Tag Archives: moving

~ Become a Lake ~

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driftwoodFrom looking like an abuse victim to a minor swelling and small scab in 9 days is pretty miraculous. My eye still itches like crazy and is still a bit weepy, but overall it is pretty good. I get the stitches out on Tuesday and then I hope the worst will be way over!

Because I was such a scary sight, I didn’t go out at all.So now am going stir crazy and what has happened, with all this time on my hands, is that I realize that it is not the weather so much that gets me about this place, although it does play into the overall scheme of things. It is the location.

It’s beautiful, peaceful, comfortable, cute house, wonderful wildlife. But…

It is way too remote for a single person, meaning me. This is a perfect location for a summer home. For people to come for weekends and weeks in the summer or holidays. Or for a couple who need only each other. But year-round living for me is just not cutting it.

I read this little story, which really brought it home to me:

~ Become a Lake ~

An aging master grew tired of his apprentice’s complaints. One morning, he sent him to get some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master told him to mix a handful of salt in a glass of water and then drink it.
“How does it taste?” the master asked.
“Bitter,” said the apprentice.
The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”
As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?”
“Fresh,” remarked the apprentice.
“Do you taste the salt?” asked the master.
“No,” said the young man. At this the master sat beside this serious young man, and explained softly,
“The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”

I need to become a lake. My life is so small and confining. You might say I am living in a puddle!

My life used to be broad, encompassing the entire world. Now it feels so limited and there are factors influencing this – insufficient funds, etc. But I can’t let these get in the way of my sanity. I never meant to be back here this long. I have know for a long time that is isolation is not good for me.

So…

Three months ago, after I decided to go for a loan modification on the condo, I gave myself six months to do it. The time is running out but I really don’t have to be here to do that. It’s all done by phone or email. So that eliminates that excuse for not leaving.

So I am starting to focus on getting “gone” from here. Making a list of what I need to do to make it happen. The main thing, of course, is to find someone to rent this house. And another of course, is finding a way to fund living elsewhere. Oh, and let’s not forget a car. I can hardly drive out of state taking Bill’s car with me.

The elsewhere doesn’t necessarily mean another country, like I have been dreaming. It could be as simple as California. Much more expensive, but more opportunity than here. I don’t know whether my editor job will go with me as she seems to think that she needs to see me, which is totally unnecessary when there is Skype. But obviously, I won’t throw in the towel, unless she brings it up. The eBay biz can go with me; in fact will be easier as Ryan won’t have to ship the DVDs to me.

Tomorrow, Susan and I are going to Port Angeles to look at the house, and then I am going to hand it over to property management. So that won’t be an issue for me. Chris seems to want to stay in the condo, so that will be taken care of.

A car could be a problem – or not. I had to have a new exhaust pipe put on the Leaky Beasty and it is a lot quieter now! Not just less exhaust noise, but less rattles too. I’m not sure about this, but maybe Bill would sell it to me but I would need to have the oil leaks fixed and know that that is all they are – leaks, and not something major. And I could probably work out some sort of payment plan with him. That is just a thought, at the moment. I would need to know it would make the trip to California and beyond.

So lots to think about, decisions to make and things to plan and plot.

Chaos is becoming order

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Where did all this stuff come from?!!!

Actually, it’s more things that need to be done, than things I have. For instance, all my photos are on an external drive – for Mac! So I can’t access them from my PC. So have to upload them to Dropbox and it is taking FOREVER! Last I looked on the old mac (drive to old mac to dropbox) there were still 10 days of uploading! I hope the old machine doesn’t blow up before that happens. But at least everything will be accessible then, in the cloud!

Gotta love technology!

The paper stuff is getting whittled down, too. The biggest paper hogs are government agencies, none of which accept digital anything. So print, copy, mail – copy, copy, copy. And then you have to keep everything for years. Stupid! And then they want things faxed, which means I have to drive somewhere to fax a page! Even though I have an all-in-one printer/fax/copier, I don’t have a phone line to use! Faxes are soooo 20th century!

Anyway, my kayak is gone, a lot of odds and ends on craigslist are going. The car is all spiffed up like new and I am having second thoughts about selling it, as I most likely will be back here sometime next year, on my way to somewhere else. I can cover it and leave it here at the house.

The gang here want to do a going away party for me. I guess it will be next week sometime. But it really doesn’t feel like I am going away forever. The length of time really depends on the house situation and that is still in limbo. It might be that way for years, for all I know.

