The daily routines of senior citizens

Having been retired for a few years, and done the requisite flopping around to figure out the shape of our days, we discarded some stuff. Neither of us wanted to play golf or go to spas or shop. We knew we needed to put major time into this lovely place we now call home and so we mended the fences and dealt with long neglected maintenance issues. And we continue to do this every day.

We have worked on the house and thrown out lots of stuff we no longer need, an ongoing project. We try to keep the place updated, not beige and old. Andy has built many pieces of furniture to replace stuff we never actually liked. Every summer we have our favorite painter redo a few rooms and address the issues of mold and rot on the exterior. We have reupholstered a lot of the furniture.

Life has a rhythm. We get up early, turn on the coffee, send the dog out, shower outside on the back porch and enjoy the sunrise and the hundreds of frogs. Andy's job is to "prune" the shower curtain- a tangle of grapevine and moonflower vines. My job is to drive to the mailbox - a mile up the road- and retrieve the newspapers. Along the way with my first cup of delicious coffee, I really slow down to watch the birds and check out the wildflowers and look for what may be in the water under our bridge.

Sometimes I see wild pigs, maybe a bobcat, often deer, and in these rainy times, hundreds of ibis feeding in the swamp. Often there are cattle in the road and they are hard to budge, and then, up the road there are my neighbor's chickens fresh into the day. I keep my eye out for interesting wild flowers.

While I am gone on my wildlife foray Andy is making breakfast and putting the laundry into wash. I return and our dog knows it's breakfast time so I prepare that and take out the compost from the day before, maybe take out the recycling and trash if the bins are full.

Then, after breakfast, everyone goes out on the screen porch to read the papers. This is a favorite part of the day for our very old dog who cuddles up to Andy's hip. I only read the Tampa Bay Times, and then leave to check email and spend an hour and a half on personal development, i.e. Lumosity, an advanced conversational Spanish course, ( I can now say with ease that my niece has just finished her studies to be an engineer and is now going to take a trip to Ecuador and her brother is now divorced and would you like to take a trip to a national park?),  and an hour of aerobic walking and weight training. Andy does two crosswords.

And then there is the shank of the work day. Today we broke down an old and decrepit garden box and installed three new ones Andy had made. This involved very heavy work, lifting, prying, and lots of shoveling garden soil, and taking the old stuff away and installing the new planters with good soil, ready for the fall plantings.

Then we addressed the problem of the pool deck which was afflicted with black and red algae. The two of us working together, Andy with the chlorine pump sprayer, I with the hose, quelled it. It looks really fine - for the moment. Deck perfect, we shuck our clothes and do our daily swim.

By now, it is lunch time and we forage for the leftovers. After lunch, the dog and I stretch out on a couch to read the last of the editorials, and then I nap for a few minutes.

Afternoons (maybe some mornings too) I work in my studio on whatever project is up. Right now a graduation quilt for a young friend.

And in this mix is for both of us a deep commitment to our volunteer work in the community. This means that we have to attend lots of meetings, tend to emails, and think seriously about and act in these local institutions we have signed on for.

And, best of all, is late afternoon when I begin to feel hungry and I go up to the house and inquire, "What's for dinner?" Andy asks me what there is in the garden and I go out and pick beans or tomatoes or eggplant or whatever, bring it in, and know that he'll make something delicious.

In a way it was far easier when we were in our work life. You just knew when you had to get up, take time for exercise- usually in the dark-get ready for work, go, come back nine hours later, somehow make a dinner. Do some work in the evening, go to bed, repeat, repeat. Even if it was great (our work was!), it was relentless in the best way.

Sometimes we feel plagued with calendar issues. When is that meeting? When this week do I volunteer? Who is coming, when and how many, for the weekend? What people do I need to connect with?

We are incredibly thankful for our energy and for the new people and stories and events we never would have been a part of before this new retirement phase of life. We are so fortunate to be able to make a difference in our new community.