How Much Longer Until Retirement?

MY shoulders and neck are aching tonight and I have to ask that question in the blog title. I would like to have a tender, pleasant ache from bending over the art table, not a sharp, constant one from sitting in front of the computer dragging a mouse here and there.
But who am I fooling? If I weren't at work I'd probably be sleeping in, eating and reading - and not doing art anyway. (Or maybe I would. Now that I've said my greatest fear - that I wouldn't manage my time well during retirement - now I've got to make each of those seconds count.)
WHEN/IF it happens.
I was going to show you gelatin I made on Saturday. I took so many photos of the process. But I also took photos of the garden - before the showers began. I hope I haven't already shown these to you! How embarrassing to get SO senile!
Well, I will keep on going, since the gelatin photos are so utterly boring - until the end! Here are the autumn crocus which are likely confused. They poked their slim purple heads through the dry earth (how they do this I do not know) and now they have been drenched with buckets of rain. Fall? Spring? What's going on?
Later in the evening the Mister built a fire to warm us up and I brought these flowers in from shrubs that grow in our back yard. I cannot remember their name. I "watercolored" them in Photoshop.
This past Labor Day weekend in Oregon was very damp and cool - until Monday. That's when we finally ventured into Portland to see all the lovely creations at the outdoor festival "Art in the Pearl." (That's the Pearl District of Portland.) We were on a Quest to find me a new friendship ring. I lost mine 6-9 months ago. I bought it at Art in the Pearl, but had never seen these artisans again. Guess what? At the very last art booth on our very last swing through the festival, we found them! And I got a ring. It is so beautiful I can hardly stop looking at it. Here is where you can find the jewelers. Very talented ... and if you need a horse ... . Pictures of Portland and the ring tomorrow - femminismo