20 Years Retired (Part 1)

August 1

Working people have alot of bad habits, but the worst of these is work. ~  Clarence Darrow

I retired to Alexandria, Minnesota, on August 1, 2001. The Super preceded me by three months, living with my mom to oversee construction of our retirement home on beautiful Lake Darling. We moved in on Thanksgiving. This first photo is of Lake Darling that day. But Part 1 of this blog will feature our years as members of the Deep State in our nation’s capital . . .

When a man retires, his wife gets twice the husband but only half the income. ~  Chi Chi Rodriguez

The early years in D.C. . . . Ruthie’s awards while in the Pentagon . . .

I am beyond blessed and humbled to be named the Paul Hornung Award winner. ~ Christian McCaffrey

I’ll never try to win an award. I’m out there just playing for my team. ~ Kawhi Leonard

There’s a lot of great movies that have won the Academy Award, and a lot of great movies that haven’t. You just do the best you can. ~ Clint Eastwood

The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith

I have one piece of advice for those of you who want to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award: Start early! ~ Shirley Temple

The Oscar sits on some shelf above my desk. If there was an earthquake, I could actually be killed by my own Academy Award. ~ Helen Hunt

‘Groundhog Day’ was one of the greatest scripts ever written. It didn’t even get nominated for an Academy Award. ~ Bill Murray

I’d said to my sweetheart a couple of days before that the SAG and Spirit Award nomination was amazing and I had no attachment to the Academy Award. I knew I was an underdog so I just decided to sleep through the announcement. ~ John Hawkes

I heard I won ‘best butt crack’ on television recently. It’s true. I did it, you guys. I made it. I wish I got an award, the actual award. What would it look like? Of course, it’s a closed set. ~ Lisa Edelstein

I got my first lifetime achievement award years ago, and I was very excited, but then I got a sense of: Well, can one get a second lifetime award? ~ Michael Palin

Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough. Good enough. Successful enough. Thin enough. Rich enough. Socially responsible enough. When you have self-respect, you have enough. ~ Gail Sheehy

I was put under contract. A major studio. I got nominated for an Academy Award. Isn’t that ridiculous? I mean, at the age of 18! ~ Angela Lansbury

It’s interesting too, that the coach of that Georgia Tech team who led his valiant warriors to those 222 points was none other than John Heisman. Yes, he whom the Heisman trophy is named for, an award that honors that college player who best exemplifies excellence and integrity. ~ Frank Deford

Well, it was the beginning of my film career. It was amazing to me that I got nominated for an Academy Award. ~ Sally Kellerman

And now for my awards . . .

I don’t deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either. ~ Jack Benny

[A performance evaluation from my immediate supervisor . . . ]

So now you know why the Super is the supervisor . . .

[But I had an ace up my sleeve . . . ]

[I got to work for and meet Secretary of Labor Robert Reich . . . ]

[He seriously was the best Secretary we had during my extensive tenure. He actually deigned to meet and chat with the department’s worker bees . . . ]

[As a dispensable member of our long-time department champion softball team, I got to shake his hand . . . ]

[Then we went across the street to “My Brother’s Place” to continue the celebration . . . ]

[The early champs . . . ]

[The later champs . . . ]

[Don’t ask me about the color of that ball cap?]

As we make our way toward the finish line that some of us have already crossed, I never thought I’d get a Grammy Award. In fact, I was always touched by the modesty of their interest. ~ Leonard Cohen

So, where we lived . . .

