How to fill time in retirement

Recently, I have rekindled an interest in the Great War, now called World War I. Partly this interest stems from two books I have read and more recently, a movie I watched on HBO. Growing up as a child, I would hear about family related war stories but never paid much attention. Now I regret that I did not sit and listen to either my dad or my grandfather, and ask them about the Wars. The first book which I read this past August, was the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Written in 1928, it tells about the brutalities of the war from a German Perspective. World War I was a trench war, with a large line called the Western Front with respect to Germany. Located mostly in Northeast France near Luxembourg and Belgium. It never reached to Paris but it consisted of a stretch of No-Man's land with trenches on one side filled with Germans and trenches on the other side full of French and British and their allies. Although the war started in 1914, it was not unt

 In the last three months, I have continued my reading but had a slow down with one of the books I read. I was struggling to get through it but decided to push on and try to finish it. At the end of August, I had finished 29 books from my list and 19 books read for pleasure. That was 48 books in 52 weeks. Not bad. The last three months I have only read 7 books, four of those from my list. First, the books from my list (#30 - #33) that I read: Book #30 was the novel  For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. Not on my original 100, I added it later and I am glad I did. Published in 1940, it tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia. I am slowly learning that a war setting makes for a great story. I gave the book a 4.0 (Excellent) and I plan to read more Hemingway. He did win a Nobel Prize for Literature. B

 As I have shared in the past, I still have a computer habit of saving pictures I see while surfing the Internet including Facebook. Organizing these photos can be a pain. I have not come up with an easy solution to this problem but I like to be able to find a photo from long ago. Therefore, organizing helps for future retrieval... My current system includes 13 categories. Let me explain 1 Comics Easy, this includes any comics. For example... 2 Data I have a Masters in Math and worked with scientists for 34 years, I like data. For example Before COVID, I was looking at cruises around the world, this one actually stops locally, at Port Canaveral. 3 Family Usually stolen from Facebook...For example I am the center of my family from my point of view... 4 Food Obvious I guess....for example A great idea for a Halloween pie... 5 Friends Of or from friends....(also posted by friends)…for example My friend Jorene Doria took this photo of Denali in Alaska. It's a beautiful shot... 6 Funny

 Each year the Brevard Zoo celebrates Halloween with several fun activities. Part of this is decorating the Zoo with lots of Halloween stuff. I took these photos on my visit this past week. Boo! Entering the Africa section has a new sign... No Halloween stuff here but the giraffe was wearing orange... Some chilling skeletons near the flamingo pond... Am I suppose to recognize this? Or this? A ghost and a witch hanging in front of Wild Florida. I really liked this one, a flamingo skeleton... No, that was not a real kid... Not a decoration but a snake wrapped up in the Rainforest, it could be a decoration... As you enter the Zoo, or as you leave... Make it out to the special October "Boo at the Zoo", great for the kids or grandkids...

 On my Brevard Zoo visit, I always like to see what plants they have. I must admit they usually have a great variety. Not sure what this is, but there were blooms like this all over... My next stop was Wild Florida which includes a few local animals. They use to have about 20 American Alligators in their large pond, but now are down to a few. I think they were having some social issues between the inhabitants. No one likes a crowd and in these times of a pandemic, social distancing is a must. This guy was off by himself... On the other side of the bridge over the pond, there are two American Crocodiles. They both are very large, I would say 8 to 10 feet. Here is one drifting by the bridge... I think all the Bald Eagles on display are in some kind of recovery from injuries they got in the wild. Regardless, they are still Majestic looking animals... It is too bad that the Zoo has such a problem with black vultures. They are everywhere and I think it is getting worse. Here is that Majesti