I'm collecting pictures of Jacqueline from her family, and her brother Chris sent me a batch.

By the time Jacqueline was in in high school and college, she and her sibs barely saw each other. They each went to different high schools, she was older, she was off to college.

So Chris' own pictures of her jump from xmas '92 (when she was a few years out of college, and after a period of serious depression) to xmas '93, and it's shocking how much she changed in that year.

Admittedly, the '92 picture has her looking bleary on Xmas morning, and nobody looks great in that moment. But she'd put on a lot of weight, and she didn't know what to do with her hair.

And in 1992 she's lost a lot of weight, because she's back in RenFaire and also getting cast in local theater. She's focused, she's found her tribe at Faire, she's getting acting gigs. She got her first bob specifically to be in the play Hayfever, and she looks happy and fab. Really beautiful though she didn't see herself that way yet.

I mostly like my job, so in theory the plan is to work at least until 70. Whether the company, industry, and my eyesight will support that is a whole other question. I'm fairly certain that retiring early would be bad for me even if economically feasible, though if Publishers Clearing House comes calling I might switch my career to travel blogger.

In theory I retired at 70, but still have to help my son and DH a lot. Brendon is 11 years younger than me, so unless he comes up with a way to afford it, he has to stay working.

I have zero desire to continue working. I did my time. Probably 55 years of working since I was a teen. I'll have some level of responsibility forever as a family business, but I am full of don't wanna.

Mom lived to 95 and I remain grateful forever to my step-dad who was able to care for her at home. He absolutely doted on her. She didn't have any big chronic illness that required medical care around the clock, but was too frail to be on her own.

Though we be soft and squishy, we be strong.

Totally down with this plan.

I'm not giving any consideration to this "bop" business, which is just wrong.

In the Bahamas! Not going off ship, but hoping to enjoy the pools and hot tubs and such while a lot of people are off ship. I did start the day with a mimosa, so that feels vacationy.

Laura, your cruise sounds fantastic!

Ooh, nice Laura!

It’s beautiful here this morning but apparently the rain will come back just in time for the soccer game I’m supposed to attend. Boo! Fingers crossed it holds off for a couple hours beyond the forecast.

Epic, if you haven't been to Marrakesh you should go to Marrakesh. (Everyone should go to Marrakesh).

My retirement plan, such as it is, is a two bedroom rent-stabilized apartment in an elevator building near a university hospital. If I need to get some exhausted grad student or travel nurse in here as a roommate to make the bills when I'm a sweet (ha!) old lady I can do that.

Additionally, it'll probably be a long time before I quit working entirely. 40 hrs a week in my 80s likely isn't feasible, but the odd day or two on a cop show can be a nice chunk of money when you're in the union.

the odd day or two on a cop show can be a nice chunk of money when you're in the union.

Trudy, there was a big article in the WaPo today about Tom Selleck that made me think of you (you did some work on Blue Bloods, right?): [link]

Had an odd thing happen just now.

I have a suet feeder on my little balcony, placed on the rail so that I can watch it from the table where I have my laptop, and where I spend most of my day.

The suet feeder is pretty popular, and I have several regular visitors. One of them is a male downy woodpecker. He is cautious, perhaps even timid. He will only come to the feeder when there are no other birds in view. If another bird shows up, he promptly leaves.

A bunch of starlings finished off the suet in the feeder just as I was eating lunch. They left. About five minutes later the downy woodpecker showed up. He found an empty feeder. He hopped around to the different sides, checking that there was no suet dough left. He then flew over to my big sliding glass door, and made three hovering/fluttering passes at it. Just close enough to brush the glass with his wings and make a noise, but never at an angle that made it seem he was trying to fly through it. Then he flew away.

I have never seen him do anything like that before.

I chose to interpret that as a request to refill the feeder, and did so right away. Now I am waiting to see how long it takes for him to check back again.

eta: Answer, about an hour.

I chose to interpret that as a request to refill the feeder, and did so right away. Now I am waiting to see how long it takes for him to check back again.

He was definitely asking for more.

Speaking of bird visitations, as you may recall shortly after Jacqueline's death I had a window open and a hummingbird flew into our house and wouldn't leave for an hour.

In many cultures a bird flying into a house is seen as a visitation from somebody recently departed.

And, indeed, I've always considered a hummingbird sighting to be a kind of blessing.

Anyway, I'm deep in assembling things for the Memorial and posted a picture of Jacqueline on Facebook. And when I went out to run, with her much on my mind, I was stopped in my tracks halfway across the Panhandle as I spied the first Hummingbird of the season. Green with a flashing ruby-pink throat. It hovered right in front of me, darted about and came back.

Were you wearing a colorful shirt?