Next one to hit my palate was a very smooth and refreshing light ale. Once again, there was no note attached (retirement gift from work),so I have to thank the anonymous donor for a solid choice. People Skills is brewed in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They brew several beers, all are good based on my experience with this one.
They call it a Patio Ale, and I agree it would be a good one to drink on a patio. I definitely enjoyed it on my deck.
Here is the link to their website page referring to this beer, and make sure to click on the video below as well. You may want to spend some time perusing their website, pretty well done.
The second retirement gift I sampled came courtesy of Jesi, thanks. The beer she chose for me is Poland’s number 1 beer, Zywiec. This is a pilsener, light on the palate and smooth. The colour is golden, and overall very refreshing. A very good beer, worthy of further investigation. Another brewery that needs closer inspection.
Number 8 is likely the easiest entry on my list, retirement. It is easy as I did the deed on July 15, ending a working life of over 50 years. The bulk of these years were spent in the transportation industry and ended in a role in finance. This item was key and is intimately related to several other wishes on my list.
I currently have no regrets over leaving the workforce and will remember and cherish the many people that have become friends, and are still friends over the years.
As crazy as this sounds, employment has opened our eyes to many new things. We have lived in Winnipeg, St. Albert, Okotoks, Saskatoon, Martensville and Calgary. We have made many friends and acquaintances and experienced many things with the help of these friends. We intend to spend time revisiting these places and people at every opportunity.
I read a quote that makes absolute sense, “There really are two lives we live. The first life and then the second life when we realize we only have one life.”
The first beer I sampled was Erdinger. This is advertised as the ultimate premium wheat beer, and is brewed in strict accordance to the Bavarian Purity Law. This was gifted to me by Terry, one of the very small group of us known as Boston Bruins fans. Go Bruins. Thanks Terry, your pick was exceptional. I’m going to have to visit this brewery at some point, they do a great job at what they do. I found it to be very tasty, hits the front of the tongue and then goes down smooth, with a slight hint of bitter. Golden in the glass and sparkles with bubbles like champagne. Definitely one I intend on having again, and likely again, then again some more.
July 15, a big day for us, the day when everything changed, and we are positive it will be for the better. I feel slightly overwhelmed at being unemployed for the first time in 50 years or so, but also relieved that we can now move down the path to a more fulfilling future.
In all honesty, work, as much as I enjoyed it, was getting in the way of a multitude of projects that are in planning, in progress or are almost completed. More on those in later posts. This is about the “Big Day”.
For us, the CoVid pandemic did a few things. We both worked from home, which allowed us to move about and work on our retirement nest. For this, we are grateful to have understanding and progressive employers. It also allowed us to winter in our spot and test out those waters. We were successful on multiple fronts. Come spring, the decision was made that I would retire on July 15 and moved forward to attain that goal.
Moyie River
Lot 25 With Nothing On It
We purchased our lot in 2017 on the Moyie River in British Columbia, with mountain views on all sides. The intent was to retire here and spend a chunk of each winter in various locations, while basking in their warmth.
On the the 15th of July, I spent the day with all my work friends, doing minimal work of course. We went for lunch with all who could make it, as only 25% of employees were on site due to health restrictions. Prior to lunch, I was presented with my good bye gift, an ample supply of beer, each attached with a note from the person who contributed it. A wonderful gift on so many levels. I’m going to miss these people.
Now that I have more time (apparently, I’ve been retired 6 days and this is the first post I’ve done) I am planning on regular posts. There will definitely be a series of beer reviews added to the mix, to go along with all the regular cadre of photos, reviews and recipes. I am so looking forward to the R&R, and the more casual lifestyle.
As we state in our About page, we suddenly realized about 15 years that today was coming, and coming fast. Today meaning, getting older and facing retirement. Retiring is a hard thing to contemplate after working so hard and for so long to try and reach the goal of enjoying life with adventure and contentment. On occasion we will be posting some of our successes, failures and projects along this path. We are not experts, only experiencers. I think I just made that word up (experiencers), spell check didn’t like it. We will share without preaching, hopefully creating a story of some sort. I know a lot of readers will have had some of the same experiences, please feel free to share yours in the comments.
Retirement isn’t the end of the road, but just a turn in the road.
It was decided a few years ago to abandon that site and move on to this one, which was to be more of a personal travel/retirement advice type of site. Then life took over and this was semi abandoned as well. Now, after several attempts, I am trying to regain my blog legs and incorporate the thousands of pictures, adventures, stories and videos we have experienced over the past 15 years or so, not to mention our acquired wisdom. We’ve had quite a run of fun.
Some additional self promo. As some of my past friends know, we love our music, life’s soundtrack. I have a separate site, dedicated to nothing but music. I lean to promotion of Canadian music, but I don’t hold myself to it. There are many things I bounce around with here, Remembering the ones we lose, artists I’ve found on Twitter and Instagram (among other places) and anything else that touches my ear. This extravaganza can be found by clicking the link. Drop by, browse, listen and discover.
I’m not a doctor, and do not pretend to be one either. As someone with controlled high blood pressure, I did find this to be an interesting read. It basically confirms what my doctor has been telling me. As an added bonus, many of these are effective for cholesterol issues as well.
I guess we owe you an explanation on our extended absences of late. To be truthful, we (I) have been suffering a motivational failure at the exact moment that we had accelerated our planning. What planning you ask. I’d say retirement planning but that has some negative connotations. Let’s go with future planning.
We seem to have made some decisions now that bode well for our future. This should translate in some posting (I think). At any rate there are mounds of digital media to sort through and many adventures to share.
