Tom and I have been very mindful of wellness in retirement.  We have to be.  Our health insurance requires it.  We have to be whether we want to or not. East Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church has health insurance administered by Wespath, which is administered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.  …

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Last Saturday the family got together for a day at the Cleveland Guardians.  Although we are lifetime Cleveland baseball fans, this was our first Guardians game.  I am trying to get used to the new name.  After a lot of practice, I get the name right about 90% of the time.  Spelling it, however, is …

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I like to eat cereal for breakfast.  It is easy, quick, and gets my engine started for the day.  Unfortunately, I have lately had a hard time finding a cereal that matches my dietary needs. I started with Weight Watchers over 20 years ago.  Weight Watchers helped me lose 40 pounds with a low-fat diet.  …

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Tom thinks the best thing about our quick trip to Indiana and Chicago was our stop at the RV Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart, Indiana.  Elkhart, Indiana is known as the “RV Capital of the World.”  Three RV manufacturers started their businesses in Elkhart in the 1930’s, and today there are more than …

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Despite my best efforts to avoid poison ivy, I suffered through another round of it at the beginning of June.  I think I touched some poison ivy when we were spreading mulch at John and Jackie’s.  I noticed the rash starting on my arms a couple of days later.  As soon as the blisters started, …

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Last Saturday Tom and I visited the Uptown Westerville Farmers Market for the first time.  I’ve always loved the idea of Farmers Markets.  It makes me think of old-time market days where everyone in a village goes to the market to sell or buy.  In my imagination, you can buy the freshest produce or yummiest …

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On our recent evening with Pete and Cathy, we stopped to look at some beautiful wildflowers.  Cathy mentioned that someone had told her they were phlox and she asked me if they were.  I assured her they were, indeed, native phlox.  Wild phlox look very different from the creeping phlox that are used for garden …

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Tom and I recently visited the Groovy Plants Ranch.  We have been building up the landscaped beds in our yard, and wanted some daylilies.  Our usual nursery, Hoover Gardens, didn’t have a good selection of daylilies, so I called several places to see what they had.  When I called Groovy Plants Ranch, the woman on …

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Today I want to make a few observations about life and aging.  They are not profound or even particularly important.  As an introvert, I have lots of conversations in my head, and these are a few of the observations I have made from the conversations with myself. First, why does one side of my face …

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Tom and I didn’t get as many visitors to the Golden Isles in 2022 as we have in the past.  Wendy and Ron were going to spend all of January on Amelia Island, close to us, but they had to cancel because of work responsibilities.  John and Jackie were going to come down but John …

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