Retirement Party

• We had a nice lunch with the folks in my old department in Saint John yesterday. I also had fun wandering around talking to friends on the 6th floor.
• No moose or deer seen on the road back home.

I hate to just reference others ...... but.....

Got this from another blogger and I thought I was pretty grateful to have a good measure of inner peace:

Symptoms of Inner Peace

1. A tendency to think and act spontaneoulsy rather than actiong on fears attached to past experience
   
2. An unmistakable ability to enjoy the moment
   
3. A loss of interest in judging other people
   
4. A loss of interest in judging yourself
   
5. A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others
   
6. An inability to worry (this is a very serious symptom!)
   
7. Frequently overwhelming episodes of appreciation
   
8. Frequent acts of smiling
   
9. An increasing tendency to let things happen rather then to make them happen
   
10. An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it
    

-- Authour Unknown

8 Successful People Grateful They Got Canned

OK today instead of listing things which I am grateful for, i thought I would direct you to a blog of 8 Successful people who are grateful that they got fired. Seems appropriate in this day and age. Anyways, go to this MentalFloss Blog at http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23600

ps. I'm grateful that the snow didn't cave in the roof at the camp this winter.

It's a Beautiful Day

• Doris and I just went for a walk down to the bottom of the hill and back up again. It's a beautiful sunny day with the snow melting in the streets.
• Jill and a friend headed off to Crabbe Mountain to go skiing. Her friend has a 5 year old who was having fun playing on the frozen snow in the front yard. It's still about 4 feet deep .
• I helped out in the kitchen at the last marriage course we are running for couples who are planing on getting married soon. We have a great time chatting and just hanging out while sharing in Rita's super cooking. Last night we had German Snitzel, green beans, noodles and a mushroom sauce. It took a few of the noodles home. It was all delicious. Oh, did I mention the Cherry Chocolate cake ?
• Hey, Debbie Mac just walked in . I think they are going shopping for quilting material, but who knows. You can read Deb's blog at http://www.debmac88.blogspot.com/

Back from Florida

• I haven't been updateing this for a while, since I was on vacation, For that I am very grateful. We had a great vacation in Florida and didn't run into any big weather problems on the drive down there or coming home.
• Even though we had a record snowstorm while away , we didn't have to shovel to get into the van or Jeep because the rain had washed it all away and Jill cleaned the driveway.
• We got to see Kennedy Space Centre, Sunken Gardens in St Petersburg, Edison's Lab and had lots of picnics on the beach.
• No sunburns

Vacation Planning

• Today, I got the forms all filled out and ready to send. That will make my retiement official. I'm grateful that I'm on the old Medavie/Blue Cross plan so that my Health benefits will continue as before.
• I found out that we will get most of our bonus money for a good year last year. Not good enough to get 100% and not good enough to avoid the layoffs which hurt a lot of my friends..... but great for me.
• Today we pack for Florida and leave Jill to run the house. I'm sure she will love that. We are driving with Ruth and John and staying with Aunt Muriel, so it's a low budget vacation. We might even get to see Eric's mom and her husband who live a couple of hours south of Tampa.
• The temperature in Tampa is 24 and here it is -8 celsius.

Retirement

1. This was certainly a day to be grateful. It was my last day at work and I am now officially retired. Although some people were disappointed and afraid of the layoffs at work, I was delighted to accept a package.
2. I had a great time packing up, sending out the "I'm Gone" messages and generally walking around the office saying goodbye. It's a bitter-sweet thing because I'll miss my friends at the office and the fun stuff we worked on, but it's time for a new adventure. I can't wait.
3. We celebrated with Dinner at "the Dip" . It was yummy, but I ate too much.