Oct. 4th to November 20th 2015

I always wondered what it would be like to be " Retired ".  I thought it might be interesting at least to me to blog about my transition from going 100 miles an hour with my hair on fire to being " Retired  ".  Retirement brings about many new firsts.  That first morning you don't have to go to work or be anywhere you don't want to be is great. Not having to be on schedule is great. Being able to come and go where and when you want is great. It feels like you are on vacation for quite a while. Then it doesn't. Things still happen that you don't plan on.  And you begin to notice some subtle changes.

Since retiring on April 1st 2015 I have been experiencing a number firsts and noticing subtle changes. The first month of retirement I landed in the emergency room. I was surprised to find I had a perforated appendix.  The surgeon didn't want to take a chance on operating and gave me heavy meds and sent me home after a few days. My follow up several weeks later with another surgeon sent me back to the hospital in late June to have the appendix out. Due to concerns with the perforation he opted for a full incision vs the scope method. I was sore and uncomfortable for a week or so. After two weeks I was back to getting in my 10,000 steps in each day. In a few more weeks I was able to enjoy boating and swimming on our boat at Smith Mountain Lake.  We enjoyed many days on the water with family and friends. We spent lots of time with our SuperWonderfulDaughter and the SuperWonderfulGrandson at the lake and in Roanoke doing fun things like walking and biking on the Greenway, visiting the Mill Mountain Zoo, the Taubman museum and enjoying lunches at many of the Downtown restaurants from our home at the W. This was the first time since I was a child that I had the Summer off! Walking to the Farmers Market to buy fresh fruits, plants, and veggies was a daily treat.  Living in Downtown Roanoke encourages you to leave the car in the garage and walk. I have found that is something I enjoy. It is fun to have a purpose for my walk other than just getting exercise. 

It is surprising how much " More " you see walking as opposed to driving or even biking.  I no longer have lots of work problems to solve. I do continue to notice things that might need fixing. I had never contacted the City maintence team before retiring.  Another first. The head of the Roanoke City maintence team may be sorry I retired. I am tactful, nice and persistent.  Suddenly I noticed there seemed to be large amounts of dog poo on the sidewalk in front of my Valley Bank on Church Avenue. It seemed to continue for more than a couple of weeks. I contacted the City and let them know of the problem. It took a week or so but it stopped. The bank staff let me know that increased patrols and conversations had fixed the problem! Next I noticed that someone had thrown broken glass everywhere and generally  made a huge mess at the Carilion Healing Park. This is the lovely small park with the swing by the river on the Greenway were we walk every morning. I contacted the City and they emailed me back to thank me for bringing it to their attention. They not only cleaned up the glass but freshened up the mulch and more importantly posted no smoking signs. The healing park had become a smoking area for the employees at Carilion and hundreds of butts were discarded all over the beautiful flower beds and mulch. It made me feel good that I had helped to get the park cleaned up. It is the little things in life that can make your day. All was well in my little downtown oyster for several weeks. Then I noticed on our early morning walks that one of the large decorative and thankfully bright street lights was out making our walk in the dim morning light dark and slightly scary when someone popped around the corner in the semi dark. The next day several more lights were out.  I contacted the City. This problem took quite a few weeks to solve. It seems that these particular lights were on privately owed buildings. I understood that would take some additional time.  After a few weeks I received an email that they were fixed. Great. Well not great. They were still not working. I mentioned what a struggle I used to have with the timers on the bank's lights. I was pleased to get another email and the timers were the problem. The lights were turning off too soon. Problem fixed. I am sure my new friend at the City was probably cheering when I left for Tybee Island for the fall.  I share this long winded account to demonstrate how I have already changed with retirement. I used to drive in and not notice when Mike spent the entire day working in the yard. Before retirement it was like I had blinders on after a too full day at work whacking at too many problems. After retirement more time to slow down and be more aware of my surroundings. Another subtle change.

Since we have owned the Cottage we could only spend short vacations of a week or two there. This Oct. we were able to go and stay until the rental season starts again on April 1st. More about our stay thus far in the next blog. 

