Travel Tuesday: Into the City

One morning recently I was in a mood for a train ride. I left early, taking the condo shuttle bus to the subway station. 

Two stops on the subway, I got off at King Street Station and walked across to the Alexandria Railway Station.  I bought a ticket on the Virginia Railway Express train into Union Station in Washington DC. This is a commuter train, running on the mainline tracks. A full fare one way ticket was $5. It is only about a ten mile ride. 

I found a seat on the upper level facing the direction of travel. Great views. 

The exit out the front of Union Station, across to the Capitol Building. 

The Folger Shakespeare Library, is behind the main building of the library of congress, I was an hour too early to see the inside (I will go back.) 

A nice new passenger waiting area at Union Station in DC. 

One of my favorite views, crossing the River on Long Bridge from Virginia into DC. The alignment of the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument was accidental. 

Monday Mood: Get Away From It All

The quote below was the subject line of a marketing email from the cruise line for next springs grand adventure: 

"Save on Wi-Fi so fast, you’ll forget you’re at sea"

Oh hell NO. The photo above is what you want to be mesmerized by on a cruise. If you are going to spend your days staring at a screen, on your phone, on a tablet, or on a laptop, stay home.  On our Atlantic crossing last April, we did have Wi-Fi, it was included as part of a discount package, and honestly it was terrible.  It was spotty, working one minute and not the next, it was SLOW, and it had built in preferences, Facebook always loaded, blogger often took five minutes to load. I won't do that again.  There will be about ten days next spring when I won't be able to reply to comments. A digital detox - many of us need to do that from time to time (fret not, I will schedule posts so you have something to read each day.) I will get away, by getting away and not dragging my wonderful electronic world along with me every minute. 

Last Thursday evening we attended a National Symphony Orchestra performance.  There was a couple, about ten rows back from the stage, who spent most of the evening staring at their phones. I guess the Orchestra was just background music for whatever was engaging their minds.  Sad really that they found it impossible to escape into the glorious noise for two hours. 

I often miss calls to my smartphone. I leave it on the desk or the bedside table when I am in the other room, or I have the ringer turned off. If it is important, leave a message, and I will call you back. Even better send me an email, I will read and respond when I can. 

My mood this Monday. Ready for a digital detox.  

The Sunday Five: Thankfulness

Thursday of this week is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. A pause, after the harvest season, to give thanks. 

1: Who are you thankful for having in your life this year? 

2: Who have you met this year, that you are thankful for? 

3: What have you left behind this year that makes your life better?

4: What have you learned this year, that makes your life better? 

5: What adventure from this year, will be thankful memories for years to come? 

My Answers: 

1: Who are you thankful for having in your life this year?  My Sweet Bear, my blog friends and readers, the water aerobics gang, the arts committee, and my sister. 

2: Who have you met this year, that you are thankful for? Amy and Linda of the arts committee, they are dears and so helpful. 

3: What have you left behind this year that makes your life better? I drastically cut back on Facebook and reading the news, my life is better for this. 

4: What have you learned this year, that makes your life better? That most artists worry that their work is not good enough, create anyway. We are our harshest critics. 

5: What adventure from this year, will be thankful memories for years to come? Visiting St Andrews in Scotland. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post - 50 States in 52 Weeks - Washington

I have been to Seattle several times for meetings or conferences, the cruise we did to Alaska back in 2008 was from Seattle.  Washington State is the farthest northwest state in the continental United States. 

Back in the summer of 2019 I had a board meeting in Seattle, and then rented a car for a week to drive around the the State of Washington.  We went north from Seattle, and toured the Boeing Factory, the last 747 freighters were working their way down the line.  We went north from there, with a couple of ferry crossings to the waterway that separates the United States from Canada. We took a whale watching boat tour and had incredible pie on a native American reservation. Over a couple of days we worked out way west to the farthest northwest point in the continental United States. Then turned south along the Pacific Coast.  Shortly after crossing into Oregon, we turned Northeast, and visited Mt St. Helens. Drove west from there deeper into the mountains and then back to Seattle to return the rental car, spend a night in a Hilton across the street from the airport and fly home. 

It was an amazing trip. I would do it again anytime.  

Western Washington is rocky, forested, wet and beautiful.  The mountains are amazing, and the plains east of there are fertile. Seattle is home to tech giants, and Boeing. 

When you have a chance, go and explore this beautiful corner of the country. 

Funky Friday: Parking Stories

It must have been a wild night, some Wizzard left their broom behind. 

Back in the 1980's I worked for a home builder that had a landscape maintenance crew, a couple of guys and a truck and trailer full of mowers, leaf blowers and rakes. The lawn guys were often young and colorful. One of them was late one Monday morning, he explained, that he had gone to Nickel beer night at Rosie O'Gradys Church Street Station on Saturday night, woke up on Sunday afternoon in bed with three strangers of various genders. He couldn't remember where he parked his car. Finally about 8:00 AM on Monday morning, the police informed him that his car had been towed from the front lawn of the Federal building downtown Orlando. He had no idea how the car ended up there. Fortunately the police just wanted him to pay the towing charges.  

One of the project managers at AARP, had a son with schizophrenia. He borrowed her car one weekend, had an onset of being unwell and left the car idling at a traffic light in DC, and took the subway home. The police found the car a couple of weeks later, parked under a bridge with a young lady running a "small business" out of the backseat. Practicing the oldest profession as they would say. Her insurance company insisted that if they had the seat cleaned there was nothing wrong with the car. She was creeped out by the car and sent it to auction the next week. 

