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

Some Random movies - Actual Post, June 27th on a packing break!

Didn't have time to edit these; we're back in P.G. busy packing for the big move. We've been told work on the house is "in progress" YAY. First movie taken from a restaurant in Langley (our town) where we had lunch. Can't remember the name of the mountain range; quite spectacular view for lunch. One day soon Dave's little green "Grace the Boat" will be out there in the Puget Sound with all those big bully sailboats!

Second video is a more "down home" Farmer's Market, kind of like a Grateful Dead Parking Lot scene for all of my music buddies. Fun. I met a nice knitting/spinning woman there, had on one of my very bright sweaters, and she said, "I saw you coming all the way across the grass."

Third video is, as I say, "the drive to our house"...........stretch of road, houses on the left, meadow with cows on the right is the longest stretch on the 3/4 mile walk down into town. If all goes well our address will be 1080 Village Loop, Langeley, WA as of August 1.

Right now we're doing nothing but packing boxes! Thank heaven we have weeks to do it........More later.................

Let the big move BEGIN!

Wednesday, July 7th

Well, the big POD arrived this morning about 7:30 with much fanfare on my part (poor sleepy Dave!). The hydraulics (which unfortunately I didn't get because room ran out on the video chip..........grump) on the thing were amazing. The POD guy didn't have to do much but pull levers to maneuver everything.

Here's a movie of the process starring Rocco the Daschund/Chihuahua POD dog. As usual, forgive my amateur photography.........as we know, knitting's my thing!

So, our target dates: We've been packing since we got home late June. POD arrived today, Weds. July 7th where it now sits in front of our cottages and will for at least a week. If we need to, we can keep it an additional week but no more (City of Pacific Grove ordinance). Our goal is to leave Pacific Grove July 24th give or take a few days. It takes 6 working days for the POD folks to get the POD to storage somewhere near Seattle where it will stay until we call them to deliver it to our new home. We'll tow Dave's (beautiful) boat (will post photos of it here at a later date) behind the car on a kayak trailer he's modified for the boat. Law says we cannot drive over 55 mph (which, of course, is just fine with me!) so we'll take 5 days/4 nights to get to Langley which should put us there around July 29th, the day everything is supposed to be complete (final bank walkthrough, etc.) and the day they give us the keys. As soon as we're in the house, we'll call the POD folks and have them deliver our things. We'll then have until August 7th to unload. "The POD process" takes one month; how you use that month (packing/unpacking) is up to you. So far it's been terrific, and I think much cheaper than a regular moving van, AND, you load things yourself. Great idea.

Work on the house is supposed to be done this Friday, July 9th; realtor says it's going well. First thing they did was fix the drainage problem by essentially digging the drain ditch deeper in between the two houses.

Here are photos of it; theory is rain will drain where the rock path is (I believe it's called a French Drain"; the builder has guaranteed it for two years. No one else has had drainage problems there, so we figure things will be fine.

HUGE job at our age! (My back went out at the very beginning of packing; taking things VERY slowly now—no more ice skating ;+})..........Ok, time to get back to packing..............

D^2

The Boat Saga

Posted Thursday, July 15

As many of you know, Dave's been building a boat for the last two years. We have no off street parking (which is one HUGE reason we're buying the house we're buying!) so, Dave erected two large tents in our back yard in which he built this yet to be sailed little beauty.

Yes, we'll be towing his stunning little boat to our new home.

As some of you also know, maneuvering large things in and out of our yard is tricky.............narrow walk and steps. Dave and a friend somehow managed to get it to the street this afternoon. I'd have taken photos, but was busy putting pillows on the walk so they could set it down when it got too heavy.

So you might ask, if, in a week's time, we're moving a thousand miles away where do I find time to blog? Well, one other element to the story is I gave Dave a beautiful kayak trailer for Valentine's Day about 2 years ago, and, he's had to spend the last 3 days or so modifying it for the boat (that usual male-only gene assuring him he can get whatever needs doing, done in 1/2 the time it actually takes!) The wood part under the boat in this photo is his modification

..........I guess that can be considered packing? In fairness, he's done an incredible job with the beginning stages packing the POD having completely disassembled our IKEA furniture and fit it in so it occupies very little room compared to what it would have occupied had it not been disassembled.

I do have almost everything in boxes, have sold a lot on Craig's List, etc.,

HOWEVER, neither of us can do much more until the (I will refrain from saying *^%(*^(*&^&^) boat preparation is finished and the boat is on its way to a friend's house (friend shown here on left).

Dave has a specific, well-thought-out plan to load the POD so everything, from our large sofa down to tiny needles, will have a place of its own, but until he gets this boat thing finished, we can't do much more of anything to implement said plan. I won't go into problems with registering the boat trailer at the DMV; just too too grim!

Anyway, it's late Thursday afternoon, the 15th; the boat is about to be towed to above friend's house in a rural area where we will pick it up on our way to Washington. It will stay at the friend's house for about a week. In the meantime, I'm hoping we'll finish packing...........wish us luck!

