These are Challenging times

This is not going to be a political post.

I have not posted on this blog for a long time. Much has been going on in our lives, with some major changes taking place.

We have been doing almost back to back house/animal sits, since we returned from France, November 4th, 2016, and in between times, moving house. Yes, we are moving off the boat into an apartment.

The boat is for sale   www.besttrawlerforsale.com   and in order for her to look her best and be ready for her next owner, we needed to vacate.

Clearing our possessions out and staging her for showing has been time consuming, but ultimately it is great to be clutter free...as in, the 'stuff' that fills our lives so that we can live it. Having everything off our lovely girl is also dehumanizing in many way. 

It is interesting to us that when we return to the boat (almost every day, at the moment) we feel emotionally removed from her. She has been our wonderful home for 3years 7 months and we have loved her as no other home before. She has been not just our home but our transport too. This relationship with a boat is something I hadn't expected ,when we took the long leap from being earthbound.
We come across so many fellow live-aboard boaters who vow that they will never again own a home on land, and we can see why. Living on a boat allows you to pick up and move when the neighborhood gets rowdy, or you don't like your dock mates, or you just want a change of scenery. It takes you places you cannot get to any other way, and pits you against mother nature in ways you could never imagine.
Weather is now all-important: Tides and wind, wind against tide, those approaching shelf clouds or  Every decision you make is for your ultimate safety. We don't make those same kinds of decisions on land as consciously. Perhaps we should?

We left France with many regrets. One of those was that we knew we wanted to be there longer term. It is hard to  point to any one thing that draws us back, each time, but Brittany, where we spent the majority of our two lengthy stays, in France, is reminiscent of New Zealand, in it's scenery. You really cant compare the two countries in many other ways, but the fresh food, the way of life, the language, the formality of life and traditions of the Breton people are most attractive to us.

Having lived just outside of Paris, in 1981, and having travelled to Lyon, Marseille, the Vaucluse region of Provence, including the Luberon and many places in between, in the past, I keep coming back to the maritime climate and the familiar towns of Bretagne. Waz  was the one who suggested we try to find somewhere to live, there. He feels as at home as I do in Brittany.

When you are on a boat, your home travels with you. Renting an apartment for a fixed period of time is ok, but unsettling. You know it is finite, and that ultimately you will have to find somewhere to settle. How long do we want to be PONFA's (Persons of no fixed abode)? Not too long!

We had taken a lot of our gear and possessions off the boat prior to leaving for France at the end of August. This was all placed in a nearby storage locker, but paying for that each month is a drain on our precious reserves, so we were happy to move all of that 'stuff' to the new 3 bedroom apartment, this month. January has been a busy month for us, with making the decision to leave the boat once and for all, and finding a place to rest our heads in the meantime.

We looked at the benefits of apartment living vs a rented home, and the view over the St John's River from the Lanai of the apartment was what finally tipped the scales in that direction. Perhaps also, the fact that there were so many 'other' expenses involved in renting a house. We would have had to buy a lawn mower or hire someone to mow the lawns and keep the yard for us....and keep the leaves and tree debris off the roof, and....the list goes on. Apartment living is less expensive, but it is a bit like living in a tunnel, if you are in a middle unit.

We spent a couple of days looking at and for furniture that was comfortable and good enough quality that we would want to keep it and take it with us. Because all the furniture on the boat is built-in, there was very little we could take with us to wherever we decided to rest our heads. All new furniture is quite exciting, although we have a household full of it in storage in NZ!
After an aborted deliver attempt 10 days earlier, which had us seething....some companies don't know the meaning of customer service...our furniture arrived at 7.30am, last Thursday. I had to leave Waz at the apartment overnight to receive the goods, as our old dog needed me at the house sit for walks and food.
We are happy with all our purchases and we came in under budget, which is always cheering:)

Below...I am standing near the lanai doors looking back up the 'tube' that is our apartment, towards the front door. A mirror reflects light from the sliding doors onto the lanai overlooking the River.

