Beautiful Leaf Musings

Sandstone Adventures

Post author By Gary C
Post date May 9, 2022
Categories In Travel

Our Spring Trip to Southwestern Utah

As our friends from Minnesota would attest, the winter of 2021/2022 has been long. Too long. So, to celebrate our 60th birthdays in June, sister-in-law Liz and I planned a trip (with spouses) to southwestern Utah to (a) escape to some warmer weather and (b) enjoy some hiking and good food. Both couples were interested in seeing multiple national parks in the area, including Zion, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. So, I set off to find suitable accommodations. After looking at several options, we selected a VRBO property. The property, hosted by Connie, was perfect for our get-away. It was spacious, centrally located, and well appointed. Communication with Connie was easy, and she was always very responsive. I highly recommend this property.

Located in Kanab, the villa was no more than an hour or so away from the parks that we wanted to visit. Further, much to our surprise, the activities available around Kanab kept us busy for many, many days. Instead of providing a day-by-day summary, I’ll instead provide a categorical summary with a photo gallery.

The Location

As mentioned above, Kanab is a great location if you’re looking to visit multiple national parks and monuments, especially Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Staircase Escalante and the Grand Canyon. There are also some great state parks nearby, especially Coral Sand Dunes State Park (just a few miles from Kanab) and Snow Canyon State Park (near St. George, slightly over 1 hour from Kanab). Plus, there are multiple activities around Kanab that, honestly, challenge the parks in terms of accessibility and satisfaction, especially when you factor in the number of people currently visiting the national parks. Here’s a summary of the parks we visited.

Zion National Park – Zion is only about 40 minutes to the northwest of Kanab. The merits of Zion are obvious. As the park experiencing the greatest number of visitors per year (over 4 million), the park is without question spectacular. We visited the park on a Tuesday in late April and experienced no significant issues. While we had to park at a $30 parking lot in Springdale (a small town just south of the west park entrance) because the visitor center lot was full, it’s easy to get to the park to ride the jump-on/jump-off shuttle through the canyon. Because it was a weekday, the crowds were not bad and we were able to stop at every overlook and shuttle stop we desired. In contrast, when we drove through the park the following Saturday on our way to Snow Canyon State Park, nearly every overlook was full and the line to enter the park was much longer than earlier in the week. As an additional aside, because the parks in the area are managed by different federal agencies, I recommend buying an annual ”Interagency Pass” for $80 ($20 if you’re age 62 or older).
Bryce Canyon National Park – Bryce Canyon is only about 75 minutes to the northeast from Kanab. Again, Bryce’s status as a park worth visiting is unquestioned due to the beautiful vistas it provides and the geological features it offers. The visitor center is worth a visit because of the explanation of the geological history of the hoodoos within the park as well as of the origin and meaning of the ”staircase” reference in the phrase “Grand Staircase-Escalante” which, believe it or not, includes the Grand Canyon. The guidebooks often suggest driving directly to the end of the out-and-back road and stopping at the various overlooks only on your way back. I think this is wise for a couple of reasons. First, the overlooks are on the east side of the road. By waiting to pull over on the way back, you’ll never cross traffic and will have an easier time getting back onto the roadway. Second, it allows you to end at the Bryce Canyon Ampitheater, clearly the most stunning vista within the park. The hikes within the park, including the Bristlecone Loop Trail at Rainbow Point and the Wall Street Trail at Sunset Point, are well worth the effort. I think I may have to come back for the 22.9-mile Under-the-Rim trail which provides access to portions of the park located below the rim of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The trail runs from Rainbow Point to Bryce Point and varies in elevation from 6,980 to 8,334 feet.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument – Grand Staircase-Escalante (GSE) is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, not the National Park Service (hence the earlier interagency pass suggestion).
Red Canyon – The Red Canyon is found northwest of Bryce Canyon within the Dixie National Forest. The visitor center and trails are managed by the US Forest Service. The area has been called the “most photographed place in Utah,” which makes sense given its location and its brilliant red soil contrasted with the green pines.
Snow Canyon State Park – I cannot say enough about this park as it was one of my favorite destinations. While smaller than the surrounding national parks, Snow Canyon features some of the same geological features and houses some animals rarely found in other parks (i.e., the desert tortoise and the Snow Canyon Gila Monster). In terms of geological features, here you’ll find petrified sand dunes, sandstone cliffs and lava! The lava was deposited here 1.4 million years ago when nearby cinder cones erupted. There are even two lava tubes you can explore (but bring your flashlight)!
Coral Sand Dunes State Park – Similarly, this state park was a surprise located only a few miles from our villa. The park includes huge sand dunes popular with all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts as well as sandboarders. While difficult to walk in the sand the 1/2 mile to the top of the largest dune, it was well worth it to be able to take in the view of the surrounding area (and to watch the sandboarders).
Grand Canyon National Park – Among the four of us, I alone had previously visited the Grand Canyon. It was great fun to watch the others experience the park for the first time! Unfortunately, the North Entrance is closed until May 16. As a result, we had to come up with a way to visit the park’s east and south entrance. We decided to make the journey on the day we left Kanab for Las Vegas, the last stop on our trip. The Grand Canyon was, of course, beautiful and awe-inspiring. We arrived at the canyon at about 11 a.m., and already the crowds were building. While we were able to park with no problem at most stops, we did have a little trouble at Grandview Point, one of the smaller overlooks and the trailhead for the Grandview Trail. With a little patience and some driving in circles, we were able to stop at this beautiful overlook.

In addition to the parks mentioned above, we found several local activities, typically managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Tom’s Canyon is a 3-mile roundtrip trail located a short walk from the villa in which we stayed. This served as our go-to trail when we wanted to go out and walk around during the morning or evening.
Bunting Trail is a 4-mile roundtrip trail located just a few miles south of Kanab. The trail climbs from the valley floor to the top of Bunting Point, 860 feet above. A spur off the trail also includes dinosaur tracks preserved in sandstone (seriously)!
K-Hill Trail is a 5-mile roundtrip trail that begins at the same trailhead as Tom’s Canyon, but then goes south toward the visitor center located on Hwy 89 South.
Greenhalgh Trail is located just north of Kanab and is a 3+ mile hike that follows an old stock trail once used to carry mail across the Coral Pink Sand Dunes from towns to the west. It’s a fairly easy hike with some great views.
Peek-a-Boo Canyon was one of the greatest surprises we found. From the BLM website: ”Peek-A-Boo, also commonly known as Red Canyon, is an easy, short hike (0.7 miles round trip) into one of the most beautiful slot canyons in the area. The stunning orange, sandstone walls make an amazing backdrop for photographs. In the canyon, you will find ancient Moqui Steps climbing the canyon wall as well as logs balanced between the canyon walls above you.” The canyon is difficult to get to due to the deep sand road you must follow to get to the trailhead. Although tempted to try to get to the canyon in our rented Toyota 4Runner, wiser heads prevailed as our wives preferred to access the canyon through the tour operator we hired, Coral Cliffs Tours (CCT).
We also hired CCT to take us to Cutler Point (also known as the Grand Chamber) and to the Inchworm Arch. Our three-stop tour, known as he Best of Kanab, took us across terrain that would have been challenging, if not impossible, for a standard vehicle. Cutler Point consists of a huge sand dune within a cove in the White Cliffs level of The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. While a challenging walk due to the sand, it was well worth the effort and produced some wonderful pictures. Because we were unable to get to Arches National Park, it was great to see the Inchworm so we at least saw a few arches while visiting the area.
Lastly, we embarked on a journey up the Cottonwood Canyon Road. Located approximately 49 miles east of Kanab on Hwy 89 South, this 40-mile long gravel road consists of several sites worth visiting (see below). We stopped and hiked around at The Box, the Cottonwood Narrows slot canyon, Grosvenor Arch, and Kodachrome Basin State Park. While not required, a 4-wheel drive vehicle made this portion of our trip much more comfortable than it would have been in a standard rental car or SUV.

