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Retirement is truly incredible.

It is taking some time to adjust to the freedom. I find I am adjusting well. A typical day is a relaxing breakfast, playing guitar or banjo for an hour or so, going for a bike ride, doing some writing and catching up on books and movies that I’ve been meaning to get around to. I see friends, family and play a lot of poker

One thing that has changed radically is watching T.V. Working long hours meant little television. Truth is it never really interested me that much. It wasn’t long ago that I discovered BBC America. I found great shows like Luther, Top Gear, Torchwood, Life on Mars and Dr. Who.

At night I sit and work on a song that I want to learn like Sally in the Garden. I take a musical phrase and play it over and over until it becomes part of me. I have the T.V. on and I find the distraction helps with the repetition.

Couple weeks ago we were watching Animal Planet and a new show came on and I was gobsmacked. The show is called Hillbilly HandFishin’. The gist of the show is people pay money to a couple of guys who take them out to body of water where they stand in the mud and stick their hands or feet in holes where large catfish are. These fish can be anywhere from five to sixty pounds. The fish bites down on your appendage and you yank it out. The people claim it is like being hit in the hand or foot with a hammer. Many of the hands come out bloodied with skin missing. It’s called hand fishing or noodling.

I went online and found they charge $350 a day per person not counting food and lodging. I was planning on taking the wife on a cruise but for the same money we can stand in a muddy river and stick our hands in holes and get bit by slimy fish. It’s a toss-up. We’ve been married twenty-seven years and I may have to save it for our thirtieth anniversary.

When you are in your fifties you still have time, but no time to waste.                              Alec Baldwin 

August 31st was my last day at work.  I retired after nearly thirty-seven years at UPS after just turning fifty-five.  I started there in 1974 as a loader and in 1978 I became a delivery driver.  I started delivering in Avon Lake, then East Lorain and finally Sheffield Lake where I delivered for over thirty years.  I have hundreds of stories from my career and plan to share them here.  I’ve met so many kind and interesting people.  I’m very lucky because I have a really good memory and I write things down.

I’ve taken a few weeks to transition into retirement.  Been playing a lot of banjo, working on old fiddle tunes and trying to figure out exactly where I plan to go.  Things are becoming clearer.

I do a lot of things and I want to become the best at all the things I do.  I want to become a really good poker player, competent musician (guitar, banjo, dulcimer, ukulele and harmonica). get my master’s rating in chess, get my writing published and so much more.

Being raised by an agoraphobic created an odd anxiety about travelling.  I found it ironic that I didn’t go more than a couple blocks from my house growing up and then as a UPS driver I was locked into a route three miles wide by a half mile deep.  I want to see the world and meet everyone.  I want to bicycle the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, I want to visit South Africa and see my beloved lithops in their native soil.

Essentially I want to become the person that I’ve always known that I wanted to be.  I no longer have any excuses.

I’m spending my days relaxing, working on drop thumb (and double thumb) on the banjo and listening to a lot of music.  I saw this video of  a father and daughter (Jorge & Alexa Narvaez) singing a cover of  Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros song Home.  That’s the thing I like about folk music.  Enjoy.

Here is the original.

A few weeks ago Patrick Costello announced The Daily Frail he would spend all of one day giving fifteen minute lessons on Skype.  I immediately signed up.  My lesson was scheduled for nine in the morning and I was excited.

I’ve been playing banjo for a while thanks to Patricks’ videos.  I first started with The Murphy Method but that was Scruggs style banjo and after a short time I realized I like Frailing (or Clawhammer if you will) much more.

Patrick took me so far and then I met my mentor Rod Veverka.  I took lessons from him for a year and he became a good friend but died unexpectedly.   I took some time off from the banjo and concentrated on the guitar.   With my extended vacation and retirement coming up I made music (especially the banjo) a priority.

The Skype lesson was fantastic.  We went over what I knew and I offered to take lessons from him but he said I didn’t need them.  I just needed to work on what I know.  He spent fourteen hours that day giving lessons.  I’m impressed.

Some interesting things about Patrick.  He has gradually gone deaf and had his hearing restored using a BAHA implant.  He is also an epileptic.  He joked to me that if a deaf epileptic could do this anyone could.  He has written five books on banjo and guitar and although I have purchased all five of them you don’t have to.  If you can’t afford them you can download them.  Plus he puts up a free lesson every day on YouTube.

I am spending this vacation working intensely on the banjo, guitar and ukulele.  I’m curious how far I can go.

Here is Patrick playing Georgia Black Bottom Blues on a fretless banjo.  He is a treasure.

I had planned a long post today but it is my wife’s birthday and I am spending the day with her so instead I will share something about my current obsession, the ukulele.

Here are the Re-entrants playing Tainted Love, enjoy.

ps  I found this video of Marilyn Monroe playing the ukulele.  Funny, I’ve watched the movie many times and never noticed the ukulele before.

One of my goals of this seven week-long vacation is to hone my musical skills on the banjo, guitar and ukulele.  With that in mind I have an online lesson with Patrick Costello on Tuesday via Skype.   I know where I want to be and I hope he can point me in the right direction.

In the meantime the daughter showed me this video of a band who has a banjo player that is frailing!!!

The days grow longer for smaller prizes
I feel a stranger to all surprises
You can have them I don't want them
I wear a different kind of garment
In my rehearsals for retirement
                        Phil Ochs

I am on vacation for the next seven weeks.  I’ve decided to take all that I’ve accrued and try to get back on track.  Last year was a tough year filled with a lot of personal problems.  All of that is behind me.  2011 is going to be a year of renewal.

I plan to spend my time over this vacation working on fitness, music, writing and relaxation.  Then I will go back to work, work six months and retire.

I’ve only been off a few days and I already feel better.  I’ve been playing my guitar, banjo and ukulele and I’ve written a few stories.  Last night I played poker and felt more relaxed than I have in months.

I’m looking forward to the future.