Ghirardelli Square

It is "At Sea" Day 4 and I figured I would show off another place we visited, while in San Francisco.

On our first day we walked North, since we knew most of the time we would be going to the South.

About 4 blocks from our hotel, sits Ghirardelli Square.

I remember it from our trip back in 1974 and it is still around, all these years later.

If you want to read more about its history, check it out HERE.

There was this lovely fountain called Andrea, right in the courtyard area and the original clock tower (which you can see in the second photo), on the left side.

When we walked into the chocolate shop, they gave us double heart chocolate with caramel. A nice touch.

We ended up not buying anything at the stores, but I was glad it still existed, all these years later.

We enjoyed our time there.

What an "At Sea" Day Looks Like On The Grand Princess

Well, at least this time I have a better connection and can show you what has been going on during our 4 day "At Sea" adventure.

As I wrote this, we were half way there, though by the time you read this, Hilo Hawaii will be coming up on Saturday.

I had taken exactly Zero pictures Wednesday, though we had a formal night and that generated photos at the end of the day. I took a few on Tuesday. Folks, I am reading, walking around and eating, when I am not napping. It is not a bad life, but I am sure it will get even more boring by day 4. Good thing I was prepared, this time around.

In something interesting, we watched a 50th Anniversary presentation of Star Trek on the television. It had its moments.

Wednesday evenings "Formal Night" went well. We have three of them this cruise, so I have to dress up each time.

Photos will follow.

I finished "Simple Dreams" a book by Linda Ronstadt. I borrowed it from the Library, so I am glad I did not pay $12 to read it on my iPad. Mostly name dropping and but it was somewhat interesting. I only semi-recommend it.

That is it, from the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Boudin Bakery

We are currently in Day 2 "At Sea" on our cruise.

In honor of this slow period, I thought I would show off a few photos from Boudin Bakery, on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

They have, not only restaurants and coffee houses on the property, they have a self tour of the bakery.

It is non-stop action in the creating and baking room.

Dough is mixed in huge vats and then fed into machines that shape them into the trademark bowl shape or sourdough french bread shape.

It is amazing to me how fast they work.

According to the self tour, the round balls of dough need to "rest" for 15 minutes before they are shaped into the large cigar shape of the sourdough french bread. That is what they are doing in the little sections you see in photo number 2.

Later, after they are rested once more, a baker puts 2 lines in the bread, to let the air escape while baking. The way they do it, is usually something totally individual.

After they are baked, they are thrown into overhead baskets, that snake all around the building. As the workers in the serving area need more bread, they grab some from these baskets.

It just amazed me.

Photo number 3 is looking toward the front of the building, where people outside can watch some of the forming of the bread.

They get you coming and going. :-)

Coit Tower At Sunset

It is "At Sea" Day 1.

Here is something to keep you occupied, while things happen on the ship.

I didn't get to check out Coit Tower, this time around. Mostly because I did not want to pay the exorbitant money, to travel around the city.

On our last evening in San Francisco, it glowed pink, in the setting sun.

It was so romantic and beautiful to see.

I will miss you San Francisco.

Bon Voyage

Not much water in this post, but you get the idea.

We have no idea how the weather will be on the day we set sail from San Francisco, but I hope we get a photo to match this one.

This was taken almost a year ago, when we left for our Alaska Cruise.

The photo hangs on the wall in our hallway.

I look at it every day.

Wish us luck and may the weather be warmer than the last cruise...after all, it will be Hawaii this time.

The Day After

I made it to the other side!

In honor of that fact, I got my free (but normally more expensive, because it was at a tourist stop) Starbuck's Coffee.

We stood there watching the trolleys go up and down the hill. To actually take one for a ride, it was $16 round trip.

Too expensive, and we had lunch plans at Alioto's with a PBS friend.

Maybe later Sunday, if the weather holds out.

Lunch went well and it was so good to catch up with the PBS world in the Bay Area.