The Food

Once we got settled in Kanab, it was time to journey out and find the good restaurants. We started at Houston’s Trails End which features some standard American meals. What’s not on the menu, but set Houston’s apart, was its Coconut Cream Pie! Absolutely delicious. We also ate at Escobar’s Mexican restaurant. Escobar’s, celebrating its 25th year in business, is very popular and very busy. Under the guiding hand of Rosa (the owner along with her husband Leo), this charming place provided authentic Mexican food and great service. We also ate vegan pizza at the Peekaboo Canyon Wood Fired Kitchen. My Hot Mess pizza was one of the most attractive and best tasting pizzas I have ever enjoyed. The colors and flavors were a pleasant surprise! We twice enjoyed eating at the Rocking V Cafe. Between the four of us, we tried many, many menu items. None were disappointing. The almond bread pudding dessert stood out as one of the best desserts we enjoyed our entire trip (and was referenced several times during our trip as the standard for other desserts to beat). We also ate at the Wild Thyme Cafe, which touts its organic, on-site garden. The Tropical Piggy bowl was particularly delicious. There were, of course, a few restaurants at which we ate that did not stand out. None were bad, but I have chosen to not list them here.

Finally, while all of the restaurants noted above were very good, there was only one restaurant that stood out as a ”dining experience” (as exclaimed by Dave). It was Vermillion 45, a French/Italian bistro located in the middle of this town of roughly 4,600 people. The unassuming exterior of this restaurant does nothing to give you a heads-up of what you’ll find inside. Chef Cesidio d’Andrea, classically trained at the French culinary academy, Chateau des Coudraies, leads the pair of French chefs offering slow-cooked, home-style French, Belgian and Italian dishes as well as nouvelle cuisine, fresh seafood and steaks in a casual bistro setting. All of our meals were spectacular, including my Brochette de Canard, featuring Long Island Duck sourced from Indiana. In addition, their Creme Brulee was served the proper way (a detail to which my spouse is very attuned). As our server said, ”if [the French chefs] don’t know how to properly prepare Creme Brulee, we’ll send them back to France.”

Las Vegas

We ended our trip by staying at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. My spouse had never been to Vegas, so we thought it an opportune time to visit Sin City. For the most part, we walked around and toured the mind-bogglingly large resorts. We also toured Fremont Street to see the older, downtown casinos and to people-watch. We also had some good meals, visited a relative living in the area, and restrained ourselves in terms of gambling. On our last night, we went to the “Limitless” show featuring Shin Lim and Colin Cloud, a magician and “The Real Life Sherlock Holmes,” respectively. The show was very enjoyable and provided a capstone event for our trip.

The Photo Gallery

In Closing

According to my Apple Watch, we easily walked 15,000 steps or more on most days of our journey. One day I walked nearly 29,000 steps! The trip was a wonderful way to celebrate turning 60 in June, to spend time with family, and to reacquaint myself with an area I haven’t visited for decades. Plus, these two weeks have reignited my interest in domestic travel, particularly when walking/hiking is part of the plan! In addition, it was great to come back to Minnesota AFTER the snow had melted and the ice had left the lake. Thank goodness it’s spring because I now need to work off the weight I’ve gained from the long winter and the many desserts enjoyed while on our Sandstone Adventures! Thank you for taking the time to read this blog entry.

Next up: A Return to Sweden!

Reflections – Three Months In

Post author By Gary C
Post date April 10, 2022
Categories In Retirement Transition
4 Comments on Reflections – Three Months In

Good day, everyone! It’s been a while since I logged a blog entry. To be honest, I haven’t felt compelled to add another entry until this morning. This lack of motivation could have been due to a variety of things, including I’ve been busy with other things, I didn’t feel I had much to add, etc. While I’m still not sure I have much to add today, here goes.

March was more challenging than the first two months of retirement. The parties were over, the “honeymoon” phase had passed, and the real transition to being a “connoisseur of life” began. It was during this time that I realized the loss of the thing I really valued at work: the social element of the workplace. The interaction with people. As I reflect on it, I think it was a culmination of many things including the never-ending-winter that seems to have gripped my new hometown, the horrific events occurring in Ukraine, concern about a daughter forced to quarantine in San Francisco for a week due to COVID, and the actual reduction in conversations with a variety of people. I was doing really well in terms of exercising, engaging in activities that were mentally challenging, and filling my days with rewarding activities such as woodworking, reading really good and challenging materials, spending time with the grandkids, cooking, researching potential travel destinations, and playing games with my beautiful spouse. While grieving the reduction of interactions with others wasn’t unexpected, it led me to realize I have to put more effort into this one aspect of my life.

As a result, I have begun volunteering at the local food co-op and at the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge. I have also signed up to go through the training to become a Minnesota Master Naturalist for the Big Woods, Big Rivers biome. These activities will provide not only physical opportunities (e.g., unloading food shipments for the food shelf) but also education and social interactions with classmates and, hopefully, students in the years to come.

As I said at the beginning of this entry, I’m not sure I had a lot to add today. But, in the vein of sharing my entire retirement transition journey, I wanted to make sure I cover not only the fun activities and benefits of retirement, but also some of the struggles that accompany such a life change. While I’ve been told by one retiree that I’ve transitioned through the emotional phases of the change faster than most he has observed, the transition has its challenges. Today, I do feel better about all aspects of my new life than I have before. I see a world of opportunities and am truly excited about what the future holds.

Thank you for taking the time to read this entry and, as always, I welcome your comments and questions. Until next time….

Le-French Pig – Kitchen Charcuterie

Post author By Gary C
Post date March 7, 2022
Categories In Creative Ventures

Another Get-a-Life Tree Activity

This past weekend began on Friday at 11 a.m. when I logged onto a Zoom workshop hosted by Kate Hill. It was to be the beginning of nearly 8 hours of “making basic French cured meats at home … using primarily pork.” During the workshop, comprised of two hours on Friday, two and one-half hours on Saturday, and three and one-half hours on Sunday, Kate shared some of her favorite simple skills that produce safe and time-honored French-style deli meats to enjoy at home, from lardons to Saucisse de Toulouse, country-style pâtés to a peppery filet sec, all perfect for home-made charcuterie plates.

