Radically Retired

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  • 2026 Road Trip Home – Day 1

    2026 Road Trip Home – Day 1

    Yesterday was take off day and we logged nine hours on the road with only quick rest stops.

    Texas is a big state and because we’re headed up to the panhandle, we’re taking the longest route from south to north.

    It’s bluebonnet time in Texas and the state flower was abundant on the roadsides and in fields along the way. My feature photo was on the way by, so more blurred than I like but it gives you the idea.

    Here are a few more “on the way by” photos.

    I had to do a white balance correction on them, because of the tinted windows in our truck.

    Check stop at Encino, TX
    One of many overpasses at San Antonio, TX
    Coming to Comfort, TX
    Comfort TX
    Fredericksburg, TX
    Many great old buildings in Fredericksburg

    Mason, TX Courthouse

    My Moment 58 mmTele Lens for iPhone does a pretty good job of bringing things closer and at the same time, reducing blur. It’s my favourite attachment for shooting from a moving vehicle.

  • A Telling Sight

    A Telling Sight

    When I see “Arnie” (our golf cart, named after the famous golfer, Arnold Palmer), all wrapped up and sitting on wooden planks to keep the tires from melting onto the concrete in the extreme summer heat, I know we’re leaving the next day.

    As we always try to do, we have a new route home to Canada in the plans, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

    It’s going to be a bucket list hit for me, so I’m pretty excited!

  • Spring Weekend 2026 – Day 3: The Best Laid Plans …

    Spring Weekend 2026 – Day 3: The Best Laid Plans …

    Neither hubs nor I have ever been involved in a spring break celebration, so we thought that a Sunday visit to South Padre Island during spring break might be a good way to wrap up our weekend of welcoming spring 2026.

    Out of curiosity, the morning that we planned on leaving, I decided to consult professor Google as to what we might expect in terms of crowds. I’m so happy I did that.

    Sunday, March 24 this year just happened to be the apex of the Texas Spring Break and this is what we should expect: possibly fifty thousand high school and college students in full and noisy party mode, heavy traffic (including complete jams) for both South Padre Island and the causeway going to and from the island, two hours or more waits for food, and zero parking at the main venues.

    We decided to nix the trip and spend our last day of celebrating spring by watching nature programs on TV in the comfort our A/C’d living room, with snacks available immediately, and silence on demand as soon as we decided to mute the TV and have a nap.

    The header photo for this post came up in Google Images when I looked for Claytons Spring Break Celebrations 2026. Claytons is one of our favourite stops for food and entertainment.

    This photo was all that either of us needed for a “hard no!”

    I guess we’ll complete life with never experiencing spring break.

    I’m perfectly OK with that.

  • Celebrating 2026 Spring Day 2

    Celebrating 2026 Spring Day 2

    On the second day of our celebration of spring weekend 2026, we attended the 35th annual RGV Big Bloom Home and Garden Show at the McAllen Convention Centre.

    Even though this was the 35th year of the show, it was the first time we’d heard of it.

    With over 200 vendors, this event featured literally everything from bedknobs to broomsticks and everything in between.

    It was a wonderfully apt way to welcome spring.

    This section had plants native to the RGV
    Creative use of Burl
    Every cactus and succulent one could imagine
    Flower pot decorations
    Glass flowers
    Hand carved military memorabilia
    Funky clothing
    Many food vendors, most with tasting samples
    Lawn furniture galore
    BBQ’s and Smokers of every type and size
    Apparently the leaves are used in India to make a med that lowers blood sugar
    This large outdoor courtyard was filled with plants and pots
    Talavera pottery – my favourite
    These ceramic plant pots caught my eye
    Hubs bought two for me 😊

    Now that we know about this event, we’ll definitely attend again next year. It was a couple of well spent hours that truly brought home the feeling of spring.

  • Welcoming Spring 2026

    Welcoming Spring 2026

    Because the official first day of spring fell on a Friday, hubs and I decided to spend the weekend welcoming the new season by doing new things.

