GIVING THANKS SHOULD BE A LIFESTYLE (August 30-October 27, 2024)

 

After leaving North Carolina we headed to Indiana where we split time between our cabin near Bloomington and our daughter's home in Avon. We called Indiana home for almost all of September and October. We did take a brief trip to Michigan to visit friends but, most of our time was spent going to Volleyball game and just enjoying time with family. Both locations provide opportunities to view the native wildlife. They were pleasant days.

                                                        REFLECTIONS

What was supposed to be a time of relaxing and recreation (fishing and golfing) turned into a rather steady run of medical issues. A splitting toothache resulted in a root canal and crown. A Baker's Cyst behind my right arthritic knee demanded a Cortisone injection. Discovery of some skin cancer on my neck necessitated a Mohs surgery. A problem with my pacemaker caused much discomfort.

So, instead of a peaceful time of R&R it turned into a painful, limping, slit throat, heart pounding time of inactivity and stress.  Someone indicated that after all these years the dreaded A.G.E. disease had caught up with me. Before someone asks, "what is A.G.E. disease." I will tell you that it is more commonly known as "aging"! If we live long enough it will surely get us and, I guess we could say it is fatal! I remember my aging mother once stating, "This growing old isn't what it's cracked up to be!" 

The suddenness of the onset of all of the above reminded me once again that one needs to treat each day with the respect it deserves. They are a 24-hour opportunity to explore so many things. They each offer the chance to spend time with family and friends and create memories for yourself and others. They should not be taken for granted!

Now, tomorrow, we head out to the WYNDHAM LAKE OF THE OZARKS resort in Missouri. We'll be there a month, including a few days around Thanksgiving with our family. You'd better believe that I'll treasure every moment!

   

Sunset, Indian Lake, Michigan

"INCH BY INCH ANYTHING'S A CINCH" (July 31-August 29, 2024)

Sunset in New Bern, North Carolina

We began the last thirty -day stretch with a brief fifteen-day excursion to visit with friends in Michigan and Ohio. This stretch also included a weeklong stay at Wyndham Harbour Resort in New Bern, North Carolina. We were joined there by long-time friends, Mike and Lois Crawford, from Tipp City, Ohio. I was their pastor in the 1980s! 

Next, it's back off to Michigan for five days before returning to the Hoosier state for most of September and October. Looking forward to watching several of our youngest granddaughter's volleyball games as she plays out her Senior High School season.

                                    REFLECTIONS

While in North Carolina, I was able to observe a rather large alligator every day from the deck of our condo. He would cruise across the lake and come over our way. Most of the time he would just hang around with only his head above the surface. Hardly moving, it was as if he were waiting for someone to provide him his breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It was interesting, but boring!

Then, one morning, he showed up with a pre-packaged meal in his mouth. He had, somehow, secured a large Snapping Turtle as his breakfast! Problem was that he couldn't eat it before removing the hard outside packaging!

I watched intently from about ten yards away as he proceeded to, every five minutes, raise himself as high above the water as he could and with a tremendous twist of his huge scaley head smash his dish on the surface with such force that the shell began to crack. Finally, after six such tries, he was able to throw his head back and consume his meal. 

After seeing this and taking some time to think about it, I started to remember something that my parents used to say. They would say, "don't bite off more than you can chew".

I think that in my retirement life I spend a great deal of time just hanging around. Then I get "inspired" and decide to do something big. All too often the enormity of the project causes me to eventually give up the idea and retreat to just being happy to keep my head above water.

I need to be better at devouring things in smaller pieces. I need to break them down into smaller bites and keep working at them every five minutes, five days, or five months! I need to remind myself that this type of patient, consistent effort could ultimately result in being able to throw my head back and enjoy the result.

During WW2 the Seabees, who cleared the jungle islands for runways, had a motto; "Inch by Inch anything's a cinch!"

That's still true today! Keep living your life in bite-size pieces and you will surely partake of many enjoyable meals!

