The Awful Closet

     When not traveling by boat or motorhome we run a bed and breakfast.  Years ago with a growing business we decided we needed to move into and live in the back end of the house.  It meant giving up our master bedroom out front with all its space, but it was a good decision. Now we live in 800 square feet of a 3200 square foot home and we are happy as clams.  We have a kitchen, den, pantry, laundry, and tiny bedroom.  We also have the world's smallest full-sized bathroom which I love!  A nice roomy shower and a toilet that allows you to lean over the sink when you are sick at both ends! (I guess that explains why a 32 ft. motorhome will seem "roomy" when we head south.)

Woodlawn


  

   
      The only problem is that we lack storage for clothing in our section.  So, much of the stuff I don't wear was summarily shipped to the barn a while back.  The rest occupies a closet out front in the study. I have been shoving stuff into that closet for years now, and it finally reached the point where I dreaded even going in there. It was basically a big jumble of balled up clothes! Ahhh, but no longer!  

     This morning I took my CD player to the study, inserted my favorite Christmas music by Bing, Frankie, and Nat, and began the job of cleaning it out.   I dug through stacks of clothes and suddenly I felt like I was going through an old photo album.  Some of the stuff dated back 20 years!!! As I sorted through stack after stack of old tee shirts, I got to savor memories bought up by each one. Since I like to buy tee shirts when I am traveling, the theme of the shirt usually triggers a memory of that trip or event.  I ended up throwing out a bunch that were worn, and others with life I donated to charity, but there are still many I will hang on to.

     These old tees are like members of the family.  For example, my old Windy Topp tee shirt dates back to a boat I sold 15 years ago. Yet it still looks good and I will wear it, if only on work days around here. I have a great collection of religious tee shirts that date back to my conference days.  Some are like old friends and have cool messages like my favorite: "What part of Thou shalt not didn't you understand?"  And then there are Mets tees, Orangemen tees, and Football Giants tees that still have a job to do.  (The Mets tee shirts have very little wear as the team sucked for so long.  I think they will get more use in the year ahead.)

     I even found an old "wife beater" tee shirt.  That one went to the rag pile because, at age 66, wife beaters don't look very fashionable on my rag doll body!  After about an hour of stacking, folding and sorting,  I called it quits, with still another 2 shelves to go!  That's the good news about being retired, there is always tomorrow.  The best news of the day: I found my Christmas socks!

New Life!

Getting older involves learning to give stuff up. After 27 years of boating, the time had come and last summer we sold the boat. 

Now we are beginning a new adventure with our 32 ft. Land Yacht, Bounder! Follow us as we spend the next 3 months seeing Florida from the land side. Journey begins at the end of the month!

Here is a shot of us entering the marina after our long journey.

Home at last!

Well, we are home so it is time to end this blog for now. Will there be a creakycruisers blog part 3? Stay tuned!

Serious glass time!

SGT means time looking through a windshield.  That is my fate for the next week. Today I am driving north from Stuart, Fl having picked up my truck. Having just made this trip by boat, it feels funny driving up the same coast by car. Easier but not nearly as much fun.   Places we visited by boat like St. Augustine and Daytona have been reduced to meaningless exit signs on the interstate.
The glow of a sunset will be replaced by the glow of the tv in my hotel room. The good news is I can go for a nice walk after I eat, just not on the beach. I sound whiney but I am not. So thankful for the wondrous experience that is the ICW!
Tomorrow it's on to New Bern and points further north.

Fly away...

I'm sitting in the airport terminal waiting to board the first of 2 fights to get me back down to Stuart, Fl. where I left my truck. So now that I have completed the long journey by sea, I get to repeat it on land.  The good news is that I am heading to Florida as opposed to someplace like Minnesota!!!

Gonna spend the night in Stuart with friend Kathy Kull Bossinger and then hit the road tomorrow. For me, flying is just a hassle.  I do enjoy the view from a plane but that is about where the good part ends. So I will just endure today and hope that I don't end up sitting with a large person on the "puddle jumper" flight to Charlotte.

The last few days here in New Bern have been just absolutely beautiful with great weather and a city in full spring bloom!  Dogwood and azalea everywhere!

We took my father-in-law out for a 92nd birthday dinner on Tuesday and then dinner with friends Ed and Mary Ann last night.

Sunset at my home dock in NC

Not bad, eh?