What happened? I got a phone call yesterday asking me if I want to teach unemployed people "what life is all about in the corporate world".

Now I do love teaching since knowledge is power.

On the other hand: I do love being retired, as I still have 1001 things to do.

And on top of that: since I am retired, I don’t live by the clock… Being on time??? I have all the time in the world… Well, not exactly but it feels good not to have a watch nor deadlines to follow.

So for the time being I decline. Maybe 1 day if I am bored or need some extra cash… or both!

Well, my kids aren’t nor some of my friends, so for them it’s the only time they have to pay a visit.

So I bought a nice espresso machine as soon as I was retired and I have the impression people are getting used to it

Anyway, it’s great to offer people a drink, especially when it is healthy and quite delicious. Especially Sunday at lunch with fresh goodies from the bakery: yummies!

Really: old things break down more easily than younger things…

Health is an issue when you get older and well, machines just break down…

My water-pump in the basement finally broke down after more than 40 years of service. The plumber said it couldn’t be repaired anymore (but that’s what they always say…). Anyway, I am in no mood to try and fix it myself as my garden needs water and I am not going to break my back trying so! Pumps are heavy, or at least my old pump is

So up and buy a new one, £400 well spend if this pump agrees on working another 40 years Saves my back also a lot of work because carrying water in buckets outside is quite not a good idea.

A big nuisance are the eyes: carrying around 2 pairs of glasses is quite troublesome.

Yet the main problem is arthritis: the "oil" between my joints is unfortunately not replaceable, unlike the oil in the engine of my car. Especially my little finger (which I broke ages ago) sounds as if there is sand inside…

Turns out I still have the perfect skills to read instructions and operate machines

The real thing is that drinking coffee and eating cakes (my wife loves making cakes) and waffles (my wife makes the dough, and I love to bake)… I am gaining weight without noticing it.

Well, my trousers were trying to tell me something, and now my scale confirmed: retirement can make me fat

According to my wife I have to stop thinking I am superman.

Well, it’s just a mild flu the doctor said and in the mean time I am testing out how my health insurance is treating me after retirement. It should be cheaper… which is quite illogical as the older you get, the more health issues could come up.

Anyway, just make sure we eat healthy food from the garden, eat our own organic eggs and next year I will set up my own roosters. They do sell organic meat at one of our butchers, so that’s already better than nothing. But we do have the space and the chickens, so roosters is the next logical step.

Birch juice looks like water, almost tastes like water (be it a bit sweeter) and after you drank it, you get the impression it wasn’t exactly water…

Like water: it’s good for your kidney’s, just that you don’t have to drink as much water as you drink birch juice to have the same effect.

Each tree gives about 1 bottle a day, and that’s more or less your daily intake of fluids.

If you do happen to have a birch forest, you could sell the birch juice to those health shops, reform shops and organic shops… Ok, seems my mind is still in the corporate world

Yet it’s still February so no fruit available but ideal time to prune the roses before they start growing again due to a way too mild winter.

Meanwhile we are helping out the wife from our late friend: since he always drove her around shopping and she doesn’t have a driving licence, her children, friends and neighbours are her new "taxi-drivers".

Luckily my wife is close to her, so she can just drop by and see if anything is needed. Nothing can really replace a loving husband it seems. Which makes you wonder: whoever is left behind is in for a really hard time

It’s better than nothing but of course it hardly can make up for her loss.

But it just makes life a bit more easy especially for her children who have been helping her tremendously the months before her hubby died in hospital.

Nice of Google to joke about retirement … But they know how to draw, that’s for sure.

I wish I was as good in baking as they are in drawing…

Very difficult to get my wife out of the house, but a free spa did the trick

So I had some time to do bake her favorite dessert: lemon-cake!

What I learned in the corporate world now came in handy: always have a backup plan! In this case I already ordered a special lemon cake at the bakery a few villages further, in case mine looked a bit… well, the picture says it all…

Time to feed the geese some cakes, close the door of the kitchen to keep the smell, go to the bakery now and see how experienced charms still work

Happy Valentines!

I intend not to give them names because maybe 1 day they need to end up in a pot… No need to say that’s cruel: if you ever watch how animals end up at the butchers… you most likely wont eat any meat anymore.

I have these 2 geese because well, I am a bit lazy in mowing the grass, and they do the work for me. In return they give my grass free fertilizer, so it’s a kind of win-win situation (apart from not having to step in their free fertilizers…).

Anyway, I do have a huge grassland especially for them, so the grandchildren
nor us need to be bothered by their fertilizing efforts.