I see it has been 18 days since my last post. How did the time pass so quickly? I ponder that question on a regular basis. I was warned that time passes more quickly as we age, and it is certainly true.
If you read my most recent posts, you know I went to Sandpoint for a couple days of relaxation. Then I proceeded on to Montana to visit my sister. Her husband was beginning to feel better, so I went ahead with my plan to spend at least a couple of days there. We enjoyed the usual jigsaw puzzle, knitting, and plenty of tea. I wasn't in the mood to take pictures, so I didn't, even though I drove through some beautiful scenery with lingering fall colors.
When I got home, my customary whirlwind existence promptly resumed: a meeting, appointments, babysitting grandchildren, and dealing with apples, apples, and more apples! My sister had sent a couple boxes home with my daughter in mid-October, so she and I made applesauce at that time. But I wanted more. So when we went to Green Bluff at the end of October, I bought another box at one of the orchards. My favorite apple orchard was closed for the season, so I settled for one box from an orchard where I'd never purchased apples before.
Then I got sick, and a week went by before I was able to make the applesauce. My daughter stored my box of Jonathan apples in her insulated garage, right next to her box of Honeycrisps. Her apples stored just fine, but mine became soft and rotten. It took an email and three phone calls to the orchard before I was told I could come get a box of Honeycrisps to replace the rotten Jonathan apples.
So the Friday after I got back from my trip, I detoured to Green Bluff to pick up the replacement apples on my way to babysit in Spokane. The lady actually gave me TWO boxes of big, beautiful Honeycrisp apples! I was very pleased to discover she had chosen to so generously replace the faulty apples for which I had paid a ridiculous price.
The 19th, 20th, and 21st were apple-filled days. I made apple sauce, apple butter, apple crisp, and froze filling for two pies and another crisp. My daughter came to help on the 21st, and it was lovely to have a second pair of hands. I was in a hurry to get those apples preserved one way or another, as there were too many to put into my fridge and I had no cool place to store them except in my car. Fortunately, the temperature only got down to 25 degrees during those few nights, and the apples kept just fine.
The day before Thanksgiving, my son-in-law went shopping with me for new doors and baseboards. (The new flooring we got in October lead to more projects, of course.) So now I need to get busy and paint baseboards and doors. This is the time of year when I'd prefer to do jigsaw puzzles, knit, read books, and catch up on household tasks that were abandoned all summer. But I got myself tangled up in a remodeling project, so that's what I need to focus on in the near future.
When I was in college I made up a weekly schedule for myself, with class times, meal times, and study times filling it up. I allowed myself only a few blocks of leisure time. The years of teaching school included long, full days with only the weekends in which to relax. The years of child raising and home schooling were slightly less scheduled, but there was still a routine that needed to be maintained. For most of the past 13 years I have been relishing a life with few daily routines and no weekly schedule (or sometimes a very light one), just taking each day as it comes and enjoying as much leisure time as I can, except for the necessary tasks of a homemaker. (We never get to really retire.)
Now I am beginning to think my life needs more structure. I may need to set aside specific times for writing, for exercising, for cleaning, and for spiritual refreshment. I have resisted the idea of scheduling my life again, but I think it may need to be done.
I'm curious to know how other mostly-retired folks handle their days. Do you have structure? Do you go with the flow? Do you feel as if you get done what needs to be done? Please comment below; I'm hoping to get some useful ideas and suggestions.
This post brought back some great memories of when I lived at home. My Mom would make apple sauce for days. With the help of my two sisters, they went at it from morning until night. By the time they were done, she would have made enough to last until the following season.
Like yourself, she would make deep-dish apple pies and my favorite apple crumb cake.
I am also retired and love being so. My day is pretty much my own and very seldom to I have to do anything that needs to be addressed at a certain time. I do love making a list because there is so much to do here on the farm, but I get to what I get to, really no schedule. After I retired from teaching for 30 years and answering the bell every day, scheduling anything but family events I try to avoid.
I'm so glad you finally get to kick back and be without a schedule! Those dang school bells get old after a while!
Hi @scribblingramma, I think very few people really retire these days. I once looked up the meaning of the word retirement, and if I remember correctly, one interpretation was - retiring from life!
We started an Airbnb about 6 months before I officially 'retired' from work. It was the best decision we ever made. Hubby passed away in July, but I'm continuing as it keeps me 'alive', many of the guests have become like family. As for structure, I try working to a program, but am very easily distracted, so am not very good at maintaining structure!
Lucky you with all those apples, all my favourite things, apple crisp tops the list though!
We should keep on doing the things we enjoy while we can, and not fall into the 'retirement' mold!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us here, a very apt topic for us Silver Bloggers!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment. I'm sorry for the loss of your husband. I'm glad you are enjoying the Airbnb "family."
Thank you @scribblingramma, yes I am blessed to have my Airbnb family, many who also miss my hubby xxx
The size of that apple!
So i am guessing there is quite a bit of variance in hardyness of apples!
Glad you got your apple sauce sorted in the end though.
It's true that not all apple varieties store equally well, but those should have been fine in the garage for one week. I suspect they had been stored outside in bins in below-freezing temperatures at the orchard before I bought them. I'm just glad it all worked out in the end.
Hello @scribblingramma
This is @tengolotodo and I'm part of the Silver Bloggers’ Community Team.
Thank you for sharing your excellent post in the Silver Bloggers community! As a special "token" of appreciation for this contribution to our community, it has been upvoted, reblogged and curated.
Thank you!
I'm a list maker. Each night before I retire I make a list of things to be done the next day. If I don't get everything marked off the list I punish myself with no hot chocolate at bedtime:)
I make lists, too, usually in the morning while I am collecting my wits and drinking some tea. But I still think I might need more structure than a list.
Your punishment is severe. LOL
My husband makes a list of what he wants done the next day. I am the opposite,, I go with the flow and make no plans.
I make lists, but don't worry too much if it doesn't all get done. And if something more interesting comes up, off I go.
Thank you for the nomination! I just now noticed this. (Life has been crazy!)
Apple sauce looks good, apple is enormous we use Grannysmith apples mainly for this type of bottling into a sauce or use in pies, not something I have done in many years!
As to being structured, I suppose we have to some keep some semblance of order. Oh we never retire, might go a tad slower, not work for a boss but more for oneself, slightly different I suppose in going to bed when you tired, wake up when refreshed or bones tell you enough of that bed, stumble through for a coffee !LOLZ
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I appreciate not having to wake up when an alarm clock goes off unless I have to get to an appointment. Tasks seem to take longer to accomplish as I get older, so I don't think I am getting any more done than before, even though one might think I have more time on my hands. Also, I require a lot more sleep than some people do, so I have less waking hours in which to accomplish tasks, hobbies, visiting friends, caring for grandchildren, etc.
Never wake up with alarm clocks, have not for some time. Time flies yet chores continuously pop up needing to be attended to, fortunately I don't require too much sleep, something I am grateful for.
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