Change

Home alone. That’s something I don’t experience much any more since Verne retired a few years ago. I spent a decade as a weekend-wife with Verne working weekdays in SoCal and then later in Carson City and returning home Friday nights for the weekend. It was our “normal” and a lifestyle that seemed to suit us both. I was more than a little concerned about the retirement years and spending 24/7 together, but I have to say it has been an easy adjustment. Of course, it helps having my own 750 square foot studio/retreat separate from the house and I’m sure Verne would agree that his barn/workshop has saved his sanity more than once.

Today, as I sit here alone, I’m feeling a sense of loss. After spending the last three days with us, Jana left this morning for LA. We’ve had a wonderful time together with the highlight being a trip to Napa yesterday for a picnic lunch and wine-tasting tour of the Chappellet Winery in the Prichard Hill area.  Verne and I joined the Chappellet Wine Club a few years ago and have enjoyed taking family and friends there on several occasions. The Chappellet family has set aside two beautiful private picnic areas on their 640 acre estate for club members to use. One of those spots is set amongst the oaks and boulders on a hillside surrounded by grape vines. The other is located in a beautiful meadow, also surrounded by grapevines, and overlooking Lake Hennessey. They receive little use during the week, so we had the meadow to ourselves. It was perfect! We concluded our trip to Napa with a box of macaroons from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery. Pure decadence!

As I mentioned, Jana left to drive home this morning, but not without adding to my loss by taking Izzy, her beautiful Short-Hair Exotic (Persian) cat that I’ve been cat-sitting for the past nine months. It’s not that she’s left me without cats – I still have three. In all honesty, three more than Verne would like and when I consider the expense, damage, and work involved in having purebred, indoor cats, I whole-heartedly agree.  But, Izzy is perfect by all standards and now she’s gone and I’m left with the others – precious, but not without challenges. There is Julie, Izzy’s mother (a weird little 7 pound cat with stomach issues and a personality disorder), Izzy’s father, Ernie (the most normal of the bunch, except for the strange snorting sounds he makes), and Olive, Izzy’s sister (I can’t do her justice in a side-note, so read on). Izzy and Olive are like Arnold Shwarzrnegger and Danny DeVito in the movie The Twins…Izzy got all of the good genetic material and Olive, the runt, got what was left. In nature, Olive would not have lived, but I took it upon myself to teach her such rudimentary things as eating and drinking (otherwise she’d still be nursing at 2-1/2 years old) and using the litter box (that last effort was not completely successful). You get the picture. In spite of her flaws, Jana loves Olive and it took the past three days to convince her that Olive is a “stressor” that she doesn’t need right now (or ever) and that she should take only Izzy. We have agreed that I’ll give Olive until August 31^st to reform (learn to consistently use the litter box) or else.  “Or else” has yet to be defined. Below is a picture of Izzy.

I’m experiencing yet an additional loss today. We live on a one-mile stretch of road that services six full-time families. All are property owners (10-acre minimum) with the newest family having lived here for ten years. I find comfort in living in an established and stable community. Verne and I would call any one of these neighbors if we needed help and they would do the same with us and have on many occasions over the years. In the last month two of these families have sold their homes and both are moving today. The Lairds, our immediate neighbors, are leaving their home of 35 years – twenty of which we have shared memories. I am sad to see them go, but appreciate the dichotomy between large acreage and aging owners (they are in their 80’s). The two are mutually exclusive. The amount of work required to maintain a private road and 40 acres, in our case, is never ending and, unfortunately, as we (that would be Verne) gets older, his work days become shorter and shorter and the workload mounts. It will soon be our turn to sell our beautiful property and move to something more manageable just as our neighbors are doing today. Sad.

On a positive note, I was told that one of our new neighbors has an interest in learning to make jam…that’s a happy thought as I am quite the authority on the subject and love nothing more than to spend a day in the kitchen making a batch of slow-cook peach marmalade or strawberry balsamic and black pepper jam. My list of favorites is extensive, so I’ll save it for another blog post. I’m already feeling better about the change and looking forward to meeting our new neighbors!