Fast forward the hard way

So since the last post Teresa accepted the position AND MOVED!!   Alston-Raids-Reed-Smith-MoFo-for-New-San-Francisco-Office


Teresa moved to San Fran in March, but visited a lot.  We visited her a bunch too. In the short term we rented a house in Tiburon with great views.

The house is in a beautiful and quiet area known generally as Tiburon.  Within Tiburon, we learned, there are actually several other areas.  Tiburon is the cute little town near the ferry and home to Sam’s Anchor Cafe, the popular deck/dock.  (Sam’s live feed is here:https://samscafe.com/c/sams-camera.html) 

As you look east from Tiburon your neck cranes up a significant hill onto Corinthian Island, which is where we live.  So 135 uneven stairs up from Sam’s is our area.  Lovely houses that all look small from the street, but actually go down the side of the hills.  While not huge, they have beautiful views.  The next island over, which is also visible from Sam’s, is Belvedere Island.  Another micro neighborhood with crazy windy street, beautiful homes and fantastic views.

This pic is Corinthian Island (our house not shown):

Since moving here we have focused on kids and school, sailing, and normalizing life as much as possible.   As to the kids, they still claim to be homesick and probably are homesick.  But, they have friends, activities, and are fitting in to their new schools nicely.   Sam has a wide group of friends, goes out in the neighborhood when homework is done, and is on the Redwood High School Mock Trial Team.   Ella has a good group of friends at school, is in the advanced guitar class (she and one middle school senior are the “advanced” class), and is part of a small singing group she started with the help of cousin Emily.   

Emily is our super talented cousin (http://www.operaonthespot.com/artists/#/charlotte-stowe/) who lives in SF, but visits with us Mondays and Fridays.  When not with us, she is a music and singing teacher, founder of Opera on the Spot, an Opera Perfomance Company that performs around SF.  Emily and Ella got a good group of local kids together and they sing on Fridays.   Hopefully this will grow into a performance opportunity.  But, even if not the singers are all having a great time.

As for the sailing, I joined Modern Sailing, which is a club in Sausalito.  I take classes and get to charter boats.  Weekends are crazy busy, so I try to go out with guys who have time during their week.  Tuesdays seem to work well.  We sail around the SF Bay and practice sailing techniques, sail trim, etc.  The goal is to become a truly proficient sailor.

Here are a couple of pics from sailing in the bay with new found friends. 

Next step -for my 50th birthday Teresa and I are heading to a boat show.  The Multihull (Catamaran) Boat Show in La Grande Motte, France!!  This will be a great opportunity to see catamarans from all over the world and get detailed information about them.  We have a few test sails already booked so we can narrow our choices down as a retirement platform.

Stay tuned for more.  Comments are welcome.  If the blog is at all amusing, please share too.  Not sure if I am just typing to myself here.