Fall in Florida Update – Reminisce

~ patwdoyle11

For this update, I focused on the positive.  Reminiscing about fun/good experiences is an element of putting Positive Psychology into practice. (see post link here) As part of the Investing in Experiences practice, when planning activities, it’s about the pleasurable Anticipation, being Attentive in the present, and Reminiscing about positive past.  Beyond boosting my positivity, I found this reminiscing also helps alleviate Compare and Despair when I see other’s summaries of what they’ve been up to. 

It’s a great time to do an update as we end our Fall in Florida time and head north for the rest of the season.  I’m hoping to still catch some fall tree color and enjoy the cool, sweater weather with some hiking.

Focusing on the positive, here’s what I DID do for Fall in Florida: multiple beach walks – both with friends & alone to look for shells, beach yoga multiple times, St Pete Pier visit (and a yummy gelato), bike ride and lunch out (outdoor dining), explored a new fish market, played Frisbee catch with Taylor (our dog), watched multiple sunrises, cooked new recipes, did daily crosswords puzzles, had Zoom Foodie dinners, did Zoom Zumba, Zoom/Face Time connects with friends & family, IRL connects with friends, on-line yoga, on-line psyche courses, baked cookies, created photo books, reading novels (15 so far this fall), got 3 big projects completed (OK, paid for someone to do them), did regular yard cleanup and fall pruning, ate dinner outside, created a new vision board, attended book club gatherings (outside), made chili, had afternoon cocktails, watched movies on TV, and enjoyed patio view – all times of the day, picture taking – mostly of sunrises!

So was I active, connected, creative, and contemplative (living my retirement lifestyle vision)? Yes!  Is there a lot to be happy about?  Yes!

Still to do this fall: start the cross-stitch, caramel apples & apple cider, get a massage, and watch a football game (on TV).

Just to balance things out – there were some things on my lists that didn’t happen.  My big misses were SUP/Kayak (why not?), hubby dates (ex. long bike ride), daily walks, jigsaw puzzle (I’ve mentioned this before… maybe I need to give it up!), and cook squash.  Also, what I did too much:  I-Pad game playing, coronavirus reading, and looking at (upsetting) news on-line.

As we head north and with more fall ahead, I’ve added new things to list – fall soups and stews, brine a small turkey for Thanksgiving, tarot card reading, fall/winter clothes donation, go for a hike, and explore moving companies.

Despite the coronavirus isolation, looking back at it so far, my fall has been active, connected, creative and contemplative… and fun! What is the most fun thing you’ve done so far this fall?

Picture Credit: me – last sunrise before heading north

Published by patwdoyle11

Life is a series of transitions and my blog captures my retirement transition journey.

25 thoughts on “Fall in Florida Update – Reminisce”

  1. Hi Pat, I am sorry to be catching up on your recent posts all at once, but for some reason I do not get email notifications and have to remember to check Reader for your posts. Anyway, I found you and you have already answered the question on most people’s minds ‘why are you going in reverse?’ so I won’t ask about that. You are not missing much in Florida right now, just a few storms and some yucky weather. By the time you get back down here it (the weather) should be all sorted out and ready to welcome you. “Living your retirement lifestyle vision” is what it’s all about at this stage of life and you seem to be well on your way to doing just that.

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    1. Suzanne, sorry you stopped getting notifications. I honestly don’t know how the system works, but I’ve gotten dropped from some folks before as well.

      And yes, our neighborhood got hit badly from Eta – we were luckier than many neighbors with only minor flood damage.
      Thank goodness for a really good neighbor who kept us informed and dealt with the minor stuff for us. I guess we’ll be learning more and more about Florida weather. Not quite the living the vision I expected.

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  2. Hi Pat, I love it that you are living a fulfilling retirement! It is funny to me that you are heading north when many people here are getting ready to head south. I think jigsaw puzzles are overrated, and you can never have too much Covid reading! Do what makes you happy, not what you think you are supposed to do!

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    1. Michele, Yeah, we went the wrong way and many have pointed that out. We were supposed to be working on the next step of the big-move (transitioning guardianship of my SIL), but the court date has now been moved. Sigh. So I’m going to focus on enjoying the cool/cold weather…even if that means just cozying up with blankets indoors. I am really trying to put my positivity tools to work!

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  3. A fall that has been active, connected, creative and contemplative… and fun, sounds like a win to me! I hope you will enjoy phase 2 of fall in Ohio. I bet the change in temps was a shock to the system. After just a week in southern Utah, we are feeling the effects of coming north–and the difference is only about 25 degrees. It’s nice to know we have a place to escape to when winter gets too much.