My exes, first ex, was known to over indulge in alcohol. He once walked away from her car, left it idling with the keys in it, at a traffic light, and went drinking in a nearby bar. He was very angry when he came back a couple of hours later and the car was not there. That was better than the time he hit a boat on the expressway - after one to many beers. 

Sweet Bear and I moved in with one another a year or so before I finished my BA.  He registered my car with campus security so he could drive it to work if needed, or I could drop by to pick him up.  As a result, I had a faculty parking sticker the last year I was a college student. The faculty parking was much closer, but the student lot had nicer cars in it.  

I have led such a quiet life, but I have known a few colorful people. 

Thursday Ramble: My Golden Years?

A comment from a neighbor and post by Doc Spo, have me thinking about the best years of my life.  I am nearing two years since I retired. And I have been thinking about what that means. 

In my mind it is hard to fathom that I am old enough to be retired. I remember my paternal grandfather retiring, he seemed so old (and would die in less than 5 years.) In reality he was about the age I am now. My parents retired early, in their late 50's, then went back to work for a few years and retired a second time in their 60's. They didn't really seem old to me, until their health started to seriously fail in their 80's. But here I am past my middle 60's and no longer working for a living. 

At the pool recently a friend was commenting on his retirement. He worked for a major auto manufacturer for 30+ years, and retired. Was bored and went back to work a few months later. Then they told him he had to work weekends, and he said, "No I don't - I quit", and that was the end of work for him. 

He said that for most Americans our identity is so closely tied to our work, that retirement is a struggle of self identity. How to self identify in retirement is an adjustment that all of us must make.  Almost two years in, and I still struggle with this. I am retired, but then I tend to add what I am retired from, tagging my current identity to my past identity.  I knew this would be a challenge for me, and I will keep working on it. 

We are taught to not talk about money. We are warned as older adults to not tell anyone about money, scammers are always looking for a pot of gold, and family will suck you dry just as fast. 

I have read that the greatest risk of poverty among middle class retirees is an unwillingness to spend the retirement savings that we have spent a lifetime saving. From childhood we are told, taught, to save for the future, no one really talks about what you do with it in the future.  Stock brokers are eager to offer advice that generates commissions for them, and continues to build the size of the portfolio, after all the more you have - the more they can potentially make. 

We have reached the point in life when we are no longer saving for retirement, and yet we find ourselves reluctant to spend against what we have saved. I watched my parents do the same, Dad's investment account was more than twice as much when he died as it was when he retired 30 years earlier. Yes they drew income from it. They lived well, but they should have lived even more comfortably. 

I am struggling with this. Worried that spending $234 on a replacement lens a couple of weeks ago was not absolutely necessary. And our obsession with not talking about money makes this harder. This is still a work in progress. 

What am I most enjoying? Being in charge of my time. I can take a walk, or head to the pool whenever I wish. I can book travel that takes us away from home for a month at a time. Things I couldn't do when I was working. It has taken a couple of years, but I have replaced the social network of work colleagues, with friends and neighbors. I have time to explore my creative interests. I have time to stroll through museums - one of the great joys of living in the DC area is access to world class museums. I can check out a bag of books from my local library, and read all I want (74 books so far this year.) I have time to play in the kitchen, allowing yeast to rise, pickles to ferment, roasts and stews to slow cook for hours. I enjoy it. Cooking is not something I need to do efficiently at the end of a long day of devotion to duty. 

At best, I have maybe 20 more years to do this, if I hit the national average life my life expectancy is closer to 10 years. I will focus not on the years in my life, but the life in my years.  

My World of Wonders - the Wednesday Ws November 19 2025

Where have I been this week? Into DC for a long walk, Mt. Vernon, the Troll Park (it has reopened) down along King Street, the Farmers Market, the Pool, into DC for lunch with Erica, the library for a restock, the Mt Vernon Recreation Center for a tour, the Community Center for an Arts committee meeting, Oxon Hill Farm across the River in Maryland - before becoming a park it was the farm for St. Elizabeths Hospital - the largest mental hospital in the area. The treadmill in the gym, the MGM Casino at National Harbor. 

Who have I talked with this week? Sweetie Bear, Amy, Linda, Warren, Marcell, Erica, Tom, Yadi, and Deirdre. 

Who have I traded messages with this week?  Spo, Sassy, my Sister, Louraine (who is in Paris for the month), Erica, and Omar. 

When is the next adventure? We booked travel for a board meeting in San Antonio in early February. Sweet Bear is going with me.  

What have I been up to in the kitchen?  Beef veggie noodle soup, pork roast, a baked pasta with Italian sausage and lots of cheese, and round steak with roast potatoes, broccoli.   

What am I reading? Page after Page - a book about writing. 

What is on the easel? An abstract nighttime city landscape. 

What am I grateful for this week? That I am not traveling over next week's Thanksgiving holiday.  It is so much more relaxing to just stay home. 

What am I planning for Thanksgiving?  Turkey, stuffing, and a veggie. The fruit cakes are ready, I re-boozed them last week.  

What made me sad this week? News of the passing of Harper hound at Doc Spo's.  She had a good long life and was very loved even by those who never met her.