How to fill time in retirement

 Vacations are suppose to be a time to relax and get away from the everyday grind. But as I get older, and being retired, the vacation is a time to reflect on your life and to enjoy your past as it meets the present and future. I titled this "Favorites", but a better word may be "Spiritual". I have included some of the instances while on vacation where I had a moment of great reflection on how lucky I am to be alive. I hope you enjoy them too. The first day I arrived I had a splendid visit with this young lady, Ellianna. She was with her dad Josh and was visiting her Grandpa Tom. I was using her bedroom for my stay and she gave me her permission to use it, but I could not use her Princess sheets. She is a sweetheart and very smart. She does spend some time watching videos, but she likes to use her crayons. It is always mind-opening to have a conversation with a child. I realized I had lots of photographs of the Middlebury Falls, and with all the rain Vermont was hav...

 When on vacation, everyone knows that there are no calories to be counted.  I drove to Vermont in two days, stayed with my brother Tom in Middlebury just short of two weeks, and then returned to Florida in 2 days. I did do some eating at new places during that period, and of course some of the old establishments I love (or like a lot). Here are some of the places I went. On Sunday, August 6, I spent the early afternoon at Neshobe Golf Club and late afternoon at the home of my friends Roger Paquette and Anne Runyon, who live in Brandon. Roger said we should go to The River Pub & Grill for dinner. It's located in the center of the small town and I took this bad photo of the outside as the sun was setting in the West. We (Roger, Anne & I) sat at the bar which was nicely lit. The television was playing women's rugby. I don't think I have ever seen that sport before. Sorry about the bad picture of the menu, but it was dark and I did not want to make my flash go off sinc...

 Although I was visiting Vermont primarily to visit relatives, there were other happenings in the town of Middlebury and surrounding areas. The unusual rain had not stopped the summer functions and events from happening. I was lucky enough to attend a few things, and one close to my heart was the small Memorial get-together for Steve's Park Diner being torn down. So on Saturday morning, August 4, after a nice walk from Tom's house on Weybridge Street, I arrived at the diner for one last time. I was early and sat myself next to the diner on the stone wall separating it from the Middlebury Town Hall Theater. The first person I talked to said she was the mother of one of the waitresses from the past, Jodi James. We had a nice chat and I saw an old class mate walking by. It was Kathy Smith, who did Independent Study with me Senior Year at MUHS, class of 1975. We did Oral Interpretation with fellow student Scott Sperry. It was great to see her. Other people starting showing up, some...