The new ecology.com is supposed to launch at the end of this week. The site looks soooo good and am excited to see the final product. I’ve been really busy reworking old articles and actually got to write a new one! What a concept! Something of my own. I hope I can do more, there are so many things to write about and South Africa has a lot to offer in that regard.

So onward and forward…more boxes!

Far South

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Decision made.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks deciding what the best move would be, for me.

A couple of deciding factors. One, it’s high season in Panama and I am concerned that once there, I wouldn’t be able to find a rental. And as I will have, by then, sold my car, everything here, I really would have nothing to come back to. It would be like starting all over and it is way too expensive to do that here.

The other factor is the comfort zone as far as working goes. My work at ecology.com is expanding, which of course means more hours. If I was in a new country, I would be so tempted to be out and about more, exploring, instead of working. In South Africa, I won’t have that pressure on me. I need to work and make the money. I don’t have the luxury of being retired. But I don’t plan on spending all my time working. All work, no play etc etc! No more dull days and years for this girl!

And of course, going to SA is going home for me. As I am giving up my home here in the States, it feels like a safer stepping stone for me. Once there, I can also adjust to the heat which I have to find out if I can still handle. Supposedly one of the issues with my supposed affliction - inability to handle heat. That would be a real shame!

Once I have settled into the idea of being a rolling stone again, probably towards the middle of next year, I will decide where to go.

The time frame is still October. I am planning to go to SoCal and spend time with Ryan and Cody and family before heading out. I also would like to meet the people I am working with in Carpinteria so hope I can do that too.

So I have really started to get my stuff together, discarding and packing for storage the few things I will save, like my beautiful woven baskets, all my photos from eons ago. Things I just cannot give up. Sorting through the things I need to take with me, like the small “world phone” I had when I went to New Zealand and important papers. Most of the really important ones I will leave with Ryan.

Not sure which route to take. Depends on the fares, but I prefer to fly Malaysia Air. That way I can break my flight in Kuala Lumpur. Hopefully they still have the same setup, where the layover is something like 18 hours and they put you up in an hotel so you can get some sleep, a shower etc. Makes a huge difference. I don’t think I will take the four day detour to Langkawi, though that would be fun!

Oh, and mymixednuts is dead. Sad. I am selling off all the inventory this Saturday and Sunday. The lease on the warehouse is up next week so it is done. A relief but sad because I put so much of myself into it.

Summer?

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I think we might have summer today! Here it is, on the downside of the summer solstice, and we are still waiting…

But today is beautifully clear, although it is very cold outside, 46F/10C. Maybe it will warm up to 60 or so, which will be a treat. The forecast is for 68/20 but I’m not holding my breath. I am tired, tired, tired of being cold and having the heat on in the house. And I am certainly not the only one complaining. People who are died-in-the wool Pacific northwesterners are complaining. It has been just miserable.

The birds don’t seem to mind – I am watching a huge osprey survey the estuary. He has been very active, diving and being quite successful too! Big fish being snatched! A lovely sight. In fact, we have two of these birds that have made this their own fishing grounds. The original one, which has been here for the past 3-4 years is still around and now this new one. The original one is smaller so maybe a female and now the male, so maybe babies soon?

But I hopefully won’t be here to see them, although staying focused on leaving is difficult. I wish I could simply pack up now and leave.

The nuts are still there and Annie knows I am leaving in November. But nobody seems to be making any effort to do anything about moving the business south to Southern California, or finding someone here to run it or close it down. It just blows my mind that they show so little interest – but want it to keep going, according to Ryan. It’s sad, as we keep getting more and more interest, with a big wedding favor order and a possible deal with gift baskets that I will find out about this week. If I had been getting paid properly, I probably would not be so anxious to leave, as I really am proud of the company and hate to just walk away from it. I guess that is why I keep working at it, keeping it ticking over, even though there is no money in it for me. Ever the optimist, I keep thinking someone is going to take it seriously, and it will become famous, and we will all make money. It takes years for a business to become profitable, and we are just in our second year. Very sad.

My tomatoes are finally growing well in the sunroom. The weeds outside are doing well too! It’s been so miserable, that things outside have had very little attention so everything is looking rather ragged at the moment. Maybe I’ll do some weeding today, put on my iPod music and sit in the sun.

