11/13 On the Road Again

 

The tamarack, common in Nova Scotia - AKA hackmatack, American larch, or eastern larch - is deciduous. It is one of the very few conifers that are not evergreen. Just now, the needles are turning a beautiful golden yellow and will fall off soon.

11/7 Sunday we arose to a clear one degree morning, setting all clocks back an hour. Started packing my office. What to do with all those wires, cables, connectors, drives (thumb and disc), and paper files. Each year half the stuff I lug around North America never gets used, yet I keep lugging, just in case. I hate to rush out to buy a new dongle and find out later that I have two at home, or at one of our homes. And then there is the semi-annual clothes packing. This year I'm going to take stuff out of my closet, and dresser, and either throw it out or move it to Arizona - maybe I'll throw it out there. It doesn't feel as if we spend much on clothes, certainly much much less than average (5% of annual income), but we do accumulate.... In the course of going through my books I came across an old favourite, Don't Push the River by Barry Stevens, in the original, 1970 edition, complete with old annotations. I started reading it - again. 

Got an email this morning from neighbors ready to store things in our barn - ride on mowers, golf carts, small trailers - the annual cottage winterization process has begun. There is more space since we got rid of Unc's golf cart, not that there hasn't always been plenty. Jean's MG will go in one bay, don't know if we'll get the pontoon boat from Camp Tidnish.  There are no pigeons in the barn. In years past, walking into the barn would bring on cooing followed by a whoosh of wings as the flock took off through the open bay in the hay loft. Not this year. Coons?

In the afternoon we went into Amherst for last visits before final packing begins. We first had tea and scones with Kent and Joan Leslie - Kent will be going back to work on Monday following a good recovery from gallbladder surgery. Then off to Clare and Brian's for tea and apple crisp (or crips), catching up on family and curling news before going on to Carol and Al's for drinks, a fire in the stove, a pasta dinner, and desert. Al introduced me to That We Have Lived At All by Marilyn Lerch, a poet from Sackville. I quite like her work and want to read more. Three separate goodbyes in the space of just a few hours - I'd be most happy to stay here through the New Year but Melanie, tradition, and medical appointments call.

We talk about how quickly our three months here have flown, yet it seems as if we've been here very long at all. We've spent many hours with many friends, shared meals, activities, our tales of times past, our plans for times future, and others' plans future times. What will we do next summer. Life is good, no, not just good, life is everything. The apple trees still have green leaves though the cooling breezes steadily bring them to earth to join the fallen apples.

It is now Monday morning, the day upon which beginneth 'the three days of packing' as mentioned in the second chapter of the third book of CAML. Please, get me my tea! As I sit on the old yellow sofa there is a long branch on a very tall, very old, pine tree in a row of similar trees out behind the house. The softly moving early morning air makes it sway. I look at it and think, "Oh. There's a moving pine branch I can write about." I look at it again and think "Don't think about it." As thoughts go away I feel peaceful, childlike, marveling at a moving branch - aware. Then I wonder what made Clare's tea taste so good yesterday afternoon - was it the water, milk instead of cream, brewed in a pot instead of a cup, sugar instead of sweetener? Melanie said we have a teapot on a top shelf, stuck away in a back corner in the kitchen. I got it down and brewed a pot - one bag - we shall see, about the tea. Rhymes, donut.

In a high up closet in the stairwell are many treasures. They are full of memories - backpacks, sleeping bags, foam camping mattresses, tent poles, a cook kit - things which have not seen the light of day for years - but they traveled with us in mountains east and mountains west, on our sailboat, in our previous campers, in our previous existences - I can donate my backpack, the one I've had since going to the International Boy Scout Jamboree at the Irvine Ranch in California, in 1954 (the same year as my first trip to Amherst Shore); we have no intention of hiking in the wilderness though my backpack went into Bowron Lake in British Columbia for a week, more than fifty years ago. The down sleeping bags have traveled with us for years and may well serve again in the Casita during chilly nights before we get to Florida. The foam mattresses may also be useful. 

