What have you been up to lately?

For some strange reason, I thought that once I retired, I would have all of this extra time on my hands. Time to lounge around out on the deck, time to work in my garden, time to paint, time to practice photography, time to volunteer and even time to blog.  It hasn't really panned out that way this year, but it's totally fine with me. It has been crazy busy, but somewhat relaxing at the same time. When my friends who are still working ask me, "Do you ever get bored?" I want to laugh!  Not at all!! I have a list a mile long of projects that I want to tackle and am slowly, but surely checking them off my list. At times, I get a little frustrated with myself for the lack of progress in certain areas, but then I remind myself of what Valine told me: "It doesn't all have to happen the first year!" I guess that I felt like it was a short vacation--like spring break or summer--and I needed to cram every single project into that time. But, it's not! I'm going to be retired for a long time. If I do a little bit here and there, it will all get done.  And if it doesn't, oh well.

Ron and I slipped away for a short weekend camping trip over the Easter weekend. Because his work has been so busy and unpredictable lately, it is unlikely that we will be going on a real vacation until sometime in the fall. But, having a place to go that is only 45 minutes away gave us a much-needed break. I didn't break out my "big girl camera" the entire weekend, so he is an unedited, iPhone look at our time.

Callie and the crew came out to visit one of the days we were there and after dinner and s'mores, Luke stayed to spend the night.

While he was sort of interested in fishing, he REALLY just wanted to hide and hunt Easter eggs.

After a bit of a rough night away from mommy in the camper, we awoke to a happy toddler who was thrilled with camping again. We went on a little hike and to a visit to the nature center.

While we tried to interest him in more fishing, he really just wanted to hide and find Easter eggs again.

And again and again!

Oh the joy of being 2 years old!

When Callie came to pick him up, we all visited the small zoo where the peacocks really put on a show for us!

That night, Ron and I did a little more hiking and some fishing as well. I was on a roll---I caught 20 fish, many of them nice-sized catfish, while Ron only caught 6.

Easter morning, I got up, showered & dressed and headed into town for church before returning to spend the rest of the day at the campsite.

We had such a nice, relaxing weekend filled with family, fishing and fun!

And in case you're wondering, I have indeed reminded Ron of my fishing prowess several times since then!

New Beginnings

The last time I posted anything was in August.  I really thought that once I retired, I would have plenty of time for blogging.  But, as you know, BabyD2 arrived that very night and things were pretty busy throughout the summer.  I posted a few times since then, but not regularly.  I then decided that once school started again and our traveling slowed down, I would have more time.  But, instead, I found myself eager to spend my time with a paintbrush in hand rather than editing photos and struggling for words.

Now, here it is, the end of January and I find myself really missing the outlet this blog provided for me.  All along, I have been taking photos, sewing, painting and being a Lovey, but most of these activities have only been documented in my own mind or confined to the memory disk in my camera.  Most photos have made it onto my computer, but few have been edited or printed.  In the past, this blog has been a place where I can share some of the things most important to me--hobbies, experiences, family--and from time to time it was even an outlet for a bit of writing.  I've missed it.

So, with no promises of how often I'll be posting, I want to begin again.

To start, here's a pictorial re-cap of the last few months, mostly unedited.  Enjoy!