Happy New Year!

Well, I was going to write a separate end of year summary, but it occurred to me some folks may not have seen our “Off to Whidbey Island” blog written over the summer while we made the decision to move, so, I decided to just add this to the blog in case anyone wants to read it. If you do, it begins at: http://offtowhidbey.blogspot.com/ and includes most of our year to that (now infamous for us) date in June.

We’ve been on Whidbey Island, WA five months now, and despite the cold, darkness, rain, and today as I write, snow! we love it. Of course we still have at least another 5 months to go before warmer weather, so, as always, stay tuned.

Looks like I stopped the blog in September when we were about to attend the world-famous wooden boat show in Port Townsend and I was about to start marimba lessons, both of which we did. Here, a representative, one of thousands, of the boats at the show. The place was full of these exquisite beauties. If you like wood and boats as much as Dave does you shouldn’t miss it. http://www.woodenboat.org/festival/

Marimba: Here’s a video of my marimba teacher, Dana Moffett, teaching our class. Dana is one of the most upbeat, positive, fun individuals I’ve ever met. We ALWAYS leave lessons feeling we’ve done our best and, as important, we've had a LOT of fun! She’s in Zimbabwe until February, doing good deeds so lessons are on hold for awhile. You can read an article about her and her husband, two of Langley's Local heroes, here.

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Some of my beloved women friends from San Diego

visited in September, to see our new house, (here we are in our kitchen) and to just hang out at this beautiful old farm house above where we stayed, about halfway up the island.

Fall in the Pacific Northwest is something to behold. Having lived in California most of our lives, we’ve seen only snippets of Fall's beauty through the years. Here on the island we got the whole enchilada, and finally understand why people make such a big fuss about missing seasons when they move to California. There’s really nothing like Fall. Trees/shrubs were like this EVERYWHERE, even along freeways, in September, October, and part of November.

In late October, we traveled South to my home town of Victorville, CA, for my FIFTIETH high school reunion. What fun keeping up with these folks over the fifty years since we graduated having attended most reunions every 5 years since 1960. Watch an amusing video of a few of us playing 1960 local trivia here, and if you're interested (now now, some might be!), you can see the reunion WEB site here.

Dave's dad, Walt, and wife JoEn, made a brief visit in November to see our new home. Here's a photo of them in Langley, our town, with a view of the Puget Sound behind. No, that is NOT a fake background; it's the real thing!

We were to spend Thanksgiving in Eastern Washington where long-time friends own a cabin, but alas, the Pacific Northwest had its blizzard of the year then. We didn't drive for four days, but did walk to Langley every day for one thing or another, or simply just to experience (for us) a real snowstorm. Here are a couple of videos, one of blizzard day (Dave calls it our Dr. Zhivago movie), one of the day after,

and a photo of "shoe chains", much like tire chains,

we subsequently bought to avoid bad falls on the ice. For Thanksgiving, we ended up next door, 50 feet away, at our friend Diane's home where all of us nearby strays with no family gathered.

Earlier this month, we flew to Phoenix, AZ to see Kate graduate from her MBA program at Thunderbird School of Global Manatement, in Glendale AZ (home of endless malls!). She was in Panama a few months back to become aquainted with international business practices first hand. Here she is with a pal in a downpour in Panama; then a photo doing one of her case studies at school (doesn't she LOOK like an MBA!); and finally marching at graduation. She'll spend 3 weeks living with a family in Peru beginning Jan 1 (Saturday!) to learn Spanish up close and personal.

Ben is still in the Bay Area managing his housecleaning business and doing acupuncture once in awhile. We're trying to get him up here for a visit, and when we do, they'll be LOTS of photos of him!

Dave's major project for this and next year is to get his 500 ft. garage in workshop order so he can make boat # 2! (Grace the Boat has yet to see water ;+} ). Here are a few photos of the garage as things stand now.

A few other events with photos:

I left my little yellow scooter behind in PG, but just recently bought another one to ride on the island when weather permits. Here it is:

I've learned to SPIN. Dave bought me a beautiful new Lendrum spinning wheel for my birthday/our anniversary. Thought I'd NEVER spin, but you just can't avoid it here. It seems every person into fiber here spins. Here I am opening my present!