Last year we bought a small Honda generator. The thought was, we would use it when 'dry camping.'  Dry camping, AKA boondocking, involves camping in an RV without hookups (no electricity or water) and not in a recognized campground. Dry campers set up on public lands or private places (with owner permission), usually at no charge. As yet we have done little dry camping. The peace, safety, and security of state or federal parks has been a determining factor though we have met campers, some with Casitas, who never use paid campgrounds. We have stayed in casino parking lots and Wal*Mart parking lots. The experience is quite different than being set up in the woods beside a peaceful stream or small lake. Anyway, about that generator. I put oil in it last April. Today I put in gas, started it with three pulls, plugged in the Casita and ran it for several hours, charging the battery. One more step toward dry camping.

Getting ready to leave means packing up my office. In doing so I came across an old copy of Don't Push the River, which I had given to Mother in February of 1978. I sat down and began to re-read this lovely book - it was her annotations that I kept coming across - as if she were here, telling me things,. A lovely, sharing experience. Which leads me to think about 1978 - Melanie and I had been together since Spring of 1976, she had not yet gone back to Nepal for a six month program; that happened in '79 and it was after her return that we moved in together.

Picked up the Casita from Ted Embree - the jack works - brought it home, plugged it in to charge everything, and will turn on the fridge tomorrow. Other tasks today include taking the battery out of the mower, starting to pack the truck with stuff we won't need until New Orleans (woops, Melanie says not until tomorrow), more paper work, chairs to the shed, propane tank to the shed (grill goes in the mud room Thursday morning), While three time zones west of Amherst Shore a large sofa was moved from our sunroom, down a very narrow hallway, to our living room - last Spring Patty decided she wanted new furniture, Michael offered us their sofa, which I liked, and in May it was moved to our sunroom. I had measured it carefully, the sofa, and thought it would fit i.e. could be moved into our living room. Melanie said today that if it couldn't be moved we should get rid of it. I wrote Michael. One thing lead to another, as it often does; he got in touch with a mover who had helped him in the past, and bim, bam, bum, the job was done. I'm looking forward to seeing the couch in its new location, and lying on it. In case you are interested, here are the lyrics to 'Bim, Bam, Bum':

아름다워 니 전부를 던져봐 멋지게 

기분 좋은 떨림 느껴지니?

원한다면 거짓 없이 날 보여줄게

내 맘의 울림 느껴지게

And on that note, we just finished the Wallace Bay oysters that Jean gave us. Still excellent after all these years - three days. Sunset at 4:42 pm, dinner, PBS News and to bed.

This morning we went into Amherst to perform Closing Chores Part B, plus a couple of quick visits. Got $4 for turning in 75 bottles, bought pink stuff to put in the drains, some food for the road, made contributions to BridgeHouse, and stopped by to see Joan Leslie. She'd picked up four Covid test kits for us. Up here they are free - the government wants people to test themselves; in the States you have to buy the kits in a drugstore @ $23 for two, if you can find them - outrageous! Then over to Carol and Al's. The last few days Melanie's been going through clothing and other items with an eye to disposing of them (Bridge House). But one item was to nice to blindly discard. So we gave it to Carol ==>>>>

When Mother and Ed got married in the 1980s he gave to her Nelda's fur coat, Nelda being his first wife who had died some years before he and Mother became an item. Since they eventually lived in the Florida Keys she didn't wear it much and somehow it was passed down to Melanie, who also spends her winters in the South. We decided that Amherst had the perfect winter environment for such togs. Today, when Carol modeled it, the weather was very mild; I suspect she will be able to put it to good use in the coming months.

Back home, gassed up both cars at the Amherst Shore Country Store, put the Hyundai in the shed, disconnected its battery and put it on a charger for the winter. We also started packing the truck and the Casita. The weather forecast for Wednesday promises a very wet afternoon so we'll try to get everything loaded in the Chevy by noon. Finally sat down for a minute just after sunset, and then popped up again: I hadn't started the fridge in the Casita - Melanie will want that to be cold Wednesday morning so she can transfer the contents of the fridge to the trailer. Also started emailing our various services - phones, TV, Internet, and car insurance - switching them to seasonal mode with orders to resume service next May. You'd think we'd get better at this after twenty years of practice. Maybe we have. But it still raises our BP. 