I did find a couple of dress patterns for my summer clothes, but haven’t set up my machine yet. I’ve been dragging, but really must get myself in gear. I need to go through all the cupboards and boxes and discard stuff. Consolidate. Photos are about all I will save. The rest can go to Goodwill! Although, on second thoughts, there are things that I have saved for years: my Belize drum, jippy jappy baskets, Zulu baskets, beads. I can’t just get rid of them. So I guess I pack them up and store them until I am settled somewhere – wherever and whenever that might be.

 

Making progress

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My CD’s arrived yesterday, so I can load them on my iPod and start my Spanish learning process. The instructions tell me to work on it 30 minutes a day, so I should be able to squeeze that into my busy schedule!

It doesn’t look like I will be driving down to Panama, at least not with Betsy. She has too many other things going on to take that much time to do it. But Susan said she wants to drive so I am going to start the process of getting the paperwork in order to do that. I don’t know how much time to allow us yet. Her plans are starting to solidify too, but getting things into sync with mine is going to take some doing. But all fun.

Went out with “the girls” last night to Mezzaluna, the bar at the Silverwater. Just Susan, Mardelle and Teresa. Missed Janet but not the guys. Maybe we will do this instead of potlucks.

The conversations are always wild! It’s like we have been penned up in solitary, and everything burbles to the top and spills out! It’s a good thing we were in an alcove so no one could really hear what we were talking about. We laughed and laughed, a couple of drinks, some food then the long drive home.

And wouldn’t you know, I look in my rear view mirror and see the blue and red flashing lights and I think, “Oh S***! did I run a light or something (there is only one I could have run and I was pretty sure I hadn’t) so I pull over. Sheesh, a couple of drinks for the first time in eons and I get pulled over? So I reach over to get my insurance etc, and there is a tap on the passenger side window. A very young cop – actually I think they all very young now – says, “I pulled you over because your one headlight is out!” I was just hoping he couldn’t smell wine on me, but the food I had was full of garlic so think that masked it! He said he saw me using my brights and realized I hadn’t noticed that the right headlight was out, so he was very pleasant and I was grateful he told me. I just happen to have the spare bulb in the glove box because the left one was out a couple of months ago.

But I thought, “Whew! good thing I didn’t have more to drink, certainly don’t need a DUI!”

 

Moving forward

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Now that I have made the decision to be out of here by November, I am looking at what I need to do to get to Panama.

No decision yet on where I will land, and it looks like Susan will come with me. That will make it a bit less daunting! And definitely more fun.

I have to look at what I want my life to look like, and what I want in it every day and warm water and swimming tops the list. Then comes the internet (so I can work or I wouldn’t be able to do this) and a place to live. For sure I don’t want to be in one of the developments being built for expats. I mean, really, if you are going to live in a different country/culture, why not live it? Not take the US with you and expect it to be like it is here – besides, I don’t want here!

So I think will happen is that I will go in November for at least three months (90 day visa) then reassess, maybe move to a different area but at 90 days you have to leave the country for 72 hours then come back in for another 90 days. So side trip to Costa Rica every three months. I won’t look at permanent residency or anything like that for a while, until I am sure it is where I want to be.

Where are they?

Now why wouldn't I want to be here?

There are a lot of options – beach, mountains, city, whatever. The area of Boca del Toro in the islands sounds wonderful and I could get all the swimming and snorkeling I want. It looks a lot like Tahiti, with crystal clear water, houses over the water, flowers… mmmmm.

Another option, although not on the water is a small town on the east side of the country. It’s called Boquete, and altitude is about 3600 feet (1,000 meters) so doesn’t get as hot as the coast. And it reminds me of Kloof with all the green and flowers and hills. It definitely appears to be more “civilized” than the islands but no water. But good internet and a lot of places to stay.

Then there are small mountain towns and beach towns that I still need to research. But the basic plan is to work on the editing, save some money, enjoy the summer (if it ever gets here) and leave before next winter. I will sell my car and buy a clunker down there. And the kitties will stay here with Chris until I am settled and then I will fly them down there. They will have to lose a lot of fur!

The editing is going well, low stress, no deadlines or pressure. And while I’m not doing that, I am getting my vege garden going. Instead of digging up the front lawn, I put it down the side of the sunroom in two raised beds. Today I added some really good compost and sphagnum moss and it will most likely rain tonight (why wouldn’t it? it has every night for as long as I can remember) to settle it and then will get some organic seedlings tomorrow. Brussels sprouts, lettuce, carrots, kale, cabbage, radishes. I have a whole lot of tomatoes started in the sunroom. They just don’t do well outside. Not enough sun or heat.

