Life and Retirement

And so having made the decision to retire, what has it been like? You really have to go back a little, and you have to prepare for retirement, thinking through what you want to do and be ready to, as they say, get on with life. In that vain, I set some goals. The first was get my exercise program back on track for summer hiking and photography. The second was get the 4x5 camera and start learning working in large format photography. The third was get my computer system and get my photography work going. And the last was to get hiking again, after several years of very infrequent hiking.

Well, the first goal is going as can be expected, at my age anyway. The second isn't a reality yet, as there have been problems getting the camera produced. I have the lenses and am working on getting the rest of the stuff associated with large format cameras. I have the third, a real computer I like, and it's not a PC or use Microsoft software, and I'll leave it at that for now. And the last is on the horizon as the weather improves in Mt. Rainier NP. Well except for the Memorial Day holiday where it's raining and snowing.

And so what's on the horizon? Well, as I said before, anything I want within the resouces I have. And so what's the goal of this column? Excellent question as I can use it to rant, rave, vent, or just explore ideas, thoughts, life, events, and such things that cross my eyes and mind. Right now, on the Sunday afternoon on the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, I can see the clouds over the Cascade Mountains, see the Paradise Web camera showing rain, and the tree branches swaying in the wind. It's a typical Puget Sound spring day.

I realize to many these words are about as exciting as paint drying, or film, but hey, it's my column. There already enough blogs and columns venting about the current state of our politics, the immigration issue, the environment (where has that gone in recent years in the news, ok, I forgot, Al Gore is resurrecting it again with his movie), outsourcing of American jobs, corporate greed, women's rights for choice, and you know the tune, each verse a new subject, never a loss for words for, against, both, or neither, just a comment on the situation. So where is reality?