Colebrook River Dam

We went for an autumn ride after our visit to the Riverton Fair. We drove to the Goodwin Dam and then to the Colebrook River Dam. As we were looking at the water and dam, we noticed some cars were driving along a road that had always been blocked off when we had been there before so, off we went.
It was a fascinating ride along the water which has been drained and reveals some of the remains of the village of Colebrook River which was flooded for the dam. I knew the history of this in West Hartland and Barkhamsted but didn't know that the same thing happened in Colebrook.
It was quite interesting seeing the remains of foundations and walls.
We had been on a bus tour before of the Barkhamsted/Hartland area and a guide told us where certain landmarks had been. I wish we had a tour today to know what we were looking at.

This was the road that we had never been on before. A nice scenic ride.

We were talking to someone who goes here often and says that some years you don't see the bridge or just the top of it. We were fortunate to see so much of it.
I looked on line and if you click on this link, you can see an old photograph which I believe shows this bridge--don't quote me but I believe it is.

http://www.colebrookhistoricalsociety.org/images/ColRiver.jpg

There were some huge tree trunks.

We joked these were crop circles. Obviously someone had some fun.

Looking to the right, there is a strip of pinkish colored ground. We wondered if it were clay. Finally when we got closer, we realized it was just thousands of wild flowers. I couldn't zoom enough to give them justice.

Here is a close up of a few of those pink flowers that covered the ground across the water.

These are the flowers, that from a distance look like it was clay because there so many.

And it was a BIG dip.

This was the end of the road. Previously when we had been here, the road was blocked and we couldn't go on the bridge. So, today we got to go on uncharted territories.

New England Autumn is underway

Enjoying watching each new autumn day unfold. Here are my pictures so far. Things should get even more beautiful and colorful each day.

 I have never seen so many mushrooms and toadstools in our yard.

 These acorns fell naturally on this outdoor mat. There are many, many more on the ground. We are told that an abundant crop of acorns means a harsh winter. I feel it's God's way of providing for the animals to store up for the winter. We either have slacker squirrels and chipmunks, as the collection is not going down, or God provided above and beyond their needs. I can see them singing, "How Great is our God?"

What do you do now that you are retired?

     Being retired, I hear two questions frequently. One being, "How do you like retirement?" I have no problem answering that one. I love, love, love it. I left and never looked back. I took to it from day one. I don't miss it at all. My job had many good points (and many bad) and I remember both but that is a part of my past. I am living in the now.

     The next question I am asked is "What do you do now that you are retired?" This one always stumps me. I feel like they want to hear something big like I went on a special trip to somewhere far away or exotic. Or that I have finished writing my novel (Lord, help me to be able to say that sometime soon!) Or that I cleaned out my basement and attic. Or that I took up a hobby and started selling or giving away handmade items. Or that I needed to get a part time job to be happy or for money. Or I volunteer somewhere.

     The thing is, I can't name any big thing and for a moment I feel like a retirement failure. But retirement is a different thing to different people. I know some who hate it. They need structure in their lives and are floundering without it. Not us.

     Still, I feel the need to come up with an answer but I stumble over the words. They don't want to hear that I get up when I want, pretty much do what I want and sometimes it's constructive and sometimes it's lazy. Some would think that is a boring answer and I feel the need to impress them with something. There are those, though, who would be jealous with that answer.

     What we do are the little things. Here is a sample of our last fifteen days. We go to breakfast every Sunday with my Dad followed by church. We also went to a book sale that Sunday. The next three days we went on our first senior trip for three days to the 1,000 Islands. Later that week we did our marathon day at the Big E. The next day we made appearances at the Apple Fest in Granby and Sam Collins Day in Canton. The next day after setting up the coffee and refreshments for church and going to church, we went to New Hartford Days. The next day we went to see a dear little friend play soccer and afterwards went to a library to see an Edgar Allen Poe impersonator, who was terrific.

     On Tuesdays we usually go to a senior lunch and this Tuesday we did that and in the evening went to a birthday dinner celebration. Wednesday afternoon had us seeing one grandson play soccer for a bit and another doing Jujitsu. There were the boring things like dentist and grocery shopping (with time to plan and use many coupons matching up sales). There are the day to day taking care of bills and minimal housework and meal planning. I tried two new recipes in this time period.

     Then as Saturday rolled around we had 3 more soccer games to watch followed by another birthday celebration. Sunday we partook in the usual breakfast and church followed by another book sale. Relocating books is  a hobby of ours and in this short time period we acquired from various sources over 100 books and have re-located half of them. We are working on the rest.

     After grabbing a quick lunch at home, we took my father to a musical play in Torrington that we all thoroughly enjoyed. In the evening I spent over an hour on a date with the moon taking pictures as the sun cast our shadow upon it turning it orange. I could stay up late because I could get up whenever I wanted in the morning.

     Besides this, George does Yoga a couple of times a week and goes for regular walks. He has been working on his class reunion and sent out over sixty invitations this week. He reads a lot. I read but not nearly as much. He loves TV and I love the internet. I just finished re-writing a 5,000 word story that I had him edit and now am going to submit to a publication and then forget about it because they won't let me know until January.

     That was the last fifteen days. This week we both have dentist appointments and he has two doctor appointments, one I have to drive him to New Haven over an hour away.

     I know there are families with children who do a lot too. This would seem like a break without working full time to them. but for us retired folks, this is busy and just enough.

     So, what should I say to people when they ask, "What do you do in retirement?" All I can think of is to say, "stuff". I don't have to live up to their retirement expectations. Maybe I should say, "whatever I want" and what I want is just to be happy and I am.