How to fill time in retirement

 Added five new books since early December. I finished three of the books and left two of the non-fiction as not completed, what I like to call "I have read enough". The fiction books were the first two from His Dark Materials trilogy. I just started the third. The three non-fiction books included two science books and one history book.  I have been using Goodreads,com to keep track of what I am reading and there are other friends from Facebook that I can share information. You can create multiple reading lists, set goals for the year, follow favorite authors (which includes announcements of new books) and read many reviews. There are also lists of almost everything including new books by genre, favorite books of fellow readers, and a monthly summary of your progress. Here is a short recap of the most recent books I have read... 1. The Golden Compass The Golden Compass was written by Philip Pullman in 1995. I gave the book a 3.5 on the BJ scale (Great to Excellent). T

 Back when I first retired, I was looking for things to do to keep my self busy. I was still golfing and a few other things, and my bucket list included a lot of travel. But I was starting to gain weight from inactivity so I set a goal to walk the length of the beach in Central to South Brevard, and take pictures of the experience. Joining together  two things I liked, walking a sandy beach and photography, it was a great idea so I made a spreadsheet and a plan. The problem: I did not complete the goal (aka bucket list item). That bugged me and I felt like a failure. I did not write about it liked I originally planned. Here, five years later, is a synopsis of the walk with a few photos. As you can see by my spreadsheet, I came very close to making it. I did 29 of the planned 33 hikes.  I will explain the failure during my brief report. It should be noted that the distances are one way. Since I was alone in this venture, I had  to walk each route both ways. I had to get back to my car!

 Well, another year has started. I retired in 2014, so it will be seven years since I last worked when we hit May. It seems like two years and yes, I am counting... Of course, 2020 kind of messed things up and the year has passed without much activity. Tom and I did a 10 day cruise last January, and now we are ready to start anew. Well, my house abuts Elbow Creek, where I do get to see some interesting animals. The other day I took this picture of a turtle who was hurriedly (for a turtle) swimming around behind the house. I shared the photo on Facebook and my friend Dicky Little asked if it was a snapping turtle. I answered, "No, he seemed happy." But I do think it is a snapping turtle... Today, January 5, there was a large fish swimming in circles near the same spot. I have not identified the fish yet but I think it was looking for a snapping turtle to eat. This fish was about three feet long, bigger than what I normally see... If you have any idea what it is, send me a note