OK gentle readers, life has descended into chaos once again After 17 years in Oakland, we moved out of our house. 17 seems to be the prophetic number as we rented a place in Castro Valley just 17 miles from our Oakland place. Although we have only been here officially for one week, we are mostly moved in and enjoying a nice view and a large five bedroom three bathroom home. The neighborhood is five minutes from Lake Chabot regional park and a bit closer to my work shortening my commute by about 17 minutes (Another 17? Coincidence? I think not).
The view from the deck in our new pad!
Our frst weekend in the house with a celebratory Kung Fu Girl reisling. Yes, we look tired, and bedraggled, but excited for a new adventura.
You may be asking yoursef, "Why now?". An entirely fair question. Since Rusty has retired, he has spent all of his time as the construction manager for our basement construction. this is a frustrating and difficult job. We are way over time and way over budget for getting this complete. But now we are on the verge of completion. Paying a mortgage plus the loan for construction is a huge disincentive for staying when we can sell the house (our neighborhood Glenview still has a strong market) and save the equity for our ultimate move in June of 2027, my projected retirement date.
We are also saving in other ways. Yosiell is using one of the rooms as a studio. We can also actually get rid of our expensive storage unit in Oakland and bring all of our crap into the garage for a thorough once over to get rid of junk.
Psyhologists list moving as a top stressor in a person's life, and being midstream into this move it is clearly true for us. We are exhausted mentally and physically. and are counting down the minutes until we are finished with constuction, staging the house, and have signed the papers for a sale.
Living in Castro Valley is a bit of a full circle moment for me as when we first moved back to California, I got a job as a principal here. So, although we have never lived here, I'm pretty familiar with this small unincorporated town.
There are several ways that the stress on moving can be lessened, inclduing de-cluttering (still working on that), and prioritizing self care. I wouldn't say we are prioritizing self care at the moment, but yesterday I did go on a long walk at Lake Chabot, a five minute drive from our doorstep.
Memorial Day weekend six mile hike. The day was absolutely perfect and once away from the Lake Marina, few crowds and a chance to decompress.
A Blue Heron hanging out in the shade.
My friend Bruno met me out for the walk. He's good company for sure. We talk mostly about cool space stuff as he's an astrophysicist.
The Marina, a picture of the swan boats for rent. I'm deifnitely going to rent one before leaving Castro Valley!
In the spirit of continuing our self care, Memorial day is a day off from work and we had friends over for a Memorial Day barbecue. Rusty insisted on moving the extremely heavy Komodo Dragon egg smoker to this rental place. It took four of us and an insistence that the smoker get used weekly for us to be motivated enough to get it on the truck. This weekend we made good on that promise and we used it as an amazing pizza oven. Hooray! Our first dinner party.
Ivan and Rusty making pizzas for the smoker.
Anand creating a pizza master piece.
Yosiell in pizza bliss. I gotta say, the pizza from the smoker was exceptional.
Full approval from the chef!
We have lived in Oakland a very long time. We've developed many memories and had many adventures. It is impossible to move without feelings of nostalgia. The neighborhood we are leaving is filled with the best neighbors we have ever had. Our Halloween Trick or Treating game is legendary, with three hundred kids showing up on our doorstep. The National Night Out party was always right in front of our house. We have witnessed families move in and kids grow into adult hood. We have helped each other out countless times with so may things. We have partied together, mourned the loss of family members and pets together, and gossiped with each other on nearly a daily basis. I couldn't have asked for a better neighborhood, truly a wonderful community. So yes, a sense of nostalgia and longing has crept into my consciousness (and I'm sure into Rusty's and Yosiell's as well). Ardley Avenue (and Oakland) will be missed.
Theres an old folk belief that if you bury a statue of St. Jospeph in your yard upside down and facing toward where you want buyers to come in, you'll sell your house quicker. We aren't Catholic, but I have purchased my statue from Monsignor Bezos at the cathedral of Amazon, and we have every intention of supporting this pagan Catholic practice. We will let you know how it goes gentle reader.
Keep us in your thoughts and send us your positive vibes as we manage the last of this grueling and long process. Wish us luck gentle readers!
