Happy New Year!

 I have started several entries that I have never finished.  I wish I had.  This is New Year's Day, January 1, 2021!  For many, 2020 will have been a year to forget.  It included a world-wide pandemic that led to or contributed to so many lost loved ones.  It saw the closing of many businesses and the loss of employment for so many hard working people.  There were wild fires, tornadoes and hurricanes.  Glaciers are melting at a record rate.  Peaceful demonstrations were high-jacked by looters.  Politics was more about power than people.  

But, 2020 is also a year to remember!  We learned that by being responsible and respectful, we could help protect the lives of others just by wearing a facial covering!  I haven't had even a cold for almost a year!  It was a year that I learned to pay more attention to my health!  I hiked a lot and start 2021 eight pounds less than I started 2020.  I am at a good, healthy weight.  I had a squamous cell cancer removed.  No big deal, but I mentioned a long existing spot to the Doctor. It was successfully removed, but things could have been a whole lot worse!  I learned to listen to my body!

I saw people showing compassion.  Providing resources to others and asking for nothing in return.  Loyal volunteers who were there to help in any way they could.  We learned we could grow closer to people, even if there was a six-foot distance between us.  Some of us learned that being alone doesn't mean lonely.  I learned to relish the quiet times.  Some of us learned new things, from a Zoom meeting to face-timing.  We learned new ways to stay in touch.  We saw dedication to others in a way we hadn't seen before.  From front-line health care workers to the cashier at the grocery store, people stepped up to care for others!

As difficult as 2020 was, I hope we don't forget the lessons learned.  Lesson #1, above all, be kind!  Wishing everyone continued personal growth throughout 2021.  Happy New Year!

Well That Was Fast!

I had every intention to keep up with this blog.  Obviously, I failed!  I like to write.  Honest, I do.  I just wish I had time to do all the writing I want to do.  After retiring in 2011, I took some time for myself.  I went to the gym almost every day and hiked a lot.  I have been to the gym once since mid-June and been on far to few hikes.  I had to update my profile.  In March, I lost my old dog, Mikki.  I still have two dogs, Minni and Matilda.  I still have six cats, but not the same six.  I lost one and gained one.  Had to change the number of grandkids to six since Leah had baby number four.  Isla was born on May 12th.  I don't think that number will need to be updated!

I have gotten more involved in neighborhood activities than this introvert ever thought possible!  I am into my second year as secretary of our neighborhood association after taking a few years off from that responsibility.  I have not typed up the minutes of our September 8th meeting yet.  Hope I can still figure out what my notes mean.

We just published the most recent edition of our neighborhood newsletter.  The next edition, November-December starts our 3rd year of doing the newsletter.  I usually write a couple of columns for it.  After the newsletter got off the ground, I started a Facebook page by the same name, East Bluff News.  We have 473 members and continue to grow.  Monitoring that page takes an unbelievable amount of time.

The East Bluff Community Center tried to start some programming of "seniors".  They forgot to ask seniors what they wanted.  Even Bingo failed.  What did survive was our "Coffee With" events.  From March through October, I organize one a month.  We have had "Coffee" with the fire department, Code Enforcement, the Police Chief, the Mayor and various City Council members.

September 26, 2015 we started the East Bluff Community Food Pantry.   Although it is only open for two hours on Saturday morning, hardly a day goes by that I am not doing something related to it.  Six days a week I pick up the bread & baked goods donation from Kroger on Wisconsin Ave.  It was seven days a week, but I gave a day to a small neighborhood pantry.  Come Saturday morning the bags of food are ready for distribution.  It takes a couple of hours to get everything set up and at 10:00 AM it is non-stop for a couple of hours.

Most recently, I have started supervising events at the East Bluff Community Center.  It doesn't happen that often, but I love it when I get to do it!  Most of the events have been with the Hispanic community and has given me the opportunity to take a peek into the culture.  And besides, I get a $10.00 an hour stipend.  Most of that goes back into the food pantry though.

I know this has not been a fascinating read, but it helps explain why there has been no post since December 31, 2015.  So much for retirement!

WELCOME 2016

It is New Year's Eve, December 31, 2015.  It has been a pretty good year, but like most years, I am ready to tell it "Farewell".  I will go to bed at my usual time and wake to a new day and a new year.  The promise of each new year offers the opportunity for new challenges to be met.  Another chance to step out of my comfort zone. 

