Wow! Our parents always said the older you get the faster time flies. I know it’s a cliché but time is proving them right. Once we started planning our retirement there seemed to be so many steps to get there that it was overwhelming and the future seemed far, far away. Now that future is here and we’re starting a new year and moving into our adventure.
January 1st, 2014
For the first time in 30 years we watched the Rose Bowl Parade on TV from start to finish. 30 years ago we watched it live in Pasadena with Auntie Gwen and Uncle Bob then viewed the floats at the end of the parade. What a marvelous show of flowers, etc. and commitment (many of them volunteers) to put together the floats. Since then, the TV version has been a pale substitute.
This year on January 2nd we drove to Pasadena to view the floats after the parade and get a close look at all of them. Ralph wondered about the wisdom of that excursion when I took 20 minutes to view the first 4 floats out of nearly 50.
The Honda float was the longest one in the parade history at about 175 feet. They planned the street corners very carefully.
Many floats had people explaining and pointing out the eggplants, limes, artichokes, sesame seeds, grasses, brussel sprouts, blueberries and of course roses and rose petals.
The accurate, detailed faces on this float are those of real people who have received life saving organ transplants.
This float was an amazing feat of engineering and imagination. The 3 "Martians" drove off the main float in the middle of the parade and visited the audience.
Since April 2013 Ralph and I have been eating wheat free. It has been a challenge but Ralph has lost most of his “wheat belly” and my stomach is less likely to be upset by many foods. The biggest difficulty is a quick lunch that does not include wheat in some form.
Between floats we looked for lunch items that would fit our requirements. A big sausage without the bun and GARLIC fries. Thank goodness we both like garlic as these were fried in garlic oil then fresh grated garlic poured over them. Even we couldn’t stand ourselves but we were in it together.
January 3rd was a day to remember my father who passed away 43 years ago and Ralph’s mother who passed away 21 years ago. Both times I was living in Calgary and vowed not to be living there January 3rd after the next 22 years. That is not so far away now but I expect to keep that promise to myself as we plan to continue traveling for years to come.
Once again we re-re-organized the contents of our living space. That will continue for some time yet until we can find things quickly and realize many items are of no use in this lifestyle. We also started planning the next drive and destination.
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