Sunset in Howell, Michigan

 

"IT IS WHAT IT IS!" (June 20-July 30, 2024)

We finished up our ten week stay in Indiana on July 30th and began our summer tour to visit friends in Michigan and Ohio. It was wonderful to be close to some family while in Indiana. Sherry's brother and his wife live just down the lane and our daughter, Autumn, and her family live in Avon, Indiana, about an hour away.  One of the drawbacks of our nomadic lifestyle is the distance we find ourselves from family and friends. We enjoyed the solitude of our three-acre piece of Indiana "wilderness" and the abundance of deer in the backyard of our daughter's suburban home in the Indianapolis area. They were days of reconnecting and enjoying quality time with both. We will be back to spend most of September and October, before heading to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

                                      REFLECTIONLives are all lived in segments. Our lives are just an exaggeration of others. Ours just happens to be backwards from most. Most take a "vacation" to relax and unwind before returning home. We return "home" to relax and unwind before heading off to explore interesting places.The last eight years have been a balancing act as we learned how to keep family important and yet be gone so much of the time. I am not saying it is easy, but I am saying it is important! We try to use social media, phone calls, etc. to stay in touch while we are traveling, and when we are "home" we try to spend extended periods of time with our family and friends.Whatever your "lifestyle" is, please remember to cherish and enjoy every moment. Life is way too short to have regrets. Things may not always go the way you had hoped, but that's the way life is. Nothing is perfect. Don't expect it to be! Work at the art of being joyful in spite of circumstances. As a matter of fact, it is the times of imperfection that make life an adventure.When I pastored in Florida I had many "islanders" in my congregation and they had two oft repeated phrases. First, "don't worry, be happy" and second "it is what it is".  Not bad thinking!Now, it's off to Michigan, Ohio, and North Carolina to visit with some longtime friends and make some memories.  Will everything go as planned? Probably not, but the totality of the experience will be amazing.

 

NOW HEAR THIS (April 28-June 19, 2024)

A Southern Indiana Sunrise

 It's been three weeks since we left the solitude of WYNDHAM OCEAN RIDGE on Edisto Island, South Carolina. Our last month there was pretty close to perfect. The weather was wonderful, the dolphin performed accordingly, and the sunsets were amazing!  It is always difficult to leave this enchanted place. 

This last portion of our 20 week stay included a visit by our oldest granddaughter, Abigail, and a college friend, a day trip to the Cypress Wetlands Bird Rookery in Port Royal, South Carolina, and a fall on the pavement that sent me to the ER in Charleston.

The girls enjoyed the sunny weather with daily bike rides to the Cabana and several trips to the indoor

swimming pool.  The vast number of birds at the rookery made for a truly a noisy and visually stunning experience, and the careless stumble and fall to the pavement resulted in many bruises and a deep gnash in the middle of my tongue.

As always, as we pulled away from the condo, we wondered if it might be the last time we'd be able to visit this special place. We've booked six weeks for next spring but, we'll have to see what the next few months hold. We are not getting any younger.

REFLECTIONS

I just returned from a group meeting concerning hearing issues and the need for an "advanced" hearing aid device that will make life so much more enjoyable and decrease the odds of developing dementia! Apparently, if the brain has difficulty processing our diminished hearing it will more quickly fall toward dementia. True? Perhaps. But it seems like a pretty slick way to make the purchase of a state-of-the-art hearing system almost a no-brainer (pun intended). I did get a free meal at the Golden Corral though.

Don't get me wrong. I believe that hearing is one of the most wonderful gifts that we have. I would really miss all the wonderful sounds that surround us 24/7. Here, in the Indiana woods, I spend a bunch of time sitting on the deck of our little cabin. It is situated on the edge of a deep woods, leading to a creek in the valley below. This is our slice of "Pair-A-Dice". The sounds of the woodland birds fill the air during the day and the nighttime noise of the frogs and crickets bring "hearing" to the forefront.

I have the "Merlin Bird ID App" that identifies the various bird songs that echo through the woods. In any given 10-minute period, it will list anywhere between 10 and 20 different species of birds that are surrounding me. I will sit with my eyes closed and listen intently to their chatter. As they flit to the feeder I can know "who" they are. Hearing is important.

