THE BIG MOVE

While we were in Fort Bragg, the purchase of Mom's new house, next door to us, went through. As soon as we got home, then, we got busy on moving Mom to her new place and preparing her previouse house to go on the market.

Garage sale at old house . . .
Clyde did all the organization and set up . . .

. . . with a little help from family . . .

During the summer, the city "employed" goats to clear the trails along the creek behind our house. We took a break from our work to show Sofia the goats. Not surprisingly, we thought the goats behind our house were quite extraordinary, and our little 3-year-old just thought it normal. She did, however, exclaim "they're so cute"! And they were. They did a very fine job as well, and have now moved on to greener pastures.

While we were gone, Clyde, III came over and removed a portion of the fence separating Mom's and our yards. We then cleared out a section of broken cement and overgrown plants, which we will plant with some pretty things when all the other work is done

Move-in Day

Understandably, Mom was finding this whole move overwhelming. It was a lot of work to make it happen and, since she was moving into a smaller home, it meant giving up much of what she had acquired and treasured over many years. We thought it was important to make the new house appealing and seem like "home" as fast as we could. So, the first two rooms we attended to were the livingroom and bedroom. We knew the rest of the house would take some time, but if Mom could sleep comfortably, wash and dress in the morning in a fairly normal manner and could sit and relax at the end of the day in an attractive setting, we could minimize the "horror" of it all.

The rest of the house took a while . . .

Meredith, Clyde and Sofia were our strength and support during this upheaval in many practical and emotional ways. On move-in day, they brought, prepared and shared a yummy barbeque dinner . . .

When the bulk of the move was complete, and Mom was pretty much settled in her new home, we took our first swim and toasted a job well done . . .

A day or two later, Meredith, Clyde and Sofia stopped by after work and we had our first official family pool party with ordered in pizza . . .

We think this will be a happy new arrangement for all of us.