Count Down to Departure

It is now two weeks until we depart for our summer in Canada.  Over the last few weeks it has been very hot in South Carolina but unexpectedly this week the weather turned and it is gorgeous.  Clear, cool dry air that makes the sky even bluer and the trees greener.  The temperature hovers around 77 during the day and 55 in the night which is perfect for sleeping.  Perfect numbers.  It won’t last and the temperatures will go up again but when it is like this I really don’t want to leave.  It’s a big change to move our household up north for four months and that always makes me anxious.  I start planning in my head how to pack things up and what I need to take and what can be left behind.  I try to put a positive spin on the preparations as it is gives me an opportunity to do some major clutter clearing as I get organized.  A major opportunity presented itself this week because John bought a new car and we absolutely had to do a major, major de-clutter and clean in the garage or there was no way we were going to get two cars in there.  Of course I chose one of the hottest days of the week, before the lovely break in the weather, to accomplish this task.  As with all such projects it never seems to go the way I expected it to.  Before step one could take place I had to actually have a pre-step one step and that was to clean out the cupboard under the stairs.  This icky, dark, cupboard has not been cleaned out since we moved in seven years ago.  I wasn’t sure what I would find.  So, I started making piles.  I had a pile for the Franciscan Center of goods that were able to be donated for a second life, a pile for the dump that was garbage, a pile for the recycle bins and a pile that we were going to keep such as garden tools.  John just shook his head and went into his office but once he saw that there actually was a method to my madness, he came out and helped which made things go much better.  He made two trips to the transfer station which removed quite a few of the piles and he made a trip to the Franciscan Center.  I found a pile of bricks under the stairs and was able to .make a shelf in that dark cupboard which enabled me to stack items off the floor and also under the shelf.  Was quite proud of that invention.  I put away all the power tools as they won’t be needed for quite awhile, stacked up coolers, and put the rack with all the golf shoes, tennis shoes, work shoes and tennis rackets into the cupboard.  Once all was cleared off the floor it was swept and vacuumed and by golly, we got two cars into it.  A very satisfactory end to the project.

I really like to have someone live in the house when we are not here but had decided not to push to rent it as that takes a great deal of preparation.  However, a friend of a friend needs a place to live for three or four months this summer starting in June so I have agreed to let her live here while we are gone.  It makes a big difference to me the reason behind doing something, and helping someone out who is moving to the area is different in my mind than listing a house for rent and making it a business proposition.  She will pay a little rent which will cover the utilities and the maintenance and she will water the houseplants.  This makes me smile.  She is an acupuncturist and holistic health professional which is wonderful and I am glad to be able to support her move here.

The Eyes Have It

On Friday I had my final cataract checkup.  I knew that my eyes were doing well because the day we picked up John’s car I had to drive home in the dark for the first time in a year and half and I actually could see!!!  I was so pleased because that has been something that I just could not do.  The lights would blind me and they all had halos around them.  Very scary so I just didn’t drive at night.  In fact, I didn’t drive much at all because I couldn’t read road signs and my depth perception was weird.  Now my eyes are good.  They are 20/20 in both and that makes me and the surgeon very happy.  Since we now have two cars to drive north I will also be driving a long distance again.  I haven’t driven more than two hours in the last few years so this will be a big adventure for us both.  It also means we will have plenty of room for the fur babies and our golf clubs and all those bags!!!!!

Wonderful week of visitors from Colorado and Connecticut.  A childhood friend of John’s who moved to Colorado many years ago came with his wife to see us and to play a round of golf.  They had been in Hilton Head with his sister and had played golf with our friends from Connecticut, the Lincolns, during the week.  It is again amazing to me how small the world is.  Traditionally we have visited with a group of friends who come from West Hartford every year around the first week of May to play golf in Hilton Head.  We drive over there and have dinner and sometimes we go early and play golf.  It is great to catch up with them as we knew them all when we lived in West Hartford in the 80’s and 90’s and John grew up with most of them.  Our lives have taken different paths but we seem to always come back to those folks so it is a special time.  The Lincolns join us here in November for Thanksgiving and again the tradition is to be together for The Kentucky Derby when they come in May.  There is nothing like the comfort of old friends amongst the new.

Mixing it Up

 

For some time I have been thinking about adding in some different exercise to my routine.  There is nothing I like more than my morning walk and all its different variations.  Sometimes I go by myself, bop along to Bruce Springsteen and get a good workout, sometimes I walk with the Winchester and John and we visit with everyone we meet, sometimes we go and explore a new route or checkout a new house that is being built or a lot that has been cleared.  One favorite walk is the golf course but that is only on Monday’s.  Well this week I decided to add bike riding so after my Monday morning walk I got out the bike, checked the tires, found my helmet and off I went on the golf course paths.  I thought how nice it was and really why had I waited so long to do this.  Part of it was because my balance and eyesight haven’t been good for awhile and I didn’t want to fall off the bike but also it hasn’t been an activity that I gave much thought to.  I did a bike ride after my walk again on Tuesday.  Until I get a better bicycle seat or better yet, a better bike, I don’t think I will do much more bike riding.  I do enjoy it but I wasn’t that comfortable.  However, while I was walking on Thursday a woman passed me with the most intriguing bike.  A three-wheeled recumbent bike.  On her second pass I stopped her and asked her about the bike and the best part was she said she could just keep going because the seat was comfortable.  She gets a good workout and doesn’t worry about falling off the bike.  Stay tuned, there might be another bike in my future.

 

Cooking up the Lemons

Finally we used the Preserved Lemons in a chicken dish this week.  They were absolutely delicious.  Very lemony, a little salty but not too much, and they added such a nice texture to the dish.   I said we were going to try them a couple of weeks ago but we didn’t.  However, John did a variation on the Moroccan Chicken recipe with some chicken we needed to use up from the freezer and we both enjoyed it very much.  They still sit on the counter in their glass jar, look pretty and now we know they taste great.  Worth a try.

[mpprecipe-recipe:89]