Up at 5:30 - five or six hours until the rain starts, it's 'supposed' to last all afternoon. A spectacular sunrise this morning. in the east of course, but the tree tops to the west were all tinged in orange, kind of a reverse sunrise. Almost immediately thereafter everything went cloudy and grey. More appropriate given the forecast. We want to get most of the truck packing done this morning. Of course there will still be stuff to fit in tomorrow morning. In the 'did you know' category - Tesla, on track to sell nearly one million electric vehicles worldwide this year, has a $1 trillion dollar market cap, exceeding the combined values of GM, Ford, Toyota, VW, BMW, and several other automakers. 

Now back to work. Work's not happening. Which caps should I take? It surprises me how little 'work' is actually involved in getting ready to leave. We pack things - clothes, food, gifts, tools, books, papers.... That's not so bad. The packing involves putting stuff into containers and then putting them in the car, or the truck, or the trailer, or leaving it somewhere in the house. Actual doing, the physical part, is not hard. It's the thinking about what to take, what to leave, when will we need it, where should it go, that burns energy, consumes the mind. Does it matter if I forget something? Probably not, unless it's a key, or a computer, or meds, or Melanie. Everything seems to carry much the same import when 'thinking' about it. Once it's in the truck I can forget about it. If we need something later I know it's there, somewhere. All I have to do is find it. To do that I have to remember where I put it. Aha.

The air is still, the sky cloudy, and there is no rain as yet. Another quiet day at the Shore. I'll let you know when the rain starts, if the rain starts. It started sprinkling. It's 12:40. Melanie got food into the trailer just in time, while I started tacking up large black plastic trash bags to cover downstairs windows. We'll leave the sliders and living room windows to cover after sundown, no need for dark until it is thrust upon us - which applies to much more than just closing up a cottage. Later in the afternoon, sitting around, I decided to find our NW property corner. I put on my Wellies and headed out, tramping the heavily wooded, thorny fence line, looking for old fence posts or wire to guide me. Not much luck but I did get wet, and then I heard a voice ... Carol and Al had come out (to The Shore) and Al was traipsing through the brush to find me. We continued exploring and, with Al's assistance, found several old fence posts and strands of barbed wire, all of which I flagged with some tape I'd brought along for the purpose. Voices calling, we headed back to the house. I put Al's jacket in the dryer and we put a couple of shots of Gosling 151 into us, to help dry us out of course. 

The rain continued, though not hard. I started to cover the downstairs windows with black plastic bags, not waiting for the dark while Melanie spreads moth balls, covers beds and furniture, does laundry, cleans the fridge and stores, or gives away, away food, and on and on. I'll leave a few views open, they too will be shut off soon. Off to our 'last supper' with Don and Claire Roy, which has, in its own way, become an annual tradition - except for the Covid years. Always a comfortable evening; sad to say goodbye, though it's just for a few months. Back home, still raining, to finish covering windows and doors. Then early to bed/well fed.

Departure day - up around six for a cuppa and final chores which include finish packing the truck. Since it rained yesterday afternoon we hadn't got all the small packages, bags, and boxes in. Step 1: Turn off the hot water heater and drain the tank on the cellar floor - it's a dirt floor so the water soaks in. Step 2: open the outlet by the pressure tank in the cellar to let all the water drain from the pipes upstairs. Step 3: connect the air compressor to the kitchen faucett and turn it on - it's loud - to blow any 'stray' water out of the lines, and finally Step 4: Put pink stuff (antifreeze) in all the drains, toilet bowls and washing machine. Move the gas grill into the mudroom, cover the kitchen window, do a final room-by-room walk through, keep our fingers crossed that we've not forgotten anything, close and lock the back door. Back the truck up to the Casita, hitch up, lock the shed, and GO! We got away at 9:30. Heading for Wellsford (NB) to visit Tom Kay and Beth Jesty - we've not seen them since their move from Oxford several years ago. Had a good visit and hope they will be back at the Shore next summer; see, we're already planning next year.

