4 Days With Kate

Kate left tonight after a whirlwind visit. It's amazing how much we got accomplished. I've posted a slide show that kind of recaps the visit. She arrived 2 hours late Thursday night, thanks to American Airlines, not landing until 11 PM that night. Friday morning I gave her a tour of Redwood City (she hadn't seen it since she moved away 17 years ago) and she was duly impressed. We visited Cost Plus since she works at the one in Fort Worth and she was interested to see how it compared (ours is much prettier). While there she bought some wine and my first housewarming gift - a martini shaker so I can make apple martinis! We came back to find Wayne already here hard at work. We spent the day working on the house. We emptied all the old jars of sauces, etc. in the fridge, put items in large bottles into small ones, threw out all the old stuff, and ended up with a beautiful, organized fridge where I can see everything I have. There's a photo of Kate at the sink emptying the jars. She also went through all the cases of wines we had in the garage and separated the maybes from the definitely nots. She opened several of them, finding a Veuve Cliquot I'd purchased in the last 2 years which was quite fine and which helped her get through the arduous day. There's a photo of the empty bottles of all the wines we ended up pouring down the drain. We took a break for lunch with Wayne. It got really hot in the afternoon, which caused me to have a meltdown and have to take a nap. The day ended with my sunset walk and dinner and then we crashed fairly early.


Saturday was another story. It started off well. Kris Gardner, an old friend from the San Francisco heydays, dropped by for coffee and catching up. I hadn't seen her for about 20 years but she looks the same-gorgeous. She left with a plant, a sweater and a small vase. Kate and I have decided everyone has to leave with something! Kate and I then spent the day looking at apartments. Before leaving the house, we looked at Craigs List and spent a lot of time narrowing down the choices so we could focus on the ones that were the most promising. Well, I have one thing to say - they lie on Craigs List. We looked at 5 buildings, getting inside 2 apartments, and it was the most depressing day I'd had in a long time. Very very depressing. Tiny, no closet space, dark, tiny kitchens with no microwave or cupboard space, tiny bathrooms, dark, dark, dark, with coin-operated laundry machines in the basement. After the 5th one I'd had enough and we repaired to Trader Joe's where we got some wine, cheese, bread, antipasto and frozen espresso cups for dessert and headed home to drown our sorrows. There's a photo that reflects how I felt. It was a dark ending to the day.

Sunday I woke up and said to Kate that I will not accept living anywhere where I have to use coin-operated laundry machines in the basement - I'd already done that in college, Paris, and San Francisco and those days were behind me! - and that I didn't want to look at any more apartments this weekend. Kate had also been thinking that night and suggested we put some items on Craigs List. We ended up listing 8 items and I've already sold 4! I sold an ice cream maker, a Kitchenaid Mixmaster, a compact refrigerator and a breadmaker. I've got a list of more things I'm going to add. She also wants me to contact some consignment shops regarding some of my high end clothing, shoes and hats. We spent all of Sunday unpacking boxes, going through the kitchen cabinets and pulling out things for me to keep, deciding which furniture I should keep and opening several more boxes in the garage. That evening we trotted over to Michelle's across the street for more cocktails and hors-d'oevres. Kate had never met Michelle and they hit it off immediately. I made sure I didn't get drunk this time, adding tonic to my vodka tonic as I drank it. We had a great time though and it was a nice ending to the day.

Monday Francine drove down from San Francisco and brought a gourmet lunch with her. We had prosciutto, brie, smoked gouda, fabulous baguette, foccaccia, homemade olives (the olives came from a friend's olive orchard and Michael had marinated them), a salad that Francine made on the spot, accompanied by Louis Roederer Estate champagne that Kate had found in my garage and which was excellent. We laughed and caught up. The three of us hadn't been together since the last time Kate was here, which was several years ago. We've all known each other since 1976 and share a lot of great memories. Then we got to work. Or at least they did. I've never seen anyone pack so fast. I tried to make lists of what went into the boxes, but I finally gave up. I think they packed 7 boxes - stemware, dishes, cookware, photo albums, sweaters and jackets, cutting boards, mugs, knives, escargo plates and tongs, etc. - all destined for my new apartment, wherever that might be. I made espresso later in one of my newly found Parisian espresso makers and Francine was favorably impressed (she's Italian and drinks espresso regularly, so I was pleased). Wayne came by around 3 like he does every Monday, to prepare the garbage for pickup Tuesday morning, and he spent a couple of hours organizing things. Francine left at 4:30 along with Kate whom she dropped off at the airport on her way back to the city. I was sad to see them both go.

So here I am, on my own again, but much further ahead in this process than I was before the two powerhouses - Brenda and Kate - came to help. I now can see the light at the end of the tunnel regarding getting out of this house. The more junk I uncover, hidden in the darkest recesses of the house, the more toxic this house becomes for me and the more anxious I am to get out. I don't know where I will end up, but at least it will not be here. I might find it on Craigs List, or it might be via word of mouth, but I will find it. If it's not in time for when I'm ready to move, then I'll just put everything in storage and find a temporary situation and also take advantage of my lack of roots to go visit friends and family

Upward and onward, as they say.