Life a great adventure

Oh, my it has been along time since I sat down and shared the adventures that make up our life with you.

Adventure is more than likely too ambitious a descriptor for the moments that have made up our lives over the past month - it has been 35 days since I last posted.

Since that time, we have travel back from the West safely and lived each day to the fullest.

Sometimes just being present in each moment is adventure enough, finding joy in the normal coming and goings of life can be the best adventure.

There is great joy in coming home, walking through gardens beautiful with new blooms to explore and weeds to uproot.

Greeting family and neighbours who have painstakingly cared for your home while you were away.  We are blessed with good neighbours and adult children who live close enough to visit our home daily, bringing in the mail, walking through and around our home.

One of our first task was to catch up with extended family and this resulted in day trips to Guelph and Owen Sound where we retold our western adventures.

With cooler weather we passed a very delightful day in September walking in the bush behind Paul’s brother home.  

When you take your time being mindful of the flora below and above a stroll in the bush is an adventure as you encounter, leaves turning colour, the last of the late summer berries and a diversity of the fungus growing in the rich damp soil.

Our grandchildren quickly ensured that we re-established our weekly routines with them and how we missed their unique and quirky personalities.  

Grandchildren make life an adventure in staying young and informed as they ensure you stay in touch with what is in vogue.

In the craft room I completed my donations for the Children’s fundraising auction, the Junk Journal Canada seasonal swaps, packages for our great nieces and nephews pen pal and I set about reorganizing the room.

I started to attend monthly acrylic painting days.  On Tuesday I attend one event then on Thursday of the same week the second event.  Same teacher, same projects different town.  This affords me a second attempt at the same project!

I enjoyed covering week one with black paint
and trying again.

Paul received an award for 10 years of volunteer service for our local Children’s Aid Society as a volunteer driver.  This is an activity that brings him great joy and for which I am very proud of him. 

We attended a 70^th birthday party and remembered how much we enjoy playing Hand and Foot.

And attending a funeral where I became aware that it is in death we come face to face with the meaning of life.  

It was the everyday things that we are remembered for.   Mabel’s children and grandchildren spoke of  her smile, the idioms that were uniquely hers, her welcoming nature, her baking and  so many other things.  

I was left wondering how I will be remembered, the meaning that I am creating for myself and the world around me. 

Now there is the adventure!

At a church potluck this month someone made the comment that when you are retired you are busier than ever and I  was caught off guard by the statement.  We are very busy and never seem to have enough time to get everything we want done however are we busier than before retirement?   

I would have to say no.   I am less organized with my time, taking long coffee breaks when I want, sleeping in, talking to neighbours and this takes up time that before retirement I would not indulge in.

I am not complaining as having time to do what I want without having to book it in the calendar is the upside of retirement.  We are not busier, now we are more engaged in our lives and this brings with it great joy. 

Thank you for taking your time to read this post.

Grandma Snyder

©️2013-2019 twosnydergirls 

Who is visiting our bird feeder?

Cold wet weather finds me sitting at my desk writing, watching the birds and one squirrel dine at our new bird feeder.

One of the unintended consequences of the type of feeder we purchased is that the smaller birds are dinning dry and protected from the prevailing wind.

We placed a plastic tray under the feeder and it is from here the larger birds and squirrels have been feeding.  

During a break in the rain we went out and found the tray ½ filled with water.  

To fix this we thought we would drill drainage holes and on further consideration we will be emptying the water daily and in the summer fill it each morning with fresh water for the birds as small animals to drink from.

We also discovered that aside from the Robin we do not know the names of the birds who dropped by today, so to remedy this we will purchase a bird identification book.  

Can someone point us towards a good one?

The air over the past few days has been filled with bird song and yesterday I was captivated by the concept of depicting bird song in a photograph.  

What does bird song feel or look like?  

How would you represent bird song in a photograph?

Some of the images that I thought of were;

 children blowing bubbles that are floating on the wind currents, 

dandelion seed floating on the wind

 and rain drops falling softly on a leaf.

Today I started setting up for my next knitting project a doggy coat for Toaster and I had the opportunity to pull out my yarn book.  

