As most of us settle into whatever retirement housing configurations we prefer, it is hard to deny that we all want to have nearby friends to commune with on a daily basis. These are not replacement friends for the people we have known and loved for years and with whom we seek to gather regularly as circumstances allow, but rather a new set of friends that share our usually mundane and common interests like gardening and local events. We are all eventually forced to make decisions about where we want to live and the binding criteria are usually less about where we need to go to find work and more about things like weather, proximity to family, closeness to or distance from urban centers and things like airports and more or less land to tend to and surrounding ourselves by. As I’ve observed many times, views seem to be an important criteria to many in retirement, presumably because of what they represent to our ongoing quest for perspective and horizon scanning. I’m sure some people specifically choose to live where they know they have like-minded friends nearby. Many of us base our decision on the more pedestrian issues of cost and house style (one-level living being a major knee-saving preference) and perhaps something about the pleasantness of the surrounding neighborhood. We then figure that we will find the local friends we seek through some various forms of community organizations or something as simple as dog walking and stopping to chat with neighbors who are out and about.
Our vehicle for finding our crowd on this hilltop has been a combination of those approaches, but it more or less centers around the Hidden Meadows Garden Club, for which Kim serves as the co-President. That’s funny because Kim is not a gardener and I am not into community organizations and yet, this has worked really well for us and its become a big part of who we are in retirement. Our core group is comprised of Mike & Melisa and Faraj & Yasuko, the couples with whom we are going on the South American cruise. Five of the six of us are in the garden Club (Mike chooses to abstain even though he does a lot of gardening). We have recently added Pat & Joe who don’t live on this hilltop, but on a nearby one in Hidden Meadows. They are both active gardeners and hail from Chicago originally (though Joe is a Brit with a decidedly London accent). So our gang consists of two native Californians (both of whom have also lived the desert life in Arizona and Texas), a Pershian, one native Japanese, one first-generation Japanese-American and one Brit in addition to one Indiana girl who transplanted to LA and NYC and one global citizen who can’t decide who or what he is.
In advance of our departure for Santiago next week, we are all busy shoring up our homesteads in this way and that. Mike & Melisa are leaving out of San Diego on Wednesday and meeting up with Faraj & Yasuko in Houston (they are flying out of L.A. so that they can pay a last visit to their new grandchild in Santa Clarita). From there they will fly to Santiago a day early and stay in a city hotel while Kim and I fly into Santiago via NYC and head straight to Valparaiso. Meanwhile Pat & Joe, who not on our international travel program…yet, are heading down to Cabo for a few days of R&R. Faraj & Yasuko have initiated a dinner gathering at their house this week where we will all enjoy some South American food that Faraj has studied up on and decided to cook for us. Kim is busy looking for Argentine recipes for her dessert contribution. This will be our usual small neighborhood pot luck dinner during which we will all talk about our upcoming trip and help to build our level of anticipation and excitement, not that it seems to need much building for most of us.
This morning I awoke with another thought. You see, I really don’t have too much that absolutely needs doing around the place, having spent much of the last six weeks doing those chores that I had assigned myself for the Spring garden shape up. But one added thing seems to want to be done. Along the northern side of my patio, where there is a stone wall that housed large jade plants, those jade plants seem to have suffered during last year’s drought and with Faraj’s help, I thinned them way back and cleaned out the stone bed of that wall behind the barbecue area. I’ve given them a few weeks to recover and its not clear they are heading in a good way. Therefore, I’ve decided (with input from Faraj, Melisa and even Andre my irrigation guy) to remove the remaining Jade plants and replace them with some colorful pots that I will plant with other interesting succulents. This will create a nice and fresh area of interest in a spot that was getting blanded by sad and overgrown jade plants (something that I have no shortage of in my garden). Whenever I have a single pot to buy, I get it at one of the local nurseries and thereby always over pay for it. Whenever I need several pots, I have learned that a trip down to Planters Paradise in El Cajon (the working side of San Diego) is worthwhile. Their selection and prices are far superior than anywhere else. In fact, it is the pot-buying venue of choice for our whole gang of local Garden Club pals.
So, this morning at 7am (retired folks are always up early) I called around to determine interest and scheduling for a Planters Paradise pot run. Faraj was immediately interested. Melisa wanted in on this. Pat and Joe had a need, but were over-scheduled this week and had to wave off, as much as they wanted to join. It’s unclear yet whether it will be best to go tomorrow or Thursday, but an excursion is imminent in one or two trucks depending on the anticipated haulage. I will now spend my day today clearing out the remaining jade plants and preparing the rock bed for the new pots. That will also give me the ability to plot out exactly what sort, color, size and shape of pot I will want to buy at Planters Paradise. It’s a big place with lots and lots of pot options. I find its a far better approach to come prepared knowing what you want (within broad ranges) than to wander the aisles wondering how this or that strikes your fancy. There are just too many directions your imagination can take you in at Planters Paradise, especially with others on the same mission. Better to be surgical in your approach and then figure out all your issues once you get home and go through your would-coulda-shoulda list as we all tend to.
I’m glad the spirit moved me this morning and that my gardening friends all have the same inclination. It gives me something to do to fill this week productively while we all hop around on one foot or the other waiting for our cruise to depart. I feel fortunate to live on such a pleasant hilltop where gardening is a common interest and there are like-minded friends with whom to share the afflictions of aging gracefully. This is all yet again another example of the pot luck of life.