We are enjoying a simple but happy retirement together. Well, one of us is more retired than the other. We have been together since 1985. In 2016, Sue turned 70 and Lee Ann turned 60. We decided to write about our "adventures" from both our perspectives and as a couple.
Sue, who managed a travel agency, enjoys baking, cooking, walking and her great-granddaughter, Lincoln. Lee Ann enjoys music (keyboards, guitar, ukelele), photography, biking and learning. After retirement from the State of Delaware,she had two part-time businesses, but is now 95 percent retired.
A season that starts off with “You are dust and to dust you shall return” seems like a good time to contemplate dying. So Sue and I signed up for a Lenten retreat called “Life After Death: Intimate Union with Infinite Love.” When I was younger, I always pushed back…
Continue reading
Outside, the wind chill was 8 degrees. The five women who had spent the night at the Code Purple shelter were drinking coffee and eating breakfast, trying to figure out how and where to spend their Saturday. The night before, I had called 911 when a sixth woman, a diabetic,…
Continue reading
At the beginning of each year, I take resolutions seriously. And when those resolutions start to flag, Lent kicks in. So it is like a one-two punch to focus me on spiritual and other goals. Of course, that doesn’t mean everything sticks. I am always amazed that I can wake…
Continue reading
November 2 – For two retired women, visiting five National Parks (plus Monument Valley) in 10 days was probably a bit ambitious. Now that the trip is over, we have some insights: Our favorite parks were Bryce Canyon, Zion and Arches – close but roughly in that order. A revised…
Continue reading
Wednesday, October 25 – Driving through southern Utah, the landscape changes are often immediate and stunning. From a rolling sea of slickrock to high-altitude pine forests to towering red rocks, it’s hard for us East Coast flatlanders to absorb. Approaching Zion National Park, the rocks again change to red –…
Continue reading
October 25 – The most wondrous 2.5-mile trail I have ever walked was breath-taking, in more ways than one. The one must-do hike for me on our Utah National Parks itinerary was a combination of the Navajo Loop and Queen’s Garden trails at Bryce Canyon. An elevation change of 320…
Continue reading
October 22 and 23 – You are still miles away, near the hamlet of Mexican Hat, when you first spy the iconic buttes. Cars and RVs start pulling over for pictures; some tourists wander onto the highway. It’s the famous Forest Gump view of Monument Valley. We booked a premium…
Continue reading(Sue and Lee Ann spent five months planning a vacation to the five national parks in Utah, plus Monument Valley in Utah/Arizona. Everyone should visit the American West. Here is what we saw and did.) Saturday, October 21 – At 7:45 a.m. I was standing in line outside the Poison…
Continue reading
What happens when 23 of your 24 hours are wordless for a week? During my silent retreat last week at the Jesuit Center in Wernersville, Pa., I logged 36 miles walking and wrote 32 pages in my journal. I managed to read most or all of four different books, including…
Continue reading
Silence is beckoning me now more than ever: the opportunity to be totally unplugged, without even a book other than the Bible and my journal. Several years’ worth of waxy yellow buildup are obscuring my true self. The last retreat I took was in 2012, with the Benedictine brothers in…
Continue reading