[The Astoria condominium (midframe) where I met Ruthie when we moved into the new building in 1987. It’s on Lee Highway in Arlington, Virginia, just a couple blocks from the Potomac River and thus on the flight path to (right side) and from (left side) National Airport. Lest you didn’t guess, I did indeed get these shots through a plane window . . . ]

[The building front on Lee Highway. When I first moved in, a couple of spots from my underground parking spot was a gold Rolls Royce. I thought I’d gotten in over my head . . . ]

[I was on the 3rd floor, back in the corner, overlooking the tennis court. We ultimately determined there were a lot of spies (CIA/NSA/FBI) who lived in this building . . . ]

[My place was right above the last little tree on the promenade . . . ]

[Ruthie & I first met in the swimming pool at 2:00 am. I shall go no further . . . ]

Interviewer: So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman? Frank Zappa: You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table? ~ Frank Zappa [Photo somewhere on the Severn River, 1975]

[We moved into the brand new Frances Perkins Department of Labor (DOL) building in May 1975. This was my first “room” . . . ]

[Colleagues Steve and Clark are now both gone . . . ]

[Clark in his cubicle . . . ]

[The cubicle world . . . ]

[Ackkk, yes, I was a smoker then . . . ]

[This is the view from the DOL roof . . . ]

[And the Capitol Reflecting Pool . . . ]

[And the National Gallery of Art with the Washington Monument background . . . ]

[Professional bureaucrats returning to DOL after a fine dining lunch . . . ]

[Reminders of tempus fugit. We have since lost Sadie . . . ]

[We have since lost Steve. Lyle is still hanging in there . . . ]

[Jim is still with us . . . ]

[Cheesy mustache, hair rejected by wigmakers, outfit by an ivy leaguer wannabe . . . ]

[We have since lost Clark, shortly after he retired to Ireland . . . ]

[Sadie was there when I arrived; she was there when I left. She must have been getting tired of me?]

[And this was also the time when Dad was writing his book . . . ]

[On the dining room table with a manual typewriter . . . ]

[Professional bureaucrats of a somewhat later vintage, 1992 . . . ]

[And this was my later “room,” the last of three as I recall. I had graduated from a manual typewriter to an electric with an early addition PC of unknown origin . . . ]

[Still, you will always need a No. 2 pencil . . . ]

[Pretty much the last group I worked with, 1995 – still in touch with Libby (top) and Tim (kneeling next to me), despite each being my frontline supervisor . . . ]

We’re not going to let some unelected bureaucrats in Washington stop us from moving forward with our agenda, but at the end of the day, CBO is not the Holy Grail. ~ Steve Scalise

The question for America is pretty simple: either we want a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington telling us what we can’t do, or we empower American innovators to unlock things that we can do. ~ Matt Gaetz

[Editor’s note: If Steve Scalise and Matt Gaetz don’t like what we do, we must be doing it right . . . ]

[The retirement and good-bye party . . . ]

[Bill and I would subsequently keep our pre-retirement relationship alive with worldwide cruises . . . ]

A small sampling of places visited pre-retirement . . .

[Victoria Heights, Alexandria, Minnesota . . . ]

[Jefferson Senior High School, Alexandria, Minnesota . . . ]

[Ft. Bragg, North Carolina; Ft. Gordon, Georgia; Okinawa (the fort names likely to be renamed under Cancel Culture) . . . ]

[Alexandria Golf Club, 1971 (on leave from Okinawa) . . . ]

[Japan, 1983 . . . ]

[New York City . . . ]

[Waterville Valley, New Hampshire . . . ]

[Outer Banks, North Carolina . . . ]

[Ruthie’s condominium with grandson Tom . . . ]

[With Mom at a famous building . . . ]

[Le Homme Dieu View townhome association, Alexandria, Minnesota . . . ]

[Mom lived on the second (middle) duplex, on the left side, where we came during vacations and when Ruthie retired as our home was being built . . . ]

[Le Homme Dieu View . . . ]

[With friends . . . ]

[And family . . . ]

[Resorters Golf Tournament, Alexandria, Minnesota . . . ]

[Ditto . . . ]

I seldom would have to wear such attire again . . .

[Possibly the last photograph taken as residents of Arlington, Virginia. At the Astoria condominium, on Ruthie’s patio. Little did Lily and Woody realize at the time that they would soon be residents of Alexandria, Minnesota . . . ]

Except for an occasional heart attack I feel as young as I ever did. ~ Robert Benchley

When you’re dead you’re dead. ~  Kurt Vonnegut

Up Next: Part 2, in retirement . . .