Post Seventeen: Halfway Home

For the first time, I used the Pasquale address earlier this afternoon as the Shipping Address for an online purchase. Because, in less than two weeks from now, we will be primarily residing at Madrone Haus, versus Carnoustie Drive.

We are sort of kind of half way between here and there. The ability to make our move over a long period of time has been very welcome. We quickly made the new house livable, and then incrementally, each visit, improved the sophistication of the accommodations to the point that now, each abode has relatively equal domestic infrastructure. But now, I am frequently looking for something in Novato, only to realize it's already been moved to Nevada City.

The reality is that our Novato house is now on the market and most likely will have offers being reviewed in the next few days. Which means that in the next month or so, that property will need to be devoid of all our belongings, and we will have established ourselves solely here in Nevada City.

We have a short list of the final furniture items to be moved, and along with a bunch of boxes of personal stuff, to be transported here on July 6th. We have assembled a list of the rest of the significant items to be posted on Craigslist. Personally, at least half my clothes are here, and are most of the truly important and treasured belongings, including kitchen items, pictures, mementoes. Which means that half are still to be moved, and although there is still work to be done, having had my sabbatical the last month has given me a great chance to be ahead of having a huge, stressful, all-at-once move on my hands.

I do need to establish a Post Office address and mail box here and begin the change of address process. We have been joking lately that we are moving from "Novato" to "Nevada City"; too many times in the past where those names have been confused. Not to mention the fact our zip code changes from 94949 to 95959. Seriously.

We started our annual Hat Creek camping and fishing vacation from Madrone Haus, and returned here yesterday at the conclusion of the 20th Anniversary trip to that same great place with our same great family and friends. On our own 29th wedding anniversary, June 23rd. Somehow, making Madrone Haus our launch and return point for that trip signaled a significant change. We spent today- an uncharacteristically rainy day-unloading clothes and gear, doing laundry (tradeoff: older washer and dryer here, but *much* nicer laundry area), catching up on email and social media, napping, reading. Although it's not particularly cold out, we built a fire in the woodstove. Sitting here at the kitchen bar, getting ready to prepare some dinner and enjoy the rest of the evening before heading back to Novato tomorrow to attend to the various responsibilities we have there. But somewhat reluctantly, as I feel like I would be very content staying right here. It's truly beginning to be not just "the Haus", but ..... Home.