When I’m away from it, I often go to North Carolina in my mind. And now I’m in my childhood bedroom in Cary, which will be my home base for most of the next year.
This year of charting our post-retirement future will not always be glamorous. Sure, we’ll take some trips and have some adventures, but mostly we’ll be taking care of our elderly parents. John is with his 96-year-old dad in southern Virginia, and I’m here with my 83-year-old mama.
We arrived after the upper 90s summer heat situation passed. Yay for that! It’s pleasant here now, mostly in the low 80s and sunny. A heavy overnight rain made the greenway where I take my morning walks almost jungle-like.
The lush greenway.
When we arrived a few days ago, I was excited to see that my brother had left me a welcome gift: two perfectly ripe cantaloupes from Ridgeway, N.C. These melons are world-famous, or so I’ve believed since I was a little girl. They grow near my grandma’s old house in Warren County at the N.C.-Virginia border. I’ve never had better cantaloupes, and I was so grateful to get to enjoy them before the end of the season.
If you look closely on the upper left of the plate, you can see a little of the very thin rind. This thing was so lucious; I had cantaloupe juice running down my arms after cutting it.
Most of the past few days has been spent hanging out with family, unpacking, rearranging my bedroom, and doing my mama’s errands.
The primary excitement so far was going to the Cary REI store to purchase new hiking boots. REI is a co-op, and if you know me, you know I love co-ops. So I was all set to become a member again, then I discovered at check-out that I was still a member from 20 years ago in Colorado. It’s a lifetime membership. What a deal! The REI staffer found me in the system with my Michigan address, Colorado phone number, and old university e-mail.
The boots are not for that greenway trail above; they are for France. Sure, most Americans go to France to traipse through museums and eat escargot, right? And we’ll be doing some of that, bien sûr. But we’ll also be adventuring in French nature. On our first week in le sud de France, we’ll be climbing the Pic St. Loup, a mountain near Montpellier that offers views of both the Alps and the Pyrenees from its peak.
We leave for France in two weeks. In the meantime, when I’m not helping my mama, I’ll be out on the deck with a book. I’ve already been to the local public library and checked out a couple of mysteries.
The pine straw is everywhere.
