Retirement Sabbatical Year of Discernment

    On this Thanksgiving weekend, though our California family decided it would not be responsible to gather several households together for a Thanksgiving feast, I am feeling very grateful. During the past month we have visited all our California children and grandchildren, just not all at the same time, and mostly outdoors. And I am also feeling grateful for 2020.     We all know that 2020 has been quite a year to remember, or some say to forget. What an altered world we have lived in with restrictions due to COVID. We have witnessed racial strive, deep discord leading up to the presidential election and continued dis-ease as our current president refuses to concede, and we all wonder how it's all going to play out. Before 2020 ever began I knew it was going to be a year to remember, but not for any of the reasons I already named. 2020 was to be and has been a year of many personal milestones: Rob and my 50th wedding anniversary, the completion of my Doctor of Mini...

Here we are ready to begin Phase 2 of the Retirement Sabbatical Year of Discernment in our Camp Host "uniforms." Camp Taylor at Samuel P Taylor State Park     After driving 13,135 miles in July, August, September and October through 34 states, 20 National Parks and countless other locations we spent a week at our Colfax home base with daughter Ruth and granddaughter Avi. Avi really enjoyed the cats and spent as much time in LesThora as she could determined to get them both to let her pet them. She learned all their hiding places and finally they gave up resisting her attempts at getting close to them. Cats, at least these two, seem to be naturally wary of small people, and of course Straus rarely lets anyone but Rob and I even see him.     While in Colfax we retrieved our Subaru from the garage in San Bruno, took care of doctor's visits, did the laundry, and I bought new walking shoes to replace the ones I had worn out. Avi's determination to make friends with Straus...