Firstly, I apologize for the dissapearing act. I didnt even know that anyone checked or read this, but today I see two "and...?" comments had been left - I didnt know. I would think this fancy machine would update a fella but we can't have eveything now can we.

A lot has happened in the last few months that took precedent over everything else. Firstly, we almost lost Molly, (don't worry, she's fine now) and I think I lost some of myself in the process. If you would have told me a decade ago that my midlife crisis that took me back to school at a late age would have been instrumental in saving us both I would have scoffed at you. Funny how things work out though.

It's late, and I'm a bit tired, but I will get back to this place soon and try to catch everyone up on what has been going on, I just didnt want to put this small update off any longer.

Right now I'm going to go cuddle with my wife. It's Sunday tomorrow. My favorite morning of the entire week.

And you will not believe what Betty's are. Just wait till you hear!

Sam.

Well, I watched Molly build a fence and thought 'maybe she is getting me that dog', but now I am not quite sure what she is doing. After she finished with the fence she came down to the garage and has been going through the woodpile and building what would be the oddest dog house ever. I asked if I could help, and I was told to go away :-) She is up to something for sure. Patience has never been my strong point, but she is having fun with this so I will just have to wait.

Wondering what a woman is up to is hard work, and hard work makes me hungry. I have discovered I like to cook. It all happened many years ago by accident really, but it seems to have stuck. I like fish and spanish dishes the best, and tonight I get to combine the two. It's going to be spicy spanish fish with orange sauce wrapped in home made wheat tortillas. Molly made those :) I first had this years ago in a restarant and now it is one of my favorites. The hardest ingrediant to get is fresh fish from the coast, and snapper seems to work the best. It's sad that our oceans have been fished so hard, but now they seem to have it under control. I never would have thought that we would have elected a president from the Green party, but after only a short while the world has already seen the benefit of not using up all the earths resources like there was no limit. Too late most likely for many of the species who relied on the cold of the North pole, but certanly not to late for us.

I guess thats all for now, almost time for dinner. After that its a snuggle on the couch and a long overdue movie.

Good night one and all.

Sam

Well after several hours of going over various designs, Bob has finally picked a boat. We tried to choose something different from mine that would allow even more versatility. He decided that the sliding seat was just a little to far out there for him, so we chose a standard seat boat, somewhat shorter and wider than mine that will carry three people up to 450 pounds and can even be rigged with a sail if he so chooses. It's a beautiful design and even though it is offered up as a kit with new fangled plastic injected ceramic parts, he chose to do it the old fashioned way out of wood. Here is a photo of what it should look like when we get finished with it!

 She is to be 15 feet long and just under 100 pounds so it will be easy for him to roll it down to the water. I will get on the cosmonet this afternoon and order the plans and parts for him.

There is something joyful about an older person becoming excited about something like a teenager again. I could swear that as Bob left, he walked a little lighter, and looked a little taller than when he came in. Even Molly noticed it. She poked at me a little, "Be careful you don't create a monster" she said. "If he starts building aeroplanes this winter Carol will have your head."  This coming from a woman who built her own wind powered generator at 60. I'm just glad she never wanted to build wood boats. It would be embarrasing to say to people, "yes, the pretty one is the one Molly built...and yes, it's faster than mine as well" LOL.

Speaking of building things, she is out in the yard right now putting up a fence next to her vegetable garden. Maybe she is going to surprise me with that puppy we were talking about!

Thats all for now.

Sam.

I must apologize, the phone rang last night and I thought I would get right back here and finish my thoughts about a little dog, but I did not quite make it. The call was from my new friend Bob. If you remember, we had been talking about building him a little row boat of his own that he could get some exercise with, plus have something that would be double duty for when his grandson came to visit that could be used to teach him how to fish. He had been pretty excited about it untill he spoke to his sister about his plans. It seems sis is a bit of an Eeyore...you do remember Eeyore right? That sad little character in A.A. Milnes Winnie the Pooh books? Anyway, His sister seemed to be quite the critic. Like Eeyore, she seemed intent upon sucking the fun out of anything she came in contact with. She reminded him that he was no longer young, and what would happen if he rowed out in the lake and had a heart attack or worse, drowned. I'm sure she missed the memo about how rowing is great exercise, and can really help with the old ticker. But Bob had been sucked in. He said he thought maybe something "more his age" was better. I remembered a story of course, and I shared the following with him.

