Canada Day means Summer!

Happy Canada Day!  

Our wonderful holiday for Canada's birthday.  The first long weekend of the hopefully long, endlessly sunny summer.

This is Moe's last summer as a teacher so it's our last true summer holiday.  From now on summer will just be summer, a change of season but not a holiday from work.  So we get to practice being retired together for the summer.

It's time to change up our daily routines, no alarm clock for weeks, no reason to go to bed early.   We'll be getting out the beach reading including some new books, some already read books and piles of magazines.

Moe will be firing up the barbecue and meal prep will be easy. A lot less housework and lots more days at the cottage, and plenty of time in the sunshine.  Canadian summers are wonderful!

But best of all we will be traveling to gorgeous BC.

I bet your mind immediately went to visions of Vancouver or Victoria maybe Tofino and the Rockies.  That's not where we are going.  Remember the Friendly Giant?  How he always said look up, look way up as he arranged that fabulous tiny furniture?  Well, look way up on a map of British Columbia and eventually you can locate the Chetwynd near Dawson Creek, north of Prince George.

Why would we go to Northeastern BC, not even to the mountains but to the foothills of Peace River area?  What is there that would encourage us to take a flight across three provinces to Calgary and then transfer to a small plane to Fort St. John?

Family of course.

Our daughter and her husband will pick us up at the airport and I will get to do the annoying mom thing of wanting to see every mundane thing.  Like the grocery store where they buy groceries, the post office and the highlights like the schools where they work, the Powder King ski resort...everything in town.  They tell me it will take fifteen minutes.

I have nothing against Chetwynd. My daughter and her husband both have jobs there.  She has her own classroom, something that might not be possible in Ontario.   But it's just so far away.  Bring on Moe's retirement so we can visit more often!

Enjoy your Canada Day.  I will be happily packing!

  

The Story of My Piano

On my to-do list (could be called my bucket list or my retirement dream list) has always been learn to play the piano.  As I mentioned in my last post, I am more than a little musically impaired.  Can't even hum a tune much less sing in any key other than off or out of. At hockey games, I needed to watch other moms so I could clap in sync when we were doing some crazy clap and stamp your feet nonsense.  Thankfully when the boys get older they really want you to stop cheering like that.

But I still want to learn to play the piano.  In order to do that, you need a piano.  So for some years I've been sort of, kind of secretly hoping to get one.  None of the kids were interested in learning, so it didn't happen when they were at home.  In the last year, I started looking on various second hand sites but with no real luck.  So I retired with the plan to learn written down but no piano and no real leads to getting one.  Learning to play was taking on the shape of one of those "yeah, yeah, I'm going to do that someday" plans that never happen.

Then serendipity... my neighbour, Carole, (who was part of my nebulous plan as a person to teach me since she has taught piano,) decided to relocate to Jasper. This meant selling her house and much of its contents.  She invited me over for early dibs on some of her larger items before her yard sale.

There was already items missing in the house, things in boxes to be shipped to her new home and my eyes went right away to her piano.

"What are you doing with your piano? I asked, expecting the answer to be that she was shipping it or storing it or it was sold.  Instead the answer was,

"I'm trying to sell it but can't find anyone to buy it."

A deal was made, and I was on her deck calling over to ours to tell my husband I was buying a piano.  Just like that, the biggest part of the learn to play puzzle was solved.

Her deck to ours!

Moe was skeptical, where would we put it--I had an 25 year old answer for that.  When we chose plans for the house I always knew a piano would fit exactly in one spot in our living room.  It was empty enough, still waiting for the piano. Then he needed to know where his favourite chair would go. I had an answer for that.  How and when would we get it moved to our house since it required at least four people.  I had answers for that.  Have you ever noticed that if you really want something you can make it happen..eventually?

A couple of nights later, at my mother-in-law's 87th birthday celebration, I asked my two brothers-in-law, John and Robert if they were around the next morning to help move a piano along with my two boys and hubby, that way they would be five people.  They agreed and then, John suggested doing it that night instead of waiting to do it during the garage sale even though they'd be one less guy.

