"I can't be a pessimist, because I'm alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter." -- James Baldwin

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Tom, Where Ya Been?

     B and I recently downsized from our four-bedroom house in New York to a one-bedroom condo in nearby Connecticut. We moved last week. We were in the condo for three days, and then as planned, we left for a week-long vacation to Cape Cod.

     The idea of temporarily moving into condo is to give ourselves the time and money to travel around and seek out our retirement destination. One problem is that B and I have different ideas about what our destination should look like. But that's a story for another post.

     There are a lot of retirees living on Cape Cod. But for various reasons we've decided that Cape Cod is not a possibility for us (or at least, we think it isn't but, gee, it's awfully nice up here). We're just taking a brief vacation to rest and recuperate from the move.


     The first thing we did was rent bikes and ride up to a pond to go swimming.


     Then we went into town and had a drink and some clam chowder.


     On the second day, after a couple of hours on the beach, I drove over to the fish market, bought some fresh swordfish, then we cooked it on the grill of our rental house.

     We'll be here for a few more days while the workmen finish up some renovations on the kitchen and bathroom of our condo. Hopefully, by the time we get home, the place will be back in one piece and we can finish unpacking. Then we will continue to transition from our old lives (I'll still be playing in my old golf league; B is still working at the library, until she fully retires at the end of the summer) into our new lives (we've already got three other trips on the planning board).

15 comments:

Carole said...

Love the cape! Are you near the Cape Cod Rail Trail? Just love to bike on that trail; you can go for miles and not have to worry about traffic.

Anonymous said...

Nice. Love New England in the summer!

DJan said...

It sure looks like a lovely place to be hanging out. I also hope everything is back to normal when you return. :-)

Jane said...

Life is good!

Anonymous said...

I have been to Boston and Winchester, but never to Cape Cod. Sounds like you have a nice itinerary.

Rian said...

Sounds like a great plan to me. If you have to make adjustments as you go along... that works too. Enjoy!

stephen Hayes said...

It will be interesting learning the destinations of those future trips.

Kathy @ SMART Living 365.com said...

Hi Tom! And congratulations on your move. It sounds to me that you have really settled into to "rightsizing" your life and are working to make it fit for you both. Isn't it awesome to have the freedom, the money and the time to travel and check out places that you have only imagined before. I'm looking forward to how it all unfolds for you...and happy to read along as you go! ~Kathy

Still the Lucky Few said...

I'm impressed with the gradual approach you are taking. It's wise not to jump into any situations you may have to undo! Short vacations close to home give you all of the pleasure and none of the stress that long trips involving air travel would demand. Things will turn up, as they always do, but you will be in a perfect position to cope with whatever comes along!

Olga said...

Cape Cod is a nice place to visit. I think you have a fun approach to making this where will we be decision.

Bob Lowry said...

I grew up in the Boston area so have many fond memories of Cape Cod. I will caution you that it becomes rather bleak in the winter. Most of the population disappears, many stores shut down, and those left hunker down for several months of storms.

Even so, there is a rugged beauty being in Provincetown during a 'noreaster.

Anonymous said...

Tom, I well recall my dad's wistful and fanciful comment during a very cold, windy and icy winter (early 1960's) day in East Falmouth: we should blow up the Cape Cod Canal bridges and float the Cape down to Florida... But he never said that in July or August.

Anonymous said...

It's a wonderful life for some. Enjoy.

Tom said...

We've been here in CC in November and while is it much quieter, there are still plenty of people around and restaurants open. Still, floating CC to Florida in winter is not a bad idea ... which is why what we're really looking for is CC south. So we're going to the Jersey Shore and Maryland and Charleston. We might try San Diego, except all our kids are on the East Coast, and we probably couldn't afford SD anyway.

Denise said...

Tom, we moved from what we "thought" was our stepdown home to a condo a year ago. Although I liked the house and the location and our neighbors were very nice, mentally I never unpacked. In fact, there were several times that I thought, "well, this has been a nice vacation, time to go home now."

From the time the pictures were hung in this condo, I knew this was the place I wanted to be and I have never felt "not at home." My next door neighbor is a retired fire chief and I have a nurse across the driveway, so if and when I actually AM alone, I am in a good place.

Most of the people are older than I am, so the circle of life will take it's toll, but it's really a wonderful, friendly community. I love it!