Last minute

    This was my last weekend in Brookings before the trip.   I took my car to its boarding house, so I am now without wheels and probably won't drive for another six months. I know how odd it felt in 2006 to get back behind the wheel after a two-month hiatus from the driver's seat. I don't think there's any danger for forgetting how to drive, but I imagine it will seem strange in April.  I have been walking to and from appointments--good practice for what's to come.   

     I think I have seen to almost every possible last-minute detail. I have made copies of phone numbers where I can be reached, and made a copy of my itinerary. I loaded e-mail addresses into my yahoo address book.  I have arranged for my phone and Internet to be "en vacances" until April 9, 2014.  I have done the last loads of laundry except for the sheets, which I will launder tomorrow morning before leaving town. The last thing I want is laundry in the hamper for six months. I have also met with some people from school and done some district work--that keeps me grounded.  Otherwise I think I would spin out of control. 

  I am not really looking forward to this next phase--the actual traveling.  I remember when it was fun to travel.  We dressed up; it was an event, an occasion.  Now it's an ordeal.  I don't want to get there; I just want to be there.  Having checked the weather forecast for the Baltimore-Washington area, I am repacking. It's going to be in the 90's there and I did NOT pack clothing for 90 degree weather.  Nor am I looking forward to that heat and humidity.  I wanted autumn, not dog days.

     In the package I mailed ahead of time, I included a watercolor of the Ophir causeway to hang in my apartment to remind me of home. I will miss the cider festival and crab season. I will not miss having to be out and about in all the rain.

    I have been saying goodbye to friends. It's really not goodbye, but au revoir. I am very touched by everyone's well wishes. I promise to write and take pictures and to try all sorts of new adventures. Shortly after I arrive in Carcassonne, the city will celebrate the fete des vendages--the grape harvest festival. And I have discovered an organic farm where one can go and help harvest the crocus stamens, also known as saffron. They are actually having one picking this coming weekend.  I hope there will still be an opportunity to do this once I arrive--that I am not too late.  Sometime soon there are some truffle markets and foie gras markets. So much to see and do.

     Next post from France!!!