About 2 years ago I made two floor pillows and stuffed them with yarn, a great storage idea.  

Knowing that out of sight out of mind I would forget what yarn the pillow held, I cut a small piece of each colour and type of yarn in the pillows and placed them in a small book which I promptly misplaced. 

I found the little booklet in my marathon cleaning of the craft room the other day and  I was able to find two skeins of the right type of yarn today.

Now I intent to add  all of the yarns in my craft closet to my book and this time make sure I do not misplace it!

Lupper was fish and rice one of our favourite meals.

Making Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Raisin
Click to be directed to the post with recipe 

And finally being Monday night our granddaughter is over and helping us make cookies for the coming week.

 Grandma Snyder

©2013-2019 twosnydergirls

Walking was just the right speed today

After Easter Service the sun was shinning and we went walking.

There is a trail that runs along the river and this is where we headed.

Myrtle Beach was the last real long walk we have been on
so stretching muscles was very important. 

The fields are showing signs of green after the warm rain of yesterday
and the river has spilled over it's banks.

We look forward each year to the blooming of this early spring wild flower.

Warm rain has started the trees blooming
- signs of spring were everywhere today.

3 of the 4 bridges were closed and getting through the barriers was a physical work out.
No worries there were many people on the trail all crossing as we did.

The new signs of life were not the only things that caught our attention.

Yes there remains snow in the shaded area of the trail.

We were not the only creatures out today this garter snake was
enjoying the sun.

Ramblings of a Mennonite Grandmother

My last blog post created a bit of a stir as the people who read it placed my struggle within either their experience of retirement or their desire to retire and I appreciate all the comments and the conversation it has created.

That conversation continued today at church where I was engaged in a conversation about how no one wants to openly talk about the emotional struggles some of us are experiencing in retirement. 

I have named my retirement demon and through my writing and self reflection I am finding joy, expectation and serenity – our walk today is a perfect example.  It is those fears that remain unnamed that haunt our subconscious and rob us of joy.

In church today the two of us talked about our reality and named our fear retirement is the last stage of life – the 20^th century lie we have been fed.  While we talked we could not ignore the children laughing at the table next to us and insight caught us both up short. 

We are both healthy as are the children, there is no reason to anticipate that either of us will die in the next year nor any of the children yet here we were talking about our fear of death and needing a purpose while the children laughed, played and held the world as a place of wonder and excitement.

We named our challenge to find the world a place of wonder and excitement just as the children do - to play with full abandon our only goal to live well!

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2019 twosnydergirls

A day just a little off kilter

Slept in this morning and missed the sunrise, and with that my day was just a little off kilter as a result.

I am learning that in retirement sleeping in does not provide me joy rather it leave me feeling just a little out of control, like I am chasing the day instead of meeting each moment with expectation.

Once I was up I quickly moved to surround myself things that bring me joy, morning vitamins from a cherished keepsake that brings back wonderful memories of our children, my morning smoothie in a beloved mug gifted to us by grandchildren. 

With all of this in place we sat quietly and listened to Pray-as-go a podcast we find uplifting.

Dishes done we went for a walk and found a new piece of art work in front yard of the local wine shop and that is when it started to rain.  We left home without an umbrella and so spent the last half of our walk-in a down pour.  We got wet!

We never take for granted how lucky we are to live close to our adult children and while today's rescue came from a visiting child we have in the past just called one of our other two children when help was needed.  

The rain continued and with our shopping done we called our son and waited at McDonald’s for our knight in shining armor to arrive.  I picked up light reading and nope I found no new insight.

Next is was off for a planned trip to take our new daughter-of-love (my new term to describe some just as important as a daughter-in-law) to taste the wonderful food at the Wismer House in Port Elgin.  The Hummus platter was amazing and the fish and chips as always, the best you can find.

I was caught on camera hamming-it-up with Kelsey’s glasses.  The hand sign means “having a good time.”  Now I did have to google it to make sure I was not signing something bad, clearly my facial expression does not match LOL. 

Back home, normal everyday activities were looked after, cleaning, crushing cans, and laundry.   

I ended my day as I am want to do with a good cup of tea in my pink rocking chair writing this post and enjoying my window on the world.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2019 twosnydergirls