The full moon was hidden last night and remains so this morning so into the archives we dive.
Still a bit early for our water lilies but they should be coming along soon.
The past couple of months have been a chance to experience what it will be like to be retired. Dealing with the virus is unfortunate but being able to choose what to do and when has been a nice preview. However…I am looking forward to returning to work. We’ve been fortunate that I qualify for unemployment benefits and the government gave us some money back from all those years of paying taxes but I miss doing my job. The salespeople are back in the store on a limited basis and once sales begin to build again and deliveries are being made the repair guy will be needed. And we do have folks calling for repairs of their own furniture so that should begin again. But for the next little while my days continue as my own.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
In my experience, retirement is even better than I ever thought it would be before embarking. We have the luxury of an artistic passion/interest/hobby/sideline in which we can immerse ourselves for many delightful hours. I’ve never regretted my retirement and the free time it made possible. BTW, love the frog peeking out from behind the first waterlily!
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This has shown me what it would be like with the exception of money. The unemployment benefit from the state is less than I bring home but the feds added $600 a week which made things a lot more comfortable. Once I retire we’ll have a lot less to live on so that’s the part that makes me nervous.
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How much more time do you have until you expect to retire?
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The car is paid off in three years. Then I’ll reevaluate the situation. Chances are I’ll just reduce my hours.
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The lighter part of the frog beneath the eye lets me imagine that the eye is attached to another petal from the water lily.
The Latin word aes meant ‘copper’ or ‘bronze’ and also, because those metals were valuable, ‘money.’ The Romans used the phrase aes alienum, which is to say ‘somebody else’s money,’ to mean ‘a debt.’ Our government sent us money that is somebody else’s, namely the holders of 25 trillion dollars or so in government-issued bonds. The interest alone on the national debt is now approaching half a trillion dollars a year. That’s about one-third of all discretionary spending, and of course it does nothing to reduce the debt itself. The country is in for more hard times.
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I understand that. A good bit of it is money owed to China. The current administration, not that all others are not similarly guilty, is going through money like water through its fingers. It’s interesting how people can rail against money spent that we don’t have until they are the ones spending it. However, the money they are sending to individuals is not that big a dent compared to all the other expenses, necessary or not, that happen on a daily basis. Incredible waste and misappropriation. Programs that no one wants who is involved but it adds cash to the balance sheets of large corporations and political donors. Reducing the governement’s revenue while increasing the spending is not a good formula. We are indeed due for hard times but it is more complicated than the issuing of stimulus funds to individuals.
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I used the stimulus payments as a springboard to the larger problem of out-of-control government spending. Historians point out that some civilizations have collapsed after invasions from outside, while other civilizations have collapsed from within. We seem to be following the “from within” route. It’s depressing.
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That has been predicted a few times. I see that as a bigger problem socially the way people talk to and about each other but financial troubles exacerbate that.
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Beautiful image Steve! I especially like it because it reminds me of our old home where we took out a pool and put in a pond. It was my personal outdoor studio for water lilies, frogs, ducks, dragonflies, deer, and assorted other visitors. We even had a bear pass through once, which was totally unexpected for where we lived. Thanks for posting!!
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That pool sounds great, Reed. Thanks!
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I meant pond. 🙂
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What a wonderful capture and composition in the first image and such lovely light in the second.
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Thanks, Lemony!
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It is nice, isn’t it? I’m realizing how much better my life is without all the meetings and so on that went with gallery memberships. I’m thinking of making it permanent and just sell online. But I can understand your wanting to get back to what you do, too.
I nearly missed the lovely frog in the first photo! 🙂
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I am glad that you did see the frog, Melissa. I always felt that it was hiding and just waiting for a fly to land within tongue’s length. I look at it as an example of animals indeed being able to think about things and solve problems. Too many people don’t give them credit…”poor dumb animals”.
The only drawback for me will be the loss of steady income. I am not very good at promoting my photography and even if I was most photographers make their living with workshops, tutoring, etc. I have no skills for any of those.
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I haven’t, either although I came across a book on Amazon about teaching art that looks like it might be helpful. It might be relevant to you. I also read a book called “Art , Money, Success” that had useful tips that might be applicable to your work. I liked the book because they were simple, practical things a person can actually do rather than the pie-in-the-sky things authors usually put out there.
I completely agree that animals are intelligent. We joke in my family that the real boss is my Westie, who is clearly thinking things out 🙂
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Art, money, success sounds familiar. What is the other book?
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Teaching Artist Handbook, Volume One: Tools, Techniques, and Ideas to Help Any Artist Teach Paperback – February 4, 2015. This was supposed to be a link but it doesn’t look like it worked. I haven’t bought it so I don’t know how useful it would be. I’m thinking of having my library buy it. They hate it when I do that! 😀
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Thanks. Mary Beth does that too. She reads murder mysteries…she’s the most kind and gentle person but likes a good mystery…so only needs to read them once. 🙂
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Are you thinking of teaching? I flirt with the idea from time to time.
I share Mary Beth’s love of mysteries. Surprisingly I find them more reassuring than regular fiction. You know that most of the characters are basically decent, and that good will triumph. I seem to need that.
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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Did I get my point across? 🙂
Not only does she read them, but she often starts by reading the end and then seeing how the writer develops the story knowing how it all turns out. I cannot watch replays of sporting events when I know the final score. I couldn’t watch or read a mystery like that either. 🙂
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LOL yeah, I hear you! 🙂 I tried teaching both children and adults and HATED it. I suspect I could do better if I knew what I was doing. I used to pray they wouldn’t show up.
I do the same thing, some times. Ok, most of the time. Always with fiction, because I hate nasty surprises and in novels it seems authors enjoy doing that to you.
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Well, and of course the mystery itself is fun!
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Beautifullly done, Steve. I hope you get back to what you enjoy doing with work soon.
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Thanks, Pete. The love has gone out of my vocation but the need hasn’t. 🙂
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Well, being an independent contractor is great, until there aren’t any contracts, since there’s no unemployment for the self-employed. Has the freedom and flexibility been worth it? I think so, and I do have work to carry me into September or October, so that’s good. Otherwise, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll never be able to retire, and if circumstances dictate that I can’t work, things will get complicated, fast. In the meantime, I’ll be the frog in your photo — just hanging out, keeping a low profile, and hoping for an abundance of bugs!
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I may not be able to retire either. SS isn’t enough to replace my work income. For now they are both enough for us to live comfortably but no extravagances like going to restaurants etc. We can only do one vacation a year together and I was going to sneak a solo trip in but that’s virus-cancelled. I thought that one of the bills passed was supposed to help self-employed folks but I guess not. If you can’t work and are in dire straits we have a spare bed in the basement. 🙂
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