Blitherings – Page 110 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Quill & Ink

I have always enjoyed ink and writing with pens. Years ago – back in the days of my being just out of university – I fell in with a group of evil re-enactors. Making things from scratch was the trend, and in that time period I learned to weave and spin and dye – the last two I still do – as well as to cut quills and the rudiments of calligraphy. My Italic is still acceptable, and I can do a good Spencerian and Roundhand and a few others when pushed. For some reason, it crossed my mind that I should re-learn how to cut feather quills, to write with a la Jane Austen, and from there it evolved into making oak gall ink.

And so, it has begun. Supplies are in hand. I have quills (turkey, not goose, but they are pinion feathers it appears) and the makings for ink: oak galls, ferrous sulfate, and gum arabic. Now, time to find instructions on how to cut quills (which I have) and recipes for ink. Oak gall ink is very acidic, and thus not especially archival over the centuries – but who will give much thought to my musings in 300 years if they are still around? Luckily, not too far from me is a feather wholesaler, and of course there are some excellent online resources; I also have a good supply of pen nibs from the last few centuries and nib holders, ranging from repousse silver to student plastic and wooden.

The fact is, I love making things and creating from scratch. Quill cutting is an art, and one I was only beginning to master years ago. I have never made ink, and am looking forward to it, using both “quick” methods, and “slower” ones wherein the oak galls ferment for a few to several weeks. Meanwhile, I will look up inky recipes and begin my adventures into the 18th century . . .

Topsy-Turvy, Crazy-Making Chaos

Well, maybe not that bad. But, there are just some days when the proverbial best laid plans of mice and men totally fall apart and you wonder what the hell is going on.

Today was that kind of a day. I had to make a phone call for some medical stuff – no call returned, but I’ll push it more later on. A friend is being badly treated at work – trying to help her figure out what to do in the sea of contract breech and lies. Then there were the plans to paint which produced crap. And a lack of sleep at night and an interrupted nap mid-afternoon. And then, I have just discovered that steel-cut oats make for a wonderful savory addition to a meal and are not as weird as I thought they would be – they paired really well with tonight’s salmon, fermented mango sauce, tzatziki, and salad. I mean, that is just too strange for my “oatmeal for breakfast” mentality.

The whole day felt really unproductive and messy. Somewhere I read that for the French, their verb “etre” (to be) is how they live – more in the moment. English speakers, on the other hand, live by the verb “to do.” Life in the English-speaking world is accomplished by things checked off on a list, written or mental. I really like the idea of living more immediately – flexible to adapt, able to plan, able to accomplish and not accomplish. The French are smart in that way, if such is true. I just felt crazy all day!

It is so funny how a culture is determined by words and verbs and habits. Americans are descended from Puritans – the Australians from criminals! What a contrast – rules and fear and conformity versus rebelling against society out of need or perversity. When everything does NOT go as planned, what can you do? Just kick back and laugh, think about it, and move on. In the end, I had a quite enjoyable – if unpredictable – day!

Gardening

There is something about the smell of dirt, whether in the form of sodden leaves and dirt in the fall rain, or a pot of soil, or spreading amendment into a garden bed.

For years I had a house with a fenced-off area for gardening. I grew tomatoes and corn and lettuces and lemons and figs for the most part. There was a 40-foot tall avocado tree too, but it was old and diseased. The soil was clay, and if I watered it, I could sink into it up to my ankles unless I put paving stones around the beds. It wasn’t the best of situations, and had I the wherewithal, I could have rototilled amendment to make a better bed, but it never happened. Still, going out to play in the soil, plant and weed and pick were some of the best bits of summer.

Since then we have moved. The guy we bought our current house from put in too many trees, and now we are paying the price of having them removed over time. About a dozen more to go (that’s down from about 20). Then, a small back hoe or something is going to need to come in to dig down to get at roots and such – probably 24″ or so – and put in a new watering system and dirt. In hindsight, I should have done it when we moved in, but that is hindsight! With foresight, I am planning ahead. It will take time and money and a bit of thought, and perhaps even a landscaper or professional.

Only one tree is going to be saved – the crepe myrtle (above).

However! All is not lost as I have a Dog Free Zone (a.k.a the “DFZ” – a side patio where the dogs are forbidden, and is fenced off). There is also a small flower bed in the front yard, and gardening areas for a fig tree and roses.