Several times a week, we walk to Langley (about 2 miles round trip). Three weeks or so ago, on our way home, I heard a screech and said, "My God, WHAT is that", looked around, and saw two eagles perched atop this tree. We're following them now hoping they'll make a nest, but have been told they've been there for at least two years without one. We'll see.

Rabbits are EVERYWHERE on the island, but particularly interesting are the ones along the path we walk into town. They're blonde, so we've nicknamed them the Playboy Bunnies, and call their warren the Playboy Mansion. The path is adjacent to the Fairgrounds, and legend has it they escaped one year from the cages at the fair.

So, those are some of the highlights of the rest of our year. I'll update again in Summer.

We miss Grace, my mom, (known to many of you as the Mother of all Drives), who passed away in March, and made all this, and other amazingly good things happen for our family. Loss of loved ones leaves us all a bit empty and less than we were. We send comforting thoughts to those missing relatives and friends lost this year and in years past, and keep you, near and far from this big island in the Pacific Northwest, in our hearts. We wish you the very best in 2011.

Di & Dave (in 24° weather as I type)

A Person who is moving North is not making a mistake in my opinion.........Stuart Little

Note: The dates on these posts are not accurate. Putting them in this order was the only way I could make them go from first to last.......dd

(May) It's true as someone told me, You're a Northern California/California Gal (been in the state since I was 2), and we love the Monterey Peninsula; how could anyone not. However, despite the downturn in the economy it's one of the most expensive places to live in the United Sates. We rent; we could NEVER afford to buy anything here.

In June, we will drive to Whidbey Island, Washington for two weeks, look around for a place to rent and decide in which part of the Island we'd like to live (our current preference is Coopeville (http://www.centralwhidbeychamber.com/) BUT, we've found a house on the net we'll look at June 8th: http://www.southislandproperties.com/

(click on Homes for Rent at the left; then scroll down to "a home for you and your horse!").

As soon as/if we find a place to rent we'll move. That will probably be during the summer. We'll live there a full year to see if we can stand 1) the cold—it's about 10 degrees colder than the Monterey Peninsula and 2) the dark in winter. If, after a year, we like it even a little less than we love Pacific Grove, we'll buy a home. Homes that sell for a million + here on the peninsula can literally be bought for $300 - 500K on Whidbey. The Island is absolutely beautiful, and, of course, that's because it rains, it's cold, it snows, etc. We'll see ;+}........stay tuned.

We are NOT moving to be near family. My daughter Kathlyn used to live in Seattle, is now doing an MBA in Glendale AZ, but her home base is LA. We will probably see her as much in Washington as we do here! My son Ben lives in Kensington (next to Berkeley). If you ever need a SUPER, and I mean super! (I hate needles, and I've gotten treatments from him!) acupuncturist give him a try! http://acupuncturereliefclinic.com/default.aspx (shameless mom promotion here). What with email, video chats, ichat and all, our family DEFINITELY will stay in touch.

Another reason we're leaving at this time is because my 95 year old mother who lived in Monterey at the wonderful Park Lane (now "Classic Residence" (http://www.hyattclassic.com/) died March 27th. Though I miss her devilish, impish little self, there is little sorrow; it was way past time; she was so very very ready and so very very frail at the end. This was a woman who had played tennis until she was about 89 and lived by herself for the last 30 years; in the end she could barely walk and wanted out because she couldn't. With the folks at Park Lane, we took care of her the four years she was here, and thus were pretty much committed to staying here; many of you who have cared for aged parents will understand. For me it was a "bus person's holiday," something I would have had a MUCH more difficult time with had it not been for the love and support of my wonderful husband, many many friends, the staff at Park Lane, and the staff at a local hospice.................all angels in human clothing. I've always maintained people who work with older adults are special; I've seen it first hand with mom.

So, if you're interested, stay tuned to watch our progress, whatever it might be.

Di & Dave

If I can figure out how to do it, I'll post a couple of photos from my "final" going away dinner in Berkeley last Saturday. MUCH wine and champagne, MUCH good food, and just a few great people. My "sorta" boss, Guy Micco, (a hospice physician now) and I worked together for years. He cooked fabulous pizza, had many many cheeses, salad, and the desert, as they say, was to die for chocolate, and we listened to music long into the night. It was wonderful. You can see from the one photo of Ben and Dave, it was LATE!

