we have a semi-secret in the Tennessee Valley: It’s a great place to retire. I suspect we don’t celebrate this too much because we need to attract young people to our area, and we old fuddy-duddies might discourage them. You know, those of us who insist on driving on the Parkway at a speed no greater than 10 mph over the limit and appear to be in the way of everyone else coming to and from work each day.

Retirees and near-retirees need their own special Go - Your good Times Magazine, I think. Maybe we could call it the Mosey version. In it would be listed events that usually attract people of a certain age - those too young for the Senior Center newsletter but who perhaps can’t relate to most of the Valley Planet listings.

Anyhow, it just seems hard to find one central location for the events listings that my friend and I find interesting. For example, we enjoy attending fairs and events in small communities outside Huntsville. We find that the antique tractor shows, crafts and music in these celebrations offer pleasant interludes.

The townsfolk are happy to have visitors, and one gets to sample small town life. We’ve been to the Sweet Potato Festival in Crane Hill, Founders’ Day in Eva and, most recently, the Peinhardt Farm in Cullman’s celebration of old-time farming.

Fall is a great time of year for events like this, and they actually involve the entire family. Some festivals have a narrow focus and mostly attract people whose hobbies are centered on the activity.

For instance, the Gourd Festival in Cullman, we attended was probably appreciated most by those who spend time painting and carving these vegetables. Yet, it was interesting to see the artists’ cleverness with something that otherwise has limited uses.

How do we find out about the happenings? Either we know about them from the past, or we hear about them on the radio. Occasionally there’s a listing in the paper; however, one must watch for these announcements and keep track of the schedule.

Another event we anticipate each spring, with a corresponding one in the fall, is the miles-long flea markets. As we browse through OPJ (Other People’s Junk), we find occasional nostalgic items such as the school desk or readers I had in elementary school.

He looks for the manly stuff - another hammer, perhaps, to add to his collection.

As a former math instructor, I’m on a mission to save all the old arithmetic, algebra and other math books from their life of neglect and abuse.

(To me, it’s interesting to see how the textbooks have changed over the years. Many contain scribblings from students who found their math class less than thrilling; some books look as if they were only opened a few times.)

We enjoy our picnics and walks on Green Mountain, Aldridge Creek Greenway, Guntersville Lake and other areas. Occasional birdwatching, photography and leaf peeping add to our recreational activities.

Yes, those things are listed somewhere, but usually they are buried among many other announcements.

Other types of information of interest to folks aged 50 to 65 that are generally sporadic and not consolidated in one place include health and financial management.

Where and when are flu shots available? Well, at one time here, another time there.

Planning for retirement? Well, there are certainly some folks with very vested interest in managing your money who are quite willing to buy you lunch or supper if you’ll listen to their spiel. However, if you want a good place to find the information you want without generating the telephone and mail equivalent of spam, good luck.

I don’t want to sound like a crotchety old woman, so I’ll refrain from any more complaints about information organization for my age group.

Let’s just say we enjoy our leisure activities that involve low stress and no schedule.

Sunday drives to get me away from the computer, out to some town, eat a little barbecue along the way, enjoy the sights: That’s us. It will sound boring to some perhaps, but it brings us contentment.

Annie Saylor of Huntsville is a Times community columnist

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