Grand Times

Myrtle Beach January 14, 2019

Even on an adventure cleaning, groceries, and all those other mundane activities of life have to find a place in your life and today was such a day.

A calm sea on a very cold and cloudy day

Grandma Snyder

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Myrtle Beach January 13, 2019 – Self Awareness

The day dawned cloudy and partway through breakfast the rain started.

We are attending the Shepherd By The Sea church while we are here in Myrtle Beach and this morning Pastor Brad Bellah’s sermon focussed on how when we are in a crisis the words “Help is on the way” brings relief as our community comes to assist us.

We cannot thrive outside of community, we can live, survive and we cannot thrive and here is one of the personal issues that retirement has created. How will I thrive in the future as in retirement I have severed my relationship with a community in which I have thrived.

With this realization I know the task ahead of me. Many communities are present around the periphery of life, communities that I now need to spend time with and determine if I can thrive within these new communities.

After the service we spent time mall walking, yes mall walking getting daily exercise is a promise we have made to each other.

Now that I am relaxing I have started to discover myself, the things that bring me joy.

I am a creative! Taking apart tangles and picking out seams calms me.

I am a fixer! And I do not know what to do with this aspect of me.

I am an idea person! I love living in the world of ideas and to satisfy this I am reading “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl recommended to me by a friend.

I am a treasure hunter! I enjoy looking through thrift stores, and the beach for flotsam of interest.

Grandma Snyder

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Myrtle Beach January 12, 2019 Camellia Flowers

A leisurely morning spent inside as high tide took over the beach, talking, writing and crafting.

The highlight of the day was the Grand Strand Camellia Society Annual Show.

The beauty of this winter flowering tree has not gone unnoticed and each year we photograph 100s of the Camellia flowers. Francis Duggan says it best in his poem The Beautiful Camellias.

The camellias bloom in Winter when the skies are cold and gray

When the sun shines at it’s weakest and the Spring seems far away

Each tree an individual by the shade of flowers more often than not rare.

In shades of pink and creams and reds the colours one might name

Each is an individual for no two look the same

The beautiful camellias resplendent in their flowers

They bloom in lawn and garden on Winter’s coldest hours.

In late fall in Victoria in the Southern Hemisphere

The flower bus on camellia tell Winter days are near

And before the wattles come to bloom towards the end of July

The flowers on the camellia tree lose their petals and die.

The beautiful camellias bloom in the cold winter showers

And long before the southern spring they will have lost their flowers

And on June’s coldest and wettest day great beauty I can see

A mass of pink flowers blooming on the green camellia tree

Grandma Snyder

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Myrtle Beach January 11, 2019

Cold morning, warm bed, loving partner and a great night’s sleep. Sleeping has been the most significant change that retirement has brought. Sleep from which you wake serene, drinking in those moments between waking and full consciousness – no more jumping from sleep to fully awake aware of the days worries.

Golden Slumbers

by Thomas Dekker

Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,

Smiles awake you when you rise;

Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,

And I will sing a lullaby,

Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

Care is heavy, therefore sleep you,

You are care, and care must keep you;

Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,

And I will sing a lullaby,

Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

The day dawned cold (below freezing) and so went out for breakfast and mall walking until mid day when we returned to the trailer for lunch/supper.

Full sunshine in areas protected from the wind was warm enough to comfortable sit out, so we picnicked, and began to pick apart the shirts purchased at the thrift store to make quilt blocks out of.