If I had to narrow my choice of meats down to one for the rest of my life, I am quite certain that meat would be pork.
James Beard

But before I get ahead of myself, let me start with the ingredients that had to be assembled before the workshop began. As mentioned above, the focus of the weekend was on pork, and lots of it, including: a 4-pound pork belly, 2 pounds of pork tenderloin, 4 pounds of pork shoulder, and 2 pounds of pork trim. In addition, I needed to locate 1/4 pound of liver (beef had to do for this as pork liver could not be reasonably found) and natural hog casings to make sausage. Thanks to a special order with the local butcher and a few things from Amazon, I had all of these ingredients in hand by Wednesday. In addition to the meat, a few pantry items were required, including lots of sea salt, lots of black pepper corns (to be ground), onions, potatoes, flour and butter. With these ingredients, our handy Kitchen Aid meat grinder/sausage stuffer, and kitchen scale in hand, I was ready for the challenge of the weekend workshop.

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.
Oscar Wilde

Friday involved learning about safely handling raw meats and working with dry-cured whole muscles. Specifically, we were going to create rolled pork belly, or Ventreche, and dried pork loin, or Filets Secs. We began by trimming the pork belly to remove excess connective tissue and to “square it up” to facilitate rolling it up like a jelly roll on Sunday. Similarly, we trimmed off the smaller ends of the pork tenderloin to ensure a consistent diameter. After these steps, we applied salt equal to 3% of the weight of each cut of meat. The salt is rubbed in on all sides and edges of the pork belly and tenderloins. The cuts of meat are then allowed to cure for 24 hours in an open bin in the refrigerator. By allowing them to sit, the salt works its way into the meat, drawing out some of the moisture and making the meat firmer.

We then adjourned until 11 a.m. on Saturday, at which point we again began with instruction on how to handle meat safely, particularly when using a grinder and sausage stuffer. We then prepared our meat grinders for the upcoming task of making Saucisse de Toulouse. Per Kate, “[b]y law, Saucisse de Toulouse is defined very rigorously and the basic recipe is a national law to be respected including the geographic location of the pig, natural casings, amounts of lean meat to pork fat, and absence of all preservatives and additives.” The most basic of all fresh charcuterie, this sausage is the foundation of may Southwest French dishes including cassoulet. The sausage must follow the following proportions: 80% fresh pork shoulder and collar, and 20% fat. For every kilogram of ground pork, 14 grams of milled sea salt (so, 14% by weight) and 2 grams of freshly ground black pepper (or 2% by weight). We cut the pork up into cubes of meat that would fit into our grinder, seasoned the meat with the salt and pepper, and began running the meat through. For this sausage, a grinder plate with holes from 8 to 10 millimeters in diameter produces the proper coarseness of the ground fat and meat.

Once all the meat is ground, the casings are prepared by cleaning them and inserting them over the stuffing tube attachment of the stuffer. We then fed the ground meat through the stuffer and into the casings, slowing holding the casing as it slid off the stuffing tube to ensure a consist thickness of the sausage.

On Saturday we also rubbed the excess salt (of which there was very, very little) off the pork belly and pork tenderloins and returned them to the refrigerator so the salt would have 24 more hours to “equalize throughout the meat.”

We adjourned until Sunday, when be began by preparing the meat and other ingredients for the pork pâté. Pork pate is not what many Americans envision as pate. It is not a paste-like substance, but is much more like meatloaf.

Boy, those French! They have a different word for everything.
Steve Martin

The pâté begins with whatever amount of meat you have left over from the other work you’ve been doing with pork. For purposes of example, let’s assume you have 1 kilogram (i.e., 1,000 grams) of pork trim. To the chunks of pork trim you add 100 grams of fresh blanched pork liver, 100 grams of onion chunks, and 100 grams of cooked potato chunks. After mixing this together by hand, you add 14% of the combined weight of all the ingredients (i.e., 1,300 grams above) of salt and 2% of the combined weight in pepper to the mix. You combine it all by hand and THEN run the mixture through the grinder. You mix it further with your hands until it becomes sticky, form it into a ball, and then transfer it to a tureen or loaf pan for cooking, being careful to remove any air pockets. The mixture is cooked in a 400 degree F oven until the internal temperature of the pâté reaches and maintains 160 degrees F. That’s it! The pâté is served by cutting it in slices and eating it on bread as a sandwich or with crackers on a charcuterie plate (or in whatever way you enjoy eating it!).

We reserved some of the pâté meat mixture so we could make small meat pies, sort of like a pâté empanada. First, we made a hot water pastry crust, the ingredients of which were 500 grams of flour, 150 milliliters of very hot water, 200 grams of butter or other fat, and 3 grams of each of sugar and sea salt. This simple crust recipe can be ready in minutes, and was used to enclose meatball-sized portions of the pâté mixture. I made my pies by simply pulling the crust around the meat mixture and pinching it together at the top. These tasty morsels baked in the 400 degree F oven until well-browned (approximately 30 minutes).

We closed out the workshop by finishing our pork belly and pork tenderloins. The pork belly was finished by rolling it up and tying it with string. The salt will continue to equalize in the meat, proving a consistent texture throughout. This Ventreche can be used in any dish in which you’d use bacon. It can also be cut into round slices and used on bread, or as lardons to provide fat and flavor for cooking. The tenderloins, because they are a much leaner cut of meat, will continue to lose moisture weight at a rate of approximately 1% per day for the next 30 days. At the end of that period, they can be sliced into small medallions. These small slices of meat will be very firm and serve as a very good meat with crackers and cheese.

Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the ‘Titanic’ who waved off the dessert cart.
Erma Bombeck

The workshop was thoroughly enjoyable, and I enjoyed learning from Kate and my twelve or so classmates from around the world!

And now the disclaimer: Any errors in the recipes, proportions, or processes are my own errors in translating the steps throughout the workshop and and are not those of Kate Hill. If you’re interested in learning more and participating in future workshops, visit Kate’s site at https://kitchen-at-camont.com.

Reflections – Two Months In

Post author By Gary C
Post date March 3, 2022
Categories In Retirement Transition
4 Comments on Reflections – Two Months In

Good day, everyone! Two months have now passed since I became a full-time connoisseur of life. Besides the activities discussed in prior posts, our trip to Sweden to visit our youngest daughter game me the chance to dive into more books and podcasts related to retirement. Most interestingly, I stumbled upon the writings of Arthur C. Brooks, an American Social Scientist, the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School. Mr. Brooks is the author of 11 books, writes the How to Build a Life column at The Atlantic, and is the host of the podcast The Art of Happiness with Arthur Brooks. The article that caught my attention was his February 17 column entitled “The Seven Habits That Lead to Happiness in Old Age.” Mr. Brook’s writings don’t focus only on retirement, or only on older folks for that matter. Instead, he focuses on how to achieve a happy and fulfilling life at all ages. In this particular column I found the seven habits to be fairly straightforward and obvious. But, I also noticed that many of them overlap with the advice others have given in order to enjoy a fulfilling retirement. Of the seven in Brooks’ list, the one item that most caught my eye was number seven, “Do the work to cultivate stable, long-term relationships now.” Here’s why.

Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.
Tennessee Williams

People often get a number of things from full-time employment: compensation, intellectual stimulation, a sense of purpose, something to do for 8+ hours a day, and social interaction. Upon retirement, many of these things are abruptly severed. That, of course, is the challenge of retirement and why there are so many books written about the importance of the transition. For me, at about week six of retirement I found myself increasingly wondering about my former coworkers and what was happening in their lives. This realization reinforced for me the importance of continuing to make the connections with these individuals, of continuing to build on other relationships in my life, and of making new connections in areas of activity driven by my get-a-life tree. As a result, I am very much looking forward to continuing trips to the community center and to warmer weather when I can engage with others in outdoor activities such as golf, tennis, entertaining, traveling, etc.

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
Carl Jung

One of the most important relationships to focus on, of course, is that with your spouse. Another interesting point of view I read about while traveling was the concept of thinking about your day as falling into three categories: “me time, we time, and she time.” While I don’t recall to whom the concept is attributed, the idea is that you have time to focus on yourself, time together with your spouse focused on joint activities, and time you take to focus solely on the interests of your spouse. Interestingly, while my wife and I were waiting for food at a local restaurant, and in responding to my inquiry about how she thought our retirement transition was going, she articulated this concept as the very area she is trying to work out for herself. So, we now use the “me/we/(s)he” phrase to discuss our plans for the upcoming days and work to ensure we have good balance between the three areas of focus.

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
Swedish Proverb

Another of Brooks’ seven items that caught my attention was number 4, “[p]rioritize movement in your life by scheduling time for it every day and sticking to it. Arguably the single best, time-tested way to do this is by walking daily.” In particular, the linked article discusses what Brooks “learned about transcendence from a very boring 100-mile trek” along the Camino de Santiago trail. Besides being a trip I have been researching for my wife and me, I was interested in Brooks’ idea that the secret of the Camino is really its utter lack of thrills. To quote Brooks, “by about day three … the walk begins to slow the mind to the speed of the body at a pace that is natural and unforced. The walk becomes a long piece of music—andante, of course—that neither lags nor hurries.” This is one of the reasons backpacking and hiking have always been of interest to me. There’s something therapeutic about the slow pace required when hiking on an uneven, rocky surface with a 40-pound pack on your back.

Brooks’ concept of walking being transcendental led me to ponder what a person can do to ensure they age gracefully. While transitioning to retirement is tactical, it must lead to a strategic objective, right? And, while the objective is to live the last one-half of one’s life in a way that has purpose and leads to happiness, how do you satisfy this objective and age gracefully when the body and mind become increasingly challenged as the years progress? I am struck by how Brooks’ concepts, the idea of retirement planning, and the practices of mindfulness are beginning to come together. This recognition, of course, led to another trip to Amazon.com and the purchase of a few more books. Therefore, the concept of ageless and graceful aging will be a topic for a future post….

Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.
Epicurus

Salmon Lox

A Get-a-Life Activity

When we drove back from MSP to our home last Wednesday, we stopped at Moreys Fish Market in Motley, MN. We purchased some catfish (which became fish tacos – recipe below), some smoked trout, and two pounds of sockeye salmon.

Seafood-Spicy-Catfish-Tacos Download

I bought the salmon so I could try a new Salmon Lox recipe I’d recently seen on Sylvia Fontaine’s Feasting at Home blog. Sylvia’s description of the recipe and its execution is beautiful and I encourage you to read it. In my case, the recipe was straightforward and yielded wonderful results. Here are some pictures of the slicing and storage process. In the end, the two pounds of salmon yielded slightly more than 27 ounces of lox at a cost of about $1.40 per ounce, less than the $2 per ounce charged by Moreys. I can’t wait to experience the lox on bagels and in salads in the weeks to come.

Who knows, maybe this item will appear on the menu for our guests in the future….

My Swedish Valentine

Our youngest daughter moved to Stockholm, Sweden in mid-2021 for a job with a video game publisher. We first made plans to visit her in July of that year, only to have our plans thwarted by the Delta variant of COVID. We were forced to cancel our trip, much to the dismay of our daughter and us. Luckily, she had several trips scheduled in 2021 to return to the US for family events and the holidays. But, we knew it was important for us to go visit her as soon as the virus allowed. So, in late summer 2021 I planned and booked a trip for February 2022, only to see the Omicron variant spread rapidly around the world as the end of 2021 drew near. Governments again imposed travel restrictions. In fact, it was unclear if our daughter would be able to return to Sweden at the end of her holiday visit to the US. Would we have to cancel again?

Then, a glimmer of hope arose. The spread of Omicron appeared to wane in late January/early February, and many governments started to realize that COVID was going to spread throughout their populations whether travelers were admitted or not. As a result, in early February many countries started to reduce or eliminate their travel restrictions, particularly for those individuals who are fully vaccinated. Sweden, specifically, eliminated its COVID test requirements for travelers from the US who were fully vaccinated. So, our plans appeared to be holding.

February 14/15 – Travel Day

We drove to the Twin Cities on February 13 for our Valentine’s Day flight to Stockholm. We decided to stay at the Intercontinental Hotel at the airport so we could get a COVID test at the airport the morning of our flight (a safety precaution). But, of course, in the days leading up to our flight I developed head congestion and a sore throat. I took a couple of rapid tests which were negative. But, what would happen on the day that mattered, the day of our flight? Fortunately, both of our tests were negative, so my symptoms appear to have arisen simply due to a head-cold.

Our first flight, from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, departed over one hour late. Due to a strong tailwind, however, we were able to make up the lost time and arrived at Schiphol airport at the original arrival time. Neither of us slept well on the plane, so were thoroughly tired as we waited through our three-hour layover.

From there the trip went smoothy. Flights were on time, the taxi driver was courteous, and we found an eclectic, charming little cafe where we could kill time until our Airbnb was available. Our daughter then joined us at the Airbnb and, after unpacking and chatting a little while, we went out for dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant named Olivia Medborgarhuset. We then returned to the Airbnb where we discussed the intricacies of the online mind puzzles wordle, nerdle, worldle, and semantle (including a call back to the states to confer with our son). After a long day of travel, we then called it a night.

February 16 – Day 1

As if to prove we really needed our sleep, our daughter was the first to wake up, probably a first since 2003 (she gave me permission to make that statement). Finally about noon we were all able to shake off the grogginess of sleep and begin planning our day. We began by walking to the building in which she works, an old residence built in the mid-1800s converted to office space. Very cool. We then took the metro to her apartment so we could see where she lives. We then spent several hours walking around enjoying the sites. Because we had a fixed-price dinner scheduled later in the evening, we stopped at a small bar/restaurant, Ostgotakallaren, for a snack to tide us over. We had three different dishes: Gubbröra consisting of pickled herring from Norröna (an island in Sweden), potatoes, mayonnaise, onions and eggs on rye toast; apple strudel with vanilla ice cream and cream; and fried Camembert with cloudberry jam and fried parsley. All were excellent and just what we needed. The restaurant itself had the vibe of a local hangout and a charming ambiance. It reminded me of the Swedish version of an Irish pub.