For those of you who don't know, I retired in 2005, and moved to Pacific Grove with Dave. I still, however, published a monthly newsletter (http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~aging/) and managed a jobs in aging list serve, both of which I'm giving up June 30th. So, though I retired once, I'm REALLY retiring June 30th. The woman in the photo with me is Desi Owens who replaced me in 2005 at the Center. Together, she and Guy "run" the place now, and work hard at it; I know!

Summing up the last Week.

Hi, everyone! We've been so busy being on vacation I haven't had time to blog, let alone try to figure out how to do it! (Stacey, you & Pat were so good in Europe; don't know how you found time.)

So, we left our little PG cottage (left) June 3rd (today is the 9th), drove to Berkeley and had birthday lunch with son Ben, who turned 37 (!) that day (right), and then on up to Redding, CA where we spent that night.

On the road next day we crossed the border into Oregon, and stopped in Ashland to have lunch. (Had THE best veggie tamale I've ever had at this little hole in the wall).

Those of you who've been there know Ashland is a cutsie little town noted for its Shakespeare Festival; all Shakespeare all the time. Fun to stop for lunch but, wouldn't want to spend protracted time there; too much like Carmel which Dave refers to as "automobile by the sea"; you get the picture. I DID, of course, find a spectacular yarn shop. We spent that night in Eugene.

Finally crossed over into Washington June 5th. Had a yummy lunch in Olympia where Dave's boat building guru lives and builds boats. Avoided going through busy Seattle by catching

the ferry to Whidbey at Port Townsend. The day couldn't have been more sunny and spectacular. Not a cloud to be seen, so we had an almost 360 degree view of the snow-capped Olympia mountains from the ferry. We arrived at our destination on the island late afternoon.

We're staying at the home of the parents of a young woman who's about to become a mother and who is the partner of the son of a long long-time friend of mine. (That

clear?) The house is one of the most beautiful I've been in....small, but attention to every single detail, and wood everywhere. The appliances, all stainless steele, are even spectacular; dishwasher is running now; I can barely hear it.

Yesterday (June 8th) we saw the rental property we had seen on line and were interested in. It's a beautiful piece of property, but the house is just too too large for us. We DO want something bigger than our cottages in PG

where we can barely turn around in the kitchens and bathrooms, but this one was just way too big for us though it's difficult to get the idea from the photo at left.

So far we're most interested in a home in Langley designed by Ross Chapin, http://www.langleyhighlands.com/, (when you get to the site, click on Ross Chapin tours a cottage at the right; that is OUR potential house!) pioneer in the small house movement, and, we're told, who lives in a very small house himself with his family on the island despite his fame and probable ability to own something large and grand. He's very committed, like everyone here on the island, seems to be to "the green way of life" which, of course, we love. We promised ourselves to rent for a year, but I think may go back on that. We're talking to EVERYONE we can corner about weather, cost, depressing (or not) darkness and rain, boat docks, yarn stores (I'm going to a knitting group tonight in Langley). We have chosen the one we'd like to buy if we do. It has a HUGE garage that we could get the car into, AND, that Dave could continue building his boat in. The "tour" doesn't include the garage because Chapin doesn't believe in garages; he and his builder, we understand, have had arguments about including them.

Here's a slide show of the garden where we're staying.

More later..........xoxo Di

To buy or not to buy, THAT has been the question!

