May happenings and thoughts:
I will be forever grateful that we took the time to visit Normandy and pay our respects at the beaches and other battle sites, and the U.S. cemetery.
- Memorial Day, semi-officially summer’s opening, but officially the day to remember and honor those who gave their lives in service to our country. Brett sometimes participated in parades when he was on active duty, but otherwise consider it a day for reflection. We usually watch a war-related movie in the evening; tonight we’re going to watch Gettysburg.
- We are so ready to leave this apartment. It’s been one thing after another recently, from upstairs neighbors becoming noisier than ever to bugs everywhere to a leak in the living room and mold appearing on the ceiling. We will be looking at potential new apartments in our DIL’s complex next week, and if that’s a go Brett will secure the apartment the first of July, while I’m in Japan. There’s currently an available apartment just down the hall from our daughter-in-law, so we’re hopeful that will still be open, but if not there are others nearby. We figure it will take us a week to get ourselves moved over there once I get back as we can move most of our stuff on our own, taking several loads over every day (we did this in Hawaii and it was the easiest move ever). We will have to pay for moving help to get six heavy/big pieces over to the new place though. Then we’ll clean out this apartment and say good-bye!
- In the middle of the month I celebrated both Mother’s Day and my birthday within a couple of days of each other. Both were positively wonderful for me this year. Our son took us out to lunch at a nearby Indian restaurant for Mother’s Day – delicious! – and on my birthday Brett took me to Five Guys for a burger, and Gigi’s for a cupcake. I was surprised with lovely gifts from all, with the grandkids’ custom Funko Pop figure of “GM Laura” (detailed right down to the gray ponytail and glass of white wine) the most fun.
- We thought we were done buying furniture, but an arm chair we have been coveting for over a year went on sale and we decided to make one last purchase. We are so happy with it because it’s beautiful, very comfortable, and adds to the simple, beach-y vibe we were going for. We had been planning to donate our white dining table and chairs to Habitat for Humanity when we moved out of this apartment, but our DIL asked if she could have them and Brett moved the set over to her apartment last weekend.
- Japan now offers a digital nomad visa, allowing the holder to stay in Japan for six months versus only 90 days. We got very excited and looked into getting one, but eventually realized we not only didn’t want to put the effort into getting the visa and getting Kaipo over to Japan, but also weren’t as excited as we used to be about the effort it takes to live in Japan. We’ll always love Japan, and I’m grateful to be going back next month and looking forward to my time there, but life is taking us in other directions these days.
- The cicadas are still with us, and still noisy. Their presence has been somewhat interesting, but mostly noisy and annoying. They’re not expected to disappear until the end of June.
The Occasional Nomads 
I’m glad that you are able to move to better quarters. That’s the beauty of renting, you can move easily if you need to. The chair looks great!
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We are so ready to go! We have felt cramped in this place for the past two years, it’s getting noisier (especially now with the kids upstairs home from school all day), and now the mold. We’re excited about moving and have our fingers crossed we find something nice near our DIL’s apartment.
We love the chair!!
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That’s a gorgeous chair! Your custom doll is very cute.
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We’ve had our eyes on that chair for over a year, and when it went on sale we snapped one up. I got the lounge chair for Brett but he’s decided he likes the new chair more.
My GM Laura doll sits on my desk and watches over me while I write. She was a fun gift!
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Great chair! We are discussing a new chair and it’s taking more time than I could have imagined. LOL.
We also have great memories of visiting Normandy. Seeing Pointe du Hoc was just jaw dropping. The courage those guys had is beyond my imagination.
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I hear you – we have looked at so many chairs the past two years, but knew the lounge chair was a winner when we spotted it at Burrow; the new chair was the dream chair and stayed that way until it went on sale (at Crate & Barrel). So, so glad we were able to get it.
Pont du Hoc was a more overwhelming visit than the beaches (which were very moving), because of the craters, the German structures still there, and because it was so easy to imagine what it took to climb up that cliff.
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Have you ever watched Sergeant York? It’s my favorite war related movie and we even made a (long) trip to visit his home and park in Pall Mall, not too far from you. I highly recommend a visit there, it’s beautiful area and he was an amazing guy.
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No, I have not seen it but it’s on my list – maybe it will be our movie next year. There are many things around here named for him, and yes, we should visit his home – it would be a great outing for us. I appreciate the recommendation! (the Gettysburg movie as long but still very good (still overwhelming to think about what happened there).
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Glad the storms seemed to have missed you. Love the chair!
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Oh we got the storms here, although nothing as bad as AR, TX, or OK. I sleep with earplugs and the thunder woke me up two nights in a row. There are trees down all around the property, and the creek behind us overflowed twice (and I’m sure plenty more moisture made its way into our wall from outside).
The chair is a keeper – not only good looking but very comfortable too.
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I feel like this is deja vu from your post about your furniture the other week, but can you share the link to that chair?
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It’s the Coronado chair from Crate & Barrel. I knew when I saw it over a year ago that it was “the one.”
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my grandfather flew a B29 Liberator in WWII. He was the pilot and was shot down. Growing up I always thought he was one of two in the plane but it was a crew of 10. 8 survivors from the crash. My grandfather was in a German pow camp for approximately 6 months and he did not know the fate of his crew for some time.
he is 104 and still living in his home.
anon in Mass
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I am filled with admiration and so much respect for your grandfather! The Liberator was tough duty (and even that doesn’t begin to describe it) and so many didn’t make it back. I have been fortunate to have met a couple of B29 veterans in my lifetime and hear their stories (our next door neighbor when I was a child was also a pilot and was shot down and spent time in a POW camp).
We owe these men (and women) so, so much.
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rereading this and it should say B24
but everything else is accurate! Typing on a phone ugh
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The B29 was the Superfortress (had to look that up!), the B24 was the Liberator, a heavy bomber with those scary ball turrets on the bottom.
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That mold situation doesn’t look good, so I’m glad to hear you’re moving. I almost decided to sell my house and go back to renting but I realized I have low tolerance for noisy neighbors so that’s probably not a good idea. I would only consider living on the top floor so there’s no one above, at least.
That’s interesting about the Japan digital nomad visa, but if your son and family are moving to the US, then you wouldn’t really need to be in Japan for 6 months at a time anymore. It is good that it exists as an option though.
Every year on Memorial Day weekend, I volunteer to cook at a veteran’s organization. I’m there with people who are professional chefs (I am definitely NOT a chef!) and they do most of the cooking and I help out with prep and cleaning up. It’s very rewarding and is my way of thanking them for their service. Thank you and Brett for your service!
Love the Funko!
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The mold is quite recent, but we’re pretty sure it’s down in the walls now as well as on the ceiling, so yes, it’s time to go. We can also smell mold in our utility room, coming from behind the water heater (which they have been replacing as people move out).
I don’t think our son and family will be back in Japan for a while. They own a house there, but don’t know if they’ll keep it as a rental or sell. They’ve only owned it around three years, but the land underneath the house has grown valuable enough that they’ll make a nice profit if they do sell.
I think your volunteering for the veteran’s organization is a wonderful to show your appreciation for their service. Well done!
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Hi! I’ll be in your neck of the woods in October. My DD and family live in a home behind Sprouts. If you are in town, would love to meet up with you two – maybe for coffee and pastry at The Bake Shop?
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Yes, let’s get together in October!! I don’t know the Bake Shop, but it should be easy to find and not far from us at all. Woo hoo!
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