You knew it had to happen. The summer is coming to an end and we are now at Labor (Labour) Day. Many school districts are back in session and others are getting ready to open up. The Delta Variant is raising havoc in certain parts of the country and world and we are just trying to get from one day to the next. We are up to our eyeballs in packing up our house in South Carolina. It has been a great run but it is time to consolidate. We will miss so many of our friends here but we do intend to keep visiting as long as we can.

So backup a little. There is always a story and we have a few from this past week. Last weekend we were in Asheville visiting our wonderful family there and spending time with Edie. We had some car issues on our way up there with a check engine light on and no air conditioning. We dropped the car off at Hunter Volvo in Asheville and left it in their capable hands for the weekend. The story doesn’t stop there.

Monday

We were using Margot’s car while ours was being looked after so I offered to drive Edie to her daycare on Monday morning. We are pretty good at getting around Asheville although it does flummox me because everything is East/West/North/South and I don’t do that sort of thing well. Tell me to turn right or left and I am ok but tell me to go East on Route ?? and I haven’t a clue. Anyway. I picked up Edie and off we went to her daycare/school. I pulled into the driveway and was absolutely blown away by the fact that the biggest black bear I have ever seen was less than two car lengths in front of me in the drive. He looked at me and not being impressed ambled his way behind the house. I’m used to seeing them in New Hampshire but certainly not in the middle of a city, in a driveway, at my grandchild’s daycare. Took me awhile to slow my heart beat. Needless to say I did not linger in dropping Edie off but got her into the house and left as quickly as I could.

Meanwhile the car was sitting and waiting for the Critical By Pass Valve to be shipped. Other items had been fixed by now. We had hopes of a noon departure on Tuesday. Hopes that were soon dashed.

We did manage to make lemonade out of lemons and were able to find some good friends who had moved to the area a couple of years ago. We made a date to find them and to go out for lunch. They live in a spectacular place with a view of Mount Pisgah right off their deck. The road to get to them was one that I wouldn’t want to drive in the dark nor in the winter but once there it is absolutely stunning. We had not seen Al and Holly for a few years so we were delighted to be able to catch up with them in their new home. I think the North Carolina weather appeals to them. Mountain air and all that. They used to live in Charleston. It is somewhat more peaceful up in the mountains and it is not anywhere near as hot and humid. Holly has also taken up bee keeping and seems to have some very happy bees. They didn’t sting any of us while we were there but we did see quite a few of them.

Tuesday

We once again took Edie to her “school” and did not encounter any bears this time. Amazing how little ones adapt so quickly. It was perfectly normal to her that her grandmother and grandfather would pick her up and take her. She happily went with us and chattered all the way there. We were so hopeful for good news and went back to our B&B to wait til we could pick up the car. I called at 11 and was told that it would be another couple of hours due to a few delays and the labor that was involved in replacing the Critical By Pass Valve – I guess one has to take apart a bit of the engine. Disappointed we managed to find something to do and then called again at 1:00 and were told we could make our way out to the dealer’s as it would be ready in half an hour or so. Yippee. We checked out and headed that way. We got there and were told the car was out for a test drive but back soon. Our wonderful service person had to leave for a doctor’s appointment but young Max would be happy to take care of us. He found us in the waiting room watching HGTV (what else). He said the good news is that everything looked good BUT the battery was running at 15% and he couldn’t guarantee that the car would start if we turned it off. Unfortunately he did not have a battery in stock and would have to order one. This would be at least a day if not two days delay. However he would call around and see if he could find a battery for us. He went off to the phone and I sat down to fume. Turned to John and said “you know they have 40 cars on the lot with new batteries in them why couldn’t then swap one out for our car” I went and told young Max my thoughts and he said it was a pretty good idea and he would check with his manager. Since it was clearly their fault that they had not discovered this after having the car since Friday they were anxious to be helpful. We got a new battery with a 3-year warranty and were out of there by 3pm. Drove Margot’s car home and we were on the road by 4:02 with a full tank of gas. We arrived back in South Carolina at 9:02. Enough of an adventure thankyou.

Wednesday/Thursday/Friday

We packed like crazy. John made so many trips to the dump and to the St. Francis Center and we sold a few more items that were down to the last of the packing. We actually were able to play golf by Thursday afternoon. I am ready for the moving van to get here and to get us on the road back to New Hampshire. I think Wyke is depressed because it is too hot for him here. Even with air conditioning. It is not what we are used to. We signed our side of the papers and cleaned the garage on Thursday. It felt pretty good as we were able to relax and enjoy visiting with some of our friends before we leave. It has been a great 21 years here either as non-resident members and then as resident members. It’s a wonderful place and great people.

Sunday

The last in person church service we attended was in March of 2020 when the Covid 19 really became an issue. We went to our little church St. Mark’s Port Royal attending a funeral on Saturday and then church on Sunday. Little did we know that it would be 18 months before we would attend church in person again and once again it would be (with masks) at St. Mark’s. After church we went out to lunch with our good friends to celebrate our time together and to wish us all well. The church has gone through a complete metamorphosis as it was completely remodeled during this time and is now bigger and brighter but still just as wonderful and full of joy. We will miss them all.

Meantime Back at Jenny Lane

The guys ran out of shingles and since John is not there, Chris had to paint some more to finish things up. I thought John’s clothesline was great but take a look at the professional’s clothesline. As a result they are almost finished shingling the outside of the new addition.

All the outside window trim is done too. Now I can’t wait to actually get it painted. What a difference it will be.

The inside was also painted this weekend. Herbie came on Friday and Saturday and got the upstairs ceilings done and the walls in the living room and hallway. John and I had painted all the trim so his part was well defined and he was able to get it done in two days. I had a Facetime tour with Katie and it looks wonderful.

So we carry on. Jenny Lane is getting ready for the things from South Reeve Road that we will move up there. The current living room will move to the bonus room and we will once again move bedrooms around but I think we will then be done with moving furniture for awhile. We hope we can hire some strong bodies to help us out because it is beyond us to move sofas and beds up and down stairs. Since the walls are now painted we can even hang pictures when we get home.

My Favorite Breakfast

Avocado Toast by Cookie and Kate

Just a quick note about food and exercise. I have been much better about walking this week and I thoroughly enjoyed my first every Avocado Toast breakfast. It was delicious and I certainly plan to make it when I get home. The trick is to make sure you have a lots of avocado and the pickled onion is a really nice touch. The bread was homemade, then the avocado, then cucumber, some half cherry tomatoes, the fried egg (I prefer poached) and more pickled onion. The best I had the whole trip. I added a link to some recipes for different versions of Avocado Toast if it is something you would like to try.

I’ve walked the dogs almost every day around the island and then we managed to get in three days of golf as well as all that went into packing and cleaning so it was a good week.