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Friday, June 14, 2013

My day.


What do retirees do all day?
I'll tell you about my morning so far. It is 9:30 am here on the West Coast of the USA, sunny and about 60F. I've been up for hours.


Three a.m or first light: Cat calls to go out.
Fifteen minutes later-cat continues to call. Irritated and sleepy, I keep one eye closed as I walk to the next room to open a window for her to crawl out of.
Four or so-cat is back in and plops down next to my pillow, trying to lick my hand. I tap the bed to indicate that she needs to lie down and do as I do, sleep. She does!!! And I take a few extra winks.

Five-cat is up again and meows to have her bowl and litter box freshened up.
Five-fifteen-I'm up, to the bathroom, void, take my pills, brush my teeth, drag myself to the kitchen and after I tend to cat's food dish and litter bowl, I make coffee.
Back in bed with trays of food and hot coffee, I set my three pillows up to watch the dawn wake birds and  seagulls  on the dunes. I can sit up like this and enjoy a cup of coffee and an egg on toast for as long as I want. Sometimes I see people walking the beach while it's barely light out there. Often, I see fishing boats returning to port, or lulling around pulling up crab traps.

Seven- Computer time; check emails; check Facebook; check blogs.

Eight- Hubby begins to stir back in the bedroom, and  I join him with a fresh cup of coffee. He too sits up to eat, and we chat about everything the world must do to get its act together. This morning, we discussed how our bacteria changed our evolution, a full half hour of evolutionary biology lecture free to those near enough to hear and appreciate all that jazz. My contribution? Why didn't that happen to other species? I got another lecture that was interrupted by another cat need. I know, she saves me at the right time!

Nine-Gardening or house chores until I'm too tired and worn out to stand and return to my computer as  Hubby goes through his routines and ends up at his computer in the same room.

Nine-thirty: Serious writing time for me and for my husband until lunch time, unless we have scheduled doctors' visits or  runs to pharmacy,drug stores, groceries. Since these are all out of town, we anticipate that lunch will be eaten out and that our morning or afternoon walks can be accommodated one way or another in this time frame. We park as far away as possible, and walk to the stores. We walk the beaches, the river, the parks available around our errands. We try to challenge ourselves this way and maintain our physical abilities. If we leave town, we may not return until late afternoon or early evening. This happens more often that we try to admit. Most of our doctors are specialists, three hours away, for which occasion we need to make arrangements to stay overnight, and to have someone care for the cat and the house.


Noon-two- Lunch is usually our big meal, and it consists of a salad, cooked veggies and a protein. After lunch, television is turned on and we watch old movies or series we have recorded and nap to our hearts' content.

Two-five-Volunteer activities. We may have to switch our appointment times sometimes, but having a place to be in the afternoons adds interest and challenges to our schedules. I run the Arts Council, teach a couple of writing workshops, sit on the School Board, perform at an open mike cafe once a week, and meet with writing and reading groups regularly. I had not done any of these activities before I retired.

Five- Dinner and news.Dinner is a soup, or salad, a half a sandwich and fruit. Many times, I cook extra food for lunch. If a neighbor has no plans for dinner, they join us. I love to have impromptu get together.

Six-nine- Television, necessary chores, more computer time.

Nine- Bed time.





15 comments:

Rian said...

I think you have a wonderful retirement! Our cats do the same thing... as far as trying to get us up early, but we generally don't rise until 7 am... so they eventually settle back down. I would love to be able to see seagulls from my house... let alone from my bed. What a wonderful view!

Brian Miller said...

smiles...i like your morning time together and that you take your time at lunch as well...would be fun to sit in on one of your writing workshops too...smiles.

Unknown said...

I retired very early (Not 55 yet) and I am really enjoying my time off. Because I needed to wake up at 3 am to run before work, that schedule has carried over, but I don't mind.

You are right that we end up doing things that we didn't do pre-retirement. I am planning on volunteering at Hawaii Literacy to become an adult literacy tutor.

Velva said...

I am loving your typical daily routine except for the 3 am let the cat out (smile). I am really looking forward to giving more time to the things that I enjoy.

Velva

Helen said...

You have inspired me to jot down when and what I do on a typical day (if that really exists.) Love that you awaken so early ... I do too and love 'the dawn's early light.' Sometimes I fall back asleep, relishing in the fresh air and cool breeze coming through the huge screen (sliding doors) I keep open most nights. The back yard of my town home complex (11 of them) is surrounded by an 18' fence, so I feel safe.

Lydia said...

I found your day fascinating. Am rather awestruck by your early rising hour...that would kill me! I am glad that my cats are lazy bones and sleep until I get up, sometimes even beyond. Your cat sounds like the personality kid, though, and I bet she hates it when you have to spend the night away from her.

Your volunteer work is really inspiring.

Rosaria Williams said...

Note one: when we first retired we participated in more activities than we could count. Slowly, we pulled back because of health issues, family issues, and tried to stay relatively active, doing what we love to do, rather than what others expect us to do.

Note two: If you know what your heart desires, stick to it, find time for it now, today. If not, you'll always regret it. I wish I had learned to play an instrument, for instance, or learned to dance. I even took up fiddle playing last year, and kept it up for a few months. It was frustrating to see my fingers not obeying my commands!

Note three: Try, try again. Writing was not what I did for a living; but it is what I wanted to learn to do as a retiree. I write now; write all the time; have taken classes and workshops and attend many groups that help me hone in on the skills necessary. If you really love to do something, learn all you can about it, and do it!

Jenny Woolf said...

A pleasant routine. It's good to make specific time to talk and to take a constitutional. It must be lovely to have a house which overlooks the beach.

Maggie May said...

Thanks for sharing your day!
Seems to me that you have done so much before the average person gets up!

I also seem to be waking earlier & earlier these days and I don't even have a cat to wake me up!
Maggie x

Nuts in May

yaya said...

Very full schedule! I get up early now because of work, but I'm sure I'll continue that when I retire. (whenever that will happen!) Now about the cat...I have one but I'm not really a big fan of cats so I do hope she retires before me! Until then I will take good care of her as I've done for the last 12yrs! Ha!

Diana said...

Sounds lovely and peaceful to me...I can't wait to have time for some of the things that don't fit in now.

troutbirder said...

Interestingly busy et. all. I find the cat rules the house part, especially annoying early in the morning. But them I'm the dog owner (Baron) and she owns a cat... Simba....;(

Vagabonde said...

Your cat keeps you with an early schedule. While I worked at my last job, for almost 26 years, I had to get up at 4:00 am so now I don’t get up early – 8:30 am is the earliest, but I usually read until 1:30 am. After walking all over the steep hills in San Francisco I can barely move, but if I had the sea close by I would try to walk. We have a new kitten, but she sleeps the whole night thankfully.

Lisa said...

wow what blessings and to do so in such a beautiful area too.

Rosaria Williams said...

Thanks for the visit, everyone.