October 17

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The 17th was one of the busiest days I've had in quite a while.  My former boss (the best boss I ever had) was almost ready to leave to work somewhere else, and my work group was having sweet treats to say good bye.  I leapt out of bed to give Bert his breakfast, and to put a loaf of Pillsbury pumpkin bread in the oven, so it could be out of the pan cooling before I headed off for my first Event of the day.

A little after 10:00 am, I met an internet friend in person.  Jeanie, at The Marmalade Gypsy, was on her way right past Ann Arbor to visit friends and family in Ohio.  We thought it was high time we met in person for a treat and a beverage, so she slid off the expressway into town.

Once upon a time, her son (a chalk artist) worked on the original sandwich menu board at Zingerman's Deli.  I thought she might enjoy seeing what the Deli looks like these days (since the new building was finished).  And of course their beverages and treats are top-notch.

I was a couple of minutes early.  I sat on the bench outside the deli, looking kitty-corner across the street at this cool old apartment building.  I don't like wires in my pics, but this is certainly reality!

Jeanie and I had a look around the Deli, and then settled down for lovely breakfast and a lovely chat.  We talked about retirement, and the things we are doing, and the things we mean to do.  We talked about pets and vets.  We talked about travel (in foreign lands and otherwise).  We had a wonderful time, and hope to meet in person again some day.  Thanks for breaking your journey with me, Jeanie!  :-)



The 17th was a wet day.  Walking home, I spotted these enormous flat fungi growing on a tree stump.

When I got home, I took Bert for his walk.

Isn't it interesting how water spreads out on the top of a leaf, but beads up on the back?  I'm sure my What a Plant Knows teacher knows why this is, but I'm also sure it won't be part of this class.  In a face-to-face class I could ask, but in an online class with tens of thousands of students...........  One of the few downsides to MOOCs -- we can't have access to the off-topic things the professor knows!

More wet leaves.  Burning bush.

Burt and I went around only one block (he doesn't like to get wet).  I had about an hour at home before heading off to work.  I sliced up the pumpkin bread, found some plastic plates to take (one for the pumpkin bread and one to eat off), a fork, a plastic glass for water....  When I worked there, I had all of those eating utensils in place.  Now, I need to pack them.  I also took a bag of pretzels.

By then it was raining right down, so I took the bus downtown.  I had a bag full of stuff (all secure in plastic) and an umbrella.  The bus depot downtown is about 1/4 mile from work, and I catch the bus to downtown about 1/4 mile from home.

It was fun to see everyone at work (I hadn't seen everyone since last year when there was a baby shower).  I was strangely distressed that my old boss was leaving.  I am certainly glad he didn't leave when I was still there.

He would always listen to you, even if his mind was made up how to do something.  Not just allow you to speak -- he would *listen*.  And if you were right, and he could, he'd change the plan.  Sometimes extraneous issues would make a change impossible, and he'd say so, but if it was up to him, he'd do what was right, even if that wasn't what he'd originally meant to do.

Really *listening*, and then being willing to change course, is an extremely rare quality in anyone, and -- in a boss?  Vanishingly rare.  The people who will work for him at his new place of employment are lucky.

It was fun to sit around, teasing and joking, with my former colleagues.  They are a good bunch.  I also enjoyed a chat just with the boss, after the group thing was finished.



Times change.................



It wasn't raining when I left work, but time was short.  I needed to get home, put on my yoga clothes, and get to yoga.  If I'd been thinking about how long I might actually stay at work, I might have taken my yoga clothes with me to work!  (Yoga is right on my way home from work.)

I zoomed home on foot, pausing only for one photo opportunity.

Virginia creeper (RED) on English ivy (and I don't know what the silvery stuff is).

Changed clothes, tossed a handful of kibble at the dog, and headed to yoga.  Orange tree on a green hill in West Park.

At first I thought there were no ducks, but there were some under the walk, at the other end of the pond.  It's clear that people often feed them.  If you stand still on the boardwalk, they will come to you, just in case you have something for them............

This level 2/3 yoga class is where I should be, I think.  I can keep up well enough, and I am glad to not have rank beginners, and the explanations they need, taking up time when the rest of us could be working.  It's very strenuous, though.  At least most days, it is.  I am almost always very tired when I get home.

It happened that no one was home when I got home, so I fed the dog, fed me, had a shower, and went to bed.

I am so glad I was able to do all the things I did that day!  It was a long day, but a very good one, in many different ways.  A nice example of what retirement means we are able to do!

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