......but it came pretty damn close!!!! Moving day was July 30. By the time it got here, I was bone tired. No wonder people don't want to move when they get old!!! It's awful.
The truth of the matter is, it went as well as could be expected. I was unable to sweet talk my way into getting early access to the property, so 5 P.M. on July 28th was the next time I got into the new place. I had thought I could live with the old carpets, just getting them cleaned, and live with the paint job for a while. That day - remember, it is two days before moving day - I decided I couldn't. The long and the short of it was that the movers, the painters and the carpet guy were all in the place at the same time. For a while, I thought I was going to start World War III - the painter was Polish, the carpet guy Lebanese, and the movers just plain touchy - but it all got sorted amazingly well, and I actually slept in my own - new - bed on the night of the 30th.
And it has been more or less chaos ever since. Mariah and Mar came up from Seattle the next day, and for three solid days after that did nothing but help me unpack. They were the kitchen and dining room detail. Joanne and Howard were on the book detail, Susan came to pick up the remaining boxes (she's moving too). And now, it is done. Stick around for the pictures.
Meanwhile, regular life went on. I worked as much as I could between crises. (Since I couldn't sleep, there was a lot of work being done in the middle of the night, but hey, whatever works....)They've hired a new crop at work, and so we did our usual Golden Door Chinese Restaurant welcome.....
I never got to know the last few crops of "newbies" very well, but these are all living in my corridor, so there is more interaction. I like it.
We went to Seasons in the Park, located at the highest point in Queen Elizabeth Park. It has been there forever, and is a very classy restaurant. Loved it!!!!
Played bridge, of course, and even managed to to to the theater a couple of times with friend Tom. I protested, but he dragged me to All's Well That Ends Well at Bard on the Beach, which, considering it was done in flapper costume, with lots of text subtracted and lots of music added, I liked surprisingly well. Lillian Hellman's The Childrens Hour? Not so much. It was playing at Jericho Beach, put on by one of our favourite theater groups. But what a dismal play, my god, Tom and I were both happy to leave at intermission. (The fact that I was bone tired did not, of course, help anything!!!)
I managed to read a few books in the last month too, surprisingly enough. Rereading, actually. I found all these books in the process of moving, and once picked up, they couldn't be put down. Fowles (The Collector, The Magus, Ebony Tower and The French Leutenant's (how do you spell that?) Woman, all even better than I remembered them. Henry James, The Golden Bowl - not so much. And T.C, Boyle, one of my favourite modern authors (he wrote The Tortilla Curtain, a great book) - I never finished East is East when I tried to read it last time, but this time could not put it down. (sometimes it is a blessing to be an insomniac!!!) Now I'm on to Henry James again, this time stories, including The Turn of the Screw.
Friend Robin decided to have a party.....
As always, she did it with class. And although I don't usually like parties unless I am giving them, I actually had a good time.
And now - drumroll please - at long last pictures of the Tugboat Landing neighborhood and my new place....
....and part of my ever changing view.....
....and my entrance.....
...my living room, awaiting reframed tapestry over the fireplace.....(the last remaining bit...)
... dining room....
....my bedroom.....
....guest bedroom (it has your name on it.....)
And the Juke Box Man, my first official non-working visitor....
....and that's it, my friends. I am moved and unpacked and am hugely happy with my decision. I am glad I didn't leave it any longer - I am not kidding when I say I'm exhausted - but it was the right thing to do. Now, the fun part. I have already found my local grocery store, liquor store and microbrewery, and still looking for the dry cleaner, bank and sushi place (there are dozens, I just have to get the right one....)
Visitors welcome....
The truth of the matter is, it went as well as could be expected. I was unable to sweet talk my way into getting early access to the property, so 5 P.M. on July 28th was the next time I got into the new place. I had thought I could live with the old carpets, just getting them cleaned, and live with the paint job for a while. That day - remember, it is two days before moving day - I decided I couldn't. The long and the short of it was that the movers, the painters and the carpet guy were all in the place at the same time. For a while, I thought I was going to start World War III - the painter was Polish, the carpet guy Lebanese, and the movers just plain touchy - but it all got sorted amazingly well, and I actually slept in my own - new - bed on the night of the 30th.
And it has been more or less chaos ever since. Mariah and Mar came up from Seattle the next day, and for three solid days after that did nothing but help me unpack. They were the kitchen and dining room detail. Joanne and Howard were on the book detail, Susan came to pick up the remaining boxes (she's moving too). And now, it is done. Stick around for the pictures.
Meanwhile, regular life went on. I worked as much as I could between crises. (Since I couldn't sleep, there was a lot of work being done in the middle of the night, but hey, whatever works....)They've hired a new crop at work, and so we did our usual Golden Door Chinese Restaurant welcome.....
I never got to know the last few crops of "newbies" very well, but these are all living in my corridor, so there is more interaction. I like it.
- Sharon, my realtor and now, I hope, new friend, took be to dinner to celebrate my new home....
We went to Seasons in the Park, located at the highest point in Queen Elizabeth Park. It has been there forever, and is a very classy restaurant. Loved it!!!!
Played bridge, of course, and even managed to to to the theater a couple of times with friend Tom. I protested, but he dragged me to All's Well That Ends Well at Bard on the Beach, which, considering it was done in flapper costume, with lots of text subtracted and lots of music added, I liked surprisingly well. Lillian Hellman's The Childrens Hour? Not so much. It was playing at Jericho Beach, put on by one of our favourite theater groups. But what a dismal play, my god, Tom and I were both happy to leave at intermission. (The fact that I was bone tired did not, of course, help anything!!!)
I managed to read a few books in the last month too, surprisingly enough. Rereading, actually. I found all these books in the process of moving, and once picked up, they couldn't be put down. Fowles (The Collector, The Magus, Ebony Tower and The French Leutenant's (how do you spell that?) Woman, all even better than I remembered them. Henry James, The Golden Bowl - not so much. And T.C, Boyle, one of my favourite modern authors (he wrote The Tortilla Curtain, a great book) - I never finished East is East when I tried to read it last time, but this time could not put it down. (sometimes it is a blessing to be an insomniac!!!) Now I'm on to Henry James again, this time stories, including The Turn of the Screw.
Friend Robin decided to have a party.....
As always, she did it with class. And although I don't usually like parties unless I am giving them, I actually had a good time.
And now - drumroll please - at long last pictures of the Tugboat Landing neighborhood and my new place....
As you can see it is all industrial modern, a style I don't generally like. But it is in what was an industrial area - it was once all MacMillan Bloedel property - and, well I think it sort of works here...
....so, this is part of my deck.....
....and part of my ever changing view.....
....and my entrance.....
...my living room, awaiting reframed tapestry over the fireplace.....(the last remaining bit...)
... dining room....
....my bedroom.....
....guest bedroom (it has your name on it.....)
And the Juke Box Man, my first official non-working visitor....
....and that's it, my friends. I am moved and unpacked and am hugely happy with my decision. I am glad I didn't leave it any longer - I am not kidding when I say I'm exhausted - but it was the right thing to do. Now, the fun part. I have already found my local grocery store, liquor store and microbrewery, and still looking for the dry cleaner, bank and sushi place (there are dozens, I just have to get the right one....)
Visitors welcome....
