Radically Retired

Category: Photography

  • 2016 – The Wrap Up

    2016 – The Wrap Up

    What started out as an incredible year of long distance travel from January, to and including July, ended up with shorter trips from August to December that focused on weddings of family and friends, my Dad’s 85th birthday party, and lots of quality time with our own small family.

    Each part of the year held its own memories and treasures, and the best part was that hubs and I were both now fully retired, so neither of us had to miss a minute of it because of work schedules.

    We kicked off our retirement with a year packed with everything imaginable. It’s almost as though we were compensating for all of the things we had to cut short or miss entirely in our working careers.

    It was a good year.

  • Chicago 2004

    Chicago 2004

    For many years, Chicago has been home to giant murals.

    It’s pretty easy to capture decent shots of them “on the way by” if you’re passing through during rush hour.

  • When in Texas (2) …

    When in Texas (2) …

    Because the price of avocados and the variability of their freshness at home in Canada is more than a bit prohibitive, I look forward to our winters in South Texas.

    We live close enough to Mexico that the avocados are reasonably priced, fresh, and don’t spoil in a day.

    And … I can make guacamole… my favourite dip.

    Easy Guac Recipe:

    2 ripe avocados

    2 TBSP Salsa

    1 Small Red Onion (or 1/2 medium), chopped fine

    Juice of 1 Lime

    1 TBSP sour cream

    Salt and Pepper, as desired

    If you like it a bit more spicy, seed, finely chop, and add one small jalapeño pepper.

    Mash avocados and salsa together in a medium bowl, then stir in all other ingredients until well blended. Store in tightly covered container in fridge for at least an hour (this will keep up to 1 day in fridge)

  • 2016 – Gal Pal Road Trip

    2016 – Gal Pal Road Trip

    Carrying on with the incredible travel year that was 2016:

    After hubs and I returned from the all-expenses paid vacay to the Mayan Riviera, things calmed down for a couple of months, and then I headed out on a road trip to Salt Lake City with two long time friends who had joined my MLM team.

    The purpose of the trip was to attend the annual conference of the MLM company I had signed up with.

    In addition to being a learning and team-building experience in SLC, the road trip itself both to and from the conference was fun and interesting.

    Even though none of us belonged to the Mormon faith, Temple Square in Salt Lake City provides a great history lesson about the settlement of the state of Utah.

    Lenna and I just “had” to pose with this fun sign
    The parent company to our MLM company Sherry, Lenna, and Me
    I tasted French Macarons for the first time
    Temple Square is always an interesting visit
    The famous Mormon Tabernacle
    The amazing pipe organ inside the Tabernacle
    How the Mormon Temple was constructed is a fascinating history lesson
    I spied these “on the way by” and commented about the skinny horses
    An unusual way to make a topiary
    Idaho Falls was a great stop on the way home
    My pals, Lenna and Sherry, hamming it up – “posing” like models
    The falls are in the middle of the city

    My dear friend, Lenna passed suddenly and unexpectedly just four years after this trip.

    I’m so happy I have this trip in photos and in memories.

  • A Timely Message

    A Timely Message

    Now that we’ve finally settled in to our winter home, I’m able to resume some of my normal routine for blog posts.

    I still have several murals to contribute to my Monday Murals theme, and a couple of other travel posts to add to my 2016 theme.

    The M/W/F posting schedule seems to be working out, so my plan is to continue with those days.

    I’ll also continue with Foodie Friday posts.

    The mural in my feature photo is in Weslaco, Tx (a town a few miles from here that we visit often).

    The mural’s message is a good reminder.

  • When in Texas …

    When in Texas …

    From our first taste in 2019, hubs and I became seriously attached to Blue Bell ice cream.

    Made in Texas, this brand is the next best thing to home made ice cream and we love that every year, new flavours are added to the line.

  • The Day the Music Died

    The Day the Music Died

    Two days ago, hubs and I made another bucket list hit.

    We visited Clear Lake, Iowa where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) played their last concert before they were all killed in a fatal plane crash just a few miles out of Clear Lake.

    After watching the documentary about Don McLean’s song, “American Pie”, (titled the same as this blog post), we knew we could drive a new route to be sure to visit the Surf (feature photo) and the memorial site in the farmer’s field that has been maintained since the crash on Feb 3, 1959. The memorial is about 3 miles from town.

    Because I was introduced to 50’s R&R from the time I was around four years old (by my aunt, who was a teenager at the time), the whole day was powerfully meaningful for me.

    This immersive experience building just opened in September and is very well done
    Not Fade Away is a 360° experience about the history of rock and roll music at the Surf
    The museum in the new building houses many great photos and artifacts
    Buddy Holly’s jacket and mic from the last performance of his life
    If you love music, you’d love the Surf Ballroom
    This is the adjacent lounge. The number of artists from every genre of music who have played here is staggering
    The stage and dance floor of the surf. I felt like I had stepped into history
    The booths and tables were numerous
    Enough seating for 2100 people here and another 160 in the lounge
    Standing on that stage for a selfie was an emotional moment for me
    The green room next to the stage. Every entertainer who has played there has signed
    Hubs found the booths a tad snug
    The streets in Clear Lake are named in tribute
    This is the parking lot for the memorial site
    The glasses mark the beginning of the walk to the memorial site. People leave glasses as a tribute. I left a pair of sunglasses
    It’s a quarter mile walk through a field to the memorial
    Memorial to the pilot of the plane
    The memorial to the artists is simple and still very powerful
    This will no doubt be my only visit to a memorial in a corn field
    It was a windy day, and I was quite sombre because of the experience
  • Ho-Ho-Ho

    Ho-Ho-Ho

    We’re enjoying a new route south this year.

    Our bucket list hit yesterday was the town of Blue Earth, Minnesota – the home of Green Giant Vegetables.

    We enjoyed visiting the giant statue of the Jolly Green Giant, as well as a visit to the museum on the same property, which told the history of this well known brand of canned and frozen vegetables.

    That’s me standing between Jolly’s size 78 feet!
    Great info about the statue
    Hubs and Sprout
    Lots of old processing equipment was on display in the museum
    Green Giant Merch from the past was endless!
    I was surprised to see the Pillsbury doughboy there
  • Memoryville

    Memoryville

    A while ago, I wrote a post about my office … the special place just for me in our home.

    In this space, I’ve surrounded myself with meaningful memories.

    My feature photo today is of a souvenir hubs and our daughter brought me from Graceland, when they travelled there together in the semi. On either side of the musical teddy bear is a photo of each of our grandkids when they were little. They both loved pressing the belt buckle to hear Elvis sing “Love Me Tender”

    The parlour guitar above was gifted to me by Mom. She learned to play on it when she was a young girl. Her parents bought it for her from an old lady who had been a classical guitarist.

    As a young girl, Mom was involved in a musical production for the soldiers who returned home from WW2. This is the same guitar, which, unfortunately, was refinished in much later years.

    Mom eventually taught me to play on this same guitar. The instrument is well over 100 years old. I have fond memories of my mom playing this guitar and singing in her clear, sweet voice, at all of our family gatherings. (BTW, at 91 years young, my mom still plays guitar and sings beautifully- she graduated to a 12-string about 20 years ago).

    Today, we start making our way to Texas, where we’ll spend the winter.

    We’re taking a new route again to catch some travel bucket list hits, so I’ll try to do a few posts along the way.

  • Space X Mural

    Space X Mural

    It’s about an hour’s drive from our winter home to Boca Chica Beach, TX.

    This is where the Texas SpaceX rocket production facility and launch pad is located.

    We visit there at least twice each winter to see what’s new.

    Last year, by the time we made our first visit to Space X, the new rocket production facility had been completed and the massive building had an equally massive mural on an end wall.