Our daughter had arranged a dinner to celebrate my retirement at Sushi Sho, a Michelin-rated sushi restaurant located just northwest of ”Gamla Stan,” the old city area of Stockholm. The food here is served ”omakase-style,” meaning the food served is determined by the chef. While the chef picks the food, the guests pick their beverage, the options of which included four sake pairings, wine, champagne, or beer. We followed the advice of the Michelin Guide which states ”[g]o for the remarkable sake tasting menu.” We weren’t disappointed. The restaurant has only 16 seats with 2 – 5 seatings per day, depending on the day of the week. The food was served over a two-hour period as a series of small plates featuring a variety of fish, vegetables, broths, and presentation styles. Even the sushi-cautious in our group loved the food and the sake. It was a memorable dinner that one can only appreciate by going through the experience!

.Some samples of the small plates served at Sushi Sho

February 17 – Day 2

We slept in a little bit to catch up on sleep and to allow continued progress on my cold. We walked to MAX for lunch, a fast food burger restaurant similar to McDonalds. We then met our guide for the afternoon, Elisabeth. She took us on a 3-hour journey through the SOFO region in which our Airbnb is located, southern Stockholm, and Gamla Stan. Probably the highlight of the afternoon was a tour of the artwork that adorns the Stockholm metro system stations. We then stayed in Gamla Stan to enjoy a drink and appetizer at Aifur, a Viking-themed restaurant with wild game-based dinners, beer in large pottery glasses, and a staff dressed in medieval attire. The soup, mussels and charcuterie board we enjoyed were tasty, indeed! We then walked a few blocks to Tweed, a ”comfortable bar” found within the Djuret dining rooms in Gamla Stan. We sat at the bar and enjoyed a wonderful show put on by the bartender. This knowledgeable professional shared a few of his drink secrets and was more adept at crafting cocktails while putting on a show than anyone I had previously met. Before returning to the SOFO area, we hunted down the house where the French philosopher René Descartes lived up until his death (a destination on my ”must find” list). We then made our way back via the metro to SOFO where we stopped at Södra Sällskapet, a bar/restaurant near our Airbnb for another appetizer to complete the evening’s meal. The food was good and the staff was pleasant. We shared a salad, sweet potato fries, and focaccia bread before heading back to our lodging to get some rest after a very busy day! Tomorrow: another 1/2 day of touring with Elisabeth!

February 18 – Day 3

We began our day early with the 18-minute metro ride to the Italian coffee shop next to our daughter’s apartment. We grabbed a traditional Italian coffee and a few pastries and retreated to the apartment to have a table at which to eat our food. We then met up with Elisabeth for a tour of Kungsholmen, the island on which our daughter lives. While Elisabeth treated us to a great deal of information and history about the area, the highlight was definitely the Stockholm City Hall.

While filled with remarkable art and architecture, two of the most impressive features include the Blue Hall and the Golden Hall. The Blue Hall, with its straight walls and arcades, incorporates elements of a formal courtyard and is the dining hall where banquets are held after the annual Nobel Prize award ceremony. The pipe organ in the Blue Hall, with its 10,270 pipes, is the largest in Scandinavia. Adjacent, but one floor above the Blue Hall, lies the Golden Hall (Gyllene Salen), named after the decorative mosaics made of more than 18 million tiles. The mosaics make use of motifs from Swedish history. For the remainder of our three-hour tour, we visited various sites and neighborhoods on the island. It was a pleasure to have access to a knowledgeable, local guide so both we and our daughter could learn more about this city.

We returned to Gamla Stan to a restaurant called ”Tradition” to have a meal comprised of traditional Swedish foods. My wife enjoyed Swedish meatballs with potatoes, vegetables and lingonberries; my daughter had a breaded veal dish with potatoes, vegetables, and lingonberries; and I had ”Salmon pudding,” which turned out more to be like an egg bake with salmon, potatoes, and onion. It was accompanied by eggs and vegetables. The restaurant was clean with a good ambience, the staff friendly and helpful, and the food excellent.

Breaded veal with potatoes, peas, and lingonberries at Tradition

I then returned to the Airbnb for a nap to continue in my efforts to defeat my cold while my wife and daughter went shopping. After some downtime, we wandered the SOFO area to find a restaurant for dinner. We stumbled upon PS Vin & Mat, a “studio” extension of the PS Mastal cooking school. We enjoyed a number of small plates, including chips with pesto sauce, cabbage leaves with dressing, fried new potatoes with Harissa and silver onions, wild boar, salami. While I have done a poor job of describing our meal, you’ll simply have to trust that it was beautifully presented and very, very tasty.

Appetizers and venue at PS Vin & Mat; menu accessible (in Swedish) below.

PS-MAT-2022-01-17 Download

While returning to the Airbnb we found ourselves in the atmosphere of a busy Friday evening in one of the most ”hip” areas of the city. Yet the streets, while busy with pedestrians and partiers, were largely devoid of cars and we felt completely safe. Once home, we relaxed for a while to tend to colds and allergies. Tomorrow would be another day, this time with snow and colder temperatures expected.

February 19 – Day 4

It did, in fact, snow overnight. But, because temperatures here are at or slightly above freezing, the snow melted quickly and the day turned out to be quite mild (at least by MN standards). We began our day mid-morning by leisurely walking to Gamla Stan to the Nobel Prize museum. The museum was a great follow-up to our prior day because the current exhibit was related to the Nobel banquet held in the Blue Hall at the Stockholm City Hall. During the middle of our museum visit we chose to have lunch in the small cafe attached to the museum. In addition to traditional Swedish food, the museum cafe features the ice cream served at the Nobel Prize Banquet until the year 2000. In addition, if you look at the bottom of the chairs in the cafe you’ll see the signatures of some of the Nobel Laureates.

We continued our museum tour, which included videos about a number of Nobel Laureates over the years, some of which have even participated in podcasts!

The remainder of the afternoon was spent shopping for the kids and grandkids in the northern part of Stockholm. We next enjoyed dinner at Izakaya, a club-like sushi restaurant on the 14th floor of a skyscraper north of Gamla Stan. This particular restaurant serves its dishes tapas-style, so we enjoyed a variety of menu items. The staff was friendly, the food beautiful and tasty, and the atmosphere lively.

We concluded our evening by returning to our Airbnb to watch the contestants in the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2022, which determines the act to represent Sweden in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

February 20 – Day 5

This morning we began by doing laundry (yes, it’s the only way when you don’t check luggage, which is our norm). We then jumped on the metro and a tram to visit the celebrated Vasa Museum, a site my wife and I visited a few years ago when we first visited Sweden. But, more importantly, we were meeting an exchange student (along with her husband and son) who stayed with my wife’s family 40 years ago. As to the museum, it is one of my favorites. It recognizes a failure in design in terms of the ship itself, but celebrates the capabilities of science and of the specialists that came together to lift the ship from the bottom of the Stockholm harbor 333 years after it was launched and “sailed” for only minutes. The recovery and preservation of this ship is truly remarkable.