However, I want the well-meaning, young hearing aid "salespeople" to know that as we age there are a

whole bunch of things that deteriorate! If we endeavored to pay to enhance each of them, we would run out of funds in a hurry.  Yet we see it daily on the "tube" (For those younger than 70....that's the television) buy this miracle thing for your "fill in the blank". You'll feel so much younger and more vital.

Maybe I'm way off base here but, when you find yourself over 3/4 of a century old it's only a matter of time (maybe 10 years..maybe) before the whole system is going to shut down and there will be no longer a need for the newest device or procedure.

When my hearing gets so bad that I can't enjoy the sounds around me I'll just find an app, turn up the volume, and remember. Frankly, I'm not going to worry about it. Any of it! I don't have the time!

PATH OF LIFE (March 19 -April 27, 2024)

 

This photo taken from our second-floor deck represents about as much excitement as you'll find on Edisto Island in South Carolina. It's been over a month since we met together on this site and it's now been 115 days since we left Wyndham Fairfield Glade Resort in Tennessee and arrived here at Wyndham Ocean Ridge Resort. You read that right, the Dicers have stayed somewhere for over 100 days! When you add on the 8 weeks we spent in Tennessee, we have been doing the time share thing for over 170 straight days! That's a new record.

These past five weeks has been time spent enjoying each other (most of the time) and experiencing God's wonderful creativity.  Spring has sprung in the Carolina Low Country and the beauty is amazing. Just today I saw our first Magnola blooms! The 20 weeks on "our" island will come to an end toward the end of May.

We did have visitors for a week of the time with my daughter's family and a friend dropping down from Indiana. We are so pleased when family or friends visit.                                          REFLECTIONS

PATH TO THE SUNRISE ON EDISTO ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA

On an island like Edisto you can catch both a sunrise and a sunset from your deck if your

condo is placed just right. As a matter of fact just a few days ago I was able to photograph the rising sun in the East and then turn around and photograph the setting full moon in the West. Only about 10 minutes separated the two.

It made me think about my life and how really short it has been. It reminded me of the song in Fiddler on the Roof that goes "sunrise, sunset, swiftly fly the years". It seems like just a short time ago that I lived in the "sunrise" days, walking briskly toward whatever the future might hold. Knowing that things were only going to get brighter. Back to a song, "Those were the days, my friend, I thought they'd never end".  They were days to run the basketball court, smash the golf ball, make friends, get married, have kids, etc. Days where you would "sing in the sunshine and laugh every day." (the songs just keep on coming!)

I don't know when it happens. I don't know if anyone really does. One day you wake up and realize that "those" days are over! Things become more difficult. You can't process things like you once could, you can't run the court (half-court stuff is even a challenge), the golf ball doesn't fly as far as it should (a 9 iron to the green becomes a 3 wood). You become aware that it's now the sunset path you are on. Everything seems a little darker and little more perilous. You begin to question whether your "day" was a "success". 

Having articulated my lament, let me end with this. Endevour to live your life's day so that when your sunset comes, those there to observe will say with a sense of awe, "Now that was a spectacular day from beginning to end."

PATH TO THE SUNSET ON EDISTO ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA

I NEED A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY (February 3 - March 18, 2024)

 Today marks the half-way point of our protracted stay at WYNDHAM OCEAN RIDGE RESORT on Edisto Island, South Carolina; seventy-three days down and seventy-three days to go. Once again it has been a peaceful, enjoyable, relaxing retreat. In this section of the blog, I usually try to identify some things that we have done so that later I can be reminded of what transpired. However, while here at Edisto, we really don't "do" much! We did have good friends, Ken and Linda Moore from Ohio come for a short but wonderful two-day visit but, other than that every day has been pretty much the same. 

It's not at all bad to have quiet days just enjoying the coming of Spring. Since there really isn't too much to chronical, I think we'll just take a photographic journey around this South Carolina Low Country Jem.

                PHOTOGRAPHIC REFLECTIONS

I think that's enough but, I think you get the idea. From us to you: "be blessed and enjoy each and every day."

WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO COME HERE? (January 12 - February 2, 2024)

                                                                                          REFLECTIONS

Every time that we visit Wyndham Ocean Ridge on Edisto Island in South Carolina, I ask myself; "Why would anyone want to come here?"