.............here are a few more photos of the sweet little boat itself. It really is a charmer and another reason (sailing on beautiful Puget Sound) we're moving to where we are. Just wish this part of things was over! Oh, and the bank appraisal reached our particular bank today and should be in the hands of the loan officer tomorrow. When approved, I think then we can actually say we're home owners, but maybe not until the keys are in hand................we hope by the 29th.

Di & Dave

OH MY GOD, we're overwhelmed!

Posted on July 13th (Happy Birthday, Ellen :+})

If you're new to this blog, see it from the beginning at:

http://offtowhidbey.blogspot.com/

No, not from the packing but from the final photos of the house. Things are even more beautiful than we expected.

We're madly packing, trying to get out of here by July 24th; no, we WILL get out of here by July 24th! What we'll have trouble with is the deadline on the POD which is the 21st, but we'll do it.

The bank appraised the house today, for our loan, but as I said to our realtor (http://www.tomwhiterealestate.com/blog/), "how could they possibly not accept it; it's just beautiful." Here are the photos in no particular order. Be sure to click on each photo to see it enlarged. I don't care how much it rains; in a home like this we could, and probably will, stay inside most of the time!

More blog when we're out of here, and on the road.

xoxo Di & Dave

Momentous Day!

(NOTE! If you are new to this blog please see it from the beginning at: http://offtowhidbey.blogspot.com. When you get to the bottom, click on "older posts" which are really newer posts.............don't ask why they're that way; just do it!)

Posted Friday, July 23, 2010

Dave's spent the last two weeks almost literally building a house inside this POD. It's amazing how much he packed in there—as though he built us a house we could live in right there, and the way he did it was sort of organic and magic. I think the POD guy was startled by the heft of the thing when he was maneuvering it with his hydraulic lift this morning. It left about 10 AM with almost everything we own in it (except the new house of course). The POD will stay in a warehouse in Salinas until Monday the 26th, then take a 6-day, I think it is, trip to Seattle where it will be stored until we call them to deliver it to our new home. We should have everything in our garage by August 6th. Watching the thing being lifted and heaved to and fro was a bit scary. Here's a video of it all; quite amazing...........

The other major event of the day was the singing of "final" documents on the house. I won't bore you with the hoops we went through to get to this point, but through them we went, and, I think they're finished. One more step—I believe it has something to do with the title—has to happen, then we get the keys on the 29th, but for all intents and purposes, we are now home owners. I will DEFINITELY update the blog on key acceptance day! Here are a few photos of us signing final papers on boxes in the empty cottage.

Dave contemplating everything............

Me just signing what I"m told to!

I fly to Seattle and on to Langley via public transit on Monday the 26th, where I'll have three glorious relaxing days to myself. Poor Dave leaves with the car and "Grace the boat" the same day, and will pick up friend Bill (in former photos) whose property the boat's on now, and they'll drive all the way up so that Dave will have some company and driving relief (Thanks, Bill!).

We've had an amazing amount of stuff to sell/recycle/get rid of in some way. Here are a few photos of some of it.

Inside Dave's tent.

.

Junk ..........

and more junk

Two young men bought both the huge tents (I posted them on Craig's list) in which Dave was boat-building, and then decided they wanted nearly everything else we had to rid ourselves of, so, in exchange for MUCH of our stuff, they'll be cleaning the yard and hauling things here and there for us tomorrow, Sat. the 24th. In my opinion they've been (strong, young) angels from heaven who have helped us out of some work I'm not sure how we'd have finished.

The guys' truck with all our junk in it.......they're coming back for more tomorrow!

Final clip here is of our neighbor cat Izuzu who we've been friends with for over a year now. He's had a snack at our house almost every day over that period of time. Here he's just plain confused because nothing seems familiar EXCEPT his little bowl where his snack is.

So, we're off to bed, sleeping on an old camping blow-up mattress for the next 3 nights. I hope the next entry will be from our new home the address of which is:

Diane Driver & Dave Albright

1080 Village Loop

Langley, WA, 98260

It's a long long way from there to here!

(Note: The application dates on these posts are not accurate; my dates are. Putting them in this order was the only way I could make them go from first to last. If you haven't seen the rest of this go to http://offtowhidbey.blogspot.com/; when you get to the bottom click on "older posts" which are actually newer posts......dd)

THERE

to HERE

Wednesday night, July 28th.

Well, we did it; actually Dave did most of the getting rid of above stuff with help from a really nice young man. Those of you on the Monterey Peninsula who need hauling/yard work, moving, odd jobs done, call Benjamin Usi, 831-2366-5691. He was in construction, until the economy took a dive; hard-working and reliable. Tell him the people with the incredible mess in their back yard recommended him.

