Settling in Summerville

   Here we are in January! We closed the house the end of October and gave ourselves a month to knock out a kitchen wall, PAINT, add wood floors, and basically, fine tune our vision.  We moved in the last day of November and our wonderful "apartment holiday" was officially over. We frantically continued to paint, remove wallpaper, add appliances, place furniture, etc. in anticipation of Kevin and Carrie's families coming to visit "the week after Christmas."  We DID it - and I wept for joy!  All went fine and the consensus is that "we did good." It is still a "work in progress."
   What we enjoy most:  the pond and birds/wildlife that go with it; the friendly people, being 20 minutes away from fantastic food and history in Charleston; golf in January (yesterday); watching our house become a home; returning to writing for children - and joining 2 wonderful writing support groups; and having Dennie nearby in his "at-home" office.
   Insights for those of you looking for retirement adventure.  6 months is a good beginning for finding your dream home; a comfortable, convenient "base" is important; treat it as a process and don't rush it; make a list of what is important to each of you - and try to stick to it as closely as possible.
  We wish you a blessed 2012 and hope you plan to visit us.  My purpose for writing this blog has ended so any future blogs will be added if new insights/desires arise.

October in Costa Rica

Costa Rica in the rainy season!  It will always conjure up images of lush green mountain sides, last minute changes of plans, impassable roads, and the knowing nods of folks as they murmured, “it is rainy season.” – more questions asked before booking future trips.  Having said that, what a  beautiful country! – and so friendly.  We were on the Pacific coast and our beach, Playa Hermosa, had white sand, but we were puzzled about the brown water that splashed up on the shore??? We spent a lot of time driving – point A is always a long distance from point B.  We appreciated their open air dining – my memories of seafood soup will be with me forever. The picture book poem on the rainforest that I wrote before leaving drove our desire to look for monkeys, birds, cut-leaf ants, and frogs.  We didn’t see the number that I dreamed of – couldn’t get to 2 of the major areas – but we did see enough to appease.  We are back in our comfort zone and on to reality.  Next week, we close on our new home and I will keep you posted on our progress toward moving in at the end of November.  

unicorns

Christina,  I loved your rendition of the unicorns!  I wish you the best with making them come alive.

September in Summerville

Greetings from Summerville,

   We continue to enjoy a relaxed "vacation-like" lifestyle.  We have loved

our beach visits, festivals, restaurants, and downtown Charleston.  

  One of our more challenging tasks was getting new license plates and

driver's licenses.  The 2 biggest surprises were: paying a car tax BEFORE

proceeding to the license bureau - and needing a passport to obtain a 

driver's license. 2 and 1/2 hours later. . . .

   Our big news is: we found a home!  The closing is scheduled for the 

end of October and move in - the end of November.  Lots of clean 

up needs to happen (The owner had several cats and 2 dogs).  But. . . 

Dennie has his "FROG" space (over the garage) for his pool table - AND

a 2 and 1/2 car garage for his workshop.  It is in a golf community, Pine

Forest, and also has tennis, swimming, etc.  Plan a visit!!  More later.

   Hugs from us Both!