And I will start sewing some summer dresses!

 

Life moves in mysterious ways

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We all know the saying, “Be careful what you wish for, it might come true.”

Sometimes, we just get so mired in the muck and life seems so confusing and empty, but we keep wishing and hoping and visualizing the life we want to live.

I’ve had a dream for eons; living somewhere warm where the sea is warm too, somewhere I can afford, where I can make a reasonable living and there is good internet.

Over the years, I’ve researched hundreds of places, thought about, looked at pictures, talked and talked and talked about it. I was pretty sure the place would be Central/South America. I thought long and hard about going home to South Africa, but the more I hear from the family, the more I realize that it would be a dead end for me. Of course, I will always go to visit, but not to stay.

Then along came mymixednuts, and I thought, OK, I can work on this, stash a little cash, and when it has grown up, we can sell it and I can retire with some of the proceeds. Or I could set up the management part online so I could do it from anywhere.

Well, that is basically upside down. And it put me in a very interesting spot. Seeing as I turned 62, Social Security is available. Now I hadn’t thought about taking it early, because I believed I would be working and making enough I wouldn’t need it. Then I thought, “Hmm, why don’t I take a look at how that will change things.”

And lo and behold, the whole picture changed. Not my dream, which is now closer than I ever, but how I can actually do it.

As I searched through the countries I might go to, there were a few leaders; Panama, Mexico, Ecuador and Nicaragua. Panama has always been my first choice and that is still the direction I am heading. It has everything I want, the sun, the sea, the internet.

And why the internet? Because I am creating an income now, online!

A long time ago, I saw an ad for copy editors but when I saw how little they pay, I passed it by. Then recently, it popped up again, and being in a totally different place in my life, I took another look, and voila! it works! With the social security that I get starting next month, and working 20-25 hours a week, I can make a comfortable living. Not here, but somewhere south.

I expect at some stage, it might get boring, but right now, the lack of pressure and the freedom it allows, is wonderful. If that happens, then I can look for something more stimulating. When I am in my new country then I can write again, doing articles like I did for Country Life in South Africa. Don’t know who I will sell them to but that really doesn’t matter right now.

mymixednuts will get wrapped up, if anyone ever bothers to respond to any emails. Today, if I haven’t heard anything, I will complete the list of user names and passwords, take myself off all the accounts, change the bank info, and send the key to the warehouse and list to Brian or Annie.

Looking towards the future, I want to be out of here by October/November so no more winters.

On another note, spring MAY have sprung, my tulips are sort of flowering, the trees have a lovely soft green blush, the osprey is back and so are the Canadian geese. It doesn’t get quite to freezing at night and if the wind doesn’t blow, it’s warm in the sun. Oh, and we have a harbor seal coming visiting on a high tide, not that that has anything to do with spring.

Moving forward

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It’s ages since I did any writing at all. There has just been sooo much going on…

It’s actually the beginning of May since the last post; just after Scott died. It seems a lifetime ago.

Now here we are, the day after independence day, past mid-summer and I am still wearing fleece and furry slippers, with the heat on. The weather people have been predicting sun and warmth for days but I have given up on them. Every day is the same, gray and dreary in the mornings, usually drizzly, then sometimes burning off in the late afternoon when everyone rushes outside to catch some rays. But the temperature doesn’t rise enough, although the light is wonderful then.

So it is definitely time for me to leave this place. The weather has a profound affect on how I feel both physically and mentally. With that in mind, I am formulating a plan and it goes something like this – and always subject to change!

First the house: As I am not going to be able to keep it, I will stay here as long as I can until the bank takes it back. Along with that comes the loan from Ghen that I have that needs to be paid back. This is the money I borrowed through Ryan to pay Chris off when he went to Florida and quit claimed the house to me. He is the only one who has made any money on our properties! The money I won’t be paying on the mortgage will go to Ghen. It is actually a relief to let the house go. It has been difficult trying to hang on to it as I do love the location on the water, and the house is so liveable and comfy; I have become quite attached to it. I’ve been here six years now, the longest I have been in one house in my entire adult life! But I have pared back my lifestyle to where I live so simply and with so little “stuff.” I sold just about everything at my big garage sale last summer and have never replaced it, so the physical move will be easy.

