Capt. Mark and I have hundreds of books. Some are packed in small boxes. Others are in bookshelves scattered throughout the house. Do I need to move forty cookbooks? Will I ever crack open those Russian language books from college? Will Mark need his cruising books on the Erie Canal now that our boat is in the state of Washington?
Our new home is an 800-square foot space on a second floor with a nice view. It has built-in shelves on both sides of a window seat in the bedroom. When I reflect on all the places we toured, I think this little feature is what sold us.
But our time in the desert is limited. We’ll be there for three months, then off cruising for five, then back for four months. After that we may move back to our house in Sonoma, which will be lived in and cared for by our daughter’s family while we’re gone.
So not everything moves with us.
Why did we choose Las Vegas? We’re not gamblers and we don’t flock to entertainment venues. We lead quiet book-centered lives, when not on the water. The simple answer is our son and daughter-in-law live there and as we’ve spent the past year with our daughter’s family, we decided to spend some time with the other kid.
Plus Capt. Mark has always wanted to live in the desert. He likes dry heat, which is why we’re not back on our boat in the frigid Pacific Northwest…not yet.
Our next adventure takes us back to the San Juan Islands and the Canadian Gulf Islands. We’ll visit some of the places we visited in 2014 and catch those spots on our list that we missed. There’s a quiet anchorage behind Butchard Gardens on Vancouver Island I’d love to revisit, and I want to see the Princess Louisa waterfalls in early summer.
Our water base will be Anacortes on Fidalgo Island in Washington. But it will be nice to have a land base in a completely different climate, one we can easily fly to from Seattle if the need arises.
And I’ll have books to write and edit. I have three, possibly four, scheduled for release in 2017. Fortunately, I like to write on the boat and Capt. Mark makes sure I have plenty of time for writing.
In 2018 we’ll have a decision to make. Do we stay in the desert or do we come back to our house in Sonoma? Do we finally move all of Capt. Mark’s outdated civil engineering books and my unneeded books on government budgeting and personnel management to the desert or do we move back to the Bay Area?
Or do we go off on another adventure?
Time will tell.
My nickel is on you going off on another adventure, and I can hardly wait to read updates on my second-favorite part of the world, the San Juan Islands. Love Butchart Gardens, too. Although there’s on on Bainbridge (can’t remember the name right now) that is awesome in a very different way.
Your new (temporary) home sounds cozy to me; Las Vegas heat does not! But have fun with your family.
I remember that from when I lived on Bainbridge Island. The Bloedel Reserve on the north part of the island. Lovely when the we had “skybreak”.
Good luck downsizing. I am in a frenzy of cleaning out and getting rid of “stuff.” Books are especially hard. They are like old friends, and I tell myself I will revisit one day. Be ruthless, donate, or give to friends. Cookbooks are the easiest to get rid of as there are so many recipes online. . The new philosophy of decluttering is “If it doesn’t bring you pleasure or you don’t love it, out it goes.” You can do this.