2006-09-17 - 7:07 p.m.

it’s long past time for an update

sitting down to type is getting more difficult each and every day - either i’m too tired or too busy with art guy

the summer has come and gone

it was a very good summer, but i seemed to have lost a month - august

we moved at the end of month, but found the place at the beginning and spent most of the free time during the month painting and/or cleaning it, or packing or cleaning the old place

we moved into a house - no, we didn’t buy - can’t afford that in california

we are renting

we spent some time before we went to iceland and copenhagen looking at houses and then when we got back we started up again

basically, i developed an addiction to craig’s list and couldn’t stop myself from checking the possibilities each morning when i got to work - i especially liked looking at the ones with photos

we saw a lot of dumps for very high rents and i really didn’t think we would find anything we (i) liked

we had a nice apartment - actually it was one of best apartments i ever had - probably only topped by the one on lake shore drive with the view of the lake - geez, i still miss that at times

the apartment was good size, quiet, no neighbors on three sides, below or above with a nice hill behind with trees, occasional deer and many squirrels to watch

but, it was located in a micro climate of fog and coolness - i would leave work where it was 90 degrees and by the time i got home it was 75-80 - that was nice on the hot days, but there are very few of them here and i didn’t so much like it when it was always in the 50s when the rest the area seemed to be in the 70s

the main reason was the fog - it was located in a valley where the fog would roll in or blow the cold air in front of it and it just hung there - blocking out the sun

and, when the sun was around, our apartment was located in the back of the building and didn’t get any direct light - except through the sky light - and that only seemed to be during the day when i was at work

plus, that had been my apartment and i thought it would be a good idea to get a place that was ours from the start

so, we started the house rental hunt

and, as i mentioned, most of what we found in our price range was small and dumpy - cottage size - in fact, many of places were cottages - small summer type cottages - or they didn’t have a washer/dryer or several didn’t have refrigerators

this would mean we buy the fridge and washer/dryer, or we buy the fridge and go to the laundry mat - i don’t intend to ever go back to that time in my life when i had to pack the clothes in the car or walk down the street with my laundry

i don’t mind an apartment where you go to the basement or wherever in the building to do the laundry, but i don’t want to go back to going to the neighborhood laundry - i spent a lot of years of my life doing that and i never found it fun - especially in the middle of winter

so, i would continue to check out craig’s list and then drag him along to see another house - he was getting a bit sick of it - especially when i kept saying this would be the last one cuz there really wasn’t anything out there we liked in our price range - i’m not sure how many times i told him that - but, then i would go back to work the next day and the little addiction would kick in and i would fire up craig’s list and find another possibility

and, then we found this place - it had been on craig’s list for over a month - it was on the high end of our budget so i had ignored it

then one day i saw they were having an open house - i just couldn’t resist that - going to look at it without having to talk to the owner if you don’t want to

i called art guy and told him about it - he said he would meet me there - i hadn’t really expected him to come to see it, i had just called him to tell him i was going to be late coming home from work

anyway, i got there first and walked the house - i was amazed at how much house was there for the price they were asking

art guy got there and had the same reaction

we had looked at 10+ places and most of them were postage size for the monthly rent - this place is very spacious for just a bit more

we gave it a good talking over and decided to try to get it - we got it

we ended up starting the lease on august 15th, but not moving out of the old place till august 26th, so we had a lot of overlap

actually, the owner let us get the keys about a week or so before the 15th, so we were able to come in and start getting some stuff done

it’s a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, large living room, dining room, full size kitchen with a little 2 person table for eating breakfast or whatever, back yard that has a cement patio area and then a sloped back yard (another hill) with many trees, the garage is under the whole right side of the house (i keep calling it the basement) and it came with washer/dryer and fridge, and gardener (not a great one, but at least we don’t have to cut the bushes (though i think art guy would like to) and to top it off, it has a view of the bay

though, you can’t really see the water, but you can see the bridge and the hills on the other side - if you go up the hill in the backyard, you can see the water

but, even without the water, it’s a great view

i’m able to take the train to work - so, i’m trying to do that twice a week - with the idea that 3 times a week would be a bonus - there are just some nights when i need the car - when i go to class or if i need to run errands on the way home

i walk to the train, which is about 15 minutes on the house’s end and 10 minutes on work’s end - not bad, but, let’s see how it is when the rainy season starts - it might be uncomfortable, but it’s not like i can’t do it - i’ve walked in way worse weather in chicago and didn’t melt

so, things are good

though, i have to admit that for a week or so after moving in, i just wasn’t interested in the place - i was tired of cleaning and packing and unpacking and everything

i thought i was going to get a lot done on labor day weekend, but i just shut down and didn’t do anything - it was probably a good break, because i was very productive the rest of the week and got all but one box unpacked and that’s a box that is waiting on some shelves to be hung before it’s opened

we now seem to be into a regular schedule - back to doing stuff that have nothing to do with the house - like yesterday we went to mrs mcg store, hung out with jc, went to the driving range, had her and another friend over for dinner and a couple of rounds of tile rummy and today we went to the art studio and i’m actually sitting down to write (he is in the basement playing with tools and nails and such)

it’s nice to get back to day-to-day living and not having everything revolve around moving

i do feel like i missed an entire month of summer - and, even though it was in the high 80s today and this is probably one of the months that is closest to summer in this part of the world, it’s still september and that feeling of summer is gone - school is back, more cars on the road in the morning, vacations are over, the sun goes down earlier - and, you can’t get it back

and, for some reason, i’m really disappointed that it’s over - i wanted some lazy summer time - this summer didn’t seem to be it

maybe i need to start thinking about taking a week off of work in early october - a week where i don’t go away, no travel, but just a week where you get up every morning from your own bed and then just be kind of lazy - read a book, take a walk, go to a museum - if i’m going to do it, i need to do it before the clock gets turned back and the days seem even shorter - yeah, maybe i’ll look at the calendar tomorrow and see if i can find the time

being lazy always makes me feel like i really got some summer out of the summer

and, it’s not even being truly lazy, it’s just not rushing around with a plan each and every day as you do when you travel somewhere - i don’t think i would want to stay in the house the whole week - but a couple of days in the back yard working on my mosaics would be great and day to the city for a museum would be nice and a couple of days to the park with a book, a blanket and my lunch would be wonderful - it’s that time off without the clock ticking that i missed this summer and i want it - so, i need to see if i can find the time and go for it

so, that’s how life is going right now - actually very, very nicely

hope all is well at your end

i know i owe a few people some e-mails - i’ll try to work on that this week - (hi ngoc and sara)

later days!

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