Ce chapitre pourrait s'intituler:"A la recherche de l'Essentiel". Le Pepto Bismol ou le vin rouge???? Le vin aide a faire les bons choix! Non, je n’ai pas de débordements capillaires ou cutanés qui me forcent a appliquer mille crèmes ou onguents mais j’ai la « Cosco-ite » et donc j’achète des grands formats ou la Walmartite qui fait que je profite des aubaines! Et voila, le moment arrive ou tous ces flacons doivent être sauvagement réduits au confins d’une mini armoire!!! Ou on se lave très souvent les cheveux!!!!

We have moved ....!

The house is empty, and we are in the process of cleaning up each room, fixing holes in the wall, and get the place ready for our Belgian/German tenants.

In the process, we emptied every cupboard and moved our stuff onto La Buena Vida.

Every load disappeared, and the only sign that we were adding "stuff" to the boat was that the waterline was getting lower and lower ...

But a big job was ahead: The "cosmetics and medical division" had a lot of stuff coming to the boat.

Today, we went over bottles, and creams, powders and more bottles, ... ok! ... eventually we managed to get this pile into something we could actually store away. But we had to make a hierarchy: to sort the essential, that is the question! (Marleyne seems to be pondering over her choices: Pepto Bismol or red wine???? but really the wine just helps her to make up her mind!)

And we have still space for more!!!!

Sometime .... we will go sailing to try out the boat. New equipment (meaning new to the boat, but bought used as back up systems for some of our existing gear) is to arrive in the next couple of days. Which means, more things to store. But if all fails, we will tow a barge behind us to ensure that we are properly equipped!

You never know when you need this anti-wrinkle cream!

Cheers!

We have been asked if we were excited ... about our upcoming trip?

La nouvelle de notre évasion est habituellement suivie de :¨Vous devez être excités!¨ déduisant que nous passons nos journées à rêver aux plages des îles.....Ben...pas vraiment...

Yes, we are ... but!

Une image vaut mille mots!!!!!!!! et un millions de listes de choses à faire...avec la fin de nos activités professionelles, nous pouvons consacrer notre temps à réparer/préparer le bateau, trier les vêtements et articles qui seront entreposés et ceux que nous apporterons...je n'ai pas encore réussi a enlever les spaghettinis de leur emballages pour les ¨ziploguer¨avec la sempiternelle feuille de laurier..ca se fera demain!ou ce soir, pendant que je transfère mes musiques préférées des cassettes au format mp3..... Heureusement que nous avons déjà passé par cette phase éprouvante en 1991 et 1999...on s'énerve moins, on sait qu'un jour, tout sera rangé et que le voilier, lourd de plusieurs centaines de livres additionnelles, voguera (malgré tout) dans la bonne direction! Pis là, on va être excité!
There are a lot of preparations to do. For one: we closed our (3) offices. I finished my last major project last Friday, celebrated with a beer ... and off we went to get going on moving, storing, getting the boat loaded, getting the boat fixed up, getting papers in place, getting .... yes, eventually, we will be excited.

But now, life consists of making lists of "things to do", and another list of "things to do before the other list comes into effect". Never mind, there are always surprises: the autopilot acting up, the windspeed indicator falling off the mast, the SSB radio not tuning, ... and wasps trying to built a nest around our garage entrance.

One project done, two more added to the list!

But, we must be making progress, giving the number of times we are driving to the boat loading stuff into La Buena Vida. She must be getting heavy. Food is being stored, gear, tools ... And as you can see: I am on my knees again - what's new?!

And at home ... the house looks a bit of a mess. Stuff in the living room - one area dedicated for "shredding", another one for "re-cycling" ... and all the clothes to be stored for the future, or on the boat.

Fortunately, our tenants arrive 10 days later than planned. That gives us more room and more time to work with - it was making the difference between "Help" and let's work at it and enjoy the "cleansing".

A "cleansing" it will be - tomorrow is a day for the dump, shredder and re-cycling!

Are we having fun yet?

Kind of ....