Morning all:

“I am building a fire, and every day I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match” — Mia Hamm, Olympic gold medalist, 2004 U.S. Women’s Soccer Team

Yesterday morning, at the crack of dawn, I was sipping coffee from my thermos while sitting next to the Little Miami River. This morning I’m doing the same, only now from a mug and the depth of my leather chair. Both ways it tastes equally good.

Last week I heartily promoted the grandeur of retirement. Even going so far as stating I was having a “grand time.” Today, only a week later, I have to report that there are some serious chinks in this whole retirement thing.

First of all, I worked nearly full time the whole week. Okay, so I was at the office for one solid day, but slaved away from this very chair for waaaay too many hours the rest of the week. All of this business I could take in stride, it’s the other stuff.

What I am talking about is the ‘blurring’ of the calendar. The days sliding in and through and past one another has become an issue. Let me give an example. Mentally I was all this Sunday we’ll take ‘The Duck’ (our little Citroën Deux Chevaux car) to Lebanon, OH for their annual “Blues, Barbecue, and Bumpers” festival. Even Marcia was on board.

I took the time and surfaced my original – bought at the factory in Cuenca, Ecuador – Homero Ortega genuine Panama hat so that I could make absolutely certain the hat band was just perfect for a proper wearing. Today, Sunday August 2nd was the magic day. Well, do you see the immediate problem? Last night it dawned on me that the ‘Sunday’ bit was me. The rest of the world partied hardy at the Lebanon, Ohio “Blues, Barbecue, and Bumpers” festival—YESTERDAY, Saturday, August 2nd.

Then there is the immediate loss of the whole ‘spatial’ thing that comes along with retirement. Let me give an example. Yesterday Marcia and I were both in the kitchen. I had just brought in some Mets from the grill. Marcia was busily putting the rest of the meal together. When we bumped into each other, she was about to place a new 1-pint container of fresh blueberries back into the refrigerator.

We’re both real happy no one came to the back door just as we were scurrying about picking up a few hundred blueberries that had rolled everywhere. From a back door perspective someone could have easily assumed we were hot-and-heavy into an adult version of the old Twister game.

The canoe adventure yesterday morning was great. Young Marin did gain some learning and insight into the finer points of canoeing. One being that when paddling upstream the ‘heavies’ go to the back while the lightweights paddle up front.

I should have been as far back as possible – I happened to be near the bow.

I explained all this to Marin, on shore, after we stopped to dry off. And Cathy, Marin’s new life preserver gets full marks for doing its job.

Make it a great week. Should you lose your ‘paddle’ its best to try and retrieve it. It makes the rest of the journey much easier.

Cheers,

Dirk