Eleven years ago today – July 6, 2005 – we moved to a new home, a new town, a new stage in life. This is how our place of abode looked back then – not all that homey, to tell the truth.
Well the neighborhood has improved a bit.
And the landscaping is a bit better.
No matter. On July 4, 2005 we were packed up by our movers in Georgetown. The truck was loaded on July 5 and we locked the door at 56 Pennington in a driving rainstorm. Then it was off in two cars to Almonte. We got as far as Peterborough, spent the night in the “Nite Owl” motel and next day were up early and off to our new life experience.
After we got unloaded and unpacked here we were joined by Sammy who had spent a few harrowing hours with Dave and Sarah as they took him to Ottawa earlier. He was glad to get settled, as were we.
And now we’ve been here 11 years. Our old pal Sammy went off to the Rainbow Bridge last year. We have had many joys (grandkids) and sorrows (deaths in the family) and of course we’ve gotten older. We learned the fun of cruise vacations, enjoy being close to the US without driving to Buffalo, and especially like the fact that Maria’s mother and our daughter and son-in-law live much closer than if we had stayed in Georgetown.
And although Maria worried that we moved to too small a town, she’s been happily received into volunteer work here. As for me – I love the scenery, the small town feel, the river, cool nights under a canopy of stars.
There are far worse places to retire than the Ottawa Valley.