Feb 4 - March 10 - Life as a retiree, during Covid-19, in New England during the winter.

   We had a lot of February and March birthdays, most of which were celebrated with Zoom calls.  I really appreciate Zoom, but prefer to be in person.  

  Feb 5th = Quinn's birthday, 7 yrs old

  Feb 9th = Tamara's birthday, 37 yrs old

  Feb 18th = Owen's birthday, 4 yrs old

  March 8th = Lily's birthday, 12 yrs old

  March 9th = Evie's birthday, 74 yr old !

  March 10th = Aimee's birthday, surely she's still 30 yr old.

Visited Tamara and girls for a neighborhood walk on March 3rd, when the weather was sunny and sort of warm (in the low 40's).  I have finished two jig saw puzzles.  One was of the neighborhood where Peter grew up.  That was actually easier to do, since you could just look at the picture and find the street names, to see where the puzzle piece went.  

I have charted our next RV trip out to the Utah National Parks next fall.  We would leave early August, and get to Colorado to visit Shanti & Gabe's families for Labor Day week in early September.  Robbie and Ann are going to join us for that week.  Then we head out to Utah, and back through northern Arizona, through Texas to visit Peter's son, and back home by the beginning of November.  Should be a great 3 month trip.  I have even reserved all of the campgrounds that I can.  Some have a restriction on how early you can reserve, so I have a spreadsheet showing the dates I need to make the reservations.

I have started preparing tax returns for Peter, myself and the kids.  I also have Orion's final tax return and his Estate return to prepare.  I think I have 11 returns to prepare.  How did I ever do this for a living?

For my birthday, Peter got me a carved, wooden cardinal, that I put out on my deck railing.  Since after Mar 1st, I had to take down my birdfeeder, due to the bear that lives in the neighborhood, this looks really neat on the railing.  And, it looks almost like the real ones.   My birthday Zoom call had all my kids, siblings and cousins on it.  Wonderful way to connect.  And, Joe and Liz stopped by with a birthday cake!  They lit a candle, sang happy birthday to me, we chatted outside on the stoop, and they went home.  What a delightful Covid surprise!  All the birthday phone calls and emails just warmed my heart.  

Birthday photos:

Evie's birthday Zoom call pic:

Wooden cardinal and real cardinal photos:

Finished jig saw puzzles photos:

Next fall Trip to Utah and back - route and campgrounds photo: