Another Adventure Unfolds

As much time has passed, much the same as always has happened.

The children are all back in their places. We made a mad dash north in the rain to get a couple off. Spent the night, which isn't the norm, with relatives and reconnected. As posted in the past, driving through the Bay Area is always an eye opener. The people just think differently than us from the inland. And I don't mean the difference between big city and rural folk. Went up the mountain to the farm. Still love it there and think of living there.

The continual process of revising and fixing our home is ongoing. Playhouse is coming down which means stuff stored there has to move somewhere, which means decisions to toss some takes place. That is always a tough time. When two packrats live together things collect that shouldn't. This time it was mostly our children's toys that were saved for grandchildren. No grandchildren yet, so a collection that needs a new place or dispersal. The plan is to move and rebuild the playhouse into a on site storage unit. We have plenty of objects that could fill the unit.

The move would free up ground for a mini fruit orchard. The trees need to get in the ground. We enlisted a group of son's friends and tried to move the top half of the playhouse. The thought was to clear the land for the new trees. A sub plot was relocating the playhouse and building a rock climbing wall on one side of it. The p-house was moved before, but this time the interior drywall added too much weight and the p-house sits unmoved and in the process of being torn apart. A sense of non-accomplishment builds. A small shipping container sure would solve more than a few problems.

The farm show is coming soon. We've been able to go some of the last few years. It's always a senses blowing and overwhelming event. But tucked away in corners are some things that are helpful for us on a small scale. This time all of our northern family will be here so it will be a family time also.

One of the biggest adjustments in the last few years has been transitioning from a career into a new way of living and new work situations. The summer in the park was, and is good. I will be going back again this year. Working during the rest of the year has been and ongoing reevaluating process. I've been substitute teaching, but that has reinforced the decision to stop teaching more. I will be starting in a new role as a supervisor for new teachers soon. I'm anxious of being back in education, but as an advisor and helper I think I have some things to offer. It reminds me of coaching, which I'm still doing and enjoying. As we say, "Off to another adventure."

The big adventure this spring will be a wedding of one of our sons. The good news is the wedding will be in the United States. The adventurous news is it will be in Alaska. He lives in a country closer to South America than to us, so Alaska is good. It was somewhat expected, but still a surprise. The distance will make it tough for many to come, but so far there will be some family at the event. Best of all the young lady he is marrying is wonderful and the two seems genuinely in love and focused on moving on together.

Alaska is a place that we have talked about going to, but lately it has become another of the Bucket List items that never was going to happen. We will stay a bit after the wedding and do some touristy things. One of the places we will seeing is Whittier. We are taking a tour there, but an interesting thing about this town is it can only be reached by air, boat or driving through a tunnel in a mountain. Once there you'll find the whole town lives in on 14 story former Army barracks. Everyone, all 218 people. This town would make the late Huell Howser drool.

Good times ahead in an uncertain world. Just another adventure.