Well, we've about decided to B U Y, despite (some) advice to the contrary. Our rationalizations:

Buying/House: First, interest rates are as low as they've ever been; the housing market is as low as it's ever been, VERY affordable for us for a beautifully crafted home as opposed to the horrendous prices homes go for on the Peninsula or anywhere on the coast of CA either for rent OR for purchasing. Our niece Becca, whose husband's buying land to develop is VERY busy right now anticipating an upturn in the market next year. If that happened and we didn't buy now, we'd kick ourselves in the toosh for having passed up this opportunity. As the saying goes: BUY LOW! If we're "stuck" here, chances are we'll be stuck on the high side of the market rather than the low, and if not, hey, we have a roof over our heads forever! Second: Many people, including lender at Wells Fargo, are somewhat incredulous that we're not buying a big piece of land with a large house for the money we'll pay for the one we're buying. Property, relative to ideal places to buy in CA, is incredibly cheap here. We saw a home in the woods on 10 or so acres yesterday for $375,000 that would EASILY go for a million or two in our current neck of the woods (you all should come by/buy!). But, this little development is perfect for us. We're too old for tons of land, and, we want to be close to a town to walk to like we are now in PG. Also, Chapin is one of the finest, "committed green" architects in the country which is important to us, me especially. Third: This house, for its size of 1,400 feet, has THE biggest garage (about 500 sq. feet itself which makes the house about 1,900 sq. feet) ever for Dave to have a dream of a workshop in which to work, and will make him happy the rest of our lives—at least the rest during which he's actually able to work! End of that rationalization!

Location We've been vacationing North for years; have always loved the Pacific Northwest and Canada. I fell in love with Whidbey Island the first time I stepped foot on it, then dragged Dave here to see it, and being the sailor he is he liked it too. Additionally, Langley, the little town to which we'll be attached at the bottom of the island, is not unlike where we live now, slightly smaller, but every bit as charming and, so important, a 3/4 of a mile walk from "our" house, and a short drive (5 miles maybe?) to the ferry to get to Seattle which I also love (I think Dave could stay out of cities for the rest of his life!).

Yesterday we went to the South Island Framers Market, which, quite frankly, sold me. We have a fabulous market

in Monterey at the community college Thursdays; this one was even more fabulous (reminded me of a small version of a GD parking lot scene, El!). Sold! Talked with a knitter who moved here 18 years ago from the San Fernando Valley and never looked back; see her 3 alpacas in the photos. She and her husband love it here; she sells beautiful alpaca felted hats, and we're going to start a knitting group when we move up ;+}. We're also close (but not too close, and not weirdly so!) to the beautiful Whidbey Cemetary (http://www.langleywa.org/cemetery.html) where "green" burial, which I want, but which is available in VERY few cemeteries throughout the country, has recently been instituted

(http://www.langleywa.org/documents/greenburialcouncilstandards.pdf).

Weather: This is our biggest fear. People who love it here don't seem to be bothered much buy it. We've talked with people who have lived here all their lives, are now raising families here, and wouldn't leave for anything; they say, "don't pay any attention to the people who tell you you'll hate the rain/dark, etc." People who don't love it here don't, usually, because of the weather. People who do love it don't let the weather bother them. Our house payments will be about $500 a month less than we're paying for RENT in Pacific Grove, so, if we're miserable, that should give us enough money to make winter trips to Mexico and rent two months or so where my (our) good friend Ellen lives, or travel to San Diego, and stay there with our good

friend Julie or visit my niece and her family in New Zealand. The temperature here is about 10 degrees colder in winter, and 10 degrees hotter in summer than where we are now. We're VERY used to continual overcast in Pacific Grove (say all summer!). And, I love the rain; in fact, this little poster (above) in our house in PG, is probably my favorite, I bought it in Seattle years ago...........AND, don't forget, I'm a knitter ;+}; I MAKE clothing for warmth!

There you have it, most of the reasons we're going ahead with this. Stay tuned to see if the seller accepts our offer of about $30K lower than he's asking! If so, we'll be Washington residents in about two months! We had an appointment today with our realtor (http://www.tomwhiterealestate.com/blog/)—nice guy who was at a Crosby Stills & Nash concert yesterday (how can we NOT like him!)—and gave him our offer to negotiate............We'll see.........stay tuned..............In the meantime...................

Morning photo of entrance to house where we're staying.

Breakfast by the window that..........

overlooks what resembles a park around the house where we're staying now................

xoxo, Di & Dave.

It's a DONE DEAL!

Hi, All:

Today is Thursday, June 17th, signing day, we think. We need to get a few things clear and straight, but it looks like we're going to be first-time home owners which no one, including us, can believe—I did actually own a home in San Diego decades ago, but Dave and I together never have, and Dave himself has been a renter for life.