Once the house goes, I will move myself and the business down to Southern California somewhere. The business will have to go into a warehouse/office type place as I won’t be able to afford to get a house with a garage, and besides, the way the business is growing, pretty soon it will be too big for a garage anyway. Once there, I will continue to grow the business, but look at bringing someone else in to run it. More on that aspect in a bit.

Then in the next couple of years, I want to be down in Central America somewhere, close to or on the beach, where I can live cheaply and the medical system is good. Next year I can get social security, not a whole lot, but there are countries there where I can live on it, very frugally. But I am used to living that way now, so it won’t be a big change. I have a feeling that the place will be Panama – they have a great medical system, the weather is good, there is lots of sun and beautiful beaches and it doesn’t get cold. Susan will be gone most of this winter for 3-4 months and Janet is already spending 8 months in Mexico and the thought of being up here and enduring a winter without my two dearest friends is very depressing.

Mymixednuts will continue to grow. And if possible I can do a lot of the work from anywhere in the world. It’s the physical aspect of it that needs someone to run it. And if it is in SoCal, then it will be close to the other partners ( I am supposed to get an equity share in September) who can keep an eye on things.

Doing this business has been an amazing experience, something I would never have thought I could do. But it’s amazing what we can accomplish when we are faced with a do or die situation. Every step of the way has been a challenge, and new ones present themselves every day. It is getting to the point now, where at times it is too much for one person to handle, and I have been really blessed to have Susan step in to help, and been able to hire a young man for half a day to help with a big order. Taking it to the next level is going to need more expertise I think. I’ve been operating by the seat of my pants, doing what’s in front of me but now I am going to need help planning out the next steps. It is a viable business, but needs more than the Mom and Pop take on it. Our marketing people are doing a great job, and the accountant is doing the basic books, but we are going to need inventory management etc etc. And that is beyond my accounting/math/whatever skills.

But creating the site and business has definitely given me the confidence to move ahead, on my own. It’s scary thinking about the future by myself, but now I know I can do it without anyone else around to help. Ryan has always been there in the background, online and on the phone, and his support has been invaluable. But it would really have been good to have a partner here. But I know I can do it without someone, so I guess that is the lesson in all this.

So I need to continue to develop other streams of income, while keeping MMN going; work that I can take with me wherever I go. The Kangen water business is one of those and I continue to drink copious amounts and totally believe in. My health would not be anywhere near what it is now without the water.

And then there is the writing side of things that I have let go. Ryan wants me to write a book but I don’t know if I have the staying power – I am so used to writing articles that something book length is intimidating. Then there is writing for the web and that is all about building a brand for myself. But if I put as much effort into that as I have into MMN, it should work.

I am exploring options. Working the long hard hours that I have in the past month are not what I have in mind for the next part of my life. It takes too much out of me physically, and thus, mentally. And I want to spend more of my time doing things that I have laid aside for years – like creative cooking and sewing and even using my camera which sits languishing on my desk, used only to take pix of nuts! And I want to make enough, or more than enough, to be able to travel back and forth from wherever I am to see family and friends, wherever they may be – Southern California, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico.

And of course, writing too. Today is a holiday so I don’t feel guilty taking time to even write this blog. And this is cathartic, putting it all down and out there makes my plan more real. I’ve been floating too long with no direction, simply putting one step ahead of the last, but now it’s time.

