Every morning when my wife leaves for work, she has suggestions on what I should do with “my time.”  Shes’s my only supervisor now, and I do respect her opinions.  She always asks me what I’m going to do each day, and I try to come with solid, elaborate plans for the day, like I’m reporting to the boss.  She was actually mildly amused when I admitted the other day that I had “no plans.”  It must have been the smile on my face that threw her off her game.  This morning I told her I was going to write, and since she was excited with the poem I wrote yesterday yesterday posted under Old Sport Shorts:  Casey at the Bat revisited, her only suggestion was that I do it outdoors on the back deck rather than in the dark office. Sometimes I feel like she doesn’t think that I have an adult brain and that I’m lost now in a world of free time.  Since there’s no one else to tell me what to do, she now feels it’s her responsibility.  I will roll with the punches.

Whether it was her idea or not, I moved my lap top to the back porch.  The sun is shining and the glare on my screen is almost too much.  I honestly don’t know if I would have thought of it on my own, settling in to the daily routine of my writing.  I like having my other computer sitting next to this one, the T.V. on, and my ear buds tuned to the radio.  I have a problem focusing sometimes, but when I really get into the groove of writing, I hear or see nothing else.  The second computer is set up for Spider Solitaire and comes in handy to research what I’m writing about.  I also don’t get re-targeted through my searches by using it rather than on this particular computer where I do my writing.  I honestly thought that the old Sony Vaio that I bought to establish my original johnstonwrites.com website about 8 years ago would have crashed by now.  It surprisingly is still running smoothly.

The sun feels great and it may get up to eighty degrees today.   Maybe I can start to re-tan some of those areas that have flaked away since leaving the Maui sun?  It’s not quite the same!   No cocktail service, pool, or crashing waves in the background.  Here I’m simply exposed to the neighbors, since we lost our privacy trees in the winds and rain.  The Neighborhood Association took down three trees since their roots were crowding underground services and that left the other two trees exposed to the elements.  We bought some plants and screens to block the neighbor’s views.  Hopefully, they’re all at work today.  The dogs have joined me for a dose of sunshine.  They too, despise the rain and seek the heat.

My laptop overheated, and I’ve been forced to retreat to the sanctity of my dark office until it cools off.  So much for the suggestions from the boss!  I’ll go out there again but in the meantime save my work – I’ve had to do some re-writing from what was lost.  I had the same hassle in Maui and should have learned.  Maybe I don’t have an adult brain!

The dogs took me to Starbucks this morning for their treat.  Everyone had come out of the woodwork, so there was a parade of people and dogs down the street.   I hardly recognized anyone since they weren’t hiding under an umbrella or covered by a rain hood.  I also did my annual check of credit reports this morning, mailed a check to cover my March Madness losses, and made some phone calls.  See, I’ve been busy boss! Tomorrow, I give blood and will do my honey-do list of errands.   Yesterday, I went to the “Silver Sneakers” fitness class.  Does everyone in that class feel that they are the youngest and strongest?  24-Hour Fitness did not seem as busy as on the Monday that I went before, so I also did some weight lifting and shot some hoops (poorly).  I finished the day by cooking an Emeril dish from a recipe that was perhaps a bit too advanced for my skills.   Tonight, we’ll get a much better meal prepared by someone who knows what they’re doing – it’s Date Night!

I would like to take some additional steps to publish some of my work.  I think that “Schwarber at the Bat” has some potential, especially since my wife enjoyed it and is not a baseball fan.  Chicago Cub fans should love the “Mudville and Wrigleyville connection.”  “Casey at the Bat,” when it was published in 1888 appealed to everyone.  Ernest Thayer had the power of the San Francisco Examiner to give it legs with the public.  It’s much like the movie,”Bad News Bears,”  you don’t have to know baseball to enjoy the story.  I’m not much of a student of poetry and many styles are much too deep for me to understand.  I can’t feel the rhythm that makes the writing special, but when I get into the rhythm of writing a poem it just feels right.  This is why poems need to be read aloud.  “A poem is worth a thousand pictures” – see for yourself when you scroll down to some of these prior posts:

Post #1 Retirement is not without Hassles: Practicing for Retirement – “Retirement” poem

Post #8 Retirement is not without Hassles: Preparation and Practice – “Retirement” poem (repeated)

Post #24 Retirement is not without Hassles: Retirement Prayer – “Retirement Prayer” poem

Post #39 Retirement is not without Hassles: Retire-Mint – “Retirement Hassles” poem

I have no real hassles to report, but I’ll let you know when one happens.  Hope you, too, can enjoy the sunshine and this bonus retirement poem that I just found in my collection:

Retire

I’ve spent all my life,

Working for Friday.

Soon every day,

Will be a Saturday.

.

No more Monday’s,

No more Hump Days.

I’m about to enter,

The retirement phase.

.

I saved some money,

Have a company plan.

Will I spend my Saturday’s,

Working on my tan?

.

With any luck,

I’ll have enough.

So cutting back,

Won’t be too tough.

.

So how will I fill,

Each waking day?

Will I be lazy?

And just play.

.

I begin a new life,

Be the boss of me.

There’s a whole world,

Out there to see.

.

Maybe new hobbies?

Volunteer some hours?

More education?

Smell the flowers?

.

Watch more sports?

Write more silly rhyme?

Catch up on reading?

Lose track of time?

.

And I realize,

That there will be.

An occasional bad day,

Where I won’t be free.

.

Because the thing,

That I like alot.

Those good days working,

Can’t beat bad days not.

.

A perpetual weekend,

Or maybe the beginning?

As the years go by,

And my hair keeps thinning.

.

Health matters,

Appointments to keep.

And those concerns,

That won’t let me sleep.

.

But the fact remains,

There’s still a perk.

I won’t have to get up,

And go to work.

.

Copyright May 2015

johnstonwrites.com