I hurried home with my sister-in-law, Denise to check whether that was convenient with my neighbour.  No problem, she wanted it moved. The birthday celebration was interrupted.

So in came the men, John appointed me as foreman which is really a joke because he sold and moved furniture for years and Cameron had worked a summer as a mover. The neighbour was sidetracked by my sister-in-law to sell her a bed perfect for her visiting grandchildren--so really no supervision at all.

The piano made it down the stairs, out the front door and across the driveway. The men needed to put it down to re-position.  A request for Carole to play was made.  So there on a beautiful early summer evening, half way on her lawn, halfway on ours she played a few bars of a remembered Beatles song. Ah, one of life's beautiful, unexpected moments.

Perfect for a concert

With a little more huffing and exertion and moving of items, the piano made it up the front steps and into the house to be maneuvered into the very spot I had picked out on the floor plans years before.

John asked me if I knew anything at all about playing a piano.  So I showed them everything that I knew...how to play the scale of C with my right hand. (Thanks Beth.)

I bought a book recommended by the instructor on You Tube that Cameron found for me. And now everyone in the house has soldiered through my hours of practicing so that I could "master" the scales almost and have  When The Saints Go Marching In be recognizable. I have hours and hours of practice ahead of me.

Carole came over before she left and played a piece. The house filled with beautiful music. How bittersweet for both of us.  The piano may never be played as beautifully again but the house can be filled with music anyway.

My new baby!

 


Thanks to Moe, Cameron, John, Robert and Carole for helping my plan become a reality.

If you're not doing it now...

If you are not doing it before you are retired you won't do it after you are retired.  I heard this caveat a long time ago and stuck with me.

It could be a play on the adage: Don't put something off until tomorrow because tomorrow may never come or it might be a different way of saying, work to live; don't live to work. Whichever, it's worth considering before retirement.

According to Zilinski's  How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free :

"Leisure consultants and pre-retirement planners state that if you are not spending any time pursuing these activities before retirement, it is unlikely that you will spend much time on these activities after you quit work."  P. 17    
( I reviewed this book in an earlier blog.   If you copy and paste this link you could check out that blog entry:
https://debslifeinretirement.blogspot.ca/2016/02/reading-to-prep-for-retirement.html

Zilinski recommends making a list of 10 favourite interests and activities that you would like to pursue in retirement and write how much time you are presently spending on these activities. His reasoning is that unless you have a variety of activities to engage in when you retire, you may become bored and even depressed so you should start cultivating and pursuing interests while still working. He contends that even the most enjoyable activity loses its charm if it becomes routine.

When you are really busy with your career and family there may be plenty of activities that had to be put on hold. Even if you haven't done something in years, you might be able to have time for it again once you retire.  The real issue is whether you start those activities again and if you will become involved in new activities when you have the time.

So I did a review of the activities that are taking up my time to see if I am the exception to the rule-- They fall into a few categories and I left off quite a few things that fall into I was doing them before--like exercise, reading, traveling, cottage, shopping.

Old but different; the unavoidable things that still need to be done because retirement doesn't make them magically disappear.

1. Housework including decorating and organizing--certainly did housework before retirement, definitely still doing it now.  The difference is I can actually enjoy it now.  I'm not saying I love cleaning but there is more enjoyment in having the time do a decent job and to enjoy the results.  A great thing about retirement is not needing to cram all that work into the few hours available at night and on weekends.

2. Cooking-  Thanks to the difference in our schedules I wasn't really doing this much before retirement, Moe was doing most of the daily cooking so I just did the same old stuff when I cooked. That's why I said I wanted to learn how to cook again in retirement.  I've certainly enjoyed trying new recipes especially when they turn out well.  Not a new activity but actually enjoying doing it is new.

Not new but with a twist

3. Baking--this is something I have loved to do since I was a kid.  However, before retirement I baked on demand (read only when I had to or if I had tons of time).  Now I bake more often and try new recipes and even ones that are a challenge.

