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Merrie Monarch

The week after Easter, Hilo, Hawai’i, is full of people. Dancers come from all over – not only from the islands of Hawai’i – to compete in the Merrie Monarch.

The Merrie Monarch was again held the week after Easter, and this year for an audience – although limited.
Since the DVD is not yet for sale, we have been watching the DVDs of three years ago, before Covid. I have been practicing two dances for this coming Friday, when I am part of a program of International Dances at the Club. It is so wonderful to hear the familiar music again and dance!
May your days be full of music and dance!
Until next time,
Ronny
May be an image of 8 people and people standing
May be an image of 5 people, people standing and indoor

A New Life! Retirement at its Best 2022-118

Mother Love

Mother Goose has been sitting on five eggs for quite a while, and every day I am looking down the slope of the pond where she has built her nest, close to the water. One afternoon, the gander, at a safe distance way across the pond, or so I thought, was alarmed by my presence so close to the nest. He took flight and seconds later he landed ten feet away from me, wings spread, beak open, loudly hissing. When he is in attack mode on the street, I hiss back, arms waving wide and screaming, then walk away. But close to the nest that would only scare Mother Goose, so I quietly stepped back and crossed the street. We are anxiously waiting for new goslings, while the water in the pond rose to a dangerous level this weekend because of the continuous rain.

I discovered a bird nest in the curve of our rear downspout, under the roof, close to one of the wind chimes. Quite a nice place, somewhat protected from the elements. Sitting on eggs is an orange breasted grey bird with a black head: perhaps a Robin. And then I found this picture of superior mother love: braving freezing temperatures, sitting on eggs, surrounded by a snow pack. An eagle? Who knows this bird?

Bird watching I have never done, because I never took the time. I specialize in fish watching: snorkeling in warm oceans in Hawai’i.

Hunt for an Easter Egg

We had a nice, quiet Easter, with a family visit and an Easter Brunch at the Club. Mike walked back and forth: a great accomplishment and improvement of his walking and stamina. But when Easter was over, yesterday, I said to him, This Easter week I have not seen or tasted a single chocolate Easter egg! I used to see little chocolate eggs in bags, large one in baskets, and, my favorite: Cadbury chocolate eggs. Irresistible when checking out at the cash register. Now, I have not gone to many stores recently, but they did not offer them at the Club either, and so I went out yesterday, Tuesday after Easter, to get two Cadbury eggs, one for Mike and one for me. I went to three stores, and could not believe that there were no Easter eggs anywhere any more. My last stop was Walmart. No Cadbury eggs. I picked up a jar of mayonnaise (nothing to do with chocolate eggs, but I needed it and it stood right by the cash register). And then, right there, I saw Cadbury chocolate bars with caramel filling, King Size! Better those than nothing,  I thought, and bought two. Only 120 calories, I read on the label. These days, I don’t really check calories, but look more for protein. 6 grams of protein, not bad. Back home, when we enjoyed the chocolate bar after lunch (oh how delicious! I ate the whole bar – Mike only one-third ) I read the wrapper in full: the 120 calories was for 1/3 of the bar, so the whole bar had 360 calories! Oh well, I thought, at least I had 6 grams of protein!

May your days be delicious and happy!

Until next time,

Ronny

A New Life! Retirement at its Best 2022-117

Springtime, busy time

With Covid down, and a second booster from Walgreens just around the corner, we feel safe to make doctors appointments again. And so we are taking the Waltonwood bus with Mary, to  Mike’s annual appointments at Audiology, and Ophthalmology; this because I can’t yet lift Mike’s walker into and out of the car after my March surgery. Cleaning at the dentist is next, one appointment for both of us at the same time.

I had a positive biopsy on my leg again and am scheduled for another surgery next week. Those skin cancer surgeries heal in four weeks, and I hope that’s it for now.

Then there are annual car inspections and insurance renewals…I don’t know about you, but things were easier when we were both able to do them together. Although I am proud to have done our taxes!

All this is to let you know that I have not had enough time this week to work on my Blog, but hopefully, I will be back next week with more happy and interesting news.

May your days be carefree!

Until next time,

Ronny

 

A New Life! Retirement at its Best 2022-116

A New Wreath

Yes, I have a new wreath again. I could not resist this one in support of Ukraine. And I could not resist either to send another donation. What an incredible, horrendous massacre the Russians are committing. There are just no words for it. We can’t really comprehend it. It reminds me of the massacres committed by the Japanese in WWII in China. But those were not so visible, up front, on TV. Where shall this end?

Pollen

   

From the trees and into the pond, everything is yellow. Thank goodness we don’t have a problem with it.

Mozart

Yesterday, we walked to the Club! Our very first outing. There was a concert in the theatre, and Mike could walk to the door of the first floor, a few more steps than he usually does on his walk with Physical Therapy. The theatre is downstairs, so we could just sit and enjoy Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto for an hour before walking back.

Changes

Happy, Happy, Happy! I am back in my own office after a week’s trial! It proved to be too difficult to have phone conversations or concentrate on writing while people were talking in the living room and the TV was on. I walked back and forth to get stamps and tape, to open packages and more. So when our son came he moved everything back from the sunroom to my office. And both Mike and I are content. I still have things to clean up and rearrange, but I was planning a spring cleaning anyway. With the warmer weather it also becomes necessary to change my winter wardrobe for the summer one, and that is a job of at least two (half) days, including washing and folding and hanging. But I feel better again, with more energy, and summer is on the way!

May your days be happy!

Until next time,

Ronny