The confusion comes from thinking I’d better hurry to do whatever things I have on my list of chores, and then realise I have all the time in the world, so why panic?  I guess it’s going to be a bit of an adjustment after 40 odd years of working to truly understand my time is my own.  Scary.

So the days pass in a general haze of grocery shopping, house cleaning, gardening and cooking for mom.  That’s now one of my main activities, and it’s quite an enjoyable one.  When I visit mom I fill a large cooler with individually frozen meals as well as things she likes like muffins.

Margaret visited on the weekend, and I made a vat of butter chicken.  I had a lot left over and so I was able to freeze some of that and will take it to mom.  I should’ve made it a bit hotter as Jan was quite perplexed by the lack of heat.  Certainly I could never make it to her heat standards as it would kill everyone else.

Luke and Nicky went to Osoyoos on the weekend, and camped at the beach below mom’s.  Dan, AKA The Boarder, met them there, and then Dan’s whole family showed up so it was a merry time in the rain, but in tents, and Nicky said they built a roaring fire.

I was certainly glad of the rain as it meant I didn’t have to water the containers and some beds.  I’m very fussy about how my dahlias are watered as I don’t want a sprinkler shooting into them, weighing them down and breaking them due to their large blooms.  So my dahlias are all hand watered.

One of the dahlias is about to bloom, so once we get back into some sun and heat it’ll open and I can see which colour and shape it is.  I surprise myself each year as I never label them, so when I plant the bulbs I have no idea what kind I’ve planted in the various areas of the garden.  I then wait with giddy excitement to see where they bloom.

George comes in in the mornings quite beaten up around the face.  He has scabs on his nose and ear and isn’t even one year old yet.  I wonder if he’s out there fighting around with other cats or if he’s just being pecked by helpless birds as they try to avoid being eaten.  He’s a voracious hunter as is his sister.

Fuji’s here most days, and as I write this all four animals are fast asleep.  The cats are getting their strength for the night time outings of fighting and hunting and the dogs are waiting for their “dinner” which occurs at 3:00 PM.

One new addiction I’ve noticed since being retired is my addiction to You Tube.  I don’t have cable, so I just watch the shows the next day.  I’m really fine with that, as I wouldn’t be awake for the Late Show with Steven Colbert.  However every single day I watch it starting around the dog’s dinner hour.

Naturally this leads to no good as by 4:00 PM one thinks oh heck the sun’s under the yardarm so what’s better than a cocktail?  I start to cook my dinner and then settle in to several more hours of You Tube shows and docs, as well as Netflix’ offerings.  And then if I feel bad about it all, I say, but you’re retired.  You can do whatever you damn well please, so I do.