After an hour or so in the museum, we left for lunch at Restaurant Hasselbacken within the Hasselbacken Hotel. It was a wonderful brunch with bagels with salmon, mushroom and truffle omelets, and much more. The hotel is near the famous open-air Skansen Swedish history museum and many, many other museums. A must see area within Stockholm, particularly for families. After the lunch we bid goodbye to our new family and walked back to a train station just northeast of Gamla Stan. We then made our way west to a well known bakery to pick up a few Semla, a traditional pastry with its roots in Fat Tuesday. After dropping off our pastries at the Airbnb and checking the weather approaching Minnesota (which is threatening our flight home), we headed off to my favorite restaurant from our prior visit to Sweden: The Hairy Pig. As suggested by the name, the restaurant’s menu includes a variety of dishes made from wild game (below). We selected the “sharing board” for 2 persons which, on this night, included Reindeer tacos, lamb sausage in a brioche bun, and a wild boar sausage in a brioche bun (among other things).

After dinner we walked around Gamla Stan for awhile, listened briefly to a live band in a Jazz Club, and then headed back to our Airbnb to get organized and pack.

February 21 – Day 6

Today is our last day in Stockholm. We started the day with a very light breakfast. It snowed a couple of inches overnight and was still coming down when we began our morning walk, today with the objective of making our way out onto the archipelago to the southeast of the city. We first toured the Katarina Church and cemetary located near our Airbnb. The church began in the 1330s, is one of Sweden’s great baroque churches, and survived two fires, one in 1723 and one in 1990. A highlight includes a huge pipe organ which is often used for classical music concerts.

From the church we took a bus to a light rail station called Henriksdal. We then traveled about 10 miles to Saltsjobaden, a small hamlet at the end of the metro line. The wooded archipelago through which we traveled contributes to Sweden’s nickname of ”the Venice of the North.” Instead of weaving through the various canals in a gondola, however, our train weaved its way through small villages, sometimes on the water’s edge and other times deep in the midst of timber. The ride was not at all crowded and we enjoyed our trip through this countryside which I suspect is very, very busy in the summertime. The following pictures provide a glimpse of what we saw on this brief journey.

We returned to SOFO from the archipelago to have lunch at Bun Meat Bun, a burger restaurant in the mall near our Airbnb. Instead of a meat-based burger, however, we had the Big Bertha with halloumi cheese in place of the meat patty. We had heard about the halloumi burger several times from our daughter and could hardly wait to have one. It was very tasty, and I would definitely eat one again!

From Bun Meat Bun, we went back to the Airbnb, ”checked out,” and moved our luggage to our daughter’s apartment until it was time to depart for the airport. We underwent another COVID test at the convenient testing center across the street (thankfully negative once again!). After eating a light snack at nearby Copperfield’s English Pub, we went back to her apartment to get organized for the trip home.

Toast Skagen and an appetizer sampler plate at Copperfield’s English Pub

Our daughter accompanied us to the metro stop where the train to the Arlanda airport departs. It was difficult to say goodbye as the week had been such a delight. We, and she, learned a lot about Stockholm, its neighborhoods, and its culture. It was such a joy to be able to learn together, and to see how much she had already learned over the past many months of living there. Plus, there was food. So much food! But, as we had walked over 5 miles per day, we found a way to justify it to ourselves….

Our trip to the airport was uneventful. The train was clean and nearly empty. Once we arrived at the airport we checked into the Radisson Blu to get a few hours of sleep before we had to arise at 2:45 a.m. to check-in for our 6:30 flight. Due to snow in both Stockholm and Minneapolis it was unclear if we would get home without significant delays but, in the end, things went smoothly and our flights took off and arrived on time.

Summary

Sweden is a country with a population a little less than double that of Minnesota (10.3 vs 5.6 million people, respectively). Stockholm is clean, with a vibrant music, food, and art community. As with many European capitals, there is a convenient metro system and walking is a very common way to get around. The high temperatures during our visit ranged from the low 30s to upper 30s degrees Fahrenheit. The low temperatures were typically only about five degrees lower. Our lodging was in a great location. The metro station was only 1.5 blocks away, it was surrounded by restaurants, and it served as a great location for hanging out and for sightseeing. The old town (Gamla Stan) is beautiful with many interesting cultural, food, and historic sites to be explored. In terms of surprises encountered, I was surprised by the number of sushi restaurants (a pleasant surprise given my love of Japanese food). I was also surprised by the expansive nature and convenience of the metro system. Finally, while not necessarily surprising, I was uplifted by the friendly, helpful, and positive nature of the Swedish people we encountered. They went out of their way to help us, to speak English when necessary, and to make recommendations to ensure our stay was pleasant. So, Stockholm and Sweden, we’ll be back….

Happy, Wild, and Free!

Good day, my friends! It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted anything to the blog. I have learned that you need to write when the mood hits you. It is not something that can be easily forced. Well, today it is AGAIN below zero degrees outside and the mood hit me so it’s a perfect day for an additional blog entry.

Today I want to briefly discuss one aspect of my favorite retirement book, “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free” by Ernie Zelinski. As Zelinski says in the book’s preface, “[t]ruth be known, after the novelty of the retirement lifestyle wears off in a month or two, you may feel the you don’t have any reason to get up in the morning.” Zelinski further states that “[r]etirement can be both exciting and demanding…. Retirement is the perfect time to become the person you would like to be and do the things you have always wanted to do.” Zelinski’s premise is that to “retire happy, wild, and free, you must stay active. It’s also important that you have goals and dreams.”

You have attained true freedom in this world when you can get up in the morning when you want to get up; go to sleep when you want to go to sleep; and in the interval, work and play at the things you want to work and play at – all at your own pace. The great news is that retirement allows you the opportunity to attain this freedom.
Ernie Zelinski

In chapter 3 of his book, Zelinski notes that many people looking forward to retirement feel they will find plenty of things to keep them occupied. But, he notes, many individuals don’t have nearly as much to keep them occupied as they had anticipated. One of my favorite quotes in the chapter is “[r]etirement should be a reorientation of living. We should call it disengagement from a full-time career, ‘self-actualization’ or ‘self-realization,’ rather than ‘retirement.'” He then takes the reader on the journey of developing their personal “Get-a-Life Tree,” a creative approach to generating a substantial number of choices of activities we may want to pursue while in retirement. The retirement activities are based on three principal ideas: activities that turn you on. now; activities that turned you on in the past but you have stopped doing; and new activities you have thought of doing but haven’t yet done. You can, of course, add other principles that you want to drive your activities such as “activities that get me physically fit.” These principles represent the major branches on the tree, with the identified activities serving as the secondary branches. Zelinski recommends that you identify at least 50 activities, or secondary branches, on your tree.

As for my Get-a-Life Tree, it is built around six principles and contains well over 50 secondary branches. At the risk of boring you with too much information about me, I’ve attached a PDF of my tree for your information. The native Word document contains links and other tools to make it interactive and fun to visit.

Get-a-Life-Tree Download

As I reflect on the list of items in my tree as I write this post, I am surprised at how many items I am now doing and at how incomplete the list is! In other words, I am finding that there are things I didn’t put on the list that I now enjoy doing (e.g., cross-country skiing and snowshoeing). Further, there’s nothing on the list that I now don’t want to do.

In closing, I have two thoughts. First, as to my “self-realization,” I’m doing quite well, thank you. I am having fun cooking, spending time with family, working out, listening to podcasts, reading and engaging with my wood shop again. Plus, I’ve caught up on some sleep! Second, if you’re interested in hearing Zelinski talk about his book and retirement planning consider listening to the following two podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stage-3-get-set-5-years-approaching-retirement-with/id1486478931?i=1000465910609

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-women-talk/id326386061?i=1000417825299

As always, I’d love to hear feedback from you. Let me know if you found this post interesting (or not), and if there are other topics you have on your mind. Until next time, have a great day!

