There are times when I think I will never write another blog. I’ve nothing to say, I think. Then along come half a dozen ideas at once. Take this one for instance (not the blog I had intended to publish) it’s about my jazz workshop and I hadn’t expected to write another blog about this aspect…
Yoga 3 : Biralasana – the cat pose
The third in the on-going series written by Mrs Summerhouse designed to keep your body in good shape in your third age. It doesn’t need saying but I will, maintaining a healthy balance between mind and body is essential to a happy third age. This yoga posture helps to stretch the spine in a slow…
The fourth dimension of retirement
I wrote a blog a while ago now about the key, or one key at least, to success in retirement. This was / is to design a new identity for yourself to replace the one you gave up when you retired. In my case I decided I would start describing myself as a writer and a…
Ghost story 9 : All Part of the Service
I love ghost stories, (although sadly Mrs Summerhouse does not), as books (Stephen King et al), stories (M.R. James, Charles Dickens), TV programmes (The Signalman, The Monkeys Paw), plays (The Ghost Train, Woman in Black, Ghost Stories) or films, serious and humorous ones, (The Sixth Sense, The Others, The Orphanage, The Exorcist, The Fog (just), The Cat and…
Life in Shanghai
If you have been paying attention you will know that this blog is about retirement, broadly speaking. I have taken the opportunity, wherever possible, or, more accurately where I could persuade them, to record other people’s ‘retirement’ experiences. I did this with two friends who spent six months working in China. I called this ‘2…
Chapter 5 : June is bursting out all over
This is the penultimate chapter of our New Zealand experiences. We’re heading towards what we thought was halfway through our year. It turned out that it wasn’t but we didn’t know this at the time. By this time we were beginning to settle into our ‘new’ life style, beginning to enjoy some of it and…
Do I worry more now I’m retired?
When my family and I lived in New Zealand 17 years ago there was an acclaimed film about a dysfunctional Maori family called Once There Were Warriors. An excellent movie, although very hard going, it had, as a subtext, the loss of mana experienced by Maori as they put aside their warrior status. Perhaps a…
Vineyard 17 : August and a lot happening
I have to begin with another apology. I said the vines were in their second year, they are not they are in their third year, yes they’re just over two years old but this is definitely their third year. Sorry to have misled you. Who cares? Well I do. More signs of encroaching daftness, no,…
The things you do in retirement
One of the areas of my retirement life I haven’t told you much about has been what I affectionately call my old gits group (the kind I said I’d never join, but that was then and this is now). I have described the grave robbers talk but that’s about it and I’m not going to…
Yoga 2 : Meditation and Relaxation in retirement
The second in the on-going series of yoga and related activities for retired people written by Mrs Summerhouse who is, you will remember, a trained and experienced yoga teacher. I asked her this time to write an article about relaxation / meditation techniques. I don’t know about you but sometimes I need it. As Mrs…