While traveling through the countryside late one afternoon, a Hindu, a Rabbi and a Critic were all caught in the same area by a terrific thunderstorm. They sought shelter at a nearby farmhouse. "That storm will be raging all night" The Farmer told them. "You'd better stay here for the night. The problem is, there's only enough room for two of you, one of you will have to sleep in the barn."

"I'll be the one" the Hindu said, "hardship is nothing new to me" and he went out to the barn.

A few moments later there was a knock at the door. It was the Hindu. "I'm sorry" he told the others, "but there is a cow in the barn. According to my religion, cows are sacred, and one must not intrude upon their space."

"Don't worry" said the Rabbi, "make yourself comfortable here, I'll go sleep in the barn." And he left.

A few moments later, there was again a knock at the door, it was the Rabbi. "I hate to be a bother" he said. "but there is a Pig in the barn. In my religion, pigs are considered unclean and I am just not comfortable sharing my sleeping quarters with a pig."

"OH ALL RIGHT" said the critic. "I'LL go sleep in the barn." And off he stomped towards the Barn.

A few minutes later there was another knock at the door. It was the cow and the Pig. :-)

Bob will be here by noon to pick out his rowbat.

Sam

Well I am all alone tonight. Molly and Carol have gone into town for some errands and I have decided to have a sit out on the back deck with a nice cup of coffee. Decaf of course. I like it out here...I can listen to the sounds of the forest, little splashes here and there as something on the lake makes itself safe from whatever might have been chasing it, and of course look at the stars, one of my favorite things to do.

Being quiet and simply listening to what is going on around me has taken me a while to learn. The art of relaxing and allowing ones mind to empty, and then see what thoughts drift in is meditation to some, medicine to me. Tonight while being a temporary bachelor had me thinking thoughts of when I was a bit younger, and Molly and I were dating. I remember having this idea that I always wanted to do. You see, her lawn was kinda brown towards the end of summer, and I wanted to lay out a great big heart shape in it, and try to plant some little red flowers that would sprout up and slowly 'paint' themselves into the lawn into a big red heart. I can still imagine her peeking out her bedroom window looking at it in the lawn and thinking 'what the heck?' Just remembering what I imagined her face was going to look like makes me smile. I searched for days in the library and online as to what kind of little flowers would work, and while there were many, none of them seemed to be able to sprout in the cold weather of the coast. I had simply waited too long. I even went to nurseries and such, and everyone said "Wait till Spring". I never was able to do that for her, and maybe for me, and can remember being fairly dissapointed that the seasons didn't seem to understand that sometimes romance is important. The Scarlett Flax seeds I finally decided on simply sat in the cabinet waiting on warmer weather. I think I will try that again...certainly we have enough earth around us now, and the weather is just right. Now all I have to do is get more of those little seeds and try to figure out how to do it with out being caught. Of course, I get caught at everything really, my Molly is pretty quick.

I've also been thnking about getting a little dog but don't really know what the..Ooops, telephone...be right back.

I am a little sore today from the row yesterday, it has been a while, but not so much that I regret it, in fact  if the rain holds out I hope to go out again later this week.

Molly and Carol spent some time today getting her sewing room ready. It is very nice to have new friends so close by. Once again  I overheard something about Betty and how much fun it will be when she gets here. I'm assuming it must be a relative of Bob or Carol,  I thought about coming right out and asking who she was, but last time they both just laughed at me and Molly said "you'll find out soon enough Dear" Something tells me she is up to something, she gets that little smile and a sparkle in her eye that simply can not be described as anythng but sassy and elvish crossed. In a good way of course.

Well...time to go be productive :-)

Enjoy the photo...Sam.

Well what a great day this has been! The row went well this morning and I truly enjoyed slipping through the water like I belonged there. It's interestign, but with a powerboat, all the birds and ducks and things fly away long before you get there, but in a row boat it's almost as if you become part of their world, more accepted than tolerated. I found myself wishing I had brought a camera, it is so beautiful here. I will try to remember next time. I do have some pictures of the lake from last fall when we moved in. If anyone wants I will try to post thise as soon as I fugure out how.

When I got back Molly had cooked a great breakfast for both of us, and we enjoyed it on the deck. I had to chuckle at her, she had drawn a chalk outline around the place that the hot tub is supposed to go. Like one of those dead body things in those old cop shows. Her idea of humor :-) I got the point though, and promised her the next time we go to the city we will go to the tub shop and look. If this turns out like our other adventures, she will see the price and promptly learn how to pour her own fiberglass molds and make one twice as nice for half the money. She really amazes me sometimes, I think she could build anything once she sets her mind to it.

