The New Place

BowlingWidow and I have been living in our remodeled North Everett condo since late April, but I haven’t actually mentioned anything about it here or posted any pictures yet.  With that in mind, I can say that it’s working out really well so far.  The neighborhood is kept up nicely enough, is in a relatively quiet part of town, and seems to have very little crime.  But if you do want to introduce yourself to the Everett vice squad you won’t have to look far, just a mere 5 blocks away on Broadway.
 

Our Nice, Modest Kitchen

Sold and gone is the Marysville wooded half-acre whose trees which loomed close to where we slept, scared the living bejeezus out of us during windstorms on many a fall and winter night.  Say goodbye to two hours of lawn mowing per week when the sun is out later than 6:00pm.  Vacuuming?  Maybe twice a week instead of twice a day due to all of the dirt that was tracked in.

From One Corner of the Living Room (Complete with Lazy Cat)

So what to do with the free time gained from a shorter work commute and less maintenance?  Well, there’s lots to do aside from the usual answer of catching up on books and movies that seemingly everyone but me has read and seen over the last twenty years.  For one thing, being close to downtown gives us the opportunity to walk to a lot of places, thus providing exercise and a reduced carbon footprint.

Then there are my guitar lessons.  BowlingJoe is a well known musical illiterate and the notion of teaching an old dog new tricks will be put to a real test.  My music teacher claims he can teach anyone how to get to know his or her way around a guitar.  I’ll do my part by practicing a few hours a week and we shall see about that in time.  Meanwhile, I told my friend and professional musician Dave Nachmanoff that he shouldn’t spend a minute thinking that I might take his job.

From Another Corner of the Living Room

And what about bowling, prominently featured in the name of this blog?  The truth is that I really don’t bowl as often as most bowling fanatics.  But now, instead of spending Saturday’s cleaning out downspouts, maybe there will be a tournament or two in my future.

Yeah, there are really lots of things to do in this world that aren’t classified under the four-letter word called “work” (at least by my definition).  Cooking, volunteering, hanging out at microbrew festivals….it’s all good stuff.  And Muffinheadedboy, I, and a couple of friends will be joining 10,000 of our closest friends in riding our bicycles from Seattle to Portland over two days in July.  203 miles.  You’d better believe we’ve been using some of that free time to train for it, too.

Deck Off of the Dining Area

So far the move has been a lot like being in college again.  Except that now I’m 51 years old and go to bed by 9:00pm every night.  Maybe I’ll live until 90.  It would be kind of nice to be in the top of the sixth inning of life.  With plenty of baseball yet to play.