How to fill time in retirement

One main reason for retiring early was to allow me to be able to travel more. Travel in the USA and Canada was a large part of family activities as I was growing up, and I always have liked going to new places, as well as visiting the same places again and again. Also, when I was in Junior High School, I took a photography class which started a passion in me to capture the moments of my life, including travel.  As I became an adult, work became more important so travel and photography took a smaller role in my life, although still part of what I did. But now that I have retired, they both have taken a front seat in my activities and they pair together well.  I can go to places I have always wanted to go and at the same time, take pictures to share with family and friends. I have include here a photo I took on my recent trip to St John, in the US Virgin Islands. The island is small with a permanent population of about 4,000 residents. Of course, tourism is very importa...

Even before retiring, I liked to eat out at different restaurants. I have always liked to try new things including food, and I am not afraid to try things that I have never had, within reason.  One of my bucket list items I added at the start of 2015 was to eat out, at least once a week, at a new restaurant that I have never been before. That may seem like an easy item to do, but since I have lived in the Melbourne Florida area for over 35 years, it is not easy finding new places. Therefore, I stretched my rules a little and I am allowed to eat out at a chain, as long as I have not been in the building before. Likewise, if a new restaurant opens up in the same building as one I went before, that counts as new also. As I started to do this, people would always ask me to rate the place. I came up with my own rating system scale which I have included here.  Since these are my rules, I find that I have to tweak the system sometimes. Since it has been 24 weeks already, the scale ...

First off, procrastination is not my middle name although I do have friends that believe that it is.  I keep promising myself that I will make this blog part of my retirement, but I keep having too much fun doing other things.  I had mentioned golf in an earlier post and I said it was one of the more important things I wanted to do after retiring, and I still feel that way but.... Not long after my last post, my friend and golf buddy, Fred Arnold, passed away after a battle with cancer.  Fred was too young to die, only 71, and his passing was a shock to a lot of people, particularly me.  I just assumed that Fred was always going to be there to make the tee times, and he would drive Jim to the course and I would get Gaylen (or vice versa) and we would meet, golf, and then stop for lunch after the round.  Those plans have been changed, and our foursome (now a threesome), are trying to cope with the changes. This past weekend, Jim made reservations at the local...