We went to Boudin's Bakery, right across the street (a post for another day) and visited Ghirardelli Square. A free piece of chocolate came our way, from them. Yum.

All in all, a laid back 65th Birthday in the City By The Bay.

Happy 65!

Here I am, as of today, I am on Medicare, I am retired from work after 39 1/2 years, I get a free Starbuck's Coffee and on Monday, we board our cruise ship and sail to Hawaii.

My hopes for this cruise are many and maybe some of them will come true. We shall see.

For now, I am happy and hope to celebrate with friends on my day.

Oh and in an early present to me, I scored some Steely Dan tickets at the Hollywood Bowl in June.

They were going on General Sale on my birthday and I was afraid that I was going to lose the opportunity to book them.

Then someone mentioned a Citi Card presale.

On Tuesday, I tried it out.

Win!

Off To San Francisco

Today we will arrive in San Francisco.

Our hotel is on Fisherman's Wharf, so this view will be something that we will be seeing a lot of.

I am hearing that rain is in the forecast, oh well.

Not surprising and hopefully it will not bother us too much.

Hubby and I are looking forward to this 2 day mini vacation, before the cruise begins.

Mirror Mirror

We have our computer set up in the Family Room and unfortunately for us, it faces the wall and not the TV.

The other day I thought about the mirror my family had on the wall in their living room. As kids, we could see the TV while we sat on the stairs at night (after we were sent to bed). That was how I watched Star Trek year 3, in it's final season. It was moved to 10PM and it was WAY past our bedtime.

So I mentioned that situation to my Husband and he decided that it sounded good to him, lets get a mirror.

Well, it wasn't as easy as we expected, but for now, it is working.

After our trip, we will probably get better hangers (we have learned some things along the way).

Retirement, new opportunities. :-)

My Former Marine "Son" Comes Out Of The Woodwork

So I finished my gym class on Friday and I get a text.

"Want to do lunch?, I have time and I am in the area."

I say Saugus?

He agrees and I have now made plans to eat with my Former Marine "Son".

I wasn't sure if my Husband would come along, but he did and we met up at Noon.

It was wonderful to see and hear that he is doing well, after his life fell apart almost 7 years ago.

He is engaged to be married, for the second time (may this one work out for him) and his fianceé just got a job at the place where he works.

We will see how this all shakes out, but he seems happy and that is important to me and to him.

Good luck my "Son" and come visit me once in a while.

A Train Trip To Langer's

A woman who we have been exercising with in our Aquafit class had told me many years ago, that she never takes the train and has no idea how to do it.

I had promised her that when I retired, I would take her somewhere, so she could say that she had done it.

I thought that getting this done before our trip would be good and so we made a plan to meet up and go to Langer's Deli in the Westlake area of Los Angeles.

As you know, we have been there many times before, but our friend had never been.

No time like the present, to get some Jewish Deli going, though the forecast called for afternoon rain. I brought my umbrella to bring us luck.

We met at her house, that is about 5 minutes from Via Princessa Station and drove over.

Got the tickets going and waited for the train. It was right on time and off we went.

The subway was downstairs in the lower level of Union Station and we got to Langer's just before Noon. Not too crowded, though it got worse as time passed.

Phyllis and I got a cup of Matzoh Ball Soup and a half sandwich. Hers was chopped liver and I got number 19.

Hubby went with the full number 19 and our friend wanted some fries, so we got a small fries to share.

It was all wonderful, as usual.

We had an hour wait for a train at Union Station and then we were on our way home.

We beat the rain by a good 5 or so hours.

Yay! The umbrella worked

Burbank City Hall

My Water Post For Today.

As I mentioned, I parked by the Burbank City Hall and in front of the building, was this very 30's Art Deco fountain.

I did not get across the street, because it was dark out, but I thought it was good enough for you to see, being it was all lit up.

I hope you enjoy it.

Hollywood POV

The busy social life of the recently retired, continues.

