Vacationing in Retirement

“You’re retired, why would you need a vacation?”

Because you can gather with your logical family, and get away from home and all of the home chores, and go to a cottage and do cottage chores.

While we worked every day, we made sure not to work the whole day. There was one excursion to our sailboat for pure pleasure. There was laughter, a trip to a restaurant, and more than one trip to the pub. Oh, and a trip to the dump.

I did take a break from writing, but I finished two books.

The first one I finished was “Swell’ by Liz Clark. She’s a young woman who graduated with a degree in environment studies from UC Santa Barbara. She’s an avid surfer. A professor friend wanted to assist her dream in sailing around the world and offered his sailboat. When the boat proved to be too small for the voyage, he helped her buy a boat – a Cal 40. He lived vicariously though her emails and phone calls. While her story included the inevitable tales of boat repair in exotic locations, it wasn’t really about the boat. It was about her growth as a woman, the sexist culture in the Pacific Islands, and a developing sense of confidence as a skipper. She learned she could do just about anything, and she learned how one egotistical, jealous lover could just about destroy everything. There’s a lot I don’t know about surfing, like everything really. I recommend the book as it describes the true power of a mentor facilitating someone’s dreams. In the ten years or so of her journey (spoiler – she doesn’t complete a circumnavigation), she becomes a rather amazing person and a great storyteller.

The second book was ‘The Living Great Lakes’ by Jerry Dennis. He tells the tales of the five Great Lakes while weaving in a story of signing on as crew to ferry a ferro-cement (yes, a concrete boat) from Traverse City to Maine. It’s an older book, but still a very interesting read for anyone that has fallen in love with these Great Lakes.

So as I sit here in a recliner, looking out at a foggy Lake Michigan, on the last day of the working and playing vacation, with still another day to play upon our sailboat before going home, Bell’s Oberon at my side, I bid you all the happiness you can stand.

Oh, I should mention that there’s a new URL for this blog: featherinthewilderness.com I decided that I really enjoy these reflections that I write, and the title.