Cloudy Day Fun...Home Goods Shopping!

We had a cloudy day with drizzle earlier this week. So...we headed to Home Goods in Savannah. I always enjoy checking out what they have.  I  " needed " a few ideas to help smooth out the cooking process at Paws.  

I realized that I didn't have a nice (non-plastic) drink pitcher.  I thought this one would be perfect for some ice cool Bellini's or Sangria.

Colorful and heavy enough not to be fragile.

We love cooking those fat white Georgia Shrimp on the stove. My pots didn't seem to be either the exact right size and they didn't mesh well with the smooth top cooking surface.  I usually also drain the pot with a separate colander.  That means two items to clean up.  Well I found one super nice pot that also drains. Perfect for seafood or pasta!  Yea.

It heats up so much faster.  Very important when you are starving after a day out on the beach!

I also needed several different sizes of rubbermaid mixing bowls...found a nest of three in my favorite red!  They each have rubber non-slip rings on the bottom and pouring spouts. Great for mixing up a salad or a batch of brownies. I made brownies on our last trip for the gang and had to mix them up in a large metal pot!  It worked. These are much better. Cuter too.

This morning (Saturday, September 19, 2015) the Sun came back out to greet us. Everything looks and feels so much happier when the Sun Shines!

Still some clouds...but the sun climbed over them and popped out all at once. Great breezy morning about 73 degrees. Perfect temperture for a long walk.

Lots of seafoam this morning. The white puffs were rolling after us in the breeze.

My walking buddy...

A favorite new sign...

Great advice for all of us...

I spent some time while it was cloudy planning a late November trip to Atlanta. We are looking forward to seeing the Aquarium, High Museum, the Carter Library/Museum, CNN, the Zoo, and the Botanial gardens. Looking forward to this roof top view at the Glenn Hotel in Atlanta.

If any of you have any suggestions of sites to enjoy or great places for lunch or dinner...let us know.

Off to grab some sunshine...

Tuesday, 09/15/2015 Tybee Fun...

Enjoyed biking yesterday after dinner to the far north beach to watch the sun slide into the channel heading to Savannah.

Lovely view enhanced by the strong wind coming on shore.  It dropped quickly. We biked back to the Cottage just as darkness begin to fall.

This morning we had the second morning in a row where the sun resembled a large glowing orange as it rose in the east.

 

Note the dripping effect just before it cleared the horizon. Love it. 

We decided to bike down to the South Beach this morning at High Tide. It was amazing yesterday at Low Time to see all the sand bars and how it seemed you could almost walk to Little Tybee. Big difference today. All the sand bars where well underwater.

Very wild and natural looking as it makes the turn from the ocean to the back river.

A number of sand dunes with sea oats...

We enjoyed the swing. The breeze was so strong it handled the swinging!

I love that Beach Cottage to the left of the picture. It has been featured in Coastal Living in the past.

Fishermen and Kayakers love this part of Tybee.

We biked a number of miles.  The return trip was near A.J.'s restaurant...tomorrow may be raining ig the forecast is accurate. So...since it was a beautiful day to enjoy the deck at A.J.'s we treated each other to lunch.  Mike loves their fried oysters and scallops. I like the grilled Mahi/salad. I didn't have a problem eating a couple of his fried oysters. I couldn't resist.

Later this afternoon the small yellow fleshed watermelon was calling to us. Refreshing after a Mikie nap in the front yard. Yep the breeze through our palm trees lulls you right to sleep as it rattles the palms.

Monday, September 2015 at Paws & Paddles Cottage

A feeling of Fall has arrived suddenly.  A much cooler 68 degrees this morning for our Beach walk.

A stunningly beautiful sunrise.  The kind where the large orange like sun slides up and seems to be dripping molten lava into the ocean before making it's accent into the heavens.

This picture so doesn't convey how beautiful it was...the strong breeze and the cool air felt like heaven just a perfect morning. We were both looking forward to coffee when we got back to the Cottage. Funny how cooler temps make certain things taste even better than usual.