This one I had nothing to do with.

On December 29th my Digital Art teacher from Oswego posted on Facebook that she would be in town last week and her group of Hollywood POV Students would love to get in touch with some of the Alumni who worked in the field. Basically a mentoring opportunity.

I missed this event last year due to a huge rain storm and so I was in for this year.

I drove down to Burbank, with lots of time to spare and so I easily found a space to park my car, right outside Burbank City Hall and the offices of Adam Schiff (of all things). I didn't even bother clubbing the car, cause I figured there was no way anyone would steal it from this location.

The event was at a place called the Story Tavern and when I walked in there were 3 people there, sitting at the bar. I sat down at the other end and ordered the Street Tacos (pork, chicken and beef). I also got their home made cider which was very good. It probably was alcoholic, but low, cause I did not get buzzed.

When my food arrived, so did my teacher and another instructor from Oswego. They had decided to get there an hour early and have a bite to eat, before the kids turned up.

So I got my one on one with Cara, catching up with her sabbatical activities and what is going on in Oswego.

We finished eating and the students turned up.

We moved on to the outdoor patio area and I spent an hour or so connecting with several of them, including Jacob Manrow (who is pictured with me).

Some might get in touch with me, after they graduate.

I did mention to them that LA (and California in general) have plenty of work, but the cost of living is horrid. I feel better that I have warned them.

I left a bit after 8PM and found my car was indeed just fine, so I drove home.

A good evening.

Our Wall

Since the New Year just turned, a few people on Facebook showed off framed Holiday Cards through the years.

Coincidentally, I was doing my yearly hanging of the new photo cards, for my wall in the Family Room.

Many years ago, I took all of them down and I got yelled at by my Son's Friends.

They were hurt that there was now nothing there. I guess it made my house special, at least to them.

So I started a new group of pictures and each year I have to take about 10 of them down, to replace them with new ones.

It has been a pleasure to watch them grow and see their children come into this world.

Not organized, but cute none the less.

Oh and check out the clock that my old boss gave me. It blends right in.

Ellie English

A KCET coworker died on Christmas Day.

I had seen that she was ill and when the New Year came and the Church Bulletin did not mention her anymore, I had a feeling that something had changed.

Facebook, once again, came to the rescue. A friend of my Husband, posted the Obituary.

She was the Director of Educational Services, during the 80's and 90's, when we were revved up and creating children's programming.

It was not an easy job and though my area did not directly work with hers, in the strange way life ends up, I was about the only one left at the end, who crafted the way our Children's programming looked. There was no one else.

On a personal level, when I was working with my Son in the audio booth at Church, we would see her at the 10:30AM Mass.

When I returned from college in 2013, I went to the earlier Mass at 8:30AM and so it has been years since we saw one another.

I was so sorry to hear she was ill and even more sad to hear of her passing.

She was an "Old School" KCET employee and one who influenced me at the very beginning.

Godspeed to you, Ellie.

Deep Sleep For Makenna

This was Sunday Night at 10PM.

She was in a deep sleep at that time and it looked just so cute, that I took just 1 photo of her in that condition.

It was not long after, that she woke up and exited the Family Room. I have no idea why.

When I got up to go to sleep at 11PM, I called her and she came into our bedroom, ready for bed.

Cats...they amaze.

Sober Bars

When I was at the Highland Park Bowl in December, we were offered Mocktails only, no alcohol. It was a company party, so I assume that was why.

I had never had one of them before, but decided what could I lose. I got the Cherry Mule Fizz. It was delicious and healthy, from what I gather.

I didn't think anything of it, until I read this article on Sober Bars.

It seems that they are a "Thing" now days, for those who enjoy the camaraderie of a bar, but no longer can drink, due to being on Al Anon or just wanting to keep off the liquor.

My Brother and I were talking the other day and he mentioned that Long Island has nothing of the sort and so all those who avoid liquor, end up hanging out a coffee houses.