I describe myself as a hermit.  I am very comfortable just being at home with the animals, the computer, some music and the TV.  I am in control here.  When I leave my driveway, I am no longer in control!  I have really surprised myself this past year.  The East Bluff Newsletter & Facebook page, the East Bluff Food Pantry and other community activities have pulled me out of the house.  Surprisingly, I don't mind.

Until 2015, I had pretty much given "lip service" to the idea of community involvement.  This has been the year to put some action to it.  This has been the year that has seen me recommit to taking care of myself by being more consistent with going to the gym.

2016 holds much in store for me.  January is my daughter's birthday.  She turns 36 and it does not seem possible!  Insurance has me changing doctors and my first appointment is in January.  February brings my son's birthday and he turns 48.  Wow!  February is also my granddaughter, Brianna's birthday.  March starts up the Coffee With the Cops meetings.  We have been on hiatus during the winter.  Neighborhood association meetings also start.  Don't know about April yet.  I am sure there will be something!

May is a big month.  My granddaughter, Adele, turns two and my grandson, Evren, turns seven.  Best of all, there is a new baby due!  My daughter will be the same age having the new baby as I was having her!  June sees my youngest grandson, Milo turning five.  July isn't planned yet and neither are August & September.  October is my birthday and also my granddaughter Angie's.  November and December are the busy holiday season and then it will be 2017!

Wow!  Time flies!

I Finally Figured It Out!

I always told my kids to find their passion and then figure out how to make a living at it.  I am glad they are living that advice.  I don't think I ever realized what my passion was until recently.  In some ways, I have been living mine and didn't know it.

Back when I was going to school, options were fairly limited.  Girls normally became nurses (not doctors), legal assistants (not lawyers), secretaries (not CEO's) or teachers.  There may have been many other options but, I didn't know about them.

Looking back, it seems my passion was "Community Organizer".  What is the education for that?   Other than life, I don't know.  I have been a part of many "communities" over the years.  Schools, prisons, drug abuse and public housing are all sort of communities and I have worked in all of them with varying degrees of success at organization.

Retirement has brought new opportunities!  I live in a "transitional urban neighborhood".  Whether that transition is positive or negative is a matter of much disagreement.  Some focus on the negatives, others on the positives.  Crime watch reports tell me some of the negatives.  Occasional gun shots do the same.  Police cars speeding down the street in response to trouble provide more evidence.  There is litter in the street, graffiti on garages and houses in various states of disrepair.  I welcome the cameras, shot spotter and neighborhood police officer.

When asked if the glass if half full or half empty, I am the type of person who knows it is neither, it just is, but will likely respond "half full".  It seems that I continue to get more and more involved in the neighborhood.  The calendar fills up fast!  Build It Up meetings, CONNECTIONS! meetings, Senior Advance meetings, East Village Growth Cell meetings, neighborhood association meetings, East Bluff Food Pantry and East Bluff News.  Public art is appearing and more is planned.  Paint the Street, actually an intersection, received a lot of attention and the first East Bluff Sunrise 5K Run was a success.

There is a great deal of work being done with homes in disrepair.  Community Core and "In As Much" did a lot of work in a targeted area.  From landscaping, painting and porch repair, residents have homes in much better shape that before.  There is new construction by Habitat For Humanity and through the Attorney General's Grant that provided the funding for new accessible duplexes.  More new construction is planned and a different area will have Community Core designation next year.  Assistance will be available to homeowners within the East Village Growth Cell beginning in January, 2016.

Communication is the key!  Perhaps my favorite endeavor is East Bluff News.  Several of us put together a newsletter every other month.  It is distributed at various locations around the neighborhood and is emailed or snail mailed to others.  The other half of East Bluff News is our Facebook page by the same name.  We attempt to let members know what is happening that may be of interest to them.  The newsletter is also posted on the page.  We are up to over 330 members.

All these efforts involve many people who also recognize the glass just has water in it, but continue to believe and act as if it is half full and getting fuller!

Indeed It Is Illinois

For a brief period, I made an attempt to follow the Surgeon General's advice to get outside and exercise for at least twenty-two minutes a day.  It was fun while it lasted.  Just did not last long enough.

Five trips around Glen Oak Park lagoon is about a mile.  I did that several times and often took one of the dogs with me. I normally saw very few people near the lagoon and it was quite nice.