There are no high-end restaurants or even seafood buffet places. "Why would anyone want to come here?"

There are no arcades or Ferris wheels or movie theaters. "Why would anyone want to come here?"

The no see ums are everywhere and I think every jelly fish in the Atlantic Ocean comes here to die on the beach. "Why would anyone want to come here?"

The winds often blow at Gale force, and it whistles through the door frame and windows. "Why would anyone want to come here?"

The rooms are small. The guest room has two single beds and no TV. The furniture is dated. The deck is only big enough for a small table and four chairs. Many buildings have no elevators. "Why would anyone want to come here?"

The nearest Walmart is an hour away! The nearest hospital is an hour away! The nearest National Restuarant is an hour away. Just about the nearest anything is....an hour away! "Why would anyone want to come here?"

"Why would anyone want to come here?" Yet this is the 7th straight spring that we have made an extended stay. We've been coming here on a regular basis since 1985. Guess we're just not too bright, but you, you're smarter than that. 

Besides, if you come here than it will be more difficult for us to make reservations.

Just in case anyone is confused....we love Edisto and you would too! 

WHERE I AM, THERE I AM (December 13, 2023 - January 11, 2024)

Fairfield Glade backyard deer

 

Our final three weeks at the "Glade" were spent watching a lot of basketball and football on TV as the weather turned off quite cold. My daughter's family drove down from Indiana and spent a week with us over the Christmas break. Puzzles and table games were the order of the days. They stayed through January 2, 2024 so we could all watch MICHIGAN win the National Championship! 

We left the woodlands of WYNDHAM FAIRFIELD GLADE a day early. This time we rented a car for our travel and headed via the southern route through Atlanta, Ga. in order to miss the icy Smoky Mountain roads. After spending the night outside of Atlanta we drove to South Carolina and Edisto Island and the WYNDHAM OCEAN RIDGE RESORT.                                                                                 

Blue skies greeted us as we arrived at our Bay Point unit at the resort. We have stayed in Bay Point every spring since 2017. Right now, this will be our front yard until June. We have just nicely settled in. It feels like "home". The resident dolphin have been active in the Bay and seemed glad to see us. The shore birds have flocked to welcome us back and the swaying Palm Trees waved hello.

Edisto has been a favorite since we first visited in the summer of 1985. We fell in love with the Low Country of South Carolina. We've never stayed this long....we'll see how it goes.                                                                                                         REFLECTIONS

I thought I'd reflect on the year just passed. In 2023 I pillowed my head in Florida, South Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, Alaska, and Tennessee. 51% of those nights were spent in WYNDHAM RESORTS and 49% were spent with family, friends, and as an interim pastor in Alaska. We "visited" WYNDHAM CYPRESS PLAMS (Kissimmee, Florida), WYNDHAM OCEAN RIDGE (Edisto Island, South Carolina), WYNDHAM MOUNTAIN VISTA (Branson, Missouri), and WYNDHAM FAIRFIELD GLADE (Crossville, Tennessee).

I am often asked which resort is my favorite. I don't have a good answer because they are all unique. Cypress Palms is located just off busy Highway 192 but has great pools and hot tubs. There are all kinds of eateries and stores within walking distance. Ocean Ridge, in the other hand, is located an hour from Charleston and is as remote as it gets. Yet it provides a place to enjoy the simpler things in life. There are zero hotels, motels, or high raise resorts. Ocean Ridge is it. The only national restaurant is the Subway in the gas station (several local places provide the best seafood ever. Mountain Vista is your invitation to all that is Branson. Nuff said. Fairfield Glade sits on top of the Cumberland Plateau. It is a golfer's paradise and its own post office and shopping center.

 I have awakened to grazing deer, slinking alligators, and jumping dolphins. We have been joined by family and friends. We have made new friends.

"Regrets? I've had a few. But then again too few to mention." So I'll look forward with great expectations for the year to come. I'll revel in the time with family. I'll enjoy reunions with friends. I'll kiss my wife goodnight and wake up somewhere that I'll be happy to be.

As Michigan's victorious football coach says; "Who has it better than us? NOBODY!

Edisto Island Sunset