We’ve been somewhat fortunate these last three weeks since the elections to be in another country on another continent. While we’ve kept up with the headlines, we have generally managed to steer clear of the hand-wringing, OMG-ing and yes, the celebrating that seems to be rather pervasive in the US.
The few conversations we’ve had with locals and fellow tourists have been met with a mix of good humor and confusion, with some measure of concern. The role that the US plays in the world is well known to most people over here, and there is a bit of wariness, but for the most part people are just living their lives.
We had a laugh with three German college guys at a winery in Porto. When the subject inevitably came up, we said that we were very happy to be in Portugal. đ
The great thing about travel, seeing other places and talking with other people is that it tends to really open our worldview. We know that things might look and sound a little different when we get home, but we know that what is done is done, there is nothing we can do to change it, so we’ll see what happens and figure out how to deal. Who knows, maybe everything will work out just fine!
Well, the era actually ended long ago, but I recently made it official. I’ll explain.
Some of you know that many years ago I was a musician, playing the trombone. I started college as a music major before realizing that I wanted to earn a decent living, didn’t want to teach and wasn’t really good enough to make a career of performing. I even played in a Chicago/Earth Wind & Fire/Tower of Power type band for a while. One of our members went on to become a famous drummer, the rest of us got jobs. So I was good enough to have fun with it but that was about it.
Over the years, I lost touch with the playing side of music, and like many things – old cameras, golf clubs or cassette tapes, my trombones took up space in my attic or in my garage. Conveniently out of sight, and mostly out of mind.
A year or so ago I was thinking about the likelihood of ever playing the horns again, realized that was probably never going to happen, and started to think about what I could do with my old horns – I had three of them. Not knowing what kind of value they had, I figured that they were 50-ish year old instruments, probably worth little and thought about donating them to a local charity. The Charlotte Symphony, for example, has a program for providing instruments to needy kids to study music.
I started checking around and was amazed to discover that there is a healthy market for used, professional quality musical instruments. And unlike old cameras, golf clubs or cassette tapes, they are worth some real money. Not Stradivarius money, but pay-attention-to-me money.
I made inquiries through local colleges and got the name of a guy in Detroit, the bass trombonist for the Detroit Symphony who has a side gig of buying and selling used trombones. I contacted him, we worked out a plan, I had the horns reconditioned at a local music store and delivered them to him in Detroit on our recent trip. He had buyers for them before we got home! Done and done. Turns out they were a pretty good investment – who knew?!? I don’t think I’ll be buying a new camera with the money (sorry, Jeff!) but I’ll see if I can find something suitable to do with my windfall.
A few days ago Kathy asked me if I was now a former trombonist. I told her that I was more like a reformed trombonist. Not much difference probably, but I understand the distinction!
Most of the travel that Kathy & I do is by ourselves, but many times we arrange to see some friends along the way. We have started doing a pretty-much-annual “Friends & Family Tour” each summer, since for some reason a lot of our friends won’t travel to see us. Likely because we’re “never” home! đ
We do have a few couples who we can count on to let us know when they are planning a trip and who ask us it we want to come along, or come along with us on a trip we are planning. Most of these friends are retired and travel nearly as often as we do. We did a river cruise in October with three other couples and it was great. We all did things that suited our interests and went different places in different combinations. Our travel agents – who have also become friends – even booked a cruise after they found out we booked it, and we’ll be cruising with them in February! Other friends arrange to meet for a weekend or a few weekdays in an equidistant location.
We enjoy travel with friends because it sort of forces us to change up our routines, perhaps look at places or things a little differently, and sometimes we just end up someplace we haven’t thought of. Group photos are fun, too. Although more often or not we’re having so much fun we forget to have someone take them. I do take a few photos with my camera, but then I’m never in them! Selfies are okay, but we do like the occasional group photo taken by someone else. Especially if it is a large group – my arm isn’t long enough for a selfie!
As hard as it is to believe, Kathy & I will soon be celebrating 6 years of retirement. Time has flown by, for sure! When we contemplated retirement, we talked about what we would do, and occasionally talked about some kind of volunteer activity, like reading to grade school kids, financial counseling or something to use our former work skills. Interestingly, that has never transpired. Why? Most likely inertia or lack thereof, although weâve rationalized a bit with the idea that our frequent travel would prohibit us from committing to a regular schedule and that anyone looking for volunteers would probably want a more reliable attendance. I have no idea if that is true because weâre never checked. But we keep thinking that we could be doing more without compromising free time or travel.
For the last 10 years, Kathy & I have lived in a 55+ neighborhood. When we first moved here, we were barely 55 and still working, and even after 10 years we are still among the youngest residents. We have struck up a nice friendship with a few other couples of similar ages, although even they are a little bit older than we are. We have had rotating dinners at our respective homes and recently did a holiday progressive dinner. We find it much more fun to drink and eat at our and our neighborsâ homes as opposed to overstaying our welcome at a restaurant and then having to drive home. Much safer to walk!
