Well, that all ended abruptly. Last spring, I had planned to fill you all in on more of my travel adventures and had some new adventures planned… and then I got a job offer.

The economics of the year of being unemployed were not playing out in my favor. With the stock market down and inflation up, an offer of three months of work was inviting. It was only for three months, I could put my plans on hold for that long.

Three months turned into five, which were extended to seven. Then another division asked if I would help them out for six months. And so the last thirteen months have passed. It was good work and I’m proud to have contributed. I am now done with work, again – I hope it sticks this time.

Side Quest – Costa Rica

Before I received the job offer, my mom and I had made plans to travel to Costa Rica for three weeks leaving in April. So, just after I started my job, I went on leave (it’s a rough life, I know).

My parents lived in Costa Rica in the mid-1960s as Peace Corps volunteers; I’ve long wanted to see where they lived and worked. In addition, over the last decade or so my mom has made friends through the Partners of the Americas Oregon and Costa Rica exchange. Thus, we would spend two weeks visiting friends she had made through this program and then have a week in San Jose on our own.

Staying with locals, we got to see and do things most tourists don’t – visiting a small coffee farm (I actually drank coffee!), spending a Saturday with family friends who were butchering a cow, joining a local indigenous school as they celebrated indigenous people’s day, visiting a friend’s farm.

We had a lovely almost two weeks. And then my mom came into my room in one morning and asked if I had a COVID test she could use. Hers showed positive so fast that I had her do a second one to make sure the test wasn’t faulty. At least I tested negative… until two days later when I also became sick. Other than me going out every two days or so (well masked) for groceries, we spent the rest of our trip holed up in our AirBnB in San Jose.

Once I got home, I spent the next week flat out in bed. I was exhausted and my head felt like it was full of cotton. I was scared. It felt like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome hitting me full force again. I wondered what my recovery would look like. Finally, within 48 hours of testing completely negative I felt much better.

I’ll write a full post about the trip, in the meantime, here are a couple of pictures.

Workaday life

After Costa Rica and recovering from COVID, I fell into a routine of working, keeping house, some gardening, and spending time with friends.

Over the summer, I duck sat my former ducks in their new home. The family was letting them sit on some eggs – two hatched on my watch!

Because I’d been gone for three weeks in the spring, then sick, and then working overtime, the garden wasn’t what it was some years. Still, I had plenty of zucchini, fresh tomatoes, a giant squash, and some carrots. I harvested pears from nearby trees for drying and walnuts from down the street. The blackberries behind the Grocery Outlet and bowling alley, however, had been cut to the ground. Still, I harvested raspberries and blueberries from the nearby berry stand.

As summer turned into fall, at work we got two big deliverables out the door and my hours settled down a bit. As the days got dark outside, I transitioned into my new position.

The week of Thanksgiving, I drove to my mom’s and set up shop there