I hope they catch on, because it seems to be a perfect idea.

Norm from Cheers could have used something like this. :-)

More Retirement Fun

My aquafit friend, Joyce, asked to take me out to lunch on Thursday.

I went, fully prepared to pay for half of lunch at Marston's Restaurant.

It is a place close by, that I have not been able to get to.

I had and a swiss and bacon omelette, with potatoes and english muffin.

It was good and I ate about half the omelette, taking the rest home for another meal.

Good thing I did. Joyce had set up a retirement cake for dessert for us.

Very yummy, but I only had about a third of it. I felt bad, but I try to only have a small amount of all that sugar.

You don't know how much you are loved, until you retire, I guess.

The Sausalito Side Of The Bay

My Water Post For Today.

I am going to San Francisco in less than 2 weeks. WOOT!

In anticipation of that fact, I decided to show off a photo from the Sausalito side of the bay, that I took back in 2017.

Now wouldn't that be a nice place to live, with the feeling of aloneness and yet right by San Francisco?

Can't beat that city, for true beauty.

I hope you enjoy.

Ambrosia At The Canyon Santa Clarita

My workplace friends gave me $100 Ticket Master card to use on any concert I chose.

I had been hoping to go to this Ambrosia concert at The Canyon Santa Clarita and when I checked, I found out that it was indeed a Ticket Master event. Win!

I got tickets just 3 days before the concert, but the room was pretty empty at the time. I got us some primo seats, similar to the ones I got for Gordon Lightfoot. Right behind the soundboard!

Amazingly, the show was packed, when the main event came on. Ambrosia.

As usual, I did not keep track of the setlist for this concert. Most of this list is from a concert they did at the Coach house in Orange County and it sounds pretty close to what we saw.

Still Not Satisfied (Road Island)

Nice, Nice, Very Nice (Ambrosia)

You're the Only Woman (You & I) (One Eighty)

Kamikaze (One Eighty)

Shape I'm In (One Eighty)

And...Somewhere I've Never Traveled (Somewhere I've Never Traveled)

Heart to Heart (Life Beyond L.A.)

Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder cover)

How Much I Feel (Life Beyond L.A.)

Harvey (Somewhere I've Never Traveled)

I Wanna Know (Somewhere I've Never Traveled)

The Way It Is (Bruce Hornsby & The Range cover)

Holdin' on to Yesterday (Ambrosia)

Life Beyond L.A. (Life Beyond L.A.)

Biggest Part of Me (One Eighty)

Encore: I'm Crying (The Animals cover)

First off, there were 2 opening acts ahead of the show, both were good. The first one was Tommy C & The Black Widow Grease Band and they did Buddy Holly and Elvis type songs and the second band did Rolling Stones covers. If it wasn't for the air conditioning freezing our buns off, it would have been perfect.

The food was another story. Remind me never to eat there ever again, the food was horrid and we spent $100 for it. Yuck!

9PM comes up and Ambrosia, who I have seen 2 other times over the years, took the stage with "Still Not Satisfied". You could not have asked for a harder rock song of theirs, to begin a concert. Woot! I was happy already and we were one song in.

At some point, they did a drum tribute for Neil Peart, the Rush drummer who had died earlier in the day. All the musicians were playing percussion instruments, as Burleigh Drummond played his kit. It was quite moving.

At another point, everyone left the stage and just two guitarists played 2 songs for us. I guess to give the others a rest.

Toward the end, I knew that they were going to play "Life Beyond L.A." and so I was set up for that. It was masterful and sometime I swear I will upload it to Youtube and let you see it...but not tonight.

The final encore was sung by Christopher North, the keyboardist and that was a shock and pretty cool end to the evening.

Well worth the money...just forget the food.

Silver Sneakers Program

One of the many things that come with joining a Medicare Advantage Plan, is getting the opportunity to join something called Silver Sneakers.

We were actually in an aquafit class, the day that our club added themselves to Silver Sneakers, so we both knew that this was a benefit that was going to save us money.