4. Yoga--I was doing yoga before I retired.  At home, often from videos and apps and books but sporadically.  The twist here is now I go to yoga classes-regularly.  Classes are so much better.  Didn't have time for classes before.  Love yoga!!

5. Knitting--wasn't doing this before retirement because it is addictive and will keep you from going to bed when you should.  But not new since I have been able to knit since high school.  Now I am knitting again.  And it's still addictive and still keeps me up at night.  The twist is that I joined a knitting circle--we knit for charities and it is a once a week social outing.

Below are Actually New Activities.  Hah!!

6. Duolingo--it's an app that helps you learn another language.  I am improving my French, everyday.  Yes, I live in a French home and took French to grade 12 but I still have learned a lot from my iPad--I once said to kiss my neck when I really wanted to say kiss my butt--my pronunciation needs work!  C'est la vie!

7. Blogging.  Writing and publishing my personal writing--definitely new.  Still scary.

Below is Proof that I'm an Exception to the Rule of "if you didn't do it before you won't do it after you retire":

8.  I have no rhythm, I can't sing to save my life but I have always wanted to play so I bought a piano and am learning with lots of practice....

Thanks to my friend, Beth I was able to play the Scale of C with my right hand when we moved the piano into our house. It seems like thousands of years ago she tried to teach me on her grandmother's piano. That's as far as we got.  I now know all the scales with both hands and in unison, and a couple of songs.  I still can't sing or carry a tune, so my piano playing career will remain in the house.

So that may make me an exception to the idea that if you weren't doing it before you won't do it after however, as I said I am also not the exception. I was sure I was going to be doing these things but...

9. I still haven't made it to spin class or the pool, my garden doesn't exist and I've only painted one picture.

But then again, there is always September.

Layered Lemon

Welcome back to my blog.  Since it is the end of the school year and many people are probably looking for a recipe for the end-of-year staff party, or the volunteer luncheon or what-ever pot luck meal you are invited to, I decided to give up one of my favourite recipes for such events.

This is my go-to recipe for most pot luck lunches.  I prefer making dessert anytime instead of cooking for a large group.  This recipe is great because it makes a large pan and it is too decadent to make just for yourself even if you cut the recipe in half.  It travels well and looks pretty when displayed.

It is always a hit. People have dropped hints for me to make it again--sometimes someone will remind me that I haven't made it in a while.

The original recipe calls for a short bread base, but I switched it to a graham cracker crust instead. ( I found it in Desserts by Company's Coming, 1986)  Sometimes, I fancy up the top with decorative sprinkles or chocolate shavings.

My best tip:  always use Philadelphia cream cheese.  It's just richer, sweeter and better.

First layer: Crust

1/3 c. Butter (you can use margarine, not as good)
1 1/2 c.    Graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp brown sugar

Crust: Melt butter in saucepan.  Stir in crumbs and sugar.  Pat into the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch pan (22x33cm)  It won't be too thick.  I usually bake 10 minutes in 350 degree oven.  Let cool.

Second layer:

2  8oz packages cream chees
1 c icing sugar
1 envelope of Dream Whip
1/2 c milk

Beat cheese and icing sugar together well.  Prepare Dream Whip topping with milk as directed on package.  Fold into cream cheese mixture.  Spread over cooled crust.

Third layer:

2 packages of lemon pudding and pie filling (each makes one pie)

Prepare lemon pie filling as directed on package.  Cool, stirring often.  Pour over cheese layer and spread to even.

Fourth layer:

2 envelopes of Dream Whip
or
2 c. whipping cream
2 tbsp of granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Beat cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff or prepare Dream Whip as directed.  Spread over lemon layer when cooled.

Garnish with nuts, sprinkles, chocolate shavings or almonds.

Refrigerate before serving.  Makes 15 generous servings or 24 normal servings.

Shown below with the shortbread crust and nuts on top.  I have never decorated with nuts because of the potential food sensitivities or allergies.