    On Friday, we visited the Veterans War Memorial of Texas in McAllen, TX.

    Hubs and I have passed this park many times over the years, but have never stopped to take it in.

    The 3.5 acre site was opened in 1990 and pays tribute to the 1.4 million Americans who were killed or missing in action in every conflict the nation has been involved in.

    There are 160 tall granite panels, each engraved with a plethora of historical information. To read it all, one would have to spend several hours there. Because it was a hot day, we browsed and read a bit from each plaza and I took photos of every block, so we could read them later.

    Each plaza is made up of several granite panels arranged in a circle and has its own theme.

    At the centre of the site is a 104 ft tall granite monolith. It’s named the American Spire of Honour.

    There is a statue of a female officer at each entrance
    A Sobering experience
    Memorial to WAC and WAVE members
    General Bernardo de Galvez
    Patrick Henry
    George Washington
    Martha Washington
    This shows the amount of engraving on each panel

    This was well worth the stop and we’ll definitely visit again on a cooler day.

  • A Decadent Treat

    A Decadent Treat

    This is a late post for me. We had a busy day finding ways to celebrate the first day of spring.

    We’ve actually decided to do something special each day over spring weekend 2026. More on that Monday.

    Yesterday, I found a forgotten loaf of homemade focaccia bread in my freezer.

    I defrosted it in the fridge overnight and this morning, set it out on the countertop to soften in the bag. When we got home from our day out of the park, I cubed up a slice for a decadent late afternoon snack. .

    The slightly sweet and tangy notes of the aged balsamic vinegar floating in light olive oil made the perfect dip.

    It was a bit too good.

  • Sneaking Up …

    Sneaking Up …

    Spring weather in deep south Texas basically happens all winter long.

    One hint that spring is sneaking up on us here is the flush of white blossoms on our back yard orange tree.

    Soon, we’ll be heading back to our home in Canada, where spring will become glaringly apparent by about mid April to early May.

    There will likely still be snow when we arrive home in a couple of weeks. The nice thing about driving home vs flying is that we have time to acclimatize on the way north.

    Jumping (via a flight) from the current mid 30° C (mid 90° F) temperatures in South Texas to our near or below freezing temps at home in Saskatchewan, Canada, would be too much of a shock to our systems.

  • It’s That Day …

    It’s That Day …

    Happy 3.14 to all of the mathematicians out there!

    Pi day is the only day all year that I bake pies.

    Hubs likes homemade pie a wee bit too much, so I always wait until March 14 to bake a couple for him.

    This year, it’s homemade coconut cream from scratch.

    I predict that at least one of the three will be completely gone by morning.

  • Thoughtful Tulips

    Thoughtful Tulips

    On Wednesday this week, hubs and I hosted a dinner party for two couples in our park who we consider to be friends.

    Sherry and Den are from Wisconsin and Sue and Pete from Minnesota. It was a bittersweet evening because Sherry and Den are moving to Italy soon. It’s always difficult to say goodbyes to friends, especially when you don’t know when or if you’ll ever see them again.

    I decided to do a raclette meal, as it’s a fun way to dine and visit, while everyone prepares their preferred foods on the table top raclette grill.

    I requested that our guests bring nothing besides their appetites because we had lots of everything.

    Sherry did bring something … a beautiful bouquet of tulips. These have been my favourite flowers for a very long time because they’re the first sign of spring at home. Sherry had no way of knowing this, so that made the gesture all the more special.

  • A Watchful Eye

    A Watchful Eye

    I recall a nature photography class where the instructor (a professional photographer) said, when photographing birds, the key is to get a good shot of the eye and to be sure that the eye is at a junction of two grid lines. He said that this would give the most impact and that if that junction wasn’t set exactly in the photo, a post-processing crop could be done to make that happen.

    I was fortunate that this pelican rested perfectly still on the pier railing, so that I could get close enough to set up the shot.