retirement

Watercolor Class Week 4: 10-minute painting

~ MaryG ~ 16 Comments

Today was a landscape demo and then we had to paint one of two photos in 10 minutes. I think the idea was to see what choices people make with little time to think.

I was the only person in the class who chose the stock photo of a sun with visible rays bursting through a dark forest. I thought…what the heck? I’ll give it a shot. (Everyone else chose a more natural image of a forest that the teacher had taken herself.)

This wasn’t the exact stock photo, but you get the idea:

Image from Pexels

The result isn’t great, but I learned about a few techniques in the process.

Some of the ladies bugged me today. The ones that already knew each other before the class started tend to chat constantly, even when the teacher is talking. Two of them speak so loudly to each other that everyone can hear their entire conversation. They lack self-awareness.

How empty-nesters repurpose space

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

We now have three unused bedrooms upstairs, but we’re using our one and only dining room as a combo art studio, home office, and marijuana dispensary.

Because…stairs

I’m definitely seeing the benefits of living on one floor.

When your kids are home, it’s nice to have separate floors for various activities. Young kids can be sent “up to bed” and you can still watch your shows on whatever volume you want. Older kids and teens can go to the basement to roughhouse or just hang out adult-free. And everyone can have privacy and space when needed.

When it’s just the two of you, it’s different. Do I really want my other glasses enough to climb the stairs to get them? If I need a pain reliever in the middle of the night and the only bottle is in the kitchen, how bad is the pain really? Bad enough to go downstairs in a cold, dark house? Maybe I’d rather just try to sleep with the pain. A bee’s nest recently grew to massive proportions in our basement because nobody was down there to see them coming in. And how exactly are we going to deal, if my husband’s arthritis requires joint replacement?

Sometimes I decide to go upstairs to get something, get distracted by laundry sorting or some other upstairs activity, and return without what I went up there for. I’ve found that if I say my plan aloud (“I’m going to get a sweater”), there’s a better chance I’ll complete the mission. And if I forget, there’s a chance my husband heard me say it and can remind me.

So, convenience. That’s how empty-nesters repurpose space.

Watercolor Class Week 3: Portraits

~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

Our teacher likes to paint portraits, so we painted portraits today.

She first gave a lesson on creating skin tones. The basic recipe is this: a lot of cad yellow, a little cad red, a spot of cobalt (or ultramarine) and varying amounts of water.

Sometimes a bit of crimson for very pale/pinkish people or a bit of purple for darker people.

She strongly urged us not to try to paint anyone we know and love on our first attempt, so I pulled this Spanish chef out of magazine.

My husband thinks he looks a bit like Dominic West.

Some of the ladies flat out refused to try painting a portrait. They like landscapes. So that’s what they will paint, because retired ladies do what they want! I fully support this.

The teacher also introduced us to a truly amazing watercolor portrait artist named Ali Cavanaugh. Holy shit, this woman is talented.

The YouTube Teachers

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

Because my in-person watercolors teacher is self-taught and rather informal, I feel like I need a bit more formal explanation about how to use these famously tricky paints.

In typical 2025 style, I asked ChatGPT for the “best watercolor tutorials on YouTube” which sent me down a rabbit hole. So many teachers! I ended up liking Allison Lyon—a very talented young woman with a gentle, soothing baby voice. I’ve already watched 5 or 6 of her videos and learned some stuff (i.e. wet on wet vs. wet on dry).

Practice 3x5s from Alison’s tutorials

I’m not usually a fan of women who speak in baby voices, but given our stressful times, I may amend this view. Just listening to her talk will de-stress you.

She’s on Instagram as well: @allisonlyonart

Watercolor Class Week 2

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments
Dried hydrangeas in a glass jar with some lavender sprigs

Teacher provided the still life and then did a bit of a technique demo.

I’m realizing that some of the women in this class already know each other. I think they sign-up together every term.

GenX: the last couponers?

~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

I remember my mother giving me a blue Velcro coupon organizer in my twenties (a little portable folder with dividers for keeping various types of paper coupons—food, toileteries, etc.) She would also cut out and give me coupons for various things she thought I used. It was very thoughtful.

I don’t know what happened to that organizer. At one point, I remember thinking coupons were such a hassle. Half the time, my coupons had expired by the time I got around to pulling one out. All that effort and kerfuffling at the register just to save 50 cents.

I think I had abandoned paper coupons by the time I had my own family at age 30. And I’m pretty sure my millennial/GenZ kids have never once cut out a paper coupon.

Now of course, we have endless customer loyalty programs and accompanying rewards points, electronic coupons, discount codes, promo codes, etc.

I honestly don’t know if my kids have the time and motivation to take advantage of those types of savings programs.

But I do! I will sit in my car and hit the plus sign next to every single savings offer before I go into a CVS, just in case I buy something that applies.

Beware the senior citizen with time on her hands!

According to CVS, I have saved over $3,500 since joining their free “ExtraCare” program in 2016.