We had fun at the new Tybee Farmers Market taste testing a number of goodies this morning. The Farmers Market is open on Mondays from 10 till 1:00. Located off Meddin at the American Legion building parking lot.  LOVE IT... So many wonderful things.  Just a couple of hundred steps from the Cottage.  We loaded up on produce. Yellow watermelons, tomatoes, cukes, squash, avocados, and apples. All from Davis produce. Catie's Confections had a darling booth.  She is super nice and even though we Don't eat desert...mostly don't that is...We tasted her soft homemade ginger cookies...yes we bought a bag.  We will have to walk additional steps due to this purchase. But they were good.  Mike wanted one of her small Chicken pot pies. Then we had to try the smoked Barbecue pork and chicken.  A whole chicken hitchhiked back with us.  Pork Que sandwhich for Mike's lunch...I tossed some on my salad for lunch.  That chicken and some squash/tomatoes/cukes will likely be Dinner. I also picked up 3 white pumpkins for decoration. Muscadine grapes for Mike. He loves the Sweet Mountain Laurel wine that our local winery makes from these grapes. Lots of sweet pulp but very tough skins. A fun time...many other things available there. Our arms were full.  Next time we will have to try some of the special flavored ice pops and check out additional vendors.

It's starting to feel like Fall even at Tybee...warmer weather is still around and will likely bounce back in a few days. 

Catie's cookies and a small lemon cake.  Did I say we don't eat desert...well it is quite small...really!

What to do on a cloudy Saturday with a forecast of RAIN...

Well we counted on the Tybee Dome to keep the rain away. It worked. Well for a while.  We got in a nice beach walk and a second longer neighborhood walk to get in our 10,000 steps. By noon it was clear we were not seeing the sun today. So...

Off to Savannah.  We were planning on the ART WALK later around 4. It was only 1:30 so we decided on SOHO for lunch on West Liberty.  Our favorite lunch spot. It was great as always. We just scooted in they were closing early to get ready for a big private party. Free parking on the street on Saturday. Parked a couple of streets over. Darn just happened to be near the SCAD store. Always enjoy browsing in there.  They had really interesting floor cloths rubber type material kinda like a thin yoga mat but with amazing designs. 23 wide by 36 long...thinking they would be perfect in front of a sink or stove. They were so thin that they lay perfectly flat. The designs were awesome but at $90 it didn't jump in my arms...still thinking about them though.

Then we wanted to stop at Smith Brothers Butcher shop. We saw a Savannah TV show that showcased their new business. Fine Meats, Cheeses, Produce, and Wines. We tasted a couple of wines, some cheese, bacon and sausage. All wonderful. The cheese was like butter only better. I would enjoy shopping there again. Great displays and friendly people.

Smith's is located at 535 East Liberty near Broad Street in Savannah.

I had been wanting to go to Bottega Bellini at 417 Whittaker Street since it opened last December. A Facebook friend's daughter had opened the shop. She is enjoying living upstairs over the space while managing the business on the street level. So we stopped there next. It is so pretty with all things Italian. I have this big desire to travel to Italy and this shop was so much fun to visit. Loved everything. Decided on buying  things we could consume!  We have downsized and if I bring anything else in something has to leave!  Pasta, Sauce, and Peach Bellini mix!  We are ready for our own taste of Italy.

We enjoyed meeting Ashley. She told us she had lived in Florence at one time. I only wish I could tag along if she makes another trip there soon. 

It was still drizzling. We decided to do the Art Walk another time when the weather would enhance the fun. It is a monthly event. We will try again when it is sunnier and cooler as well. Now the only thing I need is a NAP!  A fun day.

Our tropical flowers from the W have relocated to Paws & Paddles Cottage!

We decided to bring our plants from our terrace at the W in Roanoke, Virginia to Tybee with us this trip. We will be down here the marjority of the fall/winter. We are hoping they will winter over successfully in Tybee.  So far they are looking pretty happy.

