So what, if anything have I done since early February?
From the top, the house still has not sold. We are now doing the strategy known as "lower the price." Tim tells me I will be ok in retirement even if I drop the price substantially. Well, I ain't gonna do substantial, that is for sure! Things are a bit cooler for real estate here in Silicon Valley but I am hopeful!
Beginning from my Feb post, I have as ususal, stayed busy. What ever happened to the sitting in the rocking chair and clipping coupons retirement? Jeez!
OK, so my brother Dan decided to retire as well. Only he decided that Manila in the Philippines would be a good place to spend most of his time. Now, Dan has spent his entire working career in Phoenix. How does one decide to spend so much time in Asia in retirement? Well, ask his Filipino girlfriend, eh?
In support of my brother, I drove down to Phoenix to help him in his final days. He sold his house, I sold his car. And his most precious possessions were moving in with me in the bay area. Dan too! He'll be back next month for an extended stay.
Well, his departure didn't happen on time and I needed to be back home. So I left my Humette (Honda Element) with Dan. He filled it up with his possessions and left it at Mary's son's place (Tim) on his way to the airport. A couple of weeks later, I flew down to Tim's to recover my car and Dan's possessions. I did the 14 hour drive in one long day and unloaded his stuff into my storage room for now. We'll decide what else we might do with it in June when he is here.
Meanwhile, I flew to Pennsylvania to visit Mary's other son, also Dan, but I call him DP to avoid confusion. DP married Kamie last June and this was my first trip to visit the newlyweds. They live in Lebanon PA in a very nice three bedroom home. DP is studying for his RN degree on the military education funds and Kamie is doing freelance work at the moment. It was great to see them, experience the area and just spend time with family. (Remember my three retirement objectives. 1) Family time, 2) Simplify my life and 3) work on my health.)
Part of the trip to Pennsylvania was to get the furniture from Mary's estate to DP and Kamie. The dining room table, sideboard, chairs and glass cabinet were packed and shipped along with virtually all of Mary's books. Unfortunately, these things did not arrive as scheduled but just a day just after I left. Oh well, DP and Kamie report that everything arrived in tip top shape! And, I have rearranged furniture in the house for sale such that the downstairs room is empty as is Mary's office.
As I left PA, a marvelous winter storm moved in. We left for the Philly airport early just in case there was a problem. Well, two hours to the airport, DP dropped me off and then 5 hours for him to get home in the storm! Ouch!
During my visit DP introduced me to a great, inexpensive red wine. Carmenere. I have purchased bottles from several different Chilean vineyards since DP educated me and they have all been under $15 and very good!
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| Carmenere is under $15 from several different vineyards in Chile |
Well, the worst one was in the middle of my forehead. Using video chat (Facetime), I had the grandkids in Denver thinking it was a bullet hole for a few days. Fun!
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| One of four spots removed. |
Before hitting the road again, I caught a couple of theater performances. One was at ACT (act-sf.org) named Dead Metaphor. I really enjoyed that but even moreso, I enjoyed being a minor celebrity. Why? Well, as I reported last Feb, I was selling my studio apartment in SF. And, the buyer was a staff member of ACT. The theater has a nice room where donors can relax before performances and at intermissions. It was there where the connection was made of my being the seller of the unit that the staff person bought. Oh, she is so happy you sold it to her! I felt very good.
The other performance was Jersey Boys, the traveling Broadway show. That was a blast! I had no idea what Juvenile Deliquents the early rock groups were! Great music, great story!
And, of course, I had to move out of my sold apartment and into my new apartment between trips. Shall we say it was tight because of the few days between trips but I got it done. Thankfully, my friend Scott A come over one Monday afternoon and we got all the heavy pieces out of 405 and into 1705.
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| The view from the 17th floor. |
During the trip I visited friends and family and it was a wonderful week: My sister, cousin Mary Jo and her family, Stephanie and her sister's family includeing my best buddy since 3rd grade. On April 8, I went to the cemetery and visited not only Mary's grave but also graves of other family members: Grampa and Grandma, Dad, Mom, Uncle John and Aunt Claire Lamey, and Mary's family too.
The bulk of the day was spent at Mary's grave listening to our music. Its a day I reserve to be alone and contemplate and remember. Yes, there were tears but they are good tears.
From Minnesota, I flew to Denver to visit my son and his family. We had a great weekend and we are all getting excited about our planned trip to Maui this summer. Its so good to visit my grandkids, it is just a blast. And Sarah did say she thought I was kidding when I said it was a bullet hole! Smart girl.
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| From left: Issy, Chris, Danny, Casey and Sarah |
Oh, and my departures from Minnesota and Denver shared similar characteristics--lots of fresh snow!
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| Departure day from Minnesota. |
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| Departure day from Denver. |
The next day I came on down to Los Gatos and the Golf Links house (Click here). Los Gatos is warmer than San Francisco even though its only one hour away. So I was pleasantly surprized to find these April flowers! iPad users click here.
Enjoy!
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