We're finally almost out of Oak Park. It's been a long journey to here from May, 2012 when we became homeless. We're leaving Oak Park tomorrow, for real, with our stuff. Not to be traveling, but to be resettling, re-finding and redefining home -- and it's exciting, difficult, bittersweet. I hope you all know how much we've loved being part of your lives, having you be part of ours, and hope you will look us up when in the Portland area.
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| Steve, forced to pose in front of our tightly packed storage space. Another one in the city is full of grandmother stuff. |
As I write, I'm sitting in our odd little airbnb kitchen in Mont Clare; Steve's about 12' away, in front of a huge TV (52"), watching
The Walking Dead, and so pleased to be doing that. We have never had a TV this big, frequently no TV in English over these 18 months, and it's pretty surreal for me, sweet for him to have it right now, with these undead folks in the living room.
It's been a delightful couple weeks, lots of work organizing and packing in Chicago/Oak Park. They've gone so fast, with far too little opportunity to see folks we love, although we've been lucky enough to connect with a few.
We've had odd stolen chances to say goodbye to some of our favorite spots while on other errands -- Volo Bog, Garfield Park Conservatory, beautiful bits of Chicago and Chinatown, the Library, etc. The Library was really hard for me -- a vestige of home, love, at this point.
We have loved these 3 decades in Oak Park! And loved all of you who have made it so special. Oh! How we will miss you all!
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| Volo Bog and its lovely vibrant life. |
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| The winterberry (red) at Volo is amazing right now. |
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| Overlooking the center of the bog -- the last remaining bit of the quaking bog - soo cool. I love this place. |
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The path through the bog. If you haven't been, this is a great time to go -- often
Sand hill Cranes are there, passing through this time of year. |
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| Saying goodbye to the MCA. |
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| Saying goodbye to the Monet Garden at Garfield Park Conservatory. |
Many friends have asked for some coverage of Gen and Sara's wedding -- here are a few of my photos.
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| Gen (left) and Sara, before the actual ceremony, at the Queens Farm Museum, a really cool working farm, an astounding bit of functioning rural, in NYC. |
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| Sara, Gen. |
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| Ross and John, with Gen's (clerkship) judge, just behind and to the left of Ross, about to start the ceremony. |
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| Ross and Elizabeth. |
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| The beautiful cake topper made by my artist sister. |
After the wedding, there was a weekend/weeklong celebration in a big rental home in Bay Head, NJ. So much fun. Sigh. Here are the newlyweds, with family, about to leave for their sloth-viewing honeymoon in Costa Rica.
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| And John and Steve on the beach, later. |
The new rented place in Portland is compelling, with its legion of built-ins encouraging and allowing for long-term organization, something we've both seriously missed. We began the stuff sorting and packing phase while in the big house 5 years ago and it'll be a little like a birthday, opening the boxes packed then, discovering the mysteries inside. Our first official use of our new permanent address was to join the Friends of the Multnomah County Library.
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| Just one of the basement rooms with cupboards, cabinets. |
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More basement storage.
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| Panoramic of upstairs study storage space. These people were somewhat OCD, and we reap the benefits. |
We have lots of room for company in this great little house. We hope you'll give us a call when you're in the area.
