Please, come in, and share a cup of coffee or tea with me! I have breakfast roast and several different types of teas including apricot. So glad that you’ve come to visit and have a cup of coffee this morning. If I were having coffee with you today, I’d want to start to get to know everyone I don’t already know since I’m new – or really ”old/new.” I blogged here from 2016 until I started writing full-time. I’ve been gone a couple of years, but now I’m back because I’ve retired. I’ve missed blogging here and all of you.
You know, retiring when you’ve worked all your life is a huge adjustment. I wish I could still work at least part-time, but all good things must come to an end and I guess I’ve entered another phase of my life. I’m trying to adjust. Have you experienced retirement yet?
I’m trying to define my day, set up a ”sort of” schedule, so I won’t feel so lost. One thing I’ve done this spring is gardening and I’d like to share some of it with you. I can’t grow vegetables where I live unfortunately. Living in the forest means gardening challenges and you are stuck with shade gardens. I have a small patch of ground in my backyard where I can grow a few plants that need more son. My gardening zone is 6b in the U.S. We have four distinct seasons and a temperate climate. Here are some of the plants in my backyard garden that bloom in early June:
Here are my beautiful rose begonias. My grandmother grew them and I find them to be so beautiful.
Here is my little rose bush and it’s beautiful right now. That’s mint growing at its base.
Here is my purple clematis. It had been here for 22 years, but last winter killed it to the ground. It is just getting started again, but I hope it once again will be lush and beautiful. Do you see the green bulb in the coach light? Our state’s governor asked that we all burn a green light until the pandemic is over. I wonder if I’ll ever get to replace it?
Now for my shade garden which is in front of the house:
The hostas are large and lush this spring!
I grow many types of ferns:
This is just one of my ferns.
I’d love to see pictures of your garden! These are just snapshots I’ve made of a little bit of the garden in spring 2022. Gardening is one of my hobbies now that I’ve retired.
It’s been great to have you here for #weekendcoffeeshare! I look forward to reading your posts.
Copyright @Rosemary Carlson
The Write Scribe 
I enjoyed seeing snapshots from your lovely garden plots!
The purple clematis is my fav of the post today – unused to have a similar purple one (and had a white one) but lost them – and this year I just started a new purple clematis – it is less than four inches right now.
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I hope your clematis rebounds fully 😉
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The gardens look great! I have a bit of a brown thumb, so don’t attempt gardens any more.
I haven’t experienced retirement yet, but right now I am look at the end of 2023 to retire.
Hope your weekend is going well and that you have a wonderful week ahead!
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I love seeing pictured of other people’s gardens. We can grow many of the same plants but our begonias are much smaller. They are usually indoors in the winter.
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Your garden looks lovely. I enjoy visiting gardens and checking out the flowers and plants. Thank you for your contribution to #weekendcoffeeshare.
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What a lovely garden! So lush and green. I share pictures of my Tucson, Arizona garden periodically on my blog. It’s fun to take pictures every week or two and watch how the garden changes over time. Thanks for sharing a bit of yours with us.
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I love the photos from our garden. I love the rose begonias. Like you we have our garden challenges. Our garden is very very hot for most of the year with very little shade.
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Hi Rosemary,
I too love the shots of your gardens. Someday I may take gardening more seriously. I’m currently happy with larger bushes and trees. Our “garden” is a more convulsed saga thanks to water and gopher challenges.
Today, we have rain which is going to give everything a good drink so the yard will look better for a few more weeks as we move (by the end of this week) into much higher temps and drier days.
You say that you wish you could do some writing part time. Is there a reason why you can’t?
Is there a reason you can’t just write and share your work via your blog?
You likely have a good audience who would enjoy your shorter efforts that would allow you to stay in the game so to speak.
As for reading – just recall that you’re always welcome at my story blog. I’d love to hear any feedback from you as to how I could be a better writer and if I managed to entertain you – that would be such an honor.
Anyway, I’m really glad you’re back for these weekend meetings.
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Thanks, Gary! I can, of course, write shorter pieces of fiction and non-fiction on this blog and plan to do just that. When I say I’d like to write part-time, I’m talking about for the company I worked for before I retired or another big firm. My “real” field is finance and I write pretty technical investing and corporate finance stuff for a living. Not really stuff anyone would enjoy here, I don’t think. I meant that I’d like to work part-time, but in my field, it doesn’t work that way. I can sell an occasional freelance article, but most big finance operations aren’t interested unless you are ready to dive in full-time. I was working 60 hrs a week for a big company before I retired. Loved them, but they were working me to death. It was time to retire anyway. As soon as I finish up making some comments this weekend, I”ll go to your story blog. If I have tips, I”ll share them but you’re a pretty good writer as it is! I’m more experienced in non-fiction than fiction. Thanks for your comments and the welcome back.
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Ah – got it. I too write some for my job, but I’ve not done 60 hr. weeks in several years. My work writing has been about software security issues.
If you do get the chance to play around with my hobby writings, you might find my “NEW” page as a way to find stuff quickly. Here’s the link: https://garyawilsonstories.wordpress.com/quick-links-to-newest-stuff/
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First of all, I would like to congratulate for second innings of your life .
I am also retired from Banking 4 yrs ago. and also have daily routine like yours.
I like your Blog and your beautiful garden too.
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Wonderful to get a comment from you! It was only 5 minutes ago that I started following your blog. But I couldn’t find the “like” button? Can you direct me? Thank you!
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My field was also finance, so we have similar backgrounds. Thanks for your comment.
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I have not experienced retirement that’s many years away from me. I think I’ll still be working but maybe on a part-time basis. Maybe I’ll return to waitressing or being a hostess to occupy my time.
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Your flowers and yard are beautiful!!! I’m catching up with last weeks posts before I visit this weeks, and of course I still have to write my post for this week…lol.
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