Reflections – One Month In

To begin with, one month is NOT enough time to really reflect on. Because the retirement celebrations were held the first week of January (some connecting still continues, in fact), because we’re still unpacking from moving to our home in Northern Minnesota, and due to other things that have arisen since the first of the year that require our attention, my wife and I really haven’t had a chance to develop a “retirement rhythm.” I really haven’t had any time to “get bored” either. In reality, I’m looking forward to seeing if there is such a rhythm. Or, because of the freedom that retirement offers, is the new normal getting used to not having a reliable rhythm. After all, isn’t that what retiring happy, wild, and free is all about? In other words, doesn’t the spontaneity that retirement provides require breaking down such rhythms? Or, maybe there’s a rhythm that exists based on location. For example, maybe there’s a rhythm when we’re at home, but that’s it. The rhythm that develops at home is reliable and predictable only when we’re there. That’s my thesis. We’ll see how it goes….

Anyway, as to how the month went, January went well! It also went fast. I spent a fair amount of time unpacking from our move, reading, and sleeping. I think I had a little catching up to do on sleeping. I also set up my woodshop in our new location, did a long-overdue closet makeover, went snowshoeing, went cross-country skiing, did some fun cooking, and spent a lot more time with the kids and grandkids. Finally, my wife and I began exercising more regularly. All in all, it’s been fun and gratifying to start making progress on my own retirement “tree of life” (as discussed by Ernie Zelinski in his book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free“). More about that in a later post.

I won’t belabor the first month any longer. Suffice it to say we’re only at the beginning of this journey, and can’t wait to see how it all unfolds! Thanks for being part of the journey!

Thinking about retirement (part 2)

For this blog entry I’m going to focus on my second aspect of non-financial retirement planning: friends who helped upon the way. And by helped, I mean either supported, encouraged or introduced areas of exploration for me as I considered retirement and what it would mean for me.

Peter Stathopoulos, mentioned in part 1 of this blog entry, was one such individual. As stated in that entry, Peter “gave me several things: realization of how fortunate I am and have been; an outlook on life through the eyes of someone with a fatal diagnosis; and appreciation of travel as a way to learn more about oneself and humankind.” Peter and I first met in the late 1980s when he supported the area in which I worked at our common employer. Peter and I enjoyed working together and we stayed in touch for several years after he left our employer to further his career elsewhere. However, our connections occurred with less frequency over time until they they hardly occurred at all. Then, through a highly unpredictable twist of fate involving the birth of our oldest granddaughter and my wife and I killing time visiting condominiums for sale until we could get into the hospital to see her, I was given a chance to reconnect with Peter. As his disease progressed over the next four years we interacted many times. It started with visits to the neighborhood in which his condo was located, moved to a restaurant and, finally, to his parent’s home. Our discussions always revolved around his work with medical professionals to find a cure for ALS, experimental treatments he might undergo, and our common love for travel. It was clear Peter was taking in every aspect of the travels I was undertaking; travels he could not, due to his illness, take on his own. It was through Peter’s questioning that I learned about the power of travel to bring people together across cultures, and to educate within our own culture. I miss Peter, but I know that he is with me in every step I take as I travel.

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!
Dr. Seuss

Another person who helped me prepare for retirement is Sue. Sue was an executive coach that I worked with for slightly less than two years, ending shortly before my retirement. Sue’s contribution to my retirement was two-fold. First, she helped me identify with clarity my personal traits. It’s these traits that provided the framework for my exploration of the book “Purposeful Retirement,” mentioned previously. Second, she provided structure and accountability as I considered and prepared for retirement. Sue made sure I was thinking through what my retirement would look like and how I would use my personal traits to bring enjoyment to my years ahead. She also made sure I considered whether my wife and I were on the same page! Most importantly, she encouraged me to share my story. She thought it was interesting and felt others would feel the same way. While a friend at Securian suggested I write this blog, I could not, and probably would not, have done it without the encouragement from Sue.

Friendship is when people know all about you but like you anyway.
Unknown

A third person who deeply influenced my preparations for retirement is my best friend, Ron. Ron and I share curiosity as a deeply imbedded trait. While I supplement curiosity with drive and a penchant to get things done, Ron brings to the table a degree of patience, wisdom, and thoughtfulness that I frequently lack. In addition, Ron is able to put to words, in a way I cannot, experiences and emotions. He has, unknowingly, encouraged me to improve in this area through our symposia (i.e., our after dinner discussions and beer-sampling meetings). During these symposia, Ron and I discuss family, philosophy, theology, politics and, of course, travel. Our discussions are often spurred by travel I am currently researching, by current events, by books we have read, or by college lectures we have enjoyed via Wondrium. Some of the books we have read together, and which have deepened our friendship through the common exploration of interesting topics, include:

“At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Others.” Named one of the Ten Best Books of 2016 by the New York Times, this book provides a spirited account of a major intellectual movement of the twentieth century and the revolutionary thinkers who came to shape it.
“The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.” The Swerve is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, a Winner of the National Book Award, and a New York Times Bestseller. As described by Amazon, “[i]n the winter of 1417, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late thirties plucked a very old manuscript off a dusty shelf in a remote monastery, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. He was Poggio Bracciolini, the greatest book hunter of the Renaissance. His discovery, Lucretius’ ancient poem On the Nature of Things, had been almost entirely lost to history for more than a thousand years.”
“Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment.” As described by Amazon, “[a]t the heart of Buddhism is a simple claim: The reason we suffer—and the reason we make other people suffer—is that we don’t see the world clearly. At the heart of Buddhist meditative practice is a radical promise: We can learn to see the world, including ourselves, more clearly and so gain a deep and morally valid happiness. In this “sublime” (The New Yorker), pathbreaking book, Robert Wright shows how taking this promise seriously can change your life—how it can loosen the grip of anxiety, regret, and hatred, and how it can deepen your appreciation of beauty and of other people. He also shows why this transformation works, drawing on the latest in neuroscience and psychology, and armed with an acute understanding of human evolution.”
“Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know: And Many Others You Will Find Interesting.” From Amazon: “Think the world is getting worse? If so, you’re wrong. The world is, for the most part, actually getting better. But 58 percent of people in 17 countries who were surveyed in 2016 thought that the world was either getting worse or staying the same. Americans were even more glum: 65 percent thought the world was getting worse and only 6 percent thought it was getting better. The uncontroversial data on major global trends in this book will persuade you that this dark view of the state of humanity and the natural world is, in large part, badly mistaken.”
“Great Decisions 2022.” This book is utilized by the national, grassroots foreign policy discussion program sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association. The mission of the FPA is “today, as it has been for over 100 years, to serve as a catalyst for developing awareness, understanding, and informed opinion on U.S. foreign policy and global issues. Through its balanced, nonpartisan programs and publications, the FPA encourages citizens to participate in the foreign policy process.”

