Rochester, Boats, Etc.

One topic that never seems to end at our house is where we will move now that I'm retired. Anne went to the doctor the other day and the woman doctor asked, when Anne mentioned that I was retired, "Where are you going to move?" It is almost a given that retired people look to move out of NJ because of the taxes and because they can get a much better deal on house prices elsewhere.

A few years ago we had had this same conversation. Actually, we discussed it over a couple of years and decided that if and when we moved it would be to Rochester, NY. Anne's brothers live there (her sister is in Virginia) and she has recently become reacquainted with high school classmates that she hadn't spoken to in years. We have nieces and nephews there too. What we don't have there are children or grandchildren, which is a concern.

I like the Rochester area. It has a lot of ponds nice for canoeing and kayaking. It also has Lake Ontario, which is probably not the ideal place to either canoe or kayak. Since I have weened myself from boats with infernal combustion engines, my boating experience has been much more enjoyable. Sailboats are nice, but there is always the question of wind, too little or too much of it. We had a number of sailboats. Let's see, a Lightning, Sunfish, Albacore, Blue Jay, Laser (the last two were really Leo's) and most of them all at the same time. For a while we kept two at the Monmouth Boat Club in Red Bank, or in the back yard with a canoe and a motor boat. So many boats - sigh. Oh, I forgot the Folbot in that list which we still have. Anyway, the Greater Rochester area would be nice for water activities. I was, however, aghast the other day when the weather forecast was talking about 3 to 4 FEET of lake effect snow in western New York. Rochester only got about 6 to 8 inches, but there was a great deal of snow in the Finger Lakes area.

So, there are some things that Rochester has going for it and some things against it. Children and grandchildren being about 6 or 7 hours away is a negative. Also, you make friends over the years, Anne more so than I, but I have a few friends too. Some are old, some new, but friendships are important. This is just my rambling and this question will not be resolved today and probably not for a couple of years, so I will ramble about something else.

I am trying to add a couple of songs to my repertoire. It gets tiring playing the same songs day after day, especially when I don't seem to be getting much better at them. I can at least play some, although not to my satisfaction, which is why there won't be a recital any time soon, but I guess there is some progress.