Our families communicate mostly by text now. And Facebook. Email has gone out of style, not to mention the paper letter. It’s too bad. I believe that Facebook and texting encourage one-line, kneejerk responses, while email and letters promote writings of greater length, complexity and depth.
With that stated, here’s a sample of a letter to family. I have a large extended family and I might send this out to them. This also gives me an excuse to play with the WordPress block object.
Hope this finds you well. It’s a pretty day – it’s supposed to hit 65F – and I just returned from a pleasant walk to mail a letter.
Ah, the pleasures of being retired! Walking when I can, travelling when I want. In fact sometimes it’s been a task figuring out what to do with myself. As you know I’m an introvert, happy to be alone and parked in front of a computer or a book. That makes being retired easier, but even I need to get out and do something once and a while. I have found some powerful allies in this effort.
I went up to Folsom to drink beers and eat with my old co-workers last week and it was fun seeing them again. A job can be very good in so many ways. You get a built-in peer group at work, stuff to do and a regular paycheck. No special effort required. My job had a diversity of nationalities – what potlucks we could have. I miss that, although when they started talking about work with its politics and its recurring problems I felt relieved to be “out of there”.
But being without a job is not something to fear – assuming you have low expenses and adequate money to pay them. That is a luxury that few have, and I’m grateful that I seem to have it – at least, for now!
What can I do to replace the benefits of a steady job? One ally has been the library, of course. My personal library has expanded a little, but the city libraries offer an incredible wealth of stuff, for free. Another resource is the YMCA – I can go in there any time and catch a workout. One of my best allies, though, has been the junior college across the street. For a small fee – $150 – I get to take a class for one semester. It gives me work to do, people to do it with, plus I learn something new. I took a swimming class and now I swim faster and better. I can go apply that at any pool. I took some Spanish and now I can read those formerly-annoying bilingual signs that have sprung up everywhere. They don’t annoy me now; they offer a fun challenge! Currently I am taking a writing class. That makes me write more, offers me a room full of fellow logophiles of many ages and backgrounds, and might even give me an audience.
There’s travel of all kinds – the occasional trip to snowshoe or hike are free or really cheap, and they are great fun. Urban hikes with friends or alone show me my city in new ways. More on that elsewhere. And once in awhile I take a true trip, usually to visit family – to Flagstaff, New Orleans, Dallas, New Jersey. I can do it when I want! I haven’t fully taken advantage of this. That shows how much I’m still just starting to figure this out!
Finally there is volunteer work. I have found a number of organizations that can and do help. That includes churches, of course. I could explore other churches than my own. I install grab bars and handrails for an organization called “Rebuilding Together Sacramento” and have gotten better with hand tools, while finding a wonderful group of people – including most of our clients. It’s anything but an isolated desk job. I have liked that.
I’m a computer guy and there’s an infinite amount of stuff to do in that area. I put Linux on my old poky laptop which sped it up a lot. I’ve given computing a rest, but I go to the Makerspace at the junior college and have sometimes answered questions about computers posed by students. That’s fun! They return the favor by showing me things – like how to sew up holes in my leather gloves.
That’s it for now. Love you!
me
The above is a merged set of blocks. Each paragraph is a block by default in WordPress, but by selecting multiple blocks and choosing the popup option to “block” them they are merged to one block. This block can then be formatted or colored to one’s preference. The above block, the letter, has gray background, which distinguishes it from the rest of this posting.
I see that HTML is supported including CSS options. I don’t fully understand how this works, but I’m sure it offers a great deal of flexibility for those who know HTML well. I’ve created and edited simple HTML documents in the past. It’s not terribly complicated, but I’m out of practice!
Ideas: urban hiking (and biking), aka utility travel. And, camellias.
Matt's Journal 
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