I flew out Monday—left Pacific Grove on the airport shuttle at 6:30 am, flew from San Jose Airport to Seattle/Tacoma airport, took the airport shuttle to Clinton at the very South end of Whidbey, caught the Island Transit (which is free; well, paid for by a 1/2 cent sales tax charged to everyone buying anything on the island; it's a dream!) and arrived at the motel around 2 or so. Monday seems like ages ago. I've been too tired to write anything until today, Wednesday. Staying at the Langley Motel Monday and Tuesday nights. Dave and friend Bill—life saver for me because he drove all the way up with Dave—arrived about 1:00 PM today, Wednesday and we're all staying at the motel tonight. I said to Dave last night the motel feels like a transition station from the PG cottages to the new house. Our room is an old somewhat dilapidated cottage; walls are thin; Wi-Fi is HORRIBLE—they shouldn't even advertise they have it—and the whole place is cobbled together with extensions cords. Feels REAL familiar!

Grace the boat made it without a scratch or incident (I think because I wasn't there!). She's as beautiful as when they left, and, I think must be happy knowing there's so much water out there in the sound to sail around in.

We did our final "walk through" of the house today

with the fellow who does everything around our little community (someone told me not to call him a handyman). Tom our realtor greeted us with this basket full of cheese, crackers, wine and flowers.

Bill the non-handyman, Bill our friend, and Dave talked about twisted pair wires, plumbing, wall thickness, the garage of course, and I stood and stared at our beautiful tile work and new appliances.

All of this still feels like a dream. Our next door neighbor Diane (yes, Diane!) said to me, "bet you've never moved anywhere that people were so happy to see you." It's true, so far everyone has been more than welcoming despite our being California transplants. I walked from "our house" to downtown this afternoon on this, our country road

and everyone in passing cars waved, everyone.

Tuesday when I was in Freeland—our big city to the north—I bought some things at the large grocery store and left my little purse with my whole life in it, passport!, money, driver's license, cell phone, everything, but didn't realize it until I was on the shuttle riding back down to Langley about to call Dave. I looked in my big bag, and it was gone. I said to the driver "can I get off here; I left my small purse in the grocery store with my life in it." He turned left and drove BACK to the store! He didn't wait for me, of course, but that he actually turned the corner and circled back around again blew me away; that's how people are here—country living/hospitality I guess. I think they train the shuttle drivers to actually be helpful unlike most city bus drivers who, in my experience, resent everyone and hope you won't get on their bus. I rode the bus in Berkeley all the time, and remember few incidences of politeness or greeting. One thing that's got to make a difference of course is shuttle drivers here don't have to fool with money, with people who can't pay don't have the right change, etc. VERY different experience, and of course, appeals to my collective instincts ;+}.

Thursday, July 29th

We got our keys today, and now the house really IS ours; we own it or about half of it.

The POD should be in Seattle by now. Not sure when we'll have it delivered. Four VERY large boxes of "stuff" (primarily my clothes……large coats, heavy things, e.g.) will be delivered today. We will buy a blow up mattress and sleep on the floor until the POD comes (neighbor Diane ended up loaning us one of the nicest blow up mattresses I've ever slept on; we'll have one for you all when you get here!). Dave wants to see if he can get the garage/basement walls waterproofed before we do anything. We'll see.

Our friend Bill left this morning………taking Amtrak to Salinas; he doesn't like to fly. I got up early and drove him to the ferry, where he crossed the sound then caught a commuter train straight to Amtrak. Nice…….When (not if!) any of you fly up to visit. Don't rent a car. Take the Langley airport shuttle straight to the island. $54 ROUND TRIP, and you have priority all the way; otherwise you have the hassle of traffic, ferry lines, all of it. Transportation for the public really does exist here.

Sunday, August 1

We begin our first full month as Washington residents! We've been shopping shopping shopping since last Thursday. Brooms, and towels, and dish clothes, and garden equipment, and on and on. Wanted to get this little update out because tomorrow, Monday, is POD arrival day; then the work starts again in reverse order except now we don't have a deadline.........sigh. Our dear neighbors (she writes children's books; he's a retired zoology prof. from U Dub as the locals call it—University of Washington) invited us for a terrific veggie dinner Friday night. We went to the farmer's market yesterday, and did more shopping. Even more shopping in store today. We gave a LOT away so are buying a lot new. Grace sits on our mantel overlooking everything. I never understood keeping anyone's ashes at home, but it's comforting somehow to know she's there. One day we'll take her to San Diego and put her in the ocean with my dad which is what she wanted, but for now she gets to oversee everything. (I'm finding myself channeling— "be careful not to get fingerprints on the refrigerator".............geez.)

Dave, as usual, is finding flaws and fixing them all. I, on the other hand, am still overwhelmed by the fact that we have, what I consider a HUGE house (1,500 sq. ft). Lord knows how in the world I'm going to find things I lose all the time in such a big space. I HAVE to get organized. More after POD contents settle in (no more POD photos, I promise!)..........hope all is well in your world.

xoxo from Di & Dave

Below are photos of sculptures here and there around the town in peoples' yards. Evidently there's a retired artist who spends 1/2 his year in Santa Fe, and half in Langley sculpting, then asks folks if they'd like one. They're beautiful and coming upon them on a walk is a sweet surprise.