The Move

The day for the big move is approaching all too quickly. Puck and I packed almost all of our belongings into a 10×20 storage unit and left California mid-August. Some of our friends generously gave us a closet in their house to fill with all of our more temperature-sensitive items (like CDs, videos, photo albums, etc.), and we found temporary homes a few other items. We were a little sad to leave the duplex we had rented for five years, and we’ll be lucky to find such a nice place and landlord (our neighbor) on our return. Still, we were excited to get on the way.

The Road Trip

The road trip home was pretty fun if a bit hot and sweaty at times (unloading and reloading the luggage on top of the car). Our friend Cindy flew out to make the drive back with us before she headed off to Indiana to start her doctoral program there, and she has some photos you can see here.

The Grand Canyon

We stopped at the Grand Canyon to catch a sunset and a sunrise–which was lovely since it was my first time to see it. Many of the tourists failed to cue in on the fact that you don’t just go to see the sun rise or set but to see the way that this affects the shadows and colors of the Canyon itself. This meant that at sunrise people cleared out early and missed some of the best parts of the show!

The sunrise was gorgeous, and a cloud graced the scene to add its special touch.

Lovely, but now the view in the other direction...

The photos can't quite capture the shades of color.

I love the effects of the light on the canyon.

The light spreads...

A little more...

Light and shadows...

And the sun was high in the sky.

The canyon with the sun high in the sky.

Shakti did much better on the trip back to Oklahoma than on the trip to California, but she didn’t eat a lot. It was a lot of fun walking around with her on the rim of the Grand Canyon, though we wore her out with our 2-mile stroll.

We had an enjoyable walk with Shakti along the rim.

Aren't they adorable? Shakti was much admired and loved on by other tourists.

Back Home

The 7 nieces and 1 nephew from my side of the family plus my siblings all came in for the weekend to celebrate Mom and Dad’s 45th anniversary and to see Puck and me before we go. Normal family joy and chaos ensued. We also made a couple of trips up to Tulsa to visit Puck’s sisters, Mom and one of our nieces. Puck made some delicious Bulgogi for the family following his Aunt Thim’s recipe.

Shakti

Shakti has settled in nicely with Mom, Dad and their dogs. She loves playing with Mikey (black lab mix) and Casper (little white terrier mix), and she keeps trying to snuggle up to Clark (their Rottweiler and her old beau from when we lived in Oklahoma). She adores Grandma and Papa (what the grandkids call my parents)–following Papa everywhere he goes just like she used to do when she was a puppy. We enjoyed the walks with all of the dogs in the country every afternoon and seeing Shakti so happy in the new environment.

Shakti adores the daily walks in the country.

Shakti chasing Casper. Don't worry! She never catches him. 🙂

Finding Old Friends

As often happens before a move, I have also been hunting down and contacting old friends. Going forward always makes me reflect on the past and curious about where people are, what they are doing. The Internet has transformed our world in so many ways that often go unnoticed. It is so much easier to find friends, though sometimes it depends on the uniqueness of the names.