Since I last posted anything on my website in July 2018, my life has undergone major changes. The biggest change was selling our farm in North Plains and moving to Lake Oswego. Our reasons to move were many. At 72 I simply was pushing the limits of how much farm work I could continue to do. I was no longer riding my horse, so she needed to find a new home where she would get the attention she deserved. Mark was very tired of maintaining so much farm equipment, and we were tired of the social isolation. So we made the decision to begin searching for a new home while we prepared our farm to be put on the market. It turned out that finding a new home that suited us both was the easier part of the equation. Repairing and cleaning up the farm was by far the hardest part. The work seemed endless, and we wondered who would be in the market for such a large property. Fortunately a buyer jumped at the offer within a week of listing.
We finally moved in February 2019 to a beautiful home on the outskirts of Lake Oswego. We now have wonderful new neighbors, but no one is looking in our windows. We look out on farmland maintained by someone else! We regularly see deer and coyotes too, but they aren’t in our yard eating all my plants. The yard is beautifully landscaped and I’m really enjoying having a reasonable sized garden to maintain. It’s so nice to be located within shorter distances of our kids and grandkids now. We have seen them much more often since the move. We love that. And we are so much closer to Portland and all the musical events we like to attend there.
We’re slowly discovering many social activities within this community. I’ve joined the Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Garden and work there regularly. The library in Lake Oswego is very active too, and there are many parks and the Willamette River to enjoy. Penny loves going to the nearby dog park and has become much more social since moving here. She loves it.
Since moving I really feel like I’ve retired! It’s so nice to have time to play music again, and relax a bit. I’ve begun watercolor painting which has been a great new hobby. I’m still doing rally dog shows with Penny and she’s doing great! We’re at the advanced level now.
I’m looking forward to updating my website and expanding it! Lots of pages are out of date and need work. But I now have the time to enjoy web building.
