Tuesday Time Off

Puzzled by my plan, a young neighbor asked me, “Why Tuesdays? Why not Fridays?”  Easy: I prefer Tuesday.  Slow to understand, my best senior friend needed details.  To make it a bit believable, I told him, “Tuesdays through July are my days off for personal business.”  ( It should go without saying, I’m thinking, “Tuesdays with Kay, my adorable wife.”  And Wordsworth’s “bliss of solitude”.)

Simply, time off one day a week for the rest of my life.  Within reason.  Crazy, or what?  Smiling, I like the break-away plan and incomplete sentences.  And what better season to start?  Need I say more?

So, “what do you do in the summertime?”

Mrs. Cannon, retired from teaching English at NHS

Welcome, summer!

Famously Forthright

Another word for it is “blunt”, defined by New Oxford American as “uncompromisingly forthright (of a person or remark)”.

My honest, true-to-himself, senior friend can sometimes offend sensitive people unfamiliar with his loving, generous nature.  Lacking some social skills and political correctness, he does not aim for brevity or diplomacy in conversation with friends, family, or strangers.  He often comes across as blunt.  However, he is naturally quick to help people and sacrifice himself in service to others.  

What can I say?

Finding Photos

Looking back, I found some!  And someday I may share a story for each photo.  I call it family history.  This is just a starting point.

the flying field west of our frontier home, Utah

Kay won bowling in Layton, Utah

faithfully doing English homework or planning
after packing for move (home sold 2017)

Cannon summer camp, East Canyon, Utah

fun in the far West for Father's Day

Cannon reunion (2020 Fourth canceled)

Kay waiting for a ride with Ned

Imagining Reunions

These are days of tender feelings for all of us in the Hinckley Family.  Yesterday morning, Kay’s older sister JoAnn passed away.  I vividly imagine joyful reunions on the other side ... full of love, familiar smiles, and hugs.  No social distancing required there!  I know those reunions are real — not just imagined.  It’s about family and Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness.  Having hope, I also imagine reunions here in the coming months.  We shall see.

I posted the morning of 6 October 2018, soon after our Kay passed: 
The little girl is gone ... to a heavenly place of peace and joyful reunion with loved ones.  Youngest of eight Hinckley children, Kay is still thought of as the "baby" of her family.  We shed tears of love for her, knowing how happy and exuberant she is now; ("filled with or characterized by a lively energy and excitement.")

One of Those Things

You are right, My Friend — it’s “one of those things”.  I notice one or two of those every day ... I suspect.

I hear that concluding phrase in phone-call reports from my good friend, who is like a brother to me.  Makes me wonder ... what are “those things”, anyway?  Can you name one?  And let me suggest a few:

Apple iCloud — mine seems full again after upgrading; sometimes slows iPhone Notes and pics.  A good thing is ... I may overcome my OC photography, a habit which has produced thousands — sufficient for my needs.  By the way, printing photos was one of those things my wife Kay & I did a long time ago, but not in recent years.  I have no scrapbooking skills or desire to be so creative.  However, our family and I treasure all that she simply did ... with love.  (Ambiguity — something that works here.)

Losing my Nikon, a tiny “spy camera” as Kay called it — one of those things people seldom use and commonly set aside.  It served me well in British archives for the Hilton Family genealogy and on fun Cannon trips as a companion to my better iPhone camera.

Staying home alone with nothing to do — something sad I don’t experience, as I have too much to do.

Writer’s block — someone said, “no such thing”.  Nevertheless, I feel good getting over it.

Reading great books and playing the piano — those things bring me joy.

“Grateful to be alive” — a better concluding phrase.

Senior Virtual Vacations

It’s a fascinating world out there!  So much to see and learn ... I don’t know where to start.  In the comfort of my cozy studio apartment, naturally.  And feel free to report my travels with incomplete sentences.  (At my age, I can get away with that.  Far and away.)

Our brilliant English teacher, Mrs. Kay Cannon, always wanted to visit England.  On my trip to UK as a hired personal assistant driving on the motorway (freeway), I passed up Shakespeare’s town, Stratford-upon-Avon.  So, I could go back and start there.  Kay would be pleased.

With unlimited choices at no cost, where would you go if you were a senior looking for adventure and education on a virtual vacation this summer?