Mr. Mandevilla...

Ms. Hibiscus with Basil & Rosemary lurking by the Door!  Several more blooms set to open...

The herbs are just steps to the kitchen...quite handy!  A little basil chopped up with tomatoes on hot scrambled eggs with a dusting of grated cheese...yum.

I enjoy using the rosemay in cut flower arrangements. Smells heavenly! 

September in Tybee

So far September is as hot as August. The weather forecast for the next week shows a cooling down to 80s during the day and low 60s in the morning. Sounds just right for me!  Enjoyed a great afternoon on the beach yesterday...strong wind and low tide. I finished listening to my first for me audio book. Great for the beach. I had read South of Broad by Pat Conroy...I have read ALL his books multiple times.  Listening to it was even better.  Almost 18 hours...free from my OverDrive Library App that my friend Luke recommended. 

Mike is working on taming the Cottage's yard.  Our great smelling Jasmine vine is taking over the white picket fence. He has cut it back and it looks much better.  We moved our some of our plants down from the W on this trip.  They seemed to be doing well.  Pictures soon. The Hibicus is sporting about 5 buds getting ready to open. The Basil and Roseberry are good. The Mandevilla is starting to climb on the porch rails...still has lots of ruby red blooms.

I spent the morning sorting through 5 years of collected shells.  I know have one bowl of just olive shells collected from the North Beach.  Another of a mixture of my other favorites. Moon shells, augers,  and baby whelks.  The less favorites went into a lamp base for the middle bedroom. Filled it UP!

I love that old bait trap/can too...purchased it for the Cottage from our friends at Black Dog Salvage.

I found a perfect pink bloom to enjoy in a found glass that came with the Cottage.

I hung my turtle painting on the Turtle wall.  We have a small wall with several turtle scupltures. 

Clouds blocking the sunrise. But the color was amazing...

Looking forward to attending the Savannah ART WALK tomorrow from 4 to 8.  More later...

Tybee Family Fun

We enjoyed our SWGBoy, SWDaughter and SWSon/inlaw's visit with us to Tybee. We ate good and got to play some too!  The Hurricane fizzled out YEA! We still had way more rain than we have ever experienced in Tybee. Lots and lots over the last several days.  Charleston, S.C. about 90 minutes north of here recorded the third most Rain in August since they started keeping records. 

We enjoyed being treated to lunch at A.J.'s by Lorrie and Marcelino. Awesome Flounder/Shrimp & Oysters with great salads. We convinced the SWGBoy that we needed a picture of him pretending to ride the big metal rooster!  He is a great sport. Love the designation signs there too. I keep saying I am going to build a designation pole and signs for Paws & Paddles. My thought is to review the Guest book and make signs for the top 10 or so places where our Guests hail from.  Maybe this fall/winter while we are being Snow Birds for the first time we can make it so!

Marcelino and Alex in the BIG Chair at A.J.'s

I enjoy capturing the sights we see at North Beach as we get our morning walk in each day. We have proof you CAN surf on Tybee. The surfer did great getting up on the board. He must have remained

vertical at least a half second. Not sure how I caught him standing. He was up & DOWN in a flash.

We are still seeing lots of beach weddings...

The clouds prevented the sun from breaking through. The breeze, birds singing, and the sound of the ocean made for a nice moment.

This Trawler was fishing a short distance away and very close in to the beach. 

The Trawler in the background and my favorite pelican/pole. I wonder if it is the same bird every morning. All the others are in large groups and do fly bys. Not this one. I wonder if there is a story. Perhaps his/her mate has perished? 

Mike got a nice shot of the full moon and the Tybee Light...we can hear the Fog Horns from Paws whenever the fog rolls in. A very pretty but somewhat lonely sound. I like it though.

The rain and thunderstorms have moved lots of sand around on the beach. They also deposited lots of new large pieces of driftwood on the Beach. I forgot to get a picture of the Huge shell Lorrie and Maricelino found near this piece of driftwood. It was almost as big as your head...almost. Still a lovely shiny peach color inside.  We later found two similar shells for her. So they now have a Daddy, Mommy, and Baby shell that are alike. 

