Sunset Over the Mekong River

Thursday, January 2, 2025

Bookends 2024

Bookends: when I look at change through the year through a photo at the beginning and the end.

First Jigsaw of 2024


I began the year with COVID. Between that and the cool weather, it was a good time to stay home and assemble jigsaw puzzles. So this photo becomes the first bookend. Otherwise, we probably would have made a day trip on New Year's day and posted a photo from that.

I suppose this was a fitting way to begin the new year. Like putting together a jigsaw, we had to figure out a lot of things in our lives as we moved from being employed to not being employed. In the United States that also means, among other things, figuring out the health care system with the various parts of Medicare. Then there is the issue of how to make ends meet when you no longer have employment income. We decided to work with a financial planner to help us navigate through this period of our lives, and that has helped a lot.

Health issues were a dominant theme for the year. Beginning with a broken toe and surgery, which affected mobility for a while. Then there was lots of dental work, including surgical removal of a tooth and resulting implant (still waiting for the crown for that). On top of that was cataract surgery, in my right eye—for the first time since 4th grade, my uncorrected vision is better in my right eye than my left.

Another part of our retirement and settling back into Fresno is getting the house and yard back in order after being gone for so long. Exterior painting with all the prep involved has taken and will yet take a lot of time. Fixing broken sprinkler systems. Removing trees for various reasons. Planting more fruit trees. Reinstalling a vegetable garden. Converting the front yard to a xeriscape. All these things are ongoing. So, I'm not really retired, I'm just not getting paid for my work (but I'm also not having to pay someone else to do it—at least not most of it).

Amidst all that, we managed to do some traveling. A road trip to Canada to visit family. Another road trip to Arizona to visit friends and family, but also check out the Grand Canyon. Then, a quick trip to Los Cabos, Mexico, to use up some airline credits before they expired.

There are ministry activities. The main things we are doing is helping with the food distribution at our church once a month. Added to this, we began English tutoring at a local school our church partners with. We do this one morning a week.

Then, all of a sudden the year is over. On the last day of the year, I went to check out our garden. And I saw that some of our marigolds were still blooming.

Tagetes patula L. 'Queen Sophia' Asteraceae Asteroideae, Tageteae-French marigold, ดาวเรืองฝรั่งเศส 1


I bought the marigolds at the Spring Plant Sale of the UCSC Farm and Garden back in April. And they are still blooming! While I enjoy the flowers, they are a reminder of how mild the temperatures have been this fall. We have not had a good frost, or even many days below 40F (5C). While our bodies appreciate the warmth, it is keeping some of our plants from going dormant, which may affect fruit production next year. (Our nectarine tree and grape vine have yet to drop all their leaves.) It also means that our citrus have not sweetened up yet. So, our oranges and Oro Blanco are looking ready to pick, but we're still waiting on some cooler weather so they'll be sweeter.

Maybe this uncertainty in our garden is also a picture of our lives. I still don't feel that I've completely adapted to our new lives. Just like the weather can confuse the plants, so also events that have happened in our lives can leave us uncertain as to which direction to take with our lives. I still don't feel like I've settled on what role I should have in church (our church also is going through times of uncertainty). I'm not bored—there is a lot to do. I'm content to be an introvert at home staying busy with things that need doing there. But I'm not sure this is the best use of my time and talent.

I asked my wife this morning if she had any goals for this year. Like me, she says she doesn't. Should we have one? Do we need one? I did tell her after that I have at least one goal: to stay married to her all year. Other than that, we'll see where life takes us. We did complete 4 500-piece jigsaw puzzles this past week. Maybe that's a sign that the pieces are starting to come together.

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