We have a couple of tangerine trees in pots on wheels which we roll around on the back patio to collect the sun. Today I did some transplanting of flowers into larger pots, pruning, and general clean up. After that, I started some old seeds in starter containers – things like cucumber seeds from 2008, long beans, mesclun, holly hocks, lupines, stock and carnations, pimientos and cayenne peppers. If they come up, great; if not, at least I tried, right?

Flowers and vegetables and fruit – all are better when home grown! Besides what I put in today, I also have a couple of tomatoes, odd bulbs, lilies, zinnias, more peppers (about 12 or so), mint, milkweed, lavender, alyssum, sunflowers, marigolds, and few other bits and bobs that attracted my attention these past months. Front and back are getting spruced up!

Gardening is one of the great joys of retirement, a beautiful spring, and an unfolding summer season . . .

Worthy of My Time and Attention

Retirement is hog heaven . . .

A friend of mine, Stef, said it took her about two years to “settle into herself” after retirement. I believe it!

People wonder how you fill your day before you retire. The truth is, you just do. Sometimes you fill it with activities, and other days you sit down and do not a lot more than loll. For me, being goal-oriented, I feel like I must accomplish something (what is that something??), but I also am quite capable of just doing nothing. Rushing to do things takes away from time to listen to that inner voice of the self which provides insight, calm, and direction. I know I need both.

Oddly, I find I need the company of others more than I used to as well! At work, I always had someone in my face – a student, colleague, whatever – or something to be done – attendance, paperwork, class prep. Now, there are me, my husband, and the dogs for regular company, which, at times, is not enough. Given my desire for other people, I talk to friends and family, connect for lunch, go for hikes. I am in a few Meetup groups and have one of my own, which has been dormant for about a year – time to resurrect it.

Now, I have things to do, places to go, and people to see. Choices need to be made and sifted through daily as to the “agenda.” I have some things I have settled into as routine – getting up, cleaning up myself and the dishes, editing a daily photo in black and white for my 365 Silent Project (missed it a few times). At times there are appointments or pre-planned activities. I want to paint or draw daily, but that has been a bit – haha – sketchy of late. I like to watch about an hour of TV at night before going to bed.

The key word here is value. What is valuable to me today? What is worth my time and attention? Retirement is an adventure that is shaking up a lot of my ideas and solidifying others – and it is fun and tedious at the same time.

Completed!

There are so many little things that need to be done for finalization of retirement! I have a stack of paper and publications about 10″ deep. So many things to read and to think about . . . but finally, the Social Security is arriving, the pension is arriving, and the supplemental insurance for Medicare is in place – I got my card today! Pretty much everything I figured I would choose has worked out nicely. The benefits manager in my school district has done a great job, too, not just for me, but many other retirees. She brought in representatives from our medicare supplemental plan as well as an expert in such. The ones available through the district are quite good. The process, for me at least was easy – I just rolled over everything I had as an employee into my Medicare plan, as I had originally planned.

According to many sources, Americans are ill-prepared for retirement. Most do not have pensions or savings or investments, and for many, their Social Security check is their primary and only source of income. US News reports that the average Social Security benefit was $1,461 per month in January 2019. That is not a lot, at least in my neck of the woods. I certainly couldn’t rent a 1-bedroom apartment for that! Dave Ramsey has some interesting comments about how much people close to retirement have saved, the amount of debt they have, and how the lifetime pensions of 50 years ago no longer exist. I consider myself fortunate in that I have both a pension and adequate Social Security, and enough to get a good supplemental plan as well.

Health care is a major cost factor for many people. If you are healthy, you don’t really think about the fact you could get seriously ill or have an accident that changes your life. In this country, it’s a travesty in many situations. We are a capitalist society which means we are all commodities; however, we are commodities that are only good until broken. In other words, disposable – just like much of what we buy. Health care and support of those who are members of society is necessary to ensure future generations, and the generations who have contributed to society, prosper and thrive. The stinginess of our politics about health care never ceases to amaze me. Having worked in the industry for a lot of my adult life, I have been fortunate, but many others have not had the luxury.

Social programs benefit many people and help keep bigger problems from developing. Child care, access to health care regardless as to income, education, fire and police, roads are some of the social program that benefit society – some we have, many we do not. Our ideas are of the rugged individual, the person who “pulls himself up by his boot straps” are so fallacious. We all depend on each other in many ways, but our historical fear of communism and socialism and worship of capitalism, along with our Wild West mentality that there is always something better over the next hill, prevents us from embracing our neighbors. Too often these days it is all about ME, not you, not us. A society as self-centered as ours is becoming is at peril of drowning in its egocentricity.