I frequently walked in lower Glen Oak Park and am so disappointed with the lack of maintenance done there.  Sidewalks washing out and fallen trees across the trail were some of the problems.

Spent a lot of time hiking in Springdale Cemetery.  Usually ended by sitting by the little stream for a bit.  Matilda, the Rat Terrier, enjoyed a cool drink of water after hitting the hills!

The Pimiteoui s always a challenge.  The weather has been hard on it this year.  I would really like to go from Grandview Drive to Forest Park and back again, but don't know if I will ever be able to work back up to that again or not.  I may try again next year.

Cooper Park in East Peoria is always a fun hike.  It suffered quite a bit of flood damage this year, but the variety of plants and the river views make it enjoyable.  It is nice and flat with wonderful boardwalks.

There is a trail going up from the park at the bottom of Grandview Drive that is a good one to tie into a walk along the fence by Route 29.  Am really glad that the shelter there has been preserved rather than torn down.

And then, there was the hike from Detwieller to the tunnel at Route 6.  That was fun!

Few more excursions I would like to take while the weather is still decent.  Maybe I need to take up cross-country skiing!

And On It Goes

Still busy.  Some things have been fun, some not so much.  Never one to focus on the "not so much" stuff.  The individual Faces of the East Bluff now have a permanent home.  They are hung throughout the East Bluff Community Center. 

We gave completed the branding and logo.  We were able to introduce both to the neighborhood in time for the first annual East Bluff Sunrise 5K Run.  We painted the street.  Actually, we painted the intersection of Nebraska St. & Wisconsin Ave.  Hope it becomes a bigger project next year along with being a fundraiser.

The strategic planning process we went through for the improvement of the Wisconsin Business Corridor earned recognition of the Illinois branch of the American Planner's Association.  They liked that the plan is a poster and not a book sitting forgotten on a shelf.  Rather it hangs on a lot of walls to be seen by the entire community.

East Bluff News has completed a year of publication.  It continues to grow in readership through hard copy and the East Bluff News Facebook page.  The Facebook page is such a good way to keep in contact with neighbors and people interested in the East Bluff.  As the transitional neighborhoods in Peoria improve, Peoria improves.  Communication is part of that process.

With several months of no food pantries in the neighborhood, we were able to open the East Bluff Food Pantry at the community center.  It serves residents of 61603 exclusively.  Times are pretty tough for some of our neighbors and the churches and volunteers involved want to make an impact.

A new activity this year was "Coffee With The Cops".  The idea came from a Senior Advance meeting.  Four sessions were held this late-summer & early-fall.  Meetings were well attended and very useful!  We will pick the meetings up again in February or March, but are taking the worst weather months off.

There are many naysayers in the neighborhood, but that is okay because it forces myself and others to dig deeper and try harder to make the East Bluff a decent place to live and raise a family.  We have a lot of work to do!

Happy Camper

Well, I am not really camping but, I am indeed happy.  Nothing is ever perfect, but I would have to say that I am quite satisfied with where my life is at this point.  Any fear that I had about being bored in retirement had have proven to be unnecessary!  I started simply.  I volunteered to walk dogs at PAWS.  I did for a couple of years but took this past winter off and have not found the time to go back to doing it on a regular basis.

I am not there yet, but I am on the way to becoming a "Neighborhood Advocate", in other words, a loud mouth!  I live in a neighborhood where people are encouraged to move elsewhere.  A neighborhood that people tell new arrivals to the city to avoid.  Some people look around and see insurmountable problems.  I look around and see potential. 

I attend updates for the East Village Growth Cell, the East Bluff Build It Up group, the East Bluff United Neighborhood Association meetings and the board of Senior Advance at the East Bluff Community Center.  I have delivered 18 "Pride in Peoria is Picking Up" signs around the neighborhood in the last couple of weeks.  I only have one left in supply. 

I am most pleased with my involvement with the "East Bluff News" publication and the associated Facebook page.  It has proven to be a good source of information for residents and people who are interested in East Bluff activities.  Four editions of the newsletter have been published thus far.  It was started with a small grant from LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation).  The first edition was November/December 2014.  The Facebook page was started last October.

There are plans for the redevelopment of the Wisconsin Avenue Business Corridor.  There are empty storefronts that need to be filled, but there are also businesses that are doing well.  We are starting to work with a consultant on "branding" the East Bluff in a way that emphasizes the potential for the neighborhood to be a great place to live, work and play. 

We have only just begun!