Kathy & I have had peripheral involvement in our neighborhood, with Kathy participating on the Social Committee and me on the Finance Committee. We have mixed feelings about participating more, such as board membership or committee chair. Weâre pretty protective of our time at home, generally preferring to mind our own business and stay out of the way. But weâre also aware that we have skills and knowledge that would allow us to contribute more.
Kathy & I were talking recently about how so many of our neighbors are old enough to be our parentsâ ages. Many of our neighbors are widows or widowers, and although they have children and other family around, they spend a lot of time on their own. For the most part theyâre nice folks and we enjoy spending time with them. Like all of us, they have their foibles, but they have been a source of encouragement and inspiration. Encouragement because many of them have been travelers themselves, and are quick to tell us to âgo while you canâ and âdonât wait.â Inspirational in both positive and negative ways, unfortunately. Positive as in having done things we aspire to do, negative as in seeing the unfortunate result of years of not taking care of their health or finances.
Since we no longer have living parents, I mentioned that maybe we should try and get to know some of these older folks individually. I still cherish the memory of time spent with my grandparents, and feel that some of our neighbors would probably appreciate the attention, and we would undoubtedly enjoy the conversation. Group activities are okay, but once the group gets to be more than 5 or 6 people, âconversationsâ are more challenging, especially for those with difficulty hearing or being heard. Iâm a little leery of a friendship evolving into some kind of surrogate caregiver role, but I think itâs possible to be aware and set limits if necessary.
Anyway, this whole thought process revolves around my idea that we all have various roles to play. Child, parent, spouse, worker, traveler, customer, friend, mentor, etc. Just because we arenât âworkingâ doesnât mean we donât have something to contribute. Helping others is a lot more rewarding than watching the news or playing video games, and it behooves all of us to spend some time considering our place in this world. Itâs an evolving concept and Iâm looking forward to seeing where it leads.
Monte’s recent post reminded me of this sign I came across on the island of Curacao. Litter, and trash in general, is a problem everywhere. This particular sign was in a national park, which thankfully appeared to have its litter problem well under control.
I need to get a sign like this and post on the road in and out of our neighborhood.
I was looking through my news feed earlier and saw a headline titled “New fast-casual turkey leg restaurant called Jive Turkey Hut opening in north Charlotte.” Out loud I asked “why does Charlotte (or anyone) need a restaurant that serves turkey legs? To which Kathy answered “because there are more of them than there are of you.” đ
According to the article, they are known for their “stuffed, smothered and sauced turkey legs including a shrimp alfredo turkey leg and a crawfish macaroni and cheese turkey leg.” A location in Houston typically has lines wrapped around the building.
I realize I live a sheltered life and that we don’t frequent many restaurants, but I can’t imagine.
I recently cancelled the subscription to my last photography publication. Once upon a time I subscribed to all the usual physical magazines â Pop Photo, Outdoor Photographer, Shutterbug, etc. That I happened to hang on to Lenswork has no significance other than I had not bothered to cancel it previously. Realistically I could never figure out how to cancel it, until one day I happened to be on Paypal and found that I could cancel my recurring payment through Paypal. It just so happened that it was the day before the day they were planning to send the renewal payment!
At one time I found the articles in all these various magazines to be informative and inspirational. For an aspiring photographic rookie who had never processed film in a darkroom, went to school to be a banker then spent 40 years behind a desk, these publications were a source of information that helped me build the inventory of vision and inspiration that I have today. The âold schoolâ magazines (are they even in business?) slowly became a collection of advertising disguised as articles, with even more and more actual ads and very little inspirational content. Lenswork is a fine publication, and of course doesnât have any advertising, but listening to Brooksâ ramblings and looking at endless sepia toned photographs just wasnât doing it for me. It was past time to move on.
So where so we get inspiration these days? Once upon a time I was an avid listener to several excellent podcasts, where I learned about the history of photography, the creative side of photography and the craft and vision of photography. Sadly those podcasts have gone dormant or their owners have gone a different direction, and they have been replaced by endless camera reviews and videos about the latest software or newest Photoshop trick. And letâs not get started on all the non-photography shows with people shouting about all the things we should be scared of or peeved off about.
Iâm sure there are still quality shows out there, but â ironically â I havenât been motivated to look for them. I follow a lot of photographerâs blogs, and have a very closely curated list of photographers â and nearly only photographers â that I follow on Instagram. Iâd much rather read a book than watch videos so I donât spend a lot of time on YouTube, but Iâd be interested in suggestions of quality sources of inspiration and motivation. I donât even mind paying for content if it is worth it â this isnât about the money although there is a limit to my generosity. I donât really want to deal with another so-called social media platform, but Iâm open to suggestion. Let me know in the comments if there are any recommendations.
We’re off on another adventure shortly and I may have a few postcards to toss out along the way, so stay tuned!