In addition, we have travelled extensively with Ron and his wife Jan. As mentioned throughout these blog entries, I find travel to be my greatest source of personal realization and development, including the deepening of relationships. Together, Ron and I have experienced a great many things that have helped me develop the way I think about the world and my preparations for retirement. Finally, because Ron retired several years ago, he has provided me with insights from his experience that have been helpful in my thought process.

Of course, the person most influential in my retirement journey has been my wife, my partner in retirement. While we are early in the journey, her patience throughout my career and with my personality traits (which make me both endearing and maddeningly frustrating), grace, beauty, resilience, and strength have made it possible. It is to her I owe the deepest gratitude.

In closing, please find below a piece written by Ron, mentioned above. The thing I love about this writing is it expresses how Ron and I view life and our exploration of new thoughts and ideas together.

I am no longer who I was,
That is my joy.
Who I am now, I will never be again.

This is my knowledge.
What I shall be is informed by my past, influenced by my now,

and created by my existence.
This is my true self.

I am forever grateful to these and the many, many other individuals who helped me in this transition. Thank you….

Thinking about retirement (part 1)

The way I think about it, there are two areas of preparation when it comes to retirement: financial and non-financial. In other words, can you afford the type of retirement you want and what you need to do to prepare for such a retirement. The financial preparation aspect gets a lot of press, in part because of the multitude of financial planners who want your business to help you accomplish your financial objectives. It’s also the easier of the two areas to quantify. The non-financial preparation category, on the other hand, gets far less press. You typically see this topic discussed either in the self-help section of your favorite bookstore (or Amazon) or by life coaches who want your business. It’s also the harder of the two to nail down. In my opinion, you need to identify your non-financial objectives BEFORE you can identify the financial objectives. The non-financial objectives are the end, while the financial objectives are the means to the end.

I never contemplated retirement in my 30s or 40s as I enjoyed following my career aspirations. But, I had identified late 50s/early 60s as my ideal age range in which to retire, primarily because of my love of travel and my many hobbies. I knew I wanted to have time during my “go-go sixties” to enjoy these activities while still being physically able. But, I also knew that keeping busy wasn’t the only thing I needed to think about. There’s a huge psychological component to retirement as well. We, as humans, need to feel as if we have made a difference, in whatever way is important to us. To advance my preparations, I hit the books and talked to friends. As I’ve stated before, I don’t pretend to have this “retirement thing” nailed. It’s a work in progress and I find a new facet arises every day. The purpose of this series of posts is to give a high-level view of my approach, which I expect to further evolve in the weeks, months and years to come.

For today’s post I’ll focus on the book element of my preparations. Please note that I could go on at some length on this topic, but I’ve worked hard to keep today’s post at a reasonable length.

One must always be careful of books,” said Tessa, “and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.
Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel

There have been a handful of books I have found that significantly molded my way of thinking about retirement. They frequently involved travel, but also made me think outside that singular element my newfound freedom permits. The first book is Purposeful Retirement by Hyrum Smith. While my initial reaction to Smith’s book was that it was dry, I found some great pointers in it, as discussed in a previous blog entry. I found some of the exercises to be helpful, particularly the “Purposeful Planning Questions” found at the end of each chapter. Through the resulting self-reflection you find those soft spots where further reflection might be useful. The title for the some of the chapters within the book give you an idea of nuanced areas of focus: Turning in the Title; Discovered Values, Directed Time; Purposeful Planning; Make a Difference; Retiring Together; and Purposeful Happiness.

A second book which helped me prepare for retirement is Why Buddism is True by Robert Wright. This book was particularly helpful in identifying for me ways to interpret why I was thinking and feeling what I was thinking and feeling. It gave me a framework through which to process the approach and feelings of transitioning from a lifestyle job and career to retirement. It also gave me a way to think about self-care through philosophy and meditation. Plus, it’s just a darn funny book to read (or listen to via audio book). Wright’s humor amidst this somewhat foreign topic is awesome and makes the book all the more enjoyable.

The next two books that had the greatest impact were Travels with Epicurus by Daniel Klein and Traveling with the Fates by my late friend Peter Stathopoulos. The Epicurus book gave me insight into what I hope to get from travel (i.e., learning about and contribute to other cultures beneath the veneer of tourism at a pace which allows me to me to meet the locals and truly observe their daily ways of life). The late chef Anthony Bourdain was a master of this in the context of a cooking show. His dinner table discussions with local residents of the places he visited were, for me, often the highlight of his “Parts Unknown” shows. I have often enjoyed such conversations with locals, or with other travelers, while on vacation and, through this introspection, came to realize how important that is to me. Peter’s “Fates” book gave me several things: realization of how fortunate I am and have been; an outlook on life through the eyes of someone with a fatal diagnosis; and appreciation of travel as a way to learn more about oneself and humankind. The Walt Whitman poem “Song of the Open Road” describes this by stating that the open road is where a man experiences realization and is “tallied.” “He realizes here what he has in him….” Peter’s book also lays bare the cost of waiting. In his prologue Peter states that he had long dreamt of taking a trip to Greece with his children but had “never quite gotten around d to do so, waiting for the perfect time.” He goes on to state “I realized this sort of time-out-of-time together would soon be limited by the logistics of their lives blooming in multiple directions. Five days before we left for Greece, my diagnosis with ALS revealed just how limited it was.” [emphasis added] Peter was a good friend and a gifted writer. His 92-page book is a legacy to his kind, caring, and adventurous soul.

Last, but certainty not least, my favorite book focused on retirement planning is “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free” by Ernie Zelinski. I love Zelinski’s optimistic approach to encouraging the reader to identify what he or she wants out of retirement. Zelinski uses stories from readers and other authors to bring to life the process of transitioning to and during retirement. The book is filled with insightful quotes, humorous cartoons, practical exercises, and references to resources to assist in the retirement journey. Zelinski also takes a minimalist approach to help his readers realize they don’t need a great deal of money to have a happy retirement. The key is to identify what you like to do and figure out how to work them into your retirement plan, while not ignoring those things that often undermine a retirement (e.g., not being active, not maintaining social connections). My three favorite take-aways from Zelinski’s book are: (1) giving oneself a new title when leaving the workforce (e.g., “Connoisseur of Life” vs “retiree”); (2) planting your “tree of life,” which is a list of things you previously liked to do, currently like to do, and have always wanted to do (i.e., a list of activities you can pull out to remind you of things that make you happy vs. simply following the daily flow of activities that may arise); and (3) a reference to the organization Help Exchange, “an online listing of host organic farms, farmstays, hobby farms, lifestyle blocks, homestays, ranches, lodges, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats who invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term in exchange for food and accommodation. HelpX is provided primarily as a cultural exchange for working holiday makers, who would like the opportunity during their travels abroad, to stay with local people and gain practical experience. In the typical arrangement, the helper works an average of 4 hours per day and receives free accommodation and meals for their efforts.” While I have not yet taken advantage of this program, I like the notion of getting more embedded in the local culture in a way that keeps me active and allows me to meet new people. I have established a membership (20 Euros for two years) so that I can research the opportunities and begin looking for a way to participate. More to come on this when I am able to “make it happen.”

Thank you for working through this rather lengthy entry. I hope you found it, and the links to the named resources, interesting!