Above, the bright light from the doors to the lanai make it hard to see that the lounge suite is powder blue.
There is a 'real' fireplace in the apartment, but we wont be using it this winter. I'm not a fan of open fireplaces in apartment blocks.
We don't have fancy bedside tables or lamps...the plastic drawers will suffice, and the $8 lamps are fine for the purposes of reading. The new bed is a Sealy Posturpedic pillow-top, and is perfect for what we need and comfy. It is rather high off the ground, however.

 Our dining table with 6 chairs extends, which is rather nice. We plan to have company, in our new digs. It is taller than a regular dining table, and for us old folks that is a plus...you just slide onto the chairs rather than 'sitting down' as it were.

 I made up a makeshift bed for Waz's sleepover the night before delivery. This is the reflected interior of what would normally be the master bedroom, with the view to the river, but we plan to make it our office and work space. It is large enough for both.

Above...the view UP the river from the lanai...3rd floor....and below, the view DOWN the river.

 The Lanai...doors to the master bedroom which is now our office, and on the right, to the living space and the rest of the apartment.

 Yes, we had to buy crockery too! The kitchen in Move-in mode.

 ...and the laundry in a cupboard. We are fortunate that we didn't have to purchase laundry appliances, which would have cost anywhere from $1,000 for both, to $2,000 for washer and dryer, depending on brand and front or top load.

We bought the porcelain crockery on sale at SteinMart. Thank goodness for January Sales! We found all our furniture on sale also.
The whole apartment is 1667 sq ft  (155 sq meters)  which is a good size and we don't feel squashed into the tube.

Of course we went for a drive in the new neighborhood and found a wonderful coffee shop which serves excellent lattes, and a lovely walk along the river through the neighborhood.

 We will enjoy this daily walk, I predict.

Thank goodness we bought a Honda Odyssey Van...we managed to fit all our worldly belongings into several..(make that many!) trips from the boat to the apartment, and the storage unit to the apartment without having to resort to a rental truck. I guess it helped that we didn't have to lug our own furniture!

Meanwhile, back at the house sit, cleaning out the van was a chore that had to be done, following the 'move'. Our old dog enjoyed being outside on the front lawn while we did our job. She eventually chose partial share in the rose garden for her lying spot near the road.

We cant leave her off a leash as she likes to wander, and though she lives in a cul-de-sac, we cant trust her to return home. At 15, she is a bit forgetful!

Our almost daily walks in the nearby village are enjoyed by all three of us, and sometimes, when weather permits (i.e. not too cold) we all go walking on the Atlantic Beach.
Following Hurrican Matthew, in October, the dunes have all been piled high to protect the many waterfront homes and the delicate dunes. I think you can see that in this photo.

 Below, I am standing on the dune that has been bulldozed about 10 feet high, to keep the ocean from the delicate dunes and the homes.

 It was warmer, this day, though the wind was slightly chilly. I was just in t-shirt and shorts, but Waz needed his jacket.

We really enjoy these walks along this stretch of beach.

Now that the boat is empty of our possession, we can set about giving her a deep clean and taking care of her in a different way. We have her professionally cleaned, top and bottom, each month, which is a load off. She otherwise looks like she has been well loved, and is in as perfect a condition as she has ever been, with all systems go.

It is a lovely (if cold) day outside. Florida weather is changeable in winter, with (this year) some of the all times highs for the time of year, being in the mid 80's, followed the next day by lows overnight in the high 30's.This makes for a 'poke your nose- out' morning ritual when we let the dog out for her morning business. Our down jackets are getting a work out this week, and we have the heat on in the house during the day. Cool at night is preferable for sleeping, we find.

I am off to take Her Majesty for a walk, if she is willing and able. She enjoys these as much as we do, although they can turn into 'sniffathon' at each post and every bush. Such is a dog's life:)

We will return to our new apartment this week, and we wont have to travel too far to minister to the boat from there. We have two more house/cat sits scheduled in the first half of the year, but welcome the opportunity to be in our own home for a change and to find a new routine there.

Bye for now, and Happy New Year!