I just realized the other day that it has been six months since I retired from HP. Six months! My, how the time has flown. Of course, quite a few friends reached this same milestone on the very same day. To them I say "Cheers, may you live your life to the fullest."

And I am sure that most of you are. One friend is moving to Costa Rica — both to live and for a business/investment opportunity. Another friend is moving to Indonesia to teach English as a second language. One friend more recently retired from Agilent and has moved to Pine, Arizona to live a more quiet life away from the hustle and bustle of Phoenix. Still another is "thinking" about another job but meanwhile she is taking classes in Photoshop and Dreamweaver — yet still finding time to fix up the homestead. And I suspect there are others who are still trying to "find" out what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

One of the amazing things to me is that I am so incredibly busy — I seem to have less free time than when I was working. I honestly do not know how I got everything done when I was employed. My dad told me that he experienced the same phenomenon when he retired.

Of course, exercise takes a good chunk of time — working out four days a week, hiking one day a week, driving range once a week and golf once a week. Recently, a lot of my time has been devoted to helping Mizuki with her eBay business. As I mentioned to many of you earlier, the plan was for me to help with photography and web page design. Well, it took a while for me to learn the photographic style that she favors but I'm finally getting the hang of it. The photo at the left is a sample of my handiwork.

At the same time, I've been redesigning her eBay web page layout, looking for a clean, professional appearance. It has given me a chance to learn Adobe GoLive which is an application for creating and maintaining websites — plus CSS which is a formatting methodology commonly used by web designers these days. If you would like to see a sample of the results click here which will display all her current auctions then just click on one of them to see the new layout.

Now I am beginning to think about my photography (not for Mizuki's eBay business but for me) and am seriously considering taking a couple of classes in Santa Fe, NM to improve my printmaking skills and to work on my creativity. It could be great fun!

When I went hiking today, I was thinking about the passage of time. My uncle died this week. Most of you did not know him but he was such a wonderful, friendly, helpful person. And he was a hero, having served in WWII in Italy. Wounded twice and awarded a Silver Star (in addition to the two Purple Hearts).
Then my thoughts turned to another friend whose mother passed away a few weeks ago from ovarian cancer — the same disease that took Kona. Shared, painful memories for both of us.

Another memory popped into my head — this one a bit happier — it was five years ago that a good friend from California was wed on Maui. Of course, I had to be there to make sure the marriage got off on the right start (how could you go wrong getting married on Maui?). And now he and his lovely bride are bringing new life into the world — twins, in fact!

The circle of life — not only was it swirling around in my brain, it was all around me. The saguaro cactus — even more blossoms than my last report. Palo Verde trees — blooming with their showy yellow and orange blossoms. Ironwood trees — their purple and white flowers just beginning to show — creating wispy clouds of color across the desert floor. A bird's nest in a creosote bush — the young had flown away.

You cannot make time stand still nor speed up — it goes at its own pace. But you can make the most of it. Live your life to the fullest and be sure to cherish your every moment with loved ones. Hiking in the desert will remind you of that.