Here we are, the 31 day of October 2017…our official move in day.

So much has gone on in the past six months.  Condo sold.  A whole lot of down-sizing, selling and donating.  The total of our posessions packed into an 8’x8’x16’ POD container.  A car, a boat and minimal furnishings are now in Canada’s east coast all ready for a new life by the sea.  It seems as though we’ve been in limbo for far too long and it will be so sweet to finally be settled.

RED by the SEA, our 87 year old home is now ours, fully and legally.  We have spent the last three nights cocooned in a sort of camping way with a borrowed blow-up mattress and not a whole lot else.  Our four cups, plates and bowls are here, ENA our coffee maker and a few pieces of cutlery are here….and wine…we have lots of wine.  The essentials.

Glamping

In spite of our spartan existance we have been able to function quite nicely.  Galley Kat always rises to the occasion at meal time although I realized I hadn’t packed either a decent knife or scissors and no pots or pans. But our R.E.D. is well equipped with enough galley gear so we brought her to her new home all nicely parked and ready to be wrapped in her winter coat.

My daughter treated us to pizza and salad our first night which we gobbled up sitting on our deck steps. I pulled off a rather tasty stew our second night after foraging in the boat for supplies (recipe link here if you are interested).  Still no chairs or table but when you’re this much in house love it doesn’t really matter.

As of the writing of this post, one bedroom – the guest room – has been painted because it’s the one room that will be fully furnished.  The rest will come as time allows.

We’re getting to know our neighbours gradually. Fred from up the road stopped by to welcome us to the area.  He called us ‘white walkers’…a sort of reference to white haired retirees…I think.  Or maybe he really does think we’re zombies. He says Gabe a few houses away has a couple of little kids so he’s going to let him know they can come here for Halloween treats. Marcus dropped off a large bag of his apples…MacIntosh he says…and he also smokes mackeral which he sells…and wood which he sells…and why is your place so empty he asks?  He’s visited us twice in just 2 days so I expect he’ll be back again to make sure we eventually have a place to sit down.

Marcus’ MacIntoch’s

This is country life for sure.   The curious are circling but it’s a comforting feeling having local eyes, ears and so much information close by.

So today is THE move in day when all the planning and waiting will be over and is it ever going to be a jam packed crazy busy day! Four deliveries are scheduled and all we know is that somewhere between 10:00 and 6:00 it will all come together.  We’re kind of getting used to effortless and seemless so why would today be any different?  Our closing was just ‘sign here, here’s your keys’. Agent, lawyer, banker and insurance broker did all the work splendidly.  Post office, same thing.  ‘Here’s your new key and Frank your delivery guy will leave an extra key in the box for you tomorrow…your place is the one with the driveway to the shore road?…my mother lives just two doors down…welcome to Hubbards!’  Smiles and friendly folks at every turn.

Far too excited for my own good, I was wide awake at dawn. Too much noise going on in my head to sleep. ‘Chop chop’ Francois! Rise and shine!  We have a large day ahead of us. Two coffees to jump start the synapses.    We are ready!  To add some muscle to the big event we’ve enlisted the help of our son-in-law because we all know most of my strength is on the inside. I’ll be ready with an abundance of opinions though to keep things moving along and enough pizza and beer to fuel the heavy lifters.

Our POD container: 10:30 arrival and unloaded in 1-1/2 hours.

Our mattress: delivered at 1:00

Our water system: arived at 2:00 and was finished in 2 hours

…and finally the bed delivered at 3:00..piece by piece

….and it’s Halloween so I left a little note for the trick and treaters to help themselves as we would be very busy unpacking.  What a day!  Feeling moderately overwhelmed but we can see it all coming together.