Book Club Adventure

As I type this I am humming the Sesame Street song, "One of These Things Doesn't Belong Here..."  Can you guess which picture was not taken at my house? 

The past two weeks in my garden...

That's right - The Butterfly.  In March, my book club read Flight Pattern by Barbara Kingsolver and we had our meeting during the first week in April at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden - lunch and a tour of the butterfly exhibit. We visited just before the Asian butterflies left town.  A good time was had by all.



This exhibit was amazing.

The butterflies were beautiful.  I wasn't allowed to touch them or bring one home with me. It's just as well, we are getting really serious about our kitchen redo. So serious that I am trying to make room in the house for all the kitchen stuff that has to be moved during the remodel.  No room for the odd butterfly or two and, to show my husband I can "get rid of things," I am giving away my copy of our March book.

If you would like to own Flight Pattern it just so happens I have a copy that I would love to send it to you. Just let me know in the comment section and I'll put all the names in mixing bowl and let Mr. J&C do the honors. 

The winner will be chosen the next time I post a blog or next Wednesday - which ever comes first.  Chances of winning are if-y to a sure thing depending on how many / if anyone comments and if I can find a mixing bowl.  I'll contact the winner to get your mailing address and send it to you - yes, I'll even send it to far away places like Dallas or New Zealand...

I made these photo collages using iPiccy - the version I use is free and it has been updated to include ready made sizes like Facebook Cover and Twitter Picture. I used iPiccy to create my header and that's also how I 'signed' the pictures in this post...

Comfort and Joy

For the past 365 days Mr. J&C and I have explored the brave new world of retirement. This year has been a period of adjustment for us.  Learning we don't have to live by the clock.  Making a list of fun things to do and actually having the time to do (some of) them. We are also finding new things to do to keep our brains young happily middle aged. There has been lots of togetherness, so much that some days we just make time to be away from each other.  Still, my favorite way to start the morning and end the day is with him.

A perfect gift from my mom.

Mr. J&C still belongs to his professional society which meets once a month. He has also joined a group of retirees (many of whom he worked with) and they meet once a month. He's slowly getting back into golf (very slowly, he hurt his elbow weeding in the flower beds - I told him gardening was tough). He goes to lunch every now and then with his friends. He likes the outdoors and hunting (visiting with family and friends). He's taken 3 different BBQ classes and (I'm happy to report) his cooking gets better and better.

I still visit with my girlfriends (we call it shopping - it's really more talking and having lunch and talking with a little shopping thrown in). Took a pottery class in October.  And (this is big) I've joined a book club - it's a delight, one of my smartest moves in years. We meet once a month, taking turns to be hostess and choose the book and, if we're lucky, our hostess will theme her lunch menu around the book. The month we read The Great Gatsby our hostess welcomed us into a 1920's cocktail party. I'm planning on doing future posts to describe the books we've read and the meals we've shared. This group of eight women is amazing and the books they have me reading (no pictures! I'm talking serious reading here!) have been entertaining.

I guess the point of my post today is to let the world know we are surviving, even thriving, in retirement. Still learning about each other and the world around us.  Always on the lookout for our next adventure.

Happy New Year!

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