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Cat transitions
For the first 24 hours, the cats hunkered into corners of the 2nd floor or wandered around crying loudly and inconsolably. They sniffed their favorite bedding but disdained it and only settled when I went upstairs to sleep with them. It was a long night. I am happy to report that the guest space is…
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We went-went-went (a day early)
We’ve been working all week towards a Thursday move. We made lists, checked off various tasks, started moving some of the things we packed over the weekend. Hung clothes in our closets, brought over the medicine box, packed up my art supplies. Steady on. All the while a typhoon has been blowing up towards Japan.…
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Yoga classes upstairs
This weekend, with house guests and local friends all gathered to help us move, we did our yoga sessions together in the upstairs of 555. (Still need a name for the upstairs!) We comfortably fit five people. Plus Mamiko joined us via Zoom from her mountain cabin. She’s our best class photographer. On Saturday we…
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Two-day packing blitz
This weekend has gone by in a blur of cardboard, friends, dust, and heavy lifting. “Team Garage” kicked ass on a task I have been avoiding for months. Years of accumulated junk in the garage is sorted into piles: dump; burn; keep. The few items we wanted to move are already at 555 thanks to…
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One week left
I am not sure how it happened that we are one week out from the move and I am not prepared. All these months of planning and getting ready and I am just…not. It’s all going to be fine. Really, it is. We will get there. Moves always are a pandemonium. I had a plan.…
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Mapping my Move
I started this drawing a few weeks back when I was feeling stressed and at odds with the whole project. I finished today with a few last details and a title. It really does show my route through the project or moving from this mess to the lovely fresh house up the hill. I shared…
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How to move with cats
“How are you going to move the cats?” my friends and neighbors are asking. We are a couple of weeks out from shifting houses and I feel like a new parent – all plans and no follow through. I know my cats’ personalities, fears, and whims, so I created a plan to accommodate them as…
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Starlink train
An otherworldly experience happened last night at 555 with connected magic this morning. Hitomi, Kengo, and their son Kenta, stopped by 555 in the evening. Tod & I were finishing up some little tasks as the sun set, so we got to show them around the house with all the lights on. They hadn’t seen…
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Furniture planning
We are to the point in the build where it’s time to figure out what we are moving into each room. I’ve been diagramming the rooms to figure out how we can fit furniture we already have and to see what’s missing. The bedroom gets our bed. That’s pretty much all we have, aside from…
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Concrete and carpet
Yesterday two things happened that I resisted but ended up liking more than I expected. The inubashiri is a concrete walkway all the way around the house – literally it means “dog run”. It’s a common feature of modern Japanese homes in the cities where the law says you need a minimum of 50 cm…
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