Bob called and said he admired watching me row across the water (their house is a mile or so up the lake) and asked for a lesson when I get a chance. I can see a boat in his future...heck, maybe we can build one together. It's not like I need the money now and friendship is always more important than profit.

Molly told me she was planning on having the kids up sometime in the summer. It's a good idea I think and it would be good for them to get out of the city for a while. Hopefully we can plan something that will work out for all of us.

Well, I guess this is all for tonight. Ya know, a while back I thought that retirement might get boring. Boy was I  wrong. I get to do so many things I enjoy now, I find mself smiling all the time. And every morning is like Sunday now. Molly and I can snuggle when we wake up and there is no hurry to end it with some job to go to. Life is really goood, I would not trade this for anything.

Sam.

The new neighbors, Bob and Carol are quite a hoot and we found we have much in common. It's going to be nice to have friends in a new place. Carol is just learning how to quilt and lucky for her that Molly has made several. They are going to get along just fine. They also kept whispering about something and laughing, what I have no idea, but it has something to do with a someone named Betty apparently. I'm sure if I am quiet I will figure it out, but they had quite the time.

As it turns out, ol Bob has a little farmer in him and has this cool little tractor that he said Molly could use any time she pleased. I can see our spring garden growing by leaps and bounds now. I like the thought of her bouncing around in the tractor seat, kinda like dancing for me but I get to have lemonade and a great view!

This will be the first morning that I get to pull out the old rowboat. The lake is pretty quiet on Sunday mornings what with all the youngsters having stayed up way too late last night. I'm looking forward to the exercise, and once I learn the lake a little I might bring home a fish or two. Plus I have to admit it feels good to stretch the ol muscles against the water, I've missed that. She is not the fastest of craft, my little Malahini, (thats her name) but she has great lines, sits in the water just right, and always makes me smile when I pull her cover off. Hmm..Like Molly LOL.

I guess thats all from me for now, I will try to write some more this evening if'n I don't drown!

Sam.

It is just beginning to warm up here. Molly had been planning her vegetable garden for weeks and is excited that she will soon begin planting it. I of course am excited at eating it  and I get to plant the corn, my favorite. Well that and squash!

Still lots of work to do on the new house, spring will make it easier on these old bones. We finally have most of the interior painting done. Nice earth colors with lots of greens mixed in here and there. After we get all the walls finished it will be time for me to get started on the bookcases. We have quite the library Molly and I, and both of us find reading so much better than TV. We still have that old flat TV that we got so long ago, and it will be great for watching movies. It’s really amazing how they just beam them into the star box that sits under the TV. I’m still not yet used to talking to it instead of pushing the buttons, but Molly likes it. She always hated having 4 different remote controls.

The boat biz seems as if it’s going to be ok. I was not sure if people would go for wood boats in this day of ceramic carbon fiber molded versions, but there seems to be enough of us left that appreciate the beauty of a hand made wooden hull, whether it be a kayak or row boat. And there are plenty of us left that enjoy a slower pace anyway. Our newest neighbors down the dirt road have expressed an interest in one. That and two more orders will be all I need to keep happy and busy for the rest of the summer. I have to admit though….and shhh, don’t tell Molly, but I would like a ride in one of those new air boats the kids are zipping around the lake in. They can really fly just skimming across the top of the water like that.

Well that’s it for tonight. We are invited over to those new neighbors I told you about for a little party and card playing. Hopefully they will play some music too. Molly gets frisky when I dance with her :-D

More tomorrow…

Sam.

First, a little about me. I'm simply an old retired guy living the life I have always dreamed of, and as a bonus, I get to share it with my best friend in the world, my wife Molly. Together we make quite the couple...she's the pretty one if you had not yet noticed.

We live in an amazing little house we designed and built. Not too big, not to small. Not very fancy but it certainly fits our needs. It's close to the water so in the daytime we can watch all that nature has to offer here, and at night it is just far enough from town and high up enough in the hills so that the stars twinkle like they are on display just for us. It's beautiful. It will be even better when we get that hot tub finished on the deck. I'm not sure who is looking more forward to that, her or I.

I guess this is all for now, I will add  more when I get some time. I look forward to meeting all of you.

Sam.