Resting and retirement

A few days ago my old pal George over at Blog of Ages wrote a piece entitled Give it a rest. There is a lot to be said about that. Most of us think we have to stay busy all the time, and miss out on one of the great benefits of the "Golden Years." AKA: Geezerhood. Following is my version of "giving it a rest."

Here on the South Plains, we don't usually have much rain, but this year has been an exception. It is finally getting hot here, two months late. Even so, that's not so bad. We can't sit back in a rocking chair and enjoy the rain for now, but the plains has a special thing about it. As the sun begins to get low in the sky, and shade creeps over our back yard, the temperature drops pretty rapidly, and a breeze usually comes along with the shade.

That is when I like to get out under our arbor on the back patio, and give it a rest. It's as quiet as it can get inside town. The only noise is the dog barking occasionally, and the sound of the birds: whitewing and mourning doves, cardinals, mocking birds, robins, and the ubiquitous sparrows. Rarely, a hummingbird will come by to inspect the hummingbird feeder.

An adult beverage and some soft music - not enough to drown out the other sounds - complete the scene. Ahhhhh. Very nice and peaceful. Paradise. As you can see from the above picture.

One can quite peacefully sit and reminisce in such a setting, and I do so every evening that I can, all the while being entertained by that little Llewellyn Setter you see in the photograph. It's a geezer phenomenum, I guess. I can sit there for a couple of hours and do nothing, except piddle in the flower beds, or cook a steak on the grill, and think of all my old pals and true loves.