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In Which I Swim Like Mark Spitz
The best thing about Salt Pond Beach is how the waves crest over the rocks to the south, and then flow in a strong current northward. Going southward, that's a struggle, but a good one. But when you start heading back north, you're swimming very strongly, because the current is pushing you along.
It feels like you're Mark Spitz.
Obviously, I got to swim again today. After what feels like two weeks of rain, which boosted our humidity to the 80-90% range so that I was despairing for our books, and during which my straw hat was unable to dry because the bandana around it kept sweating, we finally got some sun today.
So, shortly after I ended my work day, my dad called and asked if I wanted to go swimming.
(Definitely!)
It was just my second swim day since we've arrived, and it was just as I'd always imagined: an early work day that allows me to swim in the afternoon.
And the rest of life goes on. We're not settled, not even close to settled. We have no bed, we have no coffee table, we have piles of boxes that requires shelves and cabinets and cubbies and drawers and armoires. We have a cavernous "family room" that we don't know what to do with. My office is still too bright. We have several pieces of furniture that I haven't put together.
But, we're growing ever more comfortable with living in our new home.
Day by day, I try to build one more piece of furniture, unbox something, and/or cut up more boxes in the garage.
(And I should note, we had our first furniture failure: a coffee table from Wayfair that arrived incorrectly made, with some latches for holding it together misaligned sufficiently that they wouldn't latch. Kimberly shared some photos with Wayfair, and they immediately agreed to send us a new one, and then we gave away the failed one to a local, who thinks he can drill the table out to make those latches work. So everyone did OK, even if it set us back a week or two in the quest for a completed living room.)
I continue driving every day or two, and am no longer tensing up just from being in the car. I'm getting more comfortable, but as I told my dad, I don't want to get too comfortable. I had more successful parking in the last few days at places that make me nervous.
I have a library card. But no (Hawaii) driver's license. I've finished the driver's guide book, but I'm not happy that I'm still running between 80-90% in every sample test I take, because that feels like it's one or two tough questions away from failure.
This is going to be a busy year too, but as I've said, hopefully not as stressful and tense as last year's was.
Meanwhile, back in Berkeley, work on our house continues. Gosh it's wonderful not being there and not even having to coordinate it at this point. All I have to do is send occasional checks or wires.
(I could do without that bit, but so goes.)
I got pictures of the painting a few days ago, and it looks very nice. I don't think we'll ever understand the scope of that work and how much it benefits the house, but the pictures look nice and hopefully we'll see the results in offers. And the landscaping work has finished and looks very nice too.
We're now less than a week away from the painting being done, and then some final cleaning and we're done. Our house is supposed to go on the market in two weeks.
And hopefully within a month or two we'll be free of California entirely.
It feels like you're Mark Spitz.
Obviously, I got to swim again today. After what feels like two weeks of rain, which boosted our humidity to the 80-90% range so that I was despairing for our books, and during which my straw hat was unable to dry because the bandana around it kept sweating, we finally got some sun today.
So, shortly after I ended my work day, my dad called and asked if I wanted to go swimming.
(Definitely!)
It was just my second swim day since we've arrived, and it was just as I'd always imagined: an early work day that allows me to swim in the afternoon.
And the rest of life goes on. We're not settled, not even close to settled. We have no bed, we have no coffee table, we have piles of boxes that requires shelves and cabinets and cubbies and drawers and armoires. We have a cavernous "family room" that we don't know what to do with. My office is still too bright. We have several pieces of furniture that I haven't put together.
But, we're growing ever more comfortable with living in our new home.
Day by day, I try to build one more piece of furniture, unbox something, and/or cut up more boxes in the garage.
(And I should note, we had our first furniture failure: a coffee table from Wayfair that arrived incorrectly made, with some latches for holding it together misaligned sufficiently that they wouldn't latch. Kimberly shared some photos with Wayfair, and they immediately agreed to send us a new one, and then we gave away the failed one to a local, who thinks he can drill the table out to make those latches work. So everyone did OK, even if it set us back a week or two in the quest for a completed living room.)
I continue driving every day or two, and am no longer tensing up just from being in the car. I'm getting more comfortable, but as I told my dad, I don't want to get too comfortable. I had more successful parking in the last few days at places that make me nervous.
I have a library card. But no (Hawaii) driver's license. I've finished the driver's guide book, but I'm not happy that I'm still running between 80-90% in every sample test I take, because that feels like it's one or two tough questions away from failure.
This is going to be a busy year too, but as I've said, hopefully not as stressful and tense as last year's was.
Meanwhile, back in Berkeley, work on our house continues. Gosh it's wonderful not being there and not even having to coordinate it at this point. All I have to do is send occasional checks or wires.
(I could do without that bit, but so goes.)
I got pictures of the painting a few days ago, and it looks very nice. I don't think we'll ever understand the scope of that work and how much it benefits the house, but the pictures look nice and hopefully we'll see the results in offers. And the landscaping work has finished and looks very nice too.
We're now less than a week away from the painting being done, and then some final cleaning and we're done. Our house is supposed to go on the market in two weeks.
And hopefully within a month or two we'll be free of California entirely.