I printed out my membership card on Monday and showed it to the gym on Wednesday. It did more for me, than just save me my $17 monthly membership. The person seamed to indicate that my Son's membership, that is currently on suspend (because he is in Michigan and did not want to join up, at this point) will cost me nothing (instead of $10 a month). If that turns out to be true, that would make me very happy. Note, there is an LA Fitness across the street from his Girlfriend's place of business, so don't be surprised if someday they unsuspend it.

This is the first week that I hope to get to 5 days of aquafit classes.

Happy Fit New Year.

Goodbye Retirement Cards

Before I put these cards away, I thought I would show off a couple of them.

I get a kick out of the Lucky Duck one. I heard that exact thought so many times in the past weeks, leading up to the big day.

The others express similar thoughts from my friends and work colleagues.

I do appreciate the little bit of extra sleep I get each night, but it is not that much more. I have a cat to feed.

One of the presents I got from my friends, is an Amazon Gift card and we promptly went and bought a Ninja coffee maker that has a removable water holder.

So far so good and hopefully it will be easy to clean it. Thanks Robert, you made my Hubby so happy (me too).

Next up was the group card for Ticket Master. I bought tickets for Ambrosia, for tonight, at The Canyon Santa Clarita. The card almost covered the entire concert price. I have been eyeing that concert for 6 months. Thanks Ops and Programming, you all rock!

I still have a Saugus Cafe card to finish using (no problem there, we eat every Friday at Saugus).

I feel so incredibly happy that my people gave me these things, knowing what I really love in life. Music and food. :-)

Missing them already.

Sleeping In The Dining Room

It has been a bit different in this house, since the new couches came for the Family Room.

Rather than getting rid of them, we actually have kept them these past 6 months and we have been enjoying them.

My cat uses several of them, for new sleep locations.

This one in particular, has become a late evening favorite.

I think she looks so adorable, sleeping here, rather than under the dining room table.

Back To Normal

Epiphany came and went, the Wise Men gave their gifts.

In honor of this most holy of gift giving days, we tore down our Christmas and Hanukkah decorations and got our house back to normal.

At least in the living room and dining room.

I still have to unpack the things I brought home from work, which are currently living in a box in my den.

1 step at a time.

As the first thing my Husband and I scheduled, we drove down to my retirement office, to get my "gap" money figured out.

If you remember, I have 14 more months until I can claim full retirement benefits.

We talked of what accounts to raid first and set the money up. Of course if my situation changes, we can always adjust this.

The retirement won't be formally accessed until Social Security kicks in, in 2021.

Nice to know that, for the moment, things are handled.

Terminated!

I had to log into my payroll account, to print out my final pay stub.

This was the message at the top of the landing page.

To say the least, it was a bit jarring to me.

Couldn't they have said something a bit more gentle, like Retired or even resigned from position.

Terminated makes it sound like they fired me.

Oh well...

A Fishy Tale

My Water Post For Today.

My Magic "Son" is currently vacationing in Vietnam.

He posted this photo of him diving on Sunday and I thought it was great.

He was performing for the fish, I am sure...look at those hands. :-)

I hope you enjoy.

A New Hairdo...If Just For A Day

My Hair Dresser decided at the last minute, to style my hair.

Normally I have her leave it wet and it air dries by the time I get home.

I guess because it is my first day, post "retirement", she wanted to do something special.

It is the same cut, it just got styled by her.

Not very different, but nice.

My Final Last Day (Paychecks In Hand)

I drove in for my final, last day of work on Friday.

I figured that it would be better for me to drive in after Rush Hour and that definitely made the commute bearable.

My boss couldn't make it, so we ended up on the phone working through an app called Slack, for almost 2 hours.

It was brutal, but it had to be done.

Otherwise, I went out to lunch with 2 people who were invited to my retirement party, but were not able to attend.

