Friday, April 11, 2014

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Day 7.090: Empty rooms, full hearts

So this was it, our last day as residents of New York. We said a lot of goodbyes - starting with some of the neighbors before the kids got on the school bus. Most of the day was spent running errands (a car-load to the "transfer station" i.e. town dump), a form to fill in at the Middle School, a box to drop off at the post office; and cleaning the house. Look how lovely (and empty) we left it:


At the end of the day, we met Exile #3 from her bus and went down to the elementary school to meet Exile #4 and E5N1 and get on the road. More goodbyes, including for Exile #3 who went off down the hallways to find her 3rd and 5th grade teachers.

And with that, this chapter closes...and another begins.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Day 7.089: Truck!

Many of our worldly goods are now in here:


(just look at the size of it!) including some it would be useful to still have in circulation, but so it goes!

The house is rather empty and echoey, but we have beds still, so one last night in this house awaits.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Day 7.088: Some important business...

...in the midst of the moving chaos.

It's E5N1's birthday!

Sadly, I'm a few hundred miles away, but here is a picture from Exile #2 of the birthday boy in his dinosaur shirt (and new pants).


He was quite excited when I spoke to him briefly on Skype and seemed to be taking the partially dismantled household in his stride.

I don't have the energy for a look-back collage today, so here are previous birthday posts if you want to do your own "Throwback Tuesday E5N1 Edition":

Day 88 (look who arrived for Easter!)
Day 1.088 (first birthday & cake!)
Day 2.088 (two UK birthday celebrations and cute brother/sister hand-holding!)
Day 3.088 (on the road in Virginia and Maryland)
Day 4.088 (destroying the Death Star)
Day 5.089 (another Easter birthday - the leap year caused the numeric discrepancy)
Day 6.088 (TARDIS, sonic screwdriver and a bonus look-back)
...and we're up-to-date!

Happy Birthday E5N1 - I'll see you in a couple of days - and each day after that for a while I hope!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Day 7.087: Rug Capital

A few days ago, I started the countdown to our move with a last "Rug City" creation. The post is here, but I'll repost the photos to save you flicking back-and-forth:


There were some proposed solutions in the comments, but the local commenters knew the truth, now revealed thanks to Google Earth.


It is Albany, New York - the Empire State Plaza to be more specific - including the Egg, the State Museum, the Corning Tower and with a guest appearance by the Capitol Building.

Tomorrow, the packers arrive to start dismantling our home and on Thursday we will wake up for the last time as residents of New York.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Day 7.086: A cake-off

This morning we completed our goodbye-filled weekend with a send-off at church. We've only been going there for about a year and a half, but we were so welcomed that it feels like much longer.

It seems all-too-recently that they had a cake after the service to celebrate our membership, today we had another one to mark our departure.

A piece of it made it to Maine with me


Actually, it was a bit more than that as you might be able to discern.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Day 7.085: Partly party

The first half of the day included some chores related to the move, but then our friends started arriving.

It's probably a good sign that this was the only photo I took from the moment the first person arrived until after everyone had gone:


In between, there were lots of great conversations, kids charging around inside and out, food, drink and general merriment.

I had a blast - but of course it's a reminder of all that we are leaving behind this week.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Day 7.084: Another long (distance) day

It started like this:


with a beautiful twelve mile run in Portland, and - with a few hours of work and few hours of driving in between - is ending back in our house for two of my last three nights here. Yikes.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Day 7.083: Throwback Thursday #2

Since he missed out on the first Exiles in New York Throwback Thursday, check out this picture of E5N1 from Day 110:


So tiny, so peaceful. So not like he is today.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Day 7.082: I can carry it...

...it's light.


I can hear Exile #3 now, "You're not funny."

As for today - more back-and-forth on documents for our new mortgage interspersed with working and running. All good I think.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Day 7.081: One last Rug City...

I have no idea if there will be more rug cities in our future, but I suspect this will be the last one for this blog. I made it with E5N1 when I was home one weekend in February and it seems like a fitting end to this little recurring feature.


Do you recognise it?