Happy New Year!!

Here it is four days into 2011 already and I am  just getting around to blogging once more – or maybe more than once. We’ve had a quiet New Year so far. The other retirees here are up into their 80’s, or more, so we just watched the “ball drop” in our own apartment.

We had a great Christmas. Our grandsons – ages nine and eleven – came on Christmas day and we took them out for sandwiches that evening. (Have you ever tried to find fast food on Christmas night.) We started out looking for a Taco Bell and ended up at Jack in the Box. The boys ate  like it was their last meal.

They stayed over and went to church with us,  then we all ate brunch and we taught them to play pool. They thought it was funny that they came to the “old folks’ home” and Gran’ma and Poppa taught them.

We have just been lying low since New Year and are now contemplating taking down the Christmas decorations – one day soon, I suppose – so it will look like our apartment again and the housekeeper will be able to get around inside and do her job.

As you can see, we are really enjoying the retired life. I haven’t had any editing jobs – yet – but have done some more writing. They are “published” online at www.BookRix.com/-tilden.editing. Come on over and read my books and some of my peers, as well. Make some comments and I will try to answer them all.

Writing Again

I have finally begun writing seriously again. I have picked up an unfinished prose work which was formerly untitled and is now published under the title, Comings and Goings; the chapel in the woods. You can read this on BookRix.com under my name. I have a number of other books there as well, including my first foray into children’s books, The Adventures of Chris Mouse, under a new nom de plum, Uncle Wayne. Please read and comment on these and any others posted there.

Some of the books I’ve posted on BookRix are older works, usually “re-worked” for publication. I have included the  and some Advent candle lighting devotionals.

I am still looking for editing and proofreading opportunities – not counting those of my own and those of my peers. I would really like to make, at least, a little money at it. Although I do enjoy doing it!

These posts seem to be few and far-between these days, but having retired, and having expectations of having more time, turned out to be more of the same and much less interesting than I had anticipated. But I do enjoy not having to get up at 5:30 every morning unless for some reason I choose to do so.

Keep your responses  coming and I will try to stay on top of those, too.

See My New Link

I meant to post this before the following one. I want to make sure you see my new link under Tilden Editing Services and Most Visited. The link is BookRix; read free books online. I have written and “published” four “books” here; two complete, two still not finished. Please read them, rate them, and make your comments.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

While you’re there consider  joining those of us who are members of the group.

A Christmas Message for 2010

This is our 2010 Christmas newsletter as written by my wife.

Christmas 2010

We have had a year of changes. It was quiet until July.  Then Wayne had a big birthday, retired, and we moved – all in a day or two.

 We decided it was too much for us to take care of the house and yard, so we moved to a retirement community in Roseville, California; a few miles east of Sacramento.

Wayne retired July 16^th; we moved on the 17^th, so the 18^th — his birthday — was our first full day here.

 We really like it here. We don’t have to worry about yard work, which makes Wayne happy. We have a housekeeper who comes once a week to clean the apartment and change the sheets on the bed.

 This was weird for me (MaryJane), at first, since it was what I had done professionally for years. Her name is Margaret, which is my sister’s name. I don’t even have to cook, either.

 We have found a church and they have a very active men’s group.  I’m (MaryJane) still looking for a place for me. I have some ideas to find a women’s group. There is a new church not far away that should be what I’m looking for.  I will go to a women’s Bible study there.

 We miss you, Gateway!

 We are just learning to get away and go for rides now again.  We are content to sit at home together all the time and forget to get out into “the world”.  There are lots of things to see around here; it is very beautiful.  We have never even come through this way except to get “somewhere else”.

 The leaves on the trees are beautiful right now.  We get colors. And word has it snow will be very close in the next few days. 

Real Seasons!  WOW! 

We have made many new friends in this community, but we certainly miss you all.  It seems like we are so far away from all of you.

 Please know that you are all loved and that we think of you often.

 We wish you all a most Blessed Christmas
And a Prosperous New Year

 Love,
Wayne & MaryJane
MaryJane & Wayne
Tilden

I am Doing More Writing

Yes, it’s true. Lately I’ve been doing more writing than previously. I have found two new outlets in the past few months. One, HubPages, I have been posting to for a number of months. Then, recently, I found a new site, BookRix; read free books online. This has given me an opportunity to post longer items – books and plays – which have never been accepted for publication, unfinished works, and even previously published books. I invite and encourage you to come to either one and read what I’ve written.

However, that does not mean I’ve given up on the editing and proofreading. In fact, I am seeing that the more I “practice” my writing the more I am beginning to notice errors and poor formatting. My writing is honing my proofreading and editing skills. After many years, that is a good thing. Continue to keep me and my services in mind for your editing needs; and don’t forget to recommend me to your friends in the writing business.

Personally, now, we are – or maybe aren’t – planning a trip the end of this month to visit family and friends for the “post-Thanksgiving” holidays. My sister and my brother are both in San Bernardino County (California) and we haven’t seen either of them in over 4 years, so the trip is Definitely due!

Retirement is both too much and too little the way I’d hoped and imagined. We can come and go as we’d like, but we don’t. We can go and join community activities, but we often forget when they are, or we just “sleep” right through them. We don’t have to cook or clean house, but sometimes the food isn’t something we would normally choose, and we always have to straighten up before the housekeeper comes on Thursdays.

If we had a little more income we could do a little more. If we didn’t have three separate checks coming in at two different times of the month we’d be more successful at getting all our bills paid correctly. (For 21 years we had two check coming in within days of each other. It was always easy to set up and pay everything at the beginning of the month.)

So … now everything is different. Sometimes we even regret having moved OR retired. And, of course, sometimes we can’t imagine trying to get by if we hadn’t. I guess the most important thing is to keep our priorities straight.

Well, thanks for hearing me out. I always appreciate your comments and your encouragement(s). I’ll be looking for them!

~ Wayne ~