Today the movers arrived.  I was up early (5am) to make sure the trash and recycling were curbside...and then to wait for the movers to arrive.

And arrive they did exactly as schedule.  There was the driver...and one young man who I would describe as a gentle giant.  Between the two of them they off-loaded all of my furnishings in a wee bit over two hours.  The gentle giant would lift three boxes heavy with books and walk them down the stairs as if those boxes were filled with feathers.  

Then I spent the afternoon starting the chore of unpacking.  I do not know why I was so grouchy while doing so.  Maybe tired?  It seems to me, though, that over a five hour period I got about 1/3 of it done.  To now see my familiar belongings in this house brings closer to me the reality that I've now done this move from California to Wisconsin.

Someone asked me if there were any regrets.  My first response is that there are no regrets.  Just as there are the four seasons in the year so there are also seasons in our lives.  I've loved loved loved living in San Francisco and the last 35 years of living there are so filled with wonderful memories as well as some painful memories...yet it was my wonderful home for all of those years.  Now this is a different season of my life and my wee little house in the woods is meeting all my needs.  First it is a quiet place of retreat.  Second it is a place of recuperation from a lifetime of working.  Lastly, it's an opportunity to explore new avenues...for although I am almost 70 years old, I am a vital man and I have so much to give and want to continue to be involved with life.

So, these are my thoughts for this 31st day of March, 2017.

It has taken a few days but CJ has finally taken over the homestead.  Throughout this adventure of moving 2,100 miles from a one bedroom apartment in California to a three bedroom house in NW Wisconsin...CJ has been a trooper.

For awhile he seemed completely uninterested in the windows and the wildlife that is abundant outside.  Then this morning he was and is comfortable enough with his new home that he is busy gazing out the windows.

Tomorrow the movers arrive with the furniture/furnishings from California.  I will have to whisk him off to a secure room while they bring in the furnishings.  My hope is that it will not be a setback in his confidence and that the familiar furnishings will be as welcome to him as they will be to me.

​Tomorrow night I will be sleeping in my sleigh bed!

I am at best a reluctant gardener.  My father had the proverbial "green thumb."  When I was a kid he would want me to help with the gardening probably thinking that his love of gardening was in me as well.  Unfortunately that was not the case...so although I would help with the raking, the mowing, trimming, planting, etc...my vow and promise to myself was to escape with a good book as soon as possible.

Yet, I do believe that green thumb has actually been dormant within me.  Over the years of my city living the plants I would have in my homes would actually thrive.  Hmmmm.

Now I have a house in the country and with it I've inherited numerous hedgerows, flower beds, walkways, bird baths, bird feeders...and all of them need attending.  Yesterday afternoon after restlessly viewing the remnant autumn leaves in the front gardens I finally picked up a rake and started raking.  I was surprised at how quickly the motions came back to me...the raking, the cleaning of the tines of the rake, the rustle of the leaves as I worked.  By late afternoon I had accomplished a lot and blisters were on the border of forming...so I stopped.

​...then I poured myself a glass of wine and rested in the warm sunshine viewing my little "kingdom" and knew that all was well and that I would do well in my "wee little house in the woods."

Day four of being at the wee house in the north woods...and finally being fully retired.  Yesterday the sun shone and the temps were mild which brought out the inner gardener.  Although the calendar says it is spring, spring has yet to fully arrive here in the north.  Regardless though the above pics reflect that afternoon's work in the yard.  One of these days the temps will be in the 70s.  Right?

Although this life is quite a change from life in California (the San Francisco Bay Area), it is also a welcomed change.  With the passing of each day I feel the stress melting away from me.  The stress of a thankless job in credit management, the stress of traffic, the stress of surviving in a wildly expensive area in which to live, the stress of too many people in too small of a place.  A moment here for a reflective thought...I loved living in San Francisco for the last 35 years; yet, it is not the same place I moved to 35 years ago.  The good that was part of that vibrant city life is now gone.  It was and is time to move on.  San Francisco is now nothing more than a fond memory of life lived well for many years...and not so well the last 10 years.

So, this morning I woke up to sun streaming through the windows of my wee house in the woods.  As I poured my first cup of coffee I realized this is now my "new normal...the life of the retired."

Today, Monday, is day three of being at my new home in the woods of Northwestern Wisconsin.  It is Monday but I am also retired now.  So I sit here at the kitchen table gazing out the bay window at a fog shrouded frosty morning sipping coffee and enjoying the simple luxury of doing just what I am doing right now.  Yes, there are chores and need to be done today...and will be done today...but that is then and not right now.

​So, day three starts...

Last night was the end of my first day at my home in the north woods of Northwestern Wisconsin.  After 35 wonderful and fun years of living in San Francisco, CA, I am finally home.  What new adventures wait for me here?  I embrace the idea of living here...CJ is adapting well.