Henry and Nikol work in Digital and we have been friends for years. Henry is super creative and I have posted some of his work, right here on this blog.

Nikol has also been profiled, due to the fact that at a point in time her son ran away. We seriously bonded over that event and I take great pride in the fact that, not only is he back in her life, he realizes how important she is in his life.

We had a nice lunch across the street from the station and it was good to spend time with them.

After lunch and the calls and training, I did my exit interview with HR.

I did tell them that I am so happy that I spent my working career at KCET and I like to believe that what we did and what we are doing, makes differences in the lives of children and people.

It has been a wonderful 39 plus years...but now it is time to hang it up.

I gave in my ID and got my final checks.

Onward toward the rest of my life.

The Photo is of Me and Henry - Photo taken by Nikol.

City Of Hope Float

The New Year begins with the Rose Parade.

A former coworker of mine mentioned on Facebook that her husband would be riding on the City of Hope float this year.

Her husband, who spent 11 years building his own custom airplane, had been found with brain cancer about 3 years ago.

Obviously, he could no longer fly his new plane and he had treatment for the cancer at the City of Hope.

Amazingly, he is doing fine (though he had to sell his plane).

He works and lives life and his wife spends more time with him now days.

The float had something like 20 people who were given a new life, from treatment there.

I was so glad to hear that he was interviewed and everything. It didn't hurt that his wife used to be VP of Communications at KCET. :-)

I was so happy to see this on New Year's Day. A better life for them both, with help from the City of Hope.

So Starts The Rest Of My Life

The New Year is here.

I got my Medicare Advantage Card, so I am double covered for the month of January.

I get one more month on my employer health plan.

My Husband starts his in February. You can tell who is who in my family. The one who went the cheap way and the one who was worried about it. :-)

No matter, it has happened (or will shortly happen).

Today we go to make the final arrangements for our cruise at the end of the month.

Tomorrow I spend the day in Burbank, getting my Exit Interview and saying a final goodbye to my coworkers and friends. A lunch with coworkers may be on the agenda.

On Monday I have an appointment.

On Tuesday we take the trip to my Pension plan's office and get the money set up for the next 14 months. Since I will only be 65, I need to cover the "gap" to my full retirement age of 66 and 2 months. That is when I "actually" retire.

Wednesday I may have a lunch appointment with one of my Aquafit friends.

The following Wednesday I have a meet up with the Oswego crowd and my Art Teacher from college.

Somewhere in this month, I hope to take an aquafit friend to Langer's for Lunch.

Of course, the cruise takes up the remainder of the month and half of February.

Did I say I was busy? I think I must have.

Happy New Year (2020)

I have a ton of things I intend to look into, as the New Year begins.

Who knew that WIX, would have my almost identical list, in a graphic.

So far, I have started exercising more at the gym and will continue to do so, in the new year. I hope that it will make me healthier and able to continue to do chores and crafts, as I age.

I have checked out my WIX potential website page, which I found several years ago, but the first thing I would need to do, is get a Domain name and have a purpose for it. Thankfully, I would now have the time to build it.

I have been checking out helping organizations that care for stray animals. Happy Strays Rescue is my current favorite, especially since that is where I got my Makenna from. They only seem to be in Santa Clarita 1 Saturday a month, which is something I could handle.

I am thinking of eventually going to a pottery class at CASI Ceramics. It is in Newhall and I pass the building, quite often. Not cheap, but something I may want to do, now that I have some free time.

Obviously, Iconography will continue to be part of my life and I told them I would be willing to help with next August's workshop. So that is something to look forward to. Working the planning side, not just the creative side.

My social calendar is filling up in January, which makes me happy. Hubby and I have friends and it is good to be able to see some of them outside of gym.

Don't even mention travel...it is going to be a wild year, in that regard.

But first, we set up my income for the first year and 2 months. That appointment is next week, after I officially leave my current place of employment, which happens on Friday.

Let's see if things pan out the right way. This blog will document it all.