Monday, July 30, 2012

on the street where i lived

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.