Books are in boxes, and the bookshelves are now being used to store some stray garage sale and Goodwill things, plus a few things I'm as yet undecided where to put (store, sell, move, or donate). (See, Lissy, I really am busy packing!)If I have time and inclination, I might post a few more things before I go-- maybe, maybe not-- maybe some pictures and a few light words, but nothing big. There is at least one more thing I want to say for sure, but I have a good two weeks before this computer will be shut down and packed, so there's no hurry. I think I'll turn off comments for any future posts I write since you've all already said good-bye and so many nice things. I'll just ease out of my blog and fade away... :-)
I'll go ahead and leave the blog up for at least awhile for those of you who said you'd like to have a chance to read it some more. I haven't made a longterm decision yet regarding that, but I will not, for sure, resume this blog again in the future. (Just wanting to let you know that I'm sure about this.)
Anyway!
I made cinnamon-banana smoothies for everyone who was here this bright, sunny morning, then I took an early walk down the road with the dog. Afterward, before it got hot, I sat in the sun on the deck for a little while to read, and then I got busy. I cleaned out all of the cupboards in the kitchen, living room, and dining rooms, sorting and packing as I went.
We've lived in this house for almost 13 years, and as I empty cupboards and go through my things, memories are stirred, and I tell Michelle stories of where things came from and what they mean to me. Aaron's plastic airplane spoon-- his first. The antique Neill's strawberry jam crock that was sold as a base for a lamp that I bought in England twenty-some years ago. The driftwood frame with shells on it that my Dad made for me. The glass candy jar that sat on Grammy's small, antique cupboard when I was a little girl (sometimes it was filled with old fashioned hard candies, and sometimes it was full of nuts). Things the kids made or collected while we lived here. So many good things. We are, and have been, blessed.
Some of this stuff is hard to wrap and place in a box because I don't want to store it away, but other things I'm happily discarding. Moving is a chance to gain a bit of freedom from possessions, even for someone like me who regularly gets ruthless about discarding and decluttering.
As for eating, our meals were light today. I made a beet and apple salad with orange vinaigrette as part of dinner, and it was extra refreshing and delicious on this warm day.
As long as I'm here, I'll keep enjoying our sky. I just love the blue sky and the type of clouds we get here. Weather was perfect today. 80 degrees in the desert dry air is quite comfortable. I love our clear, black night sky, too. One of the gifts of living in the country, in clear air like we have here, is the amazing view we get of the stars.
I'm glad to have my daughter and grandsons here while we sort through things and prepare to move. Michelle is a hard worker and always gladly jumps right in to help without being asked. She's seventeen or eighteen weeks pregnant now, and we're all excited to find out in a week or two what the next baby will be.
Roman draws a "guy" and a "bug."And now it's dark, the air is refreshingly cool, frogs are croaking, and a skyful of stars are twinkling. I'm going to clean up the random messes that litter the house, find a good book, and settle in for some reading.
