Today I . . .

Today I awakened at 4 am (or, more properly, was awakened by my wife’s alarm clock). I helped her out of bed and got her going on her morning rituals. I made tea and breakfast for her and went back to bed (4 am is much to early for enlightened retirees like myself).

Turn off the flash . . . or else . . .
Turn off the flash . . . or else . . .

Today Genghis Kat (Smoke) and his Horde (Mist) woke me up at 5.59 am for their 6 am breakfast. I fed the cats, brought in the papers (OC Register and the LA Times), made my wife another cup of tea and myself some coffee. I sat down with coffee and the papers and turned on Eyewitless News. In between sections I made her a thermos of tea to take to work.

Today we actually got in the car a little after 7.30 am (way late) but still got to her school before the opening bell. I drove home, got some more coffee, sat on the exercise bike for an hour and a half. While on the bike I finished the Times and read several chapters of David Drake’s latest RCN story The Sea Without a Shore. After getting off the bike I fixed another cup of coffee and sat in the living room reading and watching the news.

Today was gorgeous and I couldn’t stay inside. Took a salad and cold soda from the fridge and got my book and the puzzles from the papers and tossed them all in the car and drove to the beach. Found a parking space on PCH north of the HB Pier near a bench and camped there for the next two and a half hours. Lunch, puzzles, a good book, great weather and plenty of people to watch . . . ahhh retirement.

Today I stopped by Home Depot on my way back from the beach and bought a hanging plant to replace one that had died during our heatwave a couple of weeks ago and also some rope to fix a patio lounge chair.

Today I picked up some British sweets (candy) for my British wife at our neighborhood 7-11 (it has a section of British foods in the back). I brought her home from work and made her another cup of tea. Went grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s.

Today I got myself a beer and my book and lounged in my wife’s garden in the chair I had repaired. I fixed dinner and Charlie fed the cats. We ate while watching a dvr’d episode of Wild Tuna. Following dinner, Charlie again adjourned to the patio to read and I sat back in the TV lounge chair she bought me several years ago and turned on the Dodger and Angel games. (As I type this the Angels are leading the Mariners 4 to 3 and the Dodgers are leading the Reds 5 to 0.)

Cats and Mouse.
Cats and Mouse.

Today I am retired – no student papers to grade, no lessons to plan – aaahhhhhh, paradise.