Happy Holidays 2018!

December 10th, 2018

Happy Holidays to You, Happy Retirement to Us!

From Liz, Dan and Don

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Christmas card 2018

2018 Events and Travels

Ode to Fall in Danville, CA

November 16th, 2018
Closeup of leaves and mushrooms on a Danville lawn

Art by Nature

As a new retiree, I have time to take long walks with eyes wide open. Here are the word pictures Mother Nature shared with me this Fall:

Neighborhood sycamore trees shamelessly flaunt their Autumn glory like can-can dancers flashing gold and red skirts. A single glorious specimen hosts clusters of yellow, green, orange and magenta leaves, blending into the graduated shades of a Neapolitan popsicle. Later in the season they prolonged the show with an elegant starburst of tenacious orange clingers on near-bare branches.

Photos: 5-week Winter Vacation in Chile

October 13th, 2018

At the time of our August/September 2018 visit to Chile, we were on the verge of retirement. The goal of this trip was to explore living in Santiago for the skiing in the Andes, and get a taste of everyday life in a foreign-language country. Unfortunately, climate change, ski logistics and the language barrier put an end to the future expats plan. As you can see by the list below, many excursions helped us make the most of our visit:

  1. Santiago’s Providencia, El Centro and Bella Vista
  2. Skiing at Valle Nevado in the Andes
  3. Active Lifestyles in Santiago

Stepping Into Routines

August 24th, 2018
Santiago Gym

our Santiago gym

We have joined a gym, go out daily for long walks and groceries, go up and down the apartment stairwell to warm up, sit with our Kindles in a nearby coffee shop, and still we have too much spare time here. Like real retirement? 😉

Dan and I are sometimes “hermited” in our bedroom. When Julia occasionally hosts a lady friend in the living room, we are looking at our phones, catching up on news, politics and Facebook. That said, she spends most of her time in the guest bedroom, into which she has moved so that we could have the master for ourselves.

We take turns using the miniscule kitchen, and sometimes we three share dinner cooked by Dan. Ella es muy simpatica, pero no habla Ingles. Sometimes we are all at our phones taking Duolingo lessons, Julia included.

Reality Check

August 17th, 2018

Looking at rental bikes

We arrived in Santiago, Chile yesterday morning but our skis and luggage didn’t make it due to a tight connection in Dallas. However we were welcomed with open arms by our kind hostess Julia Romero, who is charging us a modest amount to use her spare bedroom for 5 weeks. Now that we’re here, I realize we are using her own master bedroom, which she totally cleared out to accommodate us! This isn’t something she does regularly, but it happened because of a connection involving one of my co-workers’ parents.

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June 18th, 2018

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Holiday Greetings

December 24th, 2017

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From Liz, Dan and Don

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Christmas banner

Xmas card 2017

2017 Events and Travels

Win Some Lose Some

November 3rd, 2017

Dan and Liz at the top of Mt. Diablo — PHEW!

Soon after the New York terrorist mowed down and killed several people on a bike path, a CNN story, Why we’ll never stop biking, caught my eye. As I read it, I found a resonating quote:

“A bicycle is a human-powered machine weighing next to nothing that can travel easily at 10-15 mph, needs only a surface on which to move, is not limited to transit schedules or beholden to fuel prices, does not pollute the environment or require large parking spaces, has demonstrable benefits to the health of individuals and the strength of economies, is easily repaired, costs nothing to operate, and is, above all, really, really fun to use.”

Photos: Our People-to-People Tour in Cuba

July 27th, 2017

Dan and Liz joined old and new friends on a Zephyr Adventures tour of Cuba in December 2017. Here are links to the photo albums. Scroll down the album splash pages to browse our photos, or click one to see an up close view and read captions where added.

Midwinter Musings

February 12th, 2017
Skier Liz

It takes years to become competent but the muscle memory is always there

I am always amazed that on my first day of skiing every year, I’ve remembered how to make those delicious carved turns. One might think that after months of doing other sports, there would be an awkward transition back to skillfully sliding down a snowy slope. But that’s not true. Without fail, the muscle memory kicks in every year, and within the first two or three turns, I am thrilled by the speed and the ready availability of my skiing skills.