Stage one of my trip north has begun.
I showed up at my Salem house just after 1 on Sunday morning. And I immediately knew I was not in Melaque any more.
For the past week, the temperature in my Melaque bedroom hovered around 90 degrees at bedtime. It was 60 degrees in Salem when I got to bed. Sleeping with the windows open (under the covers) was a treat.
Even the overcast day was an interesting change. I could actually get out and move around.
As you know, I would like to sell (or just get rid of) the Salem house. It costs me close to $1000 a month to simply keep my name on the place. A house where I do not live -- and have no intention of returning. There were two recent nibbles. But nibbles do not sign trust deeds.
I did notice though that nature is doing her best to turn the house into a mere memory. Vegetation grows fast in Mexico, but the ivy in Salem may grow just as fast.
On Sunday afternoon I attended a family (not my own) reunion picnic in one of the Willamette Valley's homages to New England villages -- Sublimity, even the name smacks of clam chowder -- and had a great steak dinner at El Gaucho in Portland that evening.
I suspect that is going to be the uniting theme of these two weeks. Food.
I showed up at my Salem house just after 1 on Sunday morning. And I immediately knew I was not in Melaque any more.
For the past week, the temperature in my Melaque bedroom hovered around 90 degrees at bedtime. It was 60 degrees in Salem when I got to bed. Sleeping with the windows open (under the covers) was a treat.
Even the overcast day was an interesting change. I could actually get out and move around.
As you know, I would like to sell (or just get rid of) the Salem house. It costs me close to $1000 a month to simply keep my name on the place. A house where I do not live -- and have no intention of returning. There were two recent nibbles. But nibbles do not sign trust deeds.
I did notice though that nature is doing her best to turn the house into a mere memory. Vegetation grows fast in Mexico, but the ivy in Salem may grow just as fast.
On Sunday afternoon I attended a family (not my own) reunion picnic in one of the Willamette Valley's homages to New England villages -- Sublimity, even the name smacks of clam chowder -- and had a great steak dinner at El Gaucho in Portland that evening.
I suspect that is going to be the uniting theme of these two weeks. Food.