Rocking Chair Red and spinach bread

I submitted my retirement notice to The State this week, so it's official. Yesterday Tim and I had our last party at Shadowbrook. We shared our homemade wine, "Rocking Chair Red," a rather feeble malbec, with friends and family. Under the tutelage of Angelo Mazza, who was also our wine-making guru, all afternoon I made spinach bread, a concoction of pizza dough; spinach, olive oil, and garlic; pepperoni, fontinella cheese; and mozzarella cheese -- baked. Not a Weight Watchers recommendation, but delicious. The night before, I'd made Tuscan bean soup. We loved having everyone here, to see our different "worlds colliding," as Jerry Seinfeld would put it: Maloneys, Haars, Nagles and Petersens, Karen, Jason, Fittsy, Freemans, Brunelles, M.J., Civellos, Maxine, Bob Z., Angelo and Cheryl, Susan and Steve, Lenfests. On Sunday, back to work throwing away stuff and packing stuff:  "what to keep, and what to let go." We will be in our little apartment in about 2 weeks, so with the party over, downsizing is in earnest. I visit New Bern this weekend, while Tim's golfing with The Boys on the Cape. M.J. will be my Mum Fest Guest. She is equipped with new waterproof gear -- as if readied for safari -- for kayaking. I have an appointment with Jennifer from Knightscapes, to talk about landscaping. And I need to get the truck inspected. I'm excited to see the creek, the new shades that were installed in our absence, and the town decked out for its autumn celebration.

Flickr

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Tomorrow is our sixth anniversary....

....and in 3 months we move to The Croatan!

Friends Far Away

I just finished reading my pal Trailer's blog from London. I have a friend who just went to Vietnam for a year to teach English. Another friend in Arizona is contending with major health issues. Another friend is on holiday in our New Bern house -- and enjoying it, we hear enviously. Wishing them all well tonight.

Two steps closer to moving: we found a temporary apartment in South Hadley, to tide us over from the end of October until mid-December; and we heard that our cond0-buyer's mortgage was approved!

There is still so much to do at work between now and then, though.

Setting up a blog pre-move

In order to log on to the Hope for Limpopo blog, I created my own, in anticipation of moving from New England to North Carolina.