Today I awakened at 4 am (or, more properly, was awakened by my wife’s alarm clock). I helped her out of bed and got her going on her morning rituals. I made tea and breakfast for her and went back to bed (4 am is much to early for enlightened retirees like myself).
Today Genghis Kat (Smoke) and his Horde (Mist) woke me up at 5.59 am for their 6 am breakfast. I fed the cats, brought in the papers (OC Register and the LA Times), made my wife another cup of tea and myself some coffee. I sat down with coffee and the papers and turned on Eyewitless News. In between sections I made her a thermos of tea to take to work.
Today we actually got in the car a little after 7.30 am (way late) but still got to her school before the opening bell. I drove home, got some more coffee, sat on the exercise bike for an hour and a half. While on the bike I finished the Times and read several chapters of David Drake’s latest RCN story The Sea Without a Shore. After getting off the bike I fixed another cup of coffee and sat in the living room reading and watching the news.
Today was gorgeous and I couldn’t stay inside. Took a salad and cold soda from the fridge and got my book and the puzzles from the papers and tossed them all in the car and drove to the beach. Found a parking space on PCH north of the HB Pier near a bench and camped there for the next two and a half hours. Lunch, puzzles, a good book, great weather and plenty of people to watch . . . ahhh retirement.
Today I stopped by Home Depot on my way back from the beach and bought a hanging plant to replace one that had died during our heatwave a couple of weeks ago and also some rope to fix a patio lounge chair.
Today I picked up some British sweets (candy) for my British wife at our neighborhood 7-11 (it has a section of British foods in the back). I brought her home from work and made her another cup of tea. Went grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s.
Today I got myself a beer and my book and lounged in my wife’s garden in the chair I had repaired. I fixed dinner and Charlie fed the cats. We ate while watching a dvr’d episode of Wild Tuna. Following dinner, Charlie again adjourned to the patio to read and I sat back in the TV lounge chair she bought me several years ago and turned on the Dodger and Angel games. (As I type this the Angels are leading the Mariners 4 to 3 and the Dodgers are leading the Reds 5 to 0.)
Today I am retired – no student papers to grade, no lessons to plan – aaahhhhhh, paradise.
e of the books by a given author but some of the book names are so familiar that I’m not sure whether or not I’ve read them. Well, at least, I’ll be able to go to the bookstore with a list of books to check and see if I remember the storyline. Of course, if it’s an older book, it means a trip to the library or a used book store not Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com.