We've done a lot of driving around the island. Monday I think it was we decided to go "off island" as they say to Trader Joe's, thinking we'd maybe go to Costco, take the day to do the round of buying places, maybe some sight seeing in Seattle. Well, we got to TJ's bought what we wanted, and turned right around and high tailed it back. We truly are NOT city people. Whatever the city has to offer just is not worth the crowds, freeways, hustle and bustle anymore, and we'll keep our trips to a bare minimum. It was the middle of a weekday, and the traffic still drove us nuts. Here you can see us going on the ferry, arriving, and, with a big sigh, leaving about an hour later.

Tuesday we traveled north, destination Anacortes. Pretty much the only thing we found on the way was the quaint, wonderful Captain Whidbey Inn (http://www.captainwhidbey.com/) that reminded us of Deetjen's in Big Sur (http://www.deetjens.com/restaurant.htm), and a couple of terrific yarn shops. Still the overwhelming feature of the Great North West is the Great North West itself. The bridge at Deception Pass, joins the Northern tip of Whidbey Island to Fidalgo Island, and takes you into a new county. Whidbey Island is part of Island County along with Camano Island (see map at top). Deception Pass connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Here is a photo of breathtaking water running through the pass, and the bridge that straddles it.

Yesterday I recycled! The Island truly is rural. Trash & yard waste pickup but no recycling pickup. We are sooooo spoiled in PG, no sorting, just put it all on the curb and it's picked up. Here recycling has to be taken to one of several locations on the island, many of

which are on the main highway that runs the length of the island, and sorted as in days of old! The Freeland center which I suspect we'll use regularly is hilarious with signs like "free hugs" "Whidbey recycling HATES plastic water bottles" (but they let you recycle them) and these roosters running around in the yard. Junk like you wouldn't believe. Another sign "Led Zepplin I want to marry you" hangs prominently in the yard run by a woman.

We also met with the realty agent to get the owner's counter offer to ours. The asking price for the home, which is brand new, never lived in, but has been on the market for over a year, was $439,000. We countered with $400K and many changes we wanted. His counter to that was $427,500 including the changes and some other things—e.g. stainless, all efficient appliances, all the painted doors to be replaced with wood only, as will be cupboard doors, drawers, etc., and some other minor but important things. The house should look quite beautiful with all the wood. Another thing I LOVE about the house is its on demand water heater (http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/On-Demand-Water-Heater.aspx). Turn the nob, and hot water's there; it saves $$ yearly on the bill, AND, takes up about 1/4 of the space inefficient bulky water heaters do.

So, we're waiting right now to hear if the seller (who's also a "green developer") will accept our final offer with a few minor things.

WHICH HE DID!

We're moving to Langley, Whidbey Island, WA,

(see above map for location)

More later on the house itself; we have a LOT to do! xoxo

The actual house and what's to be done.............

The house is 1400 square feet, not including the garage which is about an additional 500 feet. We'll double the living space we have now, and EVERYTHING will be new and will work, or that's the theory, as Dave would say. We have a very small garden which is perfect for me now. I'm getting a bit old for the one we have in PG. This one will have just enough space for a small vegetable plot and plants.....our lawn is "communal" to the 8 houses that comprise what's called a "pocket neighborhood" so no lawn upkeep YAY.

The house interior is very white now and looks like this:

The owner/builders are committed to replacing as much as they can on the interior with plain wood (without rebuilding the house!) We're aiming for something more like this with stainless steel appliances and large light green tile in the kitchen and bathrooms:

There's also a problem with drainage on the side of the house they've promised to fix. All upgrades are supposed to be done by July 9th—one asset of the seller being the builder; he can get things done quickly. Dave will fly up and do a "walk-through" when all's done, probably on the 10th. House is going through closing now. The remaining two weeks after the walk through will be taken up with bank paper work. We're aiming to move in by August 1st.

We leave our beautiful park-like vacation home today with all its wild life (baby quails with mom and dad)

and on the road back to PG to arrive Wednesday.

So, there you have it! We'll keep you all posted.

Incipient home owners on their way from one paradise to another.........................

Di & Dave