Even if we travel to Iceland! I will never forget this Horse Flu thing, though!

You see, the highlight (really!) of their Icelandic adventure had been when R. made friends with a small cadre of free-roaming horses. She managed to get up close and personal and even reach out and touch one.

Tonight I think that I have finally turned the corner on this thing and offered the last soft roll to the husband, who seems to be sniffling and coughing a little himself.

I had enough energy to tap this post out on my smart phone while lounging on the sofa. I will document a few more things from the trip later, when I catch up a bit around here ... and get all that snotty toilet paper trash-bagged!

Tomorrow I hope to shower and wear real clothes and maybe even put on a bra.

The weather outside has been frightful (now dark and rainy), but I would not have chosen to stay inside for over 3 days!

 I hope the Subaru starts after its long rest in the driveway.