Left Tom & Beth's around 3:00, heading for St Andrews. Got in before five and backed the Casita into Stan and Jill's (Atherton) driveway before settling in for wine and cheese. Here too we had two years to catch up on. First news was that Stan and Jill will not be in Green Valley this winter. Instead, they will spend several months in Nice, not far from Bar sur Loup where we wintered at the turn of the century. We discussed books, and writing, and how we spend our mornings - is it reading news of the world, or possibly doing our own stuff, be it writing or thinking, dreaming, or taking a walk. Salmon and bowties for dinner. Desert was a new treat - Eccles Cakes which I hope to attempt once we're settled somewhere. And so to bed, well fed, in the Casita.

Crossing Day: we were up around eight. Stan came out to give me a Margaret Truman novel and we said our goodbyes, unplugged the trailer and were off to St Stephens where we stopped in the Atlantic Superstore to spend our Canadian change and at the Canadian Customs to learn more about how to request an extension on our traditional six month residence at The Shore. It's pretty easy. As a visitor to Canada one can submit a form requesting to stay up to seven or seven and a half months with a specific end date in mind. It takes between four and five months to get a response but one may stay in Canada while awaiting same, even if you've already been in country six months. We may well try that next year and stay a bit longer.

US Customs: 'our' agent must have got up on the wrong side of the bed. He was by far the most curt, grumpiest agent we've ever encountered. Though he was very brusk we were through customs in less than ten minutes - the 'no, no' veggies this year were fire wood, lumber, tomatoes and peppers; no questions about marijuana products. On to the Walgreen's in Calais where I picked up a prescription ordered several weeks ago, we topped up with gas and headed for Freeport, stopping in Brewer for a walk along the Penobscot River, before heading on, in the rain, to an LLBean parking lot for weary RVers. It was good to get there and settle in - took a nap, had a bite and then walked through various LLBean stores, as always a lovely experience. Melanie bought a pair of socks and I couldn't find a mock turtleneck shirt. 'Home' and to bed. Our little propane heater keeps us nice and toasty.

Woke up, well rested. Had our tea/coffee followed by a walk around town in the thirty degree sunshine before heading to Kittery (ME) to get some chocolates (Lindt). On the way our GPS took us off-interstate and we wound our way over country roads through the lovely countryside of southern Maine - lots of lovely old houses and new 'estates' complete with wood fenced pastures and horse trailers. When we finally got there the chocolates were easy to get but I had no luck at all finding a mens turtle neck shirt; I can imagine a large freighter from China, anchored in San Francisco Bay and loaded with turtleneck shirts. After eating a late breakfast in the Casita  we made our semi-annual stop at the New Hampshire Liquor Commission where I purchased a fine old rum - to be consumed later.  Then off on the final leg to Bob and Judy's in Concord (MA).

Though we'd had dinner with Bob & Judy at the Shore, this was the first opportunity we'd had since autumn of 2019 to spend the night with them. It was a real treat to resume the tradition, starting with first a couple of Libra NA neers I'd brought with us followed by a selection of Bob's A beers and hors d'oeuvres before a dinner of chicken breasts, mac n cheese, broccoli and an excellent pumpkin pie. A sort of aside - with dinner we had a very nice Sauvignon Blanc, the second such we'v had since leaving the Shore. I've never been a fan of SB's but these were eminently drinkable - I think I'll have to expand our cellar to include some. Bob has a new keyboard which he is in the process of setting up so I got to visit the 'cellar' and sit for a few chords - I expect at our next visit to see/hear the full studio all wired up in production mode. As part of the evening's entertainment Bob and Judy had laid on a major thunderstorm, complete with great bolts of lightning and nearby thunder.

In spite of an invitation to sleep in the spare bedroom we elected to sleep in the Casita which we are getting quite used to.  In the morning we joined them for a great spread of breads, cereals, coffee, tea, fruits and cereals. Since we were in no rush to get to Julian's we spent a leisurely morning before heading to Ridgefield (CT). I'm being rude, sitting here typing my blog while Melanie, Judy and Bob carry on a very civilized conversation so I'm going to sign off for this week and rejoin the real world.

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