Fridays are still busy even when you are retired.

Someone asked me the other day what I did to stay busy since Retired Mountain Man and I decided that we had done enough traveling and cruising.   He said, "What do you do?"

Friday:  
  It began with a trip to Sandpoint for an appointment and the weekly grocery shopping.   

It was a beautiful sunny day so when I got home I headed outside.  I am still working on putting my garden to bed.  Yes, I know you are probably thinking, "how long could that possibly take?  Hasn't she been doing this forever?"  It seems like that to me too.

I harvested the last vegetables from the garden, my carrots and a few beets.  They were in my raised beds and now the beds are weeded and covered with weed block for the winter.

I think I waited too long to dig up the carrots as some of them are a bit large. It's time for a meal with roasted carrots, beets, onions and potatoes.  

Next on the list was mowing my lawn for the last time.  At least I think it will be the final mowing for 2015, but this has been a strange year weather wise.  

As I was mowing the lawn I discovered that my new John Deere mower worked really well as a leaf blower.  There were a LOT of leaves on the lawn and it either blew them to the edge or it mulched them.  

 I love my John Deere, even if it is yellow and green.

In the evening Retired Mountain Man and I headed to Clark Fork for the Wampus Cats Homecoming Football game.   We had to get out our winter coats gloves and hats AND we took a blanket.  All of those items were needed as there was a cold breeze blowing down the mountains.

Jens is number 75.  He wore the pink socks in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  

We only made it through the first half of the game, but we did get to see Jens make a great interception!  
The Cats were playing without two of their key players so they struggled playing against Kendrick.  I don't know what they feed those boys from Kendrick but they all seem to be 6'6" and weigh 220 pounds.  

We were proud of our team as they never gave up!  

Go Cats!

As for how I fill up my days, I don't know.  They just seem to fill up.  It's like one of my favorite quotes that's posted at the top of my blog,  "Life happens while you are busy making other plans."   John Lennon 

Art, music, wine making.....not just another weekend in Hope. (updated)

Yes, yes, yes.  I am posting on my blog.  Last weekend was filled with fun events.  On Saturday Ann and I went to the Scotchman Peak's Plein Air workshop at the Outskirts Gallery and Marketplace.

 I can't say that I am an artist.  I do have watercolors and I have attempted to paint, but not very successfully.  I will say that I was encouraged to try it again after listening to the last artist speak and paint, Gregg Caudell.

This painting of his is titled, "Big Rock Candy Mountain".  How many times have we sung that song at our sing-a-longs?

"One evening as the sun went down......"

 ......and the jungle fires were burning."


He is a plein air artist.  It seems like it would be a wonderful way to enjoy the view and to try to capture the moment.

High Pasture

This one is, "Riders in the Sky".  Another song favorite at the sing-a-longs.

His painting technique was unbelievable.  It was so interesting to watch him paint and I loved all of his suggestions for a beginning artist.  I highly recommend taking the time to check out his artwork at Fine Art America.  He also has a blog.

I wonder if he has painted "The House of the Rising Sun".  If he has, I'd better start saving my $$.

The next day, I went back to the Outskirts to play some music with Bruce Bishop and Drew Brown.  It was a first time event for me playing with two very talented musicians.  It was another magical afternoon.  (Thank you to Paul for the photo and Vera for sending it to me.  It was a milestone event for me.)

Notice how serious I look?  That's because I am doing everything I can to keep up with those two!

photo from Outskirts website

On Monday, it was back to reality as it was time to start our 2015 wine.  It takes most of the day as there's a lot of sterilizing each step of the way, but the wine is in the vats and the little yeasties are already working away this morning.

The wine will be in the vats for about ten days, then we will rack it off into 5 gallon glass carboys.  The wine will age in the carboys until bottling time.  It takes about six months for the white wine and a year for the red.   Patience is required.

April Dawn from 2011

.....down the tracks came a hobo hiking, he said folks I'm not turning.  I'm headed for a land that's far away, beside the crystal fountains.  So come with me, we go and see, the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

No Way! Our cute "bug" can't be a senior already!

The years are just going by too quickly for me.  Retired Mountain Man and I are so lucky to get to know all of these beautiful kids.  It is so much fun watching them grow up and reach every milestone in their lives.

Here's a photo of our little "Lester Bug" back when she was just testing everything out at Elk Camp.

This would be a photo from her first Oyster Party, along with Jens.

Last Tuesday evening we went to watch Leslie play in her last home volleyball game, which happened to also be Senior Night.

This is one very proud dad.

The whole family was there!

We are looking forward to the next milestone for Leslie.  It's going to be an exciting year.   The Clark Fork Homecoming football game is this Friday night.  We will be going to watch Jens play.

Yes, my life is a mess.

Retired Mountain Man is complaining that I never post on my blog. I haven't posted anything because I am just doing the same things that I always do.  

Who would want to read about it again?  

I am making Hot Pepper Jam and canning hot peppers.

I am steaming grapes to get ready for wine. (We still haven't bottled all of last year's wine.)

I am practicing.

I didn't know Eric Clapton performed this song.

I am studying my music theory for piano and guitar.

I am practicing even more.

Straighten Up and Fly Right - nope.  It's hopeless. 

And studying more.  Why?  Well, it's because I have a 67 year old brain that only remembers something new for about 30 seconds.

Yes, there are more tomatoes, just like the peppers, but I am almost finished.  I have picked them all and can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am also working on putting the garden to bed.  I have taken out all of the cornstalks, and pole beans and rototilled about half of the garden.  I am slowly making progress.

The Orange Begonia refuses to give up.  Still blooming.

I do not have any complaints, though.   I love my life.  I am doing exactly what I want to be doing.  Playing music, studying music, gardening and preserving the harvest.

Well, I have to admit that I did have one complaint.  

It seemed like the house was closing in on me.  It happens about once every year. 

What that means is that I go from room to room with very large black trash bags and I start throwing things away that are not making me happy.  So far I have hauled two Outbacks full to the dumpsters.   (I only throw away Retired Mountain Man's stuff.)

Retired Mountain Man says, "If the house is closing in on you, why don't you just go outside?"

(I need more room for musical instruments)

How about a real Hammond B-3?

Don't say anything to Retired Mountain Man.  It's a secret.

The smoked has cleared.....

....and it's time to get back to the garden.  Yes, more peppers.

Plums getting ripe for Slivovitz!  Yum!

My orange begonia just keeps on blooming.

This gig is has ended,

but the Oktoberfest gig will happen soon.  At our last jam session we had a great time with Paula and Phil, who just "stopped by" on their trip from North Carolina.  I wish I had photos, but we just played music and enjoyed some great conversation, wine and good food.

I had to dig this photo out of the archives.

It's starting to look like fall on the mountain, but most of my begonias will not give up.

It's time to get ready for cool nights.   Fall is my favorite time of the year.  I love putting up the harvest and getting ready for winter.  There's more time for playing music on those long winter nights.   Bring it on!  


One last begonia....