Surprise Move!

This will probably surprise the heck out of anyone actually reading my blog. We are on our way to Annapolis. Let me back up and catch you up from the last post of June 6, 2020. Soon after that I was a featured reader along with Doren Robbins for a Poetry Center San Jose zoom reading (June 9). The regular events were changed slightly, my Chester group met for a week via Zoom in late July. We decided going to New Hampshire would work fine, pandemic-wise, as the levels of infection were very low there. So we drove up to Guilford, had dinner (masked, socially distanced) with our friends Gwen and Norm, and then arrived at Drew Farm on July 25. The first week we were there with Clare and Lucy only, then the rest of the family came. Going to the pond was easy, people stayed away from each other enough so we all felt safe. Bill and I even shopped at the market pretty regularly, how daring! We stayed until mid-August, then drove home stopping at Wallingford, my new Connecticut discovery where I'd stayed with Juditha the year before. Bill liked it very much, especially the Library Bar and Bistro for dinner. 

All of the regular activities took place, except via Zoom, like my various book groups, the Cool Women, the Chester group. In fact, it was nice to meet with the Chester group once a month instead of the usual once-a-year gathering. The first part of my article about John Sandford/Sanford/Santford, the three Revolutionary War soldiers, came out in September (and then part two is soon to arrive in March 2021). 

But the real excitement came around October when I convinced Bill we should go down to Annapolis and take a look at some of the apartments at BayWoods of Annapolis, the retirement community we had researched and which was beckoning to us. So we drove down on my birthday, staying at Country Inn and Suites, found the good espresso place there (Ceremony Coffee), found a beautiful park by the bay (Quiet Waters), and had dinner outside (tented) at Vin 909 to celebrate. The next morning, after breakfast downtown outside near the docks, we showed up for our tour with Jim Harrington of two of the two-bedroom apartments that were available. Unfortunately, both were on the north side, not as sunny as the south side. But it all looked good. We spent some time also at a wonderful bookstore/coffeehouse and had lunch in Eastport in a sandwich place, sitting outside looking out over the harbor.

So then we mulled it over for awhile...! Genevieve and I arranged a Zoom 80th birthday surprise for him with friends from all over the country wishing him well. Thanksgiving came and went, quiet, just the two of us. Christmas came and went, quiet, just the two of us. We decided maybe my niece Karen could help us out, since the Covid cases were particularly high around the end of the year. So she went to BayWoods on January 9th, toured an apartment newly available on the south, sunny side, took lots of photos and talked to Jim Harrington. The apartment looked great, was on the fourth floor, had a view of the water, and so we decided why go down again to look at it, since the two-bedroom plans all had the same layout, and we had seen the facility. We had looked into at least 30 or so other places, ranked them financially and by amenities, and this place just seemed the best fit for us. We had only visited Annapolis one other time (back in 2007) but the visit in October revealed a town with a lot of excitement, and the fact that we would be right on the Chesapeake Bay just seemed very exciting and relaxing at the same time. Also nice to be near D.C. and all of its activities, as well as Karen and Elena and Marina being nearby as well. And friends Anne and Fred, and Hiram to boot.

I am writing this as we are in the throes of moving. Many boxes of books. Backaches, packing exhaustion. We are looking forward to being in our new place, that's for sure! Next post will have more news about our adjustment to the retirement community and life further south. At least I don't have to worry about my not seeming to be much of a Jersey girl. All I have to be now is a decent Annapolitan.