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    1. Christie, it’s supposed to be below freezing tonight. Yeah, sunny & 80 to rain & 40 was a shocker. Luckily the last 2 days have been sunny. 50, but sunny…. so I did get outside to walk and see some color before it all falls out of the trees with the freeze. Now I’m focusing on stews, wrapping up in blankets, and coziness indoors. More winter-like than fall!

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  4. Based on your list, no need to compare and despair!! Sounds like you’re plenty busy and doing things you enjoy. Nothing wrong with that. I don’t know about Ohio but we’ve gone straight to winter here. Three snows in October? The leaves haven’t even fallen off the trees!!

    We canceled our two months in Florida in 2021. Surprisingly, not because of COVID but because of my parents. We were lucky enough to secure a condo for 2022 so I hope we can make it work. Gives us a little more time to establish a routine that can make things easier.

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    1. Tom, I unfortunately slide into reading too much negativity on line, so it felt good to focus on the positive! I’m actively trying to put my lessons (classes in Positive Psychology) into practice.

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  6. Hi Pat, we’re coming into Spring here in Oz and it’s just starting to feel warm and sunny every day – out with the tee shirts and sunhat – and I’m loving it. You sound like you’ve made a good start on your Autum activities – especially with covid still such a present problem where you are. Sometimes I forget all about it because we have no community cases and haven’t for several months – life is pretty much normal. Enjoy your return journey and settling in and keep us posted xx

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    1. Leanne, It’s hard to imagine “no community cases for several months”! Sadly, it’s a very different story here. Life is not normal but I am reading a lot, doing things on-line(form wine with friends to classes), and trying to stay active. The shift from Florida to Ohio was a shock weather wise… tonight it will be below freezing! Ah well, luckily I love being in our home.

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  7. Hi, Pat – Beach walks, yoga, bike rides, outdoor lunches, exploring markets, watching sunrises, experimenting with new recipes, daily crossword puzzles, Zoom Foodie dinners…. you’ve been very, very busy! I too was surprised to read that you are now heading North for a little while. I look forward to following those posts. And as I am a HUGE soup & stew fan, I’ll be checking out those posts as well!

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    1. Donna, I know… it looks amazing on paper! There were down days in there, but overall a lot of good things. It felt good to focus on the positive. The north bound trip is to hopefully finalize the family guardianship situation that keeps us tied to Ohio. And to do the regular health checks… we still have not found all the “ists” in Florida – oncologist, urologist, etc. Unfortunately that’s a long list and another to-do item for this next few months!

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  8. You have managed to do a lot and have several satisfying accomplishments to show for your time in Florida. I’m a little surprised that you are headed up north… don’t most people do the opposite? I guess the good news is that you’ll have the freeway to yourselves 🙂

    It’s also nice to read that you have managed to create a group of friends in Florida. That can be hard to do when we get older, and even harder when you live part-time in an area.

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    1. Janis, Yes, we have it backwards. Florida in August and Ohio in November is not the norm! Going from 80 degrees to 40 has also been a shocker. But Covid played havoc with the family guardianship situation we need to resolve in order to finalize our move, and we had a court date set to do that this week. And that date has been moved already (and might be moved again). Still hoping we will be back to Florida in December, for the winter.

      And yes, it’s been so wonderful to have a group of friends started. Luckily, I’ve linked with a number of folks who moved to Florida upon retirement, and are also looking to make connections. It’s been hard with social distancing, but luckily Florida offers lots of outdoor opportunities. I just got sent the application for the garden club! Looking forward to joining that and some other things next spring to find more like-minded folks.

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    1. Jo, My bi-weekly shopping list has ingredients for stew. I’m going to explore soup more… I’m pretty sure I have a soup cookbook somewhere! I’m not a big soup person, so this will be new area for me.

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  10. Sounds like a lot! I smiled at the do too much stuff, we all get caught in that trap of reading too much negative news but apparently that’s human nature so don’t be too hard on yourself 😊

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    1. Kellie, Some of learning on positive psychology hypothesizes why we “naturally” focus more on the negative, and it is why we need to practice to be more positive. I was kinda happy that my post was more positive than negative, and yet, couldn’t leave out the negative!

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    1. Yes, I know we went the wrong way. But Covid created some family issues so we need to be in Ohio this month… and I added in all “necessary” doctor and dentists appointments too. Going from 80 to 40 has been a shocker.

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