Spring has sprung

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I shouldn’t say “finally,” but Spring is here for sure now. The first tulips are open, the fruit trees are in full bloom, and the grass needs mowing! 
So now there is color popping up all over the place, and that is what turns this place into one of the most beautiful places to be – in the spring and summer! The weather is warming up, the heater doesn’t come on nearly as much, and I can be outside without being totally bundled up! Definitely not barefoot weather yet, but doable. Today I will do some weeding, which for me is quite therapeutic. The weeds are growing faster than the flowers and am thinking that some of them are quite pretty, so maybe should cultivate them, instead of the ornamentals! It would make my life simpler, for sure.
My trip south for my birthday week was absolutely one of the best! I felt so good, and I think part of that is that I am feeling so healthy! I did miss my water, though and the water in LA is SO bad that I had to resort to drinking bottled water, which just about kills me to do, knowing what I know about it. But it is a step up from the tap water. 
Just spending time with family and friends is so important to me. And now I must fill out paperwork for a loan modification on this house and I have decided that if I can get the loan down to a reasonable amount, I will put a renter in here to cover it and then move down south somehow. Don’t know how, yet, but it will figure itself out as I go ahead.
And when I do move, I will simply rent a truck, load the nuts and what I want to take in the back and kitties in the cab, hook the car up behind it and head south. It will mean finding a place to pack nuts, but I don’t think that will be too difficult – if it comes down to it, we can use Ryan’s garage. 
MyMixedNuts relauch will happen in the next couple of weeks. It has been a long slog, getting the stuff redone, with the developers and designers getting flu in the middle of it and slowing things down. And also, for some reason, they were not “getting” what it is we are trying to do, but finally I think we are there. So the new pages should be live next week for testing, the wicked-pr will start the media blitz, which means for me, I will be packing a lot of nuts! They are planning to send out sample bags to at least 50 media outlets so I have to be prepared for that, and will have more details on Monday. 
But it has been interesting as I learn more about SEO (search engine optimization) and all the internal linking within a site that makes it more searchable by google and other search engines. And once I have the new pages, it means a lot of content production, so I am going to be very busy. 
But I am going to have to find more work, as my income is just not enough – at the moment it barely covers my expenses and this is not how I want to be living. I would love to be able to do the writing and photography sort of thing I was doing for Country Life, writing about the social upliftment programs and stuff like that in South Africa. It would be optimum to be working for a NGO that needed stories and pictures like that who would send me to do them. It always felt so good to be able to help – mainly the women – the way the articles helped, by bringing new business to them, and showcasing what they are accomplishing. Although I wasn’t volunteering or contributing to them financially, I knew I was helping in other ways.
So I have my work cut out for me, but I love being busy and having a goal. Now, Hinckley, off my lap, time for me to get dressed, and out in the garden to soothe my soul.

Garage Sale Weekend

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It was a lot of work getting ready for this, but boy, was it worth it! It’s amazing what people will buy – and amazing that I had it there, ready for them! I kept finding stuff in the the storage cupboards in the garage that Chris had left – bags and bags of steel wool, sandpaper of every different grit, hand tools and boxes and bottles of nuts, bolts and screws. And things like come-alongs – five of them. Cables and fasteners and just stuff. And people loved it. Of course, there was other stuff, typical garage sale things like excess kitchen tools, mugs and things.

Yesterday was the main day and lucky for me it dawned clear and sunny. I planned to open up at 9, so at about 8 ran the sign to the top of the road near the highway. A woman stopped, and said. “Can I follow you?” and there I was, hardly any coffee, no breakfast already open for business. I am so grateful to Janet and Susan who helped me out. Janet was there at 8 yesterday and I don’t think I could have done it without her. She kept everything organized and as things sold, moved things around, staged stuff and generally was amazing. By 2pm, I was ready to close up shop, but people kept showing up, so I kept taking their money, and finally closed up around 3:30.

One of my neighbors bought one of the crab traps, and joking, I said, “Part of the deal is that you have to bring me a crab.” Well, there I was across the street with a glass of wine, and he drove up and said, “I have your crab, two of them.” How wonderful was that? So I rushed home and got the water on to boil, took the crab in the bucket down onto the dock, grabbed a back leg and slammed him against the dock (I learned that trick from an old fisherman years ago) then peeled off the carapace and cleaned it out. Then dispatched the second one. Popped them in the pot and 8 minutes later was on the deck with a nice chilled Chardonnay, drawn butter and a whole Dungeness crab. My kind of heaven.

Today I woke up to pouring rain and a howling gale, and thought how lucky I was to have started the sale yesterday. It began slowly, but the weather cleared and people came out. So though it wasn’t as busy, Susan, who came down to help, and I did well. It is so helpful to have someone else there, and more fun too as we could laugh and joke about what was going on.

I met people, neighbors, who I had never seen before and we have been there for five years! Everyone wants to know where I am going, and most want to know if Hinckley if going too! As if I would leave my boys behind, but he is such the community cat, people are going to miss him.

With business much slower, Susan and I decided to take in a movie, so I drove up to Port Townsend and we went to the matinee of Julie and Julia! What fun that was. So lighthearted and funny, just what the doctor ordered. It also made me inspired again to cook. But I find it very boring to just cook for myself. I love to cook for others, to share the joys of a successful creation and even the flops, resorting to a tuna sandwich when the chef’s results are dismal.

The house feels different…furniture gone or moved out to the garage. The boys know something is up and are staying close to home. It’s time for me to move on, and I know the person who is just the right renter is just around the corner.