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I just watched Joe Biden and Kamala Harris give their first speeches as President Elect and Vice President Elect. And I'm almost ready to let my guard down and BELIEVE IT!
What a giant. emotional relief. Learned you can only hold your breath for -- oh -- about 4 years. Watching the spontaneous gatherings around the country brings me happiness, joy and promise. We took a mini road trip this week to our favorite spots on the south shore. While driving across the UP, we listened to the Howard Stern show from Wednesday. We agreed with Howard -- what our country needs most right now is a new dad. Not 4 more years of a misogynistic, racist, homophobic bully. Hope has been renewed, and I'm going to do my best to let all the negativity go. Onward!
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There's definitely fall in the air, which means it's time to start bringing out the scarves! This summer's weather has been grand. While drought years overall are a problem, when we actually have one in Duluth it's heavenly. I've now moved on from my "we need air conditioning" annual rant. We've had consistently good weather for a couple of months, and it really makes living in this beautiful city so pleasant. During lunch today, the wind literally shifted and came strong off the lake, which made wearing a fashion scarf in the outdoor restaurant now a necessity. A couple of hours later, I'm watching the fog shrouding the bridge. And it's OK. Fall is my most magical season, when the birds make their move south, the gardens doze off and the leaves begin their colorful dance in the trees. Tourists head home, and the trails beckon. Fall always means more adventures in the Lake Superior area. Here are a few images from a year ago.
 What a year! June 2020 marked 4 years of being the Free Bird I've always yearned to be. But have to say this "senior year" of retirement life has been quite the emotional ride, from the uncertainty of covid-19 to the helpless feeling after George Floyd's death. It's now time for me to focus on: hope.
 Today I'm celebrating my "other birthday!" It's now been 3 years since I retired, which also means I'm entering my "senior" year of retirement.
During the freshman year, every day was just such a pleasant SURPRISE! A lot of disbelief at having the luxury of time. Remember the first Monday as a free bird walking out the door, smiling and realizing the day was mine. And I can honestly say I never looked back. Had a fine career in higher education, and was ready to just be me..... Fast forward three years, and I've decided to "major" in four f-sounding" areas: Every retiree loves this question: what do you do with all your time?? Instead of my glib, "whatever I want," I've settled on: photography, felting, fitness and fun. This website combines all of these passions and has led me to what I need to do but have resisted, which is WRITE. So here I go..... Lutherans rock, as do my new friends at the Duluth Woman's Club! Without good friend Diane encouraging me to participate in the First Lutheran Church Artisan Market, who knows if I would have just kept talking about setting up this website.
A few months later, I was asked to join a group at the Duluth Woman's Club to set up the first public bazaar this weekend. The women I met are creative, passionate, and FUN! That spark also led me to new creative felt projects. I helped 8 women create unique angels/fairies/characters through the needle felting process. It brought back so many memories of teaching at UMD. At the woman's club, seeing the lightbulb go off was awfully satisfying! And you should see the beautiful creations. The final nudge to get this going: I received an email from the UMD tech department that my website that has been up at UMD for many years, was going away and I had a November deadline to download the files. That was it! Just downloaded the files and will now work on filling in the blanks on this website. Next task -- wading through thousands of photographs. Yikes!!! What's my point? Since retiring, I've been resistant to sit in front of the computer for any length of time. Let's just say that I had a lot of desktop "screen time" at UMD! My wise mentor and friend shared that I would get over the giddiness of being retired with the luxury of time and NO SCHEDULE -- and of course, she was right. So here I am! (Caveat: I'm still probably a bit too obnoxiously happy about being retired!) One final thought. While I was at First Lutheran Church last Saturday, I met a Duluth woman who looked at my newly created business card, and asked, you're a writer? I chuckled while explaining that I added that at the last minute because if I'm honest with myself, my writing has been a constant throughout my life. It's the thread that has followed me from my second grade classmates urging me to write comic books and throughout my career to today. I'm not abandoning it, and after having a delightful conversation with my new writing friend, I'm back at it!
Reality! Why I haven't been at the computer much since I retired....
Spent time writing my "first blog post" and then promptly deleted content while trying to add a photograph! And now can't figure out how to delete the post. More later! Words matter and I will NOT make this into a job.......ha!!! Bottom line: had a blast yesterday selling my scarves for the first time with good pal Diane Fay Skomars at First Lutheran Church Artisan Festival in Duluth. Many, many positive reactions, and I reconnected with a lot of old friends -- and made some new connections! More later on how words matter..... |
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November 2020
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