These rocks always remind me of our trip to Bar Harbour, Maine...would love to return for some of that amazing Lobster and fresh Blueberry pancakes...

Another wedding...

Anne and I just biked to the IGA using the Bike route...a great ride from Paws on streets with almost no traffic this morning. I love riding my bike.  I will have to " need " something from the IGA everyday this fall/winter...

Laters...

Tybee Tymes...

We always find something interesting going on at North Beach when we go up for our Morning walk.

During the night we had some wind and heavy rain for an hour or so.  A little thunder and a bit of lightning. I love listening to the rain on the metal roof...makes for relaxed sleeping!  This morning was very wet at the beach and the parking area. Not the best day for a wedding but the couple was lucky and they stayed dry and were married on the Beach in front of the Tybee Lighthouse. In addition a large church group of 40 or so appeared to be holding services and perhaps baptized several people.

The breeze was nice and eventually we saw a bit of sun...

We try to get most of our 10,000 steps in each morning with a combination of walking to the North Beach, walking on the Beach and then usually enjoy the nice Greenway path through J.C. Park which takes us back towards Paws & Paddles. 

The SuperWonderfulGrandBoy and his parents arrived yesterday afternoon. TheSWGBoy and I squeezed in a Bike ride. I showed him the best way to the North Beach, and that Soloman road goes pretty much down the middle of the island and isn't paved so very few cars accept for the folks that live there.  He knows where the Bike path starts not far from the Cottage on Second street. It is one of my favorite streets. So many delightful old Cottages dressed up in Happy Colors. We enjoyed swinging together in one of the wonderful old Tybee porch swings that are located on the Beach. We had a great conversation about how things are going as a 7th grader. He loves learning and does extremely well in school. He is such a sweet and senistive youngster...about to become a teenager next May! 

We celebrated his Dad's Birthday with a Shrimp Boil and Birthday cake. Fat White Georgia Shrimp...YUM. We enjoy eating at our A.J.'s style table that a friend of Jane Coslick's made for us. We looked and looked and couldn't find the right table for the sunporch. We mentioned to Jane that we liked the outdoor tables at A.J.'s one of our favorite restaurants on Tybee...she said well that works...her friend made THEM!  So she had one made for us...Perfect for us!  We had not been able to love any of the chairs we had tried with the table.  We saw this style of metal chairs at SOHO restaurant in Savannah and they were comfortable. We ordered to be delivered to us at the W in Roanoke and brought them down in May. They still look brand new and they have heavy duty rubber on the legs so they don't scratch the floor...apparently we only like Restaurant Furniture!   

Cloudy this morning...with sprinkles...hoping for clearing later this afternoon so they get some Beach & Biking Tyme!

Keeping an eye on the hurricane in the Atlantic...it seems to be breaking up and may be a tropical storm by the time it reachs south Florida.  I am blessed with my own weather Team. Mike has always been a weather hound and Alex is all about the weather. He wants to be a Metorlogist so he has plenty to do monitoring the weather and giving us up dates...more later. 

Back on Tybee for a Summer Week or Two in August!

It is August and it is hot as it should be in Summer on Tybee. Enjoying the warm ocean water. 

We enjoyed lunch in Savannah at SOHO CAFE on West Liberty on the way in. Stopped and stocked up for groceries for the next two weeks...

Paws & Paddles is now ready for a fun 2 weeks.

Enjoying the morning sites on Tybee. This morning we caught a photo shoot, surfers, and made friends with a new Tybee resident.

Mikie watching a huge ship slip by early this morning.

Mike and Anne enjoying the waves...

Nice sunrise...then...

Sad news later this morning from our Hometown of Roanoke Virginia. Two local employees of WDBJ-7 were shot and killed during a live broadcast. Such a sad and  senseless tragedy. 

In remembrance...

So very Sad...