The satisfaction of seeing the total bill tick down after hitting “redeem all coupons” at the soulless self-checkout reminds me of the feeling of getting a 100% on your weekly spelling quiz. There’s really no intelligence involved. It’s all preparation, and you were prepared.

Watercolor Class Week 1: Just Paint

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

Started one of my art classes today and was wildly impressed with the community arts center where it’s being offered. I’ve lived within half an hour of this place for years and I had no idea how nice it is. Galleries, theaters, studios…kilns! It really has a lot going on.

Anyway, our teacher’s approach was to basically just dive right in. I haven’t used watercolor paints since elementary school, so that was a bit unnerving. I hadn’t even unwrapped my paints yet. Shouldn’t she teach us some sort of technique first? I guess she wanted to see where everyone is at. There are 12 of us in the class (all women) and some are total beginners, but others are quite experienced.

She pulled out a bin of objects and I got two plastic pears.

Day 1 painting. Let’s see if I improve over the next 8 weeks.

Our teacher has a degree (or two) in visual art and is a wonderful ceramicist, but said she’s “self-taught” in watercolor painting. She said she learned by trial and error and feels that’s the best way to learn. It seems like she’s one of these “there are no wrong answers” type of people.

I tend to like a bit more formality, so we’ll see how this goes…

My classmates seem nice.

Fawn in Snow

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

After being a finalist (and not getting) two different paid positions earlier this year, I’m feeling more and more like I actually am retired. My 30+ year career as a fundraiser feels over. It’s not that I couldn’t get some job in the field if I really wanted or needed one, but there just aren’t very many listings that excite me. And I don’t want to work a full-time job that I’m not excited about at this point in my life. I’m going to keep my LinkedIn profile open to recruiters, just in case someone reaches out with the perfect thing, but I’m not holding my breath.

[Side note: I know I’m lucky to have the option to not work at this age. All of my friends my own age are still working. My husband is still working part-time. All I can say is, we have been pretty diligent savers for most of our marriage and we got hooked up with a professional financial advisor early on. Left to our own devices, I’m not sure we’d be in this position. Honestly, my eyes just glaze over when this guy meets with us, but I do trust him. We’ve been with him for 30 years now.]

So, the question becomes: what to do? My daughter doesn’t need much help with my granddaughter and my outdoor summer pool closes Labor Day. I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands soon. I discovered last year that serving on my church’s governing board is not my thing. And my prior level of political activism (when I still thought we could stop Trump) feels futile now.

It seems like I should take advantage of this time and my health to start something new. After considering a number of options (from learning French to getting in way better shape), I’ve landed on something old. Something I used to love as a teenager. Art. I’ve enrolled in one drawing and one painting class for the fall. We’ll see where it goes, but I am excited.

Fawn in Snow, 1980, pastels, 56”x36”

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Drawing

America the Beautiful

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

I just turned my house upside down looking for our “America the Beautiful” National Parks Annual Senior Pass that we bought last year to go to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. It lets people 62+ get a whole car full of people into any national park for free. (It only costs $20, if you buy it in person.)

Good news! I found our pass in my husband’s wallet, even though he checked there himself. (Senior citizens cannot be trusted in these matters!) And even better, it’s good through September 30. So, I can book a post-Labor Day trip to one of our great national parks. I basically have to, right? I can’t let that Senior Pass go to waste!

I thought about Yosemite, because it’s such a wildly popular national park, especially for international travelers, but that’s a big commitment for people from the East Coast.

So, the national park I’ve most wanted to return to for many years (I haven’t been there since 1976) and that my husband has never been to is….

Drumroll

ACADIA

In the great state of Maine.

I’m going through my Bucket List so fast you guys. I’ll be good to kick it by the time I’m 65. 😉

Rejection

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments

I left my full-time career in late 2023 with the thought of potentially retiring early (at age 58.5) and devoting more time to working on the 2024 election and other volunteer work. We were all done paying for our kids’ college educations, our investments were looking good, and Trump was safely out of the White House with many pending criminal indictments.

My how things can change in 18 months.

On the very bright side, I became a grandmother. Nothing is better than that.

BUT, everything else is looking very scary and one way to try to protect myself and my family would be to start earning money again. I mean who knows what the hell is coming next with this Mad King in the Oval Office—World War III, a deep recession or depression, another pandemic, civil war—any damn thing can happen with him in charge. Money won’t stop the fall of democracy in the United States, but maybe it could help protect my own family. And maybe that’s all any of us can really do.

Anyhow, I opened up my LinkedIn profile to recruiters and immediately got several interviews. One job looked perfect for me and I made it to the final round of interviews. I absolutely loved the organization. I was sure they were going to offer it to me.

Whelp, I found out yesterday that they decided to “move forward with a different finalist.”

OUCH! How dare they?? I was perfect for the job and I really wanted it!

So much for a great job just dropping into my lap. Am I really up for a protracted, arduous job search? I don’t know. I may be too old for this shit.

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