Marion's Retirement

[Maid Marion]

The wheelchair ramp is a public accomodation.  Strangers I don't know use it all the time to make house calls. I can convert the section in front of my house into a private deck! I can do the same with the other section by installing a gate so folks can't use it.

Transgender swing thought.  When playing golf we often think of stuff to remind us how to swing properly.  I've increased my distance by holding my hands farther away from my body, for a bigger lever.
I do this my thinking how I'd hold my hands it I had breast enhancement surgery!  I wouldn't want them to get in the way of my swing!

[Maid Marion]

I ordered the pre-made steps from Amazon for $100 and sholuld get them in about a week.

I saw the neighbor working on her yard, clearing away tree branches from her meditation garden.
I got permission to come over and remove the invasive vines in her yard next to my yard. It was a task she'd been putting off. I took care of the ones on my side of the yard last year.

Now that I'm retired I have enough time to get good at playing golf the same way most good golfers learn--by playing a ton on a cheap golf course!  It isn't that we lose the ability to learn as we get older.  We just don't have the big blocks of time to learn that we had when we were younger.

[Lori Dee]

I ordered the pre-made steps from Amazon for $100 and sholuld get them in about a week.

I saw the neighbor working on her yard, clearing away tree branches from her meditation garden.
I got permission to come over and remove the invasive vines in her yard next to my yard. It was a task she'd been putting off. I took care of the ones on my side of the yard last year.

Now that I'm retired I have enough time to get good at playing golf the same way most good golfers learn--by playing a ton on a cheap golf course!  It isn't that we lose the ability to learn as we get older.  We just don't have the big blocks of time to learn that we had when we were younger.

And staying active promotes good health and a long life.
The secret to immortality is very simple: Don't die.
The secret to defeating death is to stay healthy for as long as possible. 
 

[Maid Marion]

The stairs arrived yesterday!  I think I'll put them together and leave them on the "deck to be" to slowly alert the delivery people.  I got a 4ft wide planter to put in the way when I make the change to block off the ramp from use, yet leave it available in an emergency. I may try to grow strawberries under hardware cloth to keep the birds and rodents away.  If I put wheels on it I can move it away when I spray the roses with fungicides.

A very useful skill I learned for girls is touch typing in the mid 1970s.  The class was over 90% girls.
I touch type very quickly.  It was incredibly useful when I took computer science classes in college.  I can touch type while talking to someone.  A co-worker was amazed that I could do that!

I made some really good meals out of beef short ribs in the bone. It was on sale.  I'd cook one strip of bacon early in the morning, before sunrise, and then braise a large short rib on all sides in the hot bacon fat. After the meat was browned I'd turn off the heat and pre-cook the veggies in the bacon fat.  Then I'd dump the meat and veggies in a tiny 1.5qt slow cooker with 1 cup water and 1tsp better than bouillon.  I'd let it cook for an hour or so, then drop the temperature down to low so it wouldn't boil.  190 is a good target temperature.  The temperature can be lowered by adding water.  I'd let it cook for a good 8 hours or so, then turn off the heat to let it cool down for eating.

[Lori Dee]

A very useful skill I learned for girls is touch typing in the mid 1970s.  The class was over 90% girls.
I touch type very quickly.  It was incredibly useful when I took computer science classes in college.  I can touch type while talking to someone.  A co-worker was amazed that I could do that!

I never mastered that skill. I took a typing class in high school, but never broke the habit of watching the keyboard as I type with six fingers (three on each hand). The teacher was more concerned with speed and accuracy, so I became good at memorizing a paragraph at a time. Since I watched the keyboard, my accuracy was always over 95% because I could catch my errors right away. In computer classes in college, it was always about accuracy, not speed, so I did ok there, too.

I am always impressed with touch typists, especially if you are talking on the phone while typing. One of my doctors does that. While we are talking, she is furiously typing her notes on her laptop.

Sounds like the deck project is coming along nicely. Adding wheels to the planter is a clever idea!

[Maid Marion]

I often explain my cross dressing to random partners I play with, telling them that I'm too small to buy appropriate guy clothes.  Once in a great while someone will bring up boy clothes and I'll point out that the fit is terrible for someone with a thin athletic build.  I think many are impressed with how well my clothes fit me.  I've had a lot of golfers say they would like to play again with me.  During the round they will make comments like I've never hit it this far!

I reshafted a $3 club I bought at Savers.  This is way beyond the skill level of most golfers--swapping shafts between clubs to get two custom clubs at very low price! A new wedge off the shelf would have cost me $150.  Golfers can spend a lot more than that getting fitted for custom clubs.
I played with it yesterday and it works great as I designed it to be a "sister" to a wedge I use frequently.  Not a twin, as it is hard to tell twins apart.
But a sister, with different strengths and weaknesses but with the same core genetics.

[Maid Marion]

I bought a new mailbox so I can have two mail boxes in place during the transition between having a public wheelchair ramp and a private deck in front of my front door.  I'll then use the old mailbox to hold garden tools in the back yard out of the rain. 

The cedar planter arrived today, delivered by UPS.  It is made in Canada and apparenty not subject to tariffs, as I think I would have had to pay a bill before I received it. 

[Maid Marion]

I love shopping for bargains and own a ton of clothes and shoes.  I have a shoe rack with three dozen pairs!  Yesterday I put together an outfit that perfectly complemented a pair of lavender,red, and pink striped sandals.  I wore a pink bucket hat, red and pink print on white shirt, and lavender pants.
The shirt was sized XS petite with 3/4 sleeves so you could see my silver watch with a rose face.  The pants were cut off just below the knee.

An older lady working in a grocery store stared and smiled at me.  I think she wished she looked as good as I did in that outfit!  There are two opposing fashion rules.  When you are small you want have matching tops to have longer lines.  When you have an narrow waisted hourglass figure you should flaunt it!  I showed off my figure with clothes that were appropriate for my age and for the situation at hand!

[Maid Marion]

Vanity sizing.  I just bought a really cute XS skort from Golftini as it was really cheap of eBay. It barely fits--any larger and I'd worry about it slipping off my hips!  I could add pleats to take it in.  Golftini's size 2 is too big for me.  Their sizes for me are 00 and XXS.  Normally I buy size 2 or XS. Vanity sizing is allows customers to think they are a size 2 or XS, when they can't fit into "normally" sized clothing.

I also bought a pair of lilac golf pants made in Japan with a 24 inch waist.  The seller thought it was between XS and S.  It is a tight fit but I can wear it.;

Marion

[davina61]

And I had to buy a UK size 20 jump suit and its snug around the tum! I have lost 3 notches on my belt since Jan though.

[Maid Marion]

I had a great round of golf yesterday with an older guy who had no idea I was transgender until I told him after playing half a dozen holes of golf! We were playing behind a slow foursome so there was plenty of time to answer his questions.  He finally realized that it made more sense for me to dress well as a woman than to be misgendered constantly as a guy when I told him about being misgendered right after 9/11 in BDL by a TSA agent when I had a full beard!
I was really swinging well and had many great golf shots. I let him swing my Vokey M grind.  It is a premium wedge for hitting the ball when you are next to the green. We had time to take extra shots to see what we might do better the next time we plays.  He plays the course a lot.  I think my playing inspired him to play better--he said he is pleased with his life but wishes he had more money to be able to afford golf lessons.

 Only 8% of women have an hourglass figure.  The number for transgender women must be very small.

Marion

[ChrissyRyan]

I had a great round of golf yesterday with an older guy who had no idea I was transgender until I told him after playing half a dozen holes of golf! We were playing behind a slow foursome so there was plenty of time to answer his questions.  He finally realized that it made more sense for me to dress well as a woman than to be misgendered constantly as a guy when I told him about being misgendered right after 9/11 in BDL by a TSA agent when I had a full beard!
I was really swinging well and had many great golf shots. I let him swing my Vokey M grind.  It is a premium wedge for hitting the ball when you are next to the green. We had time to take extra shots to see what we might do better the next time we plays.  He plays the course a lot.  I think my playing inspired him to play better--he said he is pleased with his life but wishes he had more money to be able to afford golf lessons.

 Only 8% of women have an hourglass figure.  The number for transgender women must be very small.

Marion

I am glad you made a nice connection there.  Enjoy your golfing!


Chrissy

[Maid Marion]

Cross dressing has an undeserved reputation as being "Kryptonite" for anyone wanting a relationship with a woman.  The core issue is that society forces many crossdressers to lie about their dressing and only reveal it to potential partners far too late rather than right up front.  This causes an un-repairable trust issue.
There are secondary issues, such as clothes that fit poorly or are in poor taste.  It takes a lot of work to put together a wardrobe of age appropriate clothes          for a nice looking figure. But, if you can meet the impossible beauty standards expected of GGs, or come anywhere close, you ought to flaunt it.  People will go out of their way to talk to you.  Which is the number one factor in being able to start a relationship with anyone--being able to meet and greet someone!

[Maid Marion]

It seems I have a talent for teaching golf!

I swing so slowly and clearly explain what I'm trying to do that beginners can immediately swing the golf club better!   Better players can watch me and figure out how to play better golf as well.

Golf is notoriously hard to learn.  Folks pay for expensive lessons with mixed results all the time.
Usually taking lessons involves playing worse for months while you learn a new way of swinging the golf club.  And it only works if you have the time to practice regularly.

I went ahead and reshafted my four wedges so they have matching shafts!  Most players don't carry that many wedges but helps me get really good at pin hunting or aiming directly at the hole when the greens keeper  hasn't picked "sucker pins" for the hole that day.  Sucker pins are useful when you are stuck behind a slow foresome and want to take a bunch of extra strokes for practice.

I learned a new skill--grafting roses!  I've been digging up rootstock/weeds and making new roses!

[Maid Marion]

Air Force birthday.  I knew a guy in high school that got a recommendation to attend the Air Force academy.  He told me he got to fly an F16!  A few days ago I saw four F15s flying in formation over Hartford Connecticut.

I've visited the Air Force Academy and Peterson Air & Space museum in Colorado Springs.  I bought  a baby blue women's polo size small from the museum as it fit me perfectly.  It was tough finding anything that fit me, even when I shopped women's clothes.

I've been wearing Victoria's Secret Terry cloth pants.  I just got a pink pair of Made in USA Terrycloth pants from Revolve.com for $27. Half the stuff goes on sale when you are tiny enough to wear size XS.  I put up a "Deliver Here" sign so I'll no longer have packages delivered to my front door.  UPS put it right in front of the sign.  Advanced planning before taking apart the wheelchair ramp to my front door.  I also  received a Golftini skirt  with horizontal stripes!  Only cost me $15 as horizontal stripes are a hard sell for GGs.

[ChrissyRyan]

Sounds like everything is working out well for you Marion!

Chrissy

[Maid Marion]

I typically walk 27 holes at the local muni, taking a half hour break after 18.  Yesterday it took me five hours to play, which is a speedy pace of 3hrs 20 minutes for 18 holes.  Nine of which was played with a beginner.
When I resumed play a lady came up to me and said she enjoyed watching me play!  The last five holes are side by side so you can watch others on the course. She asked if I was a professional golfer! I hit the ball high and straight towards the pin.  I told her I cross dressed because I enjoyed shopping so we talked about shopping for a little bit when it became obvious she thought I was a woman.  She told me she thought I was pretty.   She was small like me. 
She said her husband was annoyed because she'd rather watch me play than play golf!

[Maid Marion]

The biggest thing you can do to gain acceptance among GGs is to diet and exercise for a thin waist.  They know how hard that is to do.  Having toned muscles is latest fashion trend.

This summer I got a light tan wearing a sleeveless top and a skirt and worked all summer to even it out by wearing sunscreen.  I started by wearing SPF15 sunscreen to get the light tan.
The evidence that a light tan is bad is actually quite sketchy.  There are health benefits to getting exposure to the sun, such as the natural production of vitamin D.  Obviously getting sun burned is bad.
But just a little? 

[Lori Dee]

Everything in moderation.

15 - 20 minutes a day with sunscreen on is usually enough to generate the Vitamin D the body needs.

As someone who has spent most of their life outdoors (hiking, camping, fishing, rockhounding, gold prospecting, and military service), I have quite a bit of sun-damaged skin. I have had seven skin cancers removed and now get checked every six months by a dermatologist.

I have been told to wear sunscreen while outside. Wear long sleeves and a wide-brim hat. The exposure that gets done today may not show up until 30 years from now. Protect your skin, and you can retain a youthful appearance for many years to come.

Thanks, MM, for bringing this up.