Our landlord called in mid-December to tell us that our rental house is being foreclosed and that we'd need to be moved by the end of February. Shortly thereafter, Miach had to make the unexpected trip to Florida and he was gone for about 3 weeks dealing with his mother's funeral and his father's and sister's future plans, since they were financially dependant on his mother. To top things off, Miach was only home about a week before Winter Investiture, and since we are members of Court, that added to the stress. Amazingly enough, I did spend some calm and lovely evenings at home watching my Brother Cadfael mystery DVD's and sewing my court clothes. Everyone had left me at once: my daughter and baby grand-daughter moved back in with the baby's father, my college grand-daughter decided that since we were being foreclosed she should move back to her father's, and Miach needed to go back to his father's. I turned on classical music every night before going to bed, and lit candles every evening, and worked on my silk tunic and sideless surcoat, and watched Brother Cadfael. Miach would call once or twice a day, and we'd talk on the phone for hours like we used to do when we first met.
But soon enough, Investiture was behind us and we were staring at a forced change of residence.
The first item on our agenda after Miach came home was withdrawing the offer on the house up in Sly Park. We couldn't commit to staying her for five years any longer. Then we began looking for a rental.
It was about as difficult as it had been 3 years ago when we found this place. As much as the yard here thrashes us, we have also come to love it and to enjoy the park-like ambiance, not to mention the buffer zone it creates between us and our neighbors. It kind of spoiled us, and the typical suburban yard seems awful now. On the other hand, this house does have it's problems -- poor plumbing, poor ductwork, a funny smell in the garage and I suspect mold.
So, we compromised. We are renting a one-story house on a corner, with lovely heather in the front yard and no back yard to speak of. Just a huge, concrete wrap-around patio. It does have redwood trees. The property is on a hill, and the trees loom over the house on a fairly steep inclined side yard. There is a retaining wall. We can't see our next door neighbor at all, but the house to the rear is painfully visible over the back fence. There is another redwood behind the house, and that makes the view from the kitchen fairly pleasant. But the view from the family room and master bedroom is boring. The front room and front bedroom have nice views. Miach is going to make a den in the front bedroom, which is going to be great, because he can be as messy and cluttered in there as he wants and it won't make me anxious. And we have a guest bedroom with a pretty good view of the side redwoods and patio. There is a 3 car garage, and we have so far managed to get all the stuff we had in the shed into the third bay. Tomorrow we will be moving the garage detritus, though. It takes up half of our current 2 car garage, so we'll probably end up with one actual car in the garage, just like here. The van will live outside the third bay, near the heather. Despite my declarations otherwise over the years, we will be moving the horrid sectional couch with us. We'll trash Miach's broken computer desk, and the table I've been using will go into the brewery area of the third bay. We'll probably buy a kitchen island/butcher block storage thing on wheels from Ikea, along with whatever kind of desk Miach wants in his den. As for me, I'm setting up shop in a corner of the family room. The TV will go into the living room. We'll have to get some chairs for the dining room table, as the ones I've used for over 15 years are getting wobbly and one of them broke before Christmas. I'll probably get an actual table for a desk (vs. the heavy plastic utility table I have been using), and a new chair, and a couple of Papasan chairs or something for the family room. It won't be as bad as moving here -- we have a washer and dryer and fridge already, so we won't need those. And we got a new king size mattress when we moved here, and our older queen-sized became the guest bed, so we're set for large appliances and beds. My sons are supposed to come help tomorrow, my youngest daughter will try to come help me clean up this place afterwards later in the day/evening, and our friend Sean might help, too.
Tonight is our last night here. I remember our first night here. We actually spent it in the front/guest bedroom, because the new bed hadn't been delivered yet. I was so excited about the gardens and having so much space, but I didn't think we'd be staying much more than one year. We didn't even unpack most of our boxes, which has helped a bit now, but not much. We've bought brewing stuff and sewing stuff and garb that took up the slack. Three grandkids have been born since we moved here, and the grandkids will definately miss the gardens and pathways here. They could be very adventurous and yet still safe in a fenced in yard. We had a great Easter egg hunt last spring.
We never did buy the upstairs deck furniture I kept dreaming about, or the telescope. We never got the hot tub. In fact, the gazebo for the hot tub kind of fell apart this winter, giving the yard a forlorn look. I will really miss this place. I hope that it finds someone to buy it and fix it up again. I can't begin to remember all the places I've lived. Just in the time that Miach and I have been together, there have been 4 counting our new place. But this house is one of the more memorable. I will miss coming home to my Tudor Manor and gardens.
