Moving in slowly is a huge benefit, because it has allowed us to discover and fix things as we go, rather than rush everything and have unpleasant surprises come later. It also gives us an opportunity to re-examine what we actually want to keep.

For the first couple of weeks, we only brought over the bare necessities for survival, like underwear and some dishes, but all our furniture and most of our “stuff” was left back at the apartment. We have since started moving more things over, but that little break before doing so was a huge eye opener for both of us. Suddenly, things we would have never parted with voluntarily before are all but forgotten.

We have come to the conclusion, that we have more than we need of a lot of things. Thankfully, we have moved to a neighborhood with a well-visited garage sale, recycling events and buy-nothing groups, so there will be plenty of opportunity to get rid of things, we no longer need or want. But I do believe many things won’t even make it that far, and will end up in the bin at the old place before we are done.

That neighborhood garage sale is happening July 10-12! There will be more information coming, about what you might be able to find at the Kermit House. But if you’ve been a fan of Kelly’s food photography over the years, there will definitely be treasures to find.

All with masks and appropriate social distancing, of course.

Meanwhile, work is progressing on the backyard. Kelly is deciding exactly what to keep, and what to change, very much focused on having both a beautiful garden fit for hosting lavish parties, and room for veggies and fruits. All the while taking the animals into account. There are 3 generations of bunnies, that we have identified, a pair of crows with their adolescent crowling, a fat squirrel, and a couple of uninvited guests of the rodent variety. Plus a couple of hummingbirds , robins, finches, sparrows and miscellaneous other small, winged visitors.