As I sit here on the deck at Janet and Pat’s place in Chelan, it’s difficult to picture myself w-a-y south on a different continent. The next few weeks are going to be busy and the only think I can see is getting off the plane in Durban and Mick and Debbie there to meet me. Beyond that…?

It’s been such fun spending time with Mardelle and Jim, and having my own space downstairs. Mardelle and I cooked together, beach walked together and even replaced a faucet together! (Well, almost completed it before running out of time!) We even did a cooking class for a bunch of kids, including Jim’s 14-year old grandson, Antonio. By request, we made foccacia, Mardelle’s special bread, and a Pavlova which I had made for them on a couple of occasions and is always a big hit.

And of course, we had our North Beach park picnic. The usual group of friends with a couple of welcome additions. The weather cooperated, we snagged both tables under the shelter and spent a delightful evening catching up. Of course, the food was great. It’s always amazing how whatever anyone brings to the potluck, fits in perfectly!

The most frequent question I got was, “Where have you been and where are you going? We can’t keep up!”

And I would tell them, “I can’t keep up, either!”

Pros and Cons

Which is the truth! I am REALLY tired of moving, moving, packing up over and over again. Having a base has become my most important goal. I don’t know where it will be but I hope that my South Africa trip will bring some clarity. I need to find out if I fit into that community and lifestyle after all these years.

I’ve been making a list of all the pros and cons of different scenarios, the good, the bad and the ugly! They include San Diego, South Africa, Port Townsend, in various configurations. And how I can make them work. I have to look at all different aspects, including community, costs, transportation, security, location, weather, internet, and even political conditions. So it’s a lot to look at and take into consideration. And it’s something only I can do. I can’t tie myself to someone else’s star. Been there, done that with disastrous consequences.

Next steps take me south to Ryan’s, picking up Debbie on the way in Redlands. We are going to be tourists in Los Angeles for the weekend, doing the Hop on, Hop off bus which will give us both the opportunity to see a lot of the sights, many I haven’t been to. I think that its going to be a lot of fun. We’ll go to the La Brea Tar Pits and see the Hollywood Walk of Fame stars and a whole lot of other places. Betsy is hoping to join us one of the days as she hasn’t seen Debbie since she was in South Africa ?? years ago. (Yes, I meant to leave the ?? there.)

Sunday night, Debbie heads back to South Africa on that very long, tiring flight which I get to look forward to. And is one of the big cons on my pros and cons list.

Early in the week, I’ll head further south to San Diego and be there for the 6 weeks or so before leaving for South Africa.