Musing

Lately I've been only "reporting" - not "musing" - easy enough to do in a blog, particularly since I seem to get into trouble when I "muse". I noticed Dan made a comment about his "dysfunctional family" on Facebook about a week ago - if I said that I'd be crucified, even though it's (mostly) the same family. I guess having always been a straight-from-the-hip shooter stands Dan in good stead - everyone expects him to be brutally honest. I, on the other hand, spent most of my life trying to get along with everyone and keep the peace. Now, when I speak my mind, no one appreciates it - it's not who I'm known to be.


Having established that, I don't intend to offer any terribly insulting comments today (if you take what I say as an insult you are inferring - I'm not implying!). I am working hard at accepting others (warts and all) and realizing that we can't all share the same opinions, reactions, standards, goals, morals, ethics, or much of anything else. I'm trying to be happy with my life, the way it is, and with my interests and values which likely aren't the same as anyone else's.

Where am I going here? Not anywhere significant - just some musings on those common questions we (Wayne and I) get asked - "How's retirement?" and/or "How do you like living in Lockeport instead of Ottawa?". (please note I don't assume that what I write applies necessarily to Wayne's views)

Let me first make it clear that I love Lockeport. It is a beautiful spot with absolutely wonderful people, scenery, ambiance and most of the time I am very happy living here. Of course, I was mostly happy living in Ottawa as well - which is a lot to say for a glass-half-empty person.

I don't miss work as such although I do miss the camaraderie of the workplace, particularly Queenswood Public School (which sadly is completely gone now for all) and Lady Evelyn Alternative School. QPS had the edge in complete school adhesiveness but LEA was always great in small working together groups. From earlier days, Transport Canada holds some wonderful memories but I have no fond memories of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada whatsoever. I hated the regimentation of Taxation, and had a wild, over-worked, off-the-wall amount of fun with Elections Canada since I got along so well with Margaret Woodley and Barbara Reinhardus.

Things I miss about Ottawa (in no particular order):
- my kids (and their extremely well-chosen spouses) and grandkids
- my brother
- book club (for the people, not the books)
- R.B.C. (retired book club members) luncheons and outings
- easy access to health-care
- the Ottawa Public Library
- bran bread
- good bagels
- lots of malls and shopping centres to wander around in
- Friday breakfast with Joe at ESD
- when I wanted or needed something, being able to go out and get it without planning a major expedition
- driving along the canal (particularly early in the morning) or driving under Bank Street Bridge at night (I love those lights under the bridge)
- Sunday breakfast at Cora's
- Heather, Daoud, Marlene and zany get-togethers
- The Senators and all the hype of a hockey town
- restaurants that are open all year

Things I don't miss about Ottawa:
- traffic and traffic lights
- noise
- extreme heat and cold
- feeling closed in (more to do with living in a row house than Ottawa - I didn't feel that way on Pleasant Park)

Things I like about living in Lockeport:
- everyone is friendly
- beauty, peace, quiet, moderate weather, lack of snow
- our house
- fog (good thing I do like it!)
- immediacy of government - it's easy to get to chat with MLA, mayor, town councillors - you can wander into the town hall and talk to anyone anytime and it just feels like you have more say, that someone might actually listen to your opinions
- my friends at rug-hooking, great weekly meetings and lunches
- Fat Club
- our friends from away (Fred and Barbara, Herschel and Marian, Bob and Kathy etc.) who make the summers so interesting
- affordable entertainment (Osprey - $20 vs NAC - $100+ and the shows definitely aren't 5 times better)

Things I don't like about living in Lockeport:
- winter closures of so many things
- lack of choice when shopping (food, clothes etc.) - thank God for the web
- general unavailability of many things (I have lists for Shelburne, Liverpool, Bridgewater or Yarmouth, Halifax or Ottawa - when I can't find something in Shelburne, it gets moved to the next closest list and so on until we end up buying it in Ottawa on our next trip back)
- hunting season - can't go in the woods at the most glorious time of the year - no bugs, great colours, and lots of fools with guns


Our retirement lifestyle will continue to evolve I'm sure. After last winter (we spent 3 weeks in Ottawa over Christmas, January-February in Lockeport, then back to Ottawa for Ava's birth in March), we know we need to do something different this year, since winter was just too quiet here and the icy conditions (temperatures hovering around zero causes lots of melting and freezing) I found intimidating (rather like yard-duty in winter at LEA the last few years I was working in a small school-yard coated in ice most of the time). Consequently, we plan to spend January and February in Perdido Key, Florida in a beach-front, affordable condo. We'll have to see how that works out - it's a big move for Wayne since he loves to play hockey and will miss a good 3+ months of his season what with visiting Ottawa both before and after Florida.

Anyway, we're muddling along, most of the time fairly well. Our house is keeping us busy - still a few major projects to do - the "media" room and our bedroom - and millions of little ones. Where we'll be in 5 years and what we'll be doing, I have no idea. I just hope we are happy.