New year, new life. Special guset star, The Winchester Center Mill Pond.

As of Jan. 5, 2017, 3pm I was officially retired. It will be strange after working for 49 years of my life, 46 with my present company, to suddenly not working at all. It's even strange that I can refer back 49 years and I was an adult, well sort of.

Now I have been very lucky in my life up until the present. I thank the guy in the company office who talked me into joining the 401k back in 1971. I remember thinking, "Retirement? That's 45 years away."

That was 45 years ago. Thanks, whatever your name was!

The past year has been one of change. I got used to living happily in one place for 10 years then within a year I was in three different places. I am still trying to get settled at this time. I still haven't collected all my belongings from my sisters and friends. I'm not sure where to put everything and am considering just plain getting rid some things that I have been lugging around for years. I also, as you may have noticed, haven't been around here for a bit. I haven't really used my computer that much. It's got pictures and video's that have been on it for several years.

The video below is from June 2014. I may or may not have posted it in the past but what are you gonna do? It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and Arlene mentioned a ride to Winchester Center. Winchester is the next town west of here. An upscale Boston suburb with a lovely pond and park in the city center.




Here's a shot from a tour Arlene and I took of Fenway Park.

It snowed here a couple of days ago. We got about 8 inches but it was easy to deal with as it was very cold making it much lighter. It's  gone because the temperature hit pretty much 60 for a couple of days. In 2014 we got a lot of snow. Here's are a few pictures taken the next day after a storm with all the shoveling, plowing and snow blowing done.

On my second to last day of work I had a blow out while driving in. I really didn't have a place to stop and I was not looking forward to changing the tire in the first place. I hadn't done that in years, so I drove roughly two miles on the flat, shredding the tire but fortunately not damaging the rim. They are expensive! Again fortunately, I have Triple AAA. It's the best bargain on the face of the earth as far as I'm concerned. That was the second time in a year I used them. The first time was for a dead battery. Aside from the initial cost for a year, which is reasonable, It has more than paid for it's self. My car is now 9 model years old and apart new tires and a dead battery I've had no problems. It has been a reliable, comfortable car and I have no plans to add a large monthly payment to my situation.

Both Arlene and I have been going over what we both want to accomplish this year. The passed year was disruptive for both of us. I promised her that we would be going back to Martha's Vineyard. We even talked about a quick trip to Vermont. I have never been there but Arlene has. There are as many people in downtown Boston as there are in the entire state of Vermont. We are squished in around here. Massachusetts is small but densely populated so if you can get away to a quiet rural setting you why not? As great a place as the Boston area is, getting around can be a bit of a trial or as we more commonly say, "One big pain in the ass."
   
Below is a slideshow that I think I posted before but I don't remember if it was here or back on Spaces. I had gone through old photo albums and picked out pictures from various times in my life including, a trip to Italy back in 1956. There are shots of my parents, grand parents aunts, uncles, cousins and me. I was 4 and a half. Hanging around with friends in the '70s and '80s. Trips to Florida, California and you know where. It's all set to what I think is the most beautiful Beatle song, both lyrically and melodically, "In my life".

Well that's it for now. This blog entry has been weeks in the writing. It'll soon be Saturday and Arlene has invited me over to watch the Patriots game in the evening, preceded by a meal of shrimp scampi. Mmmm! You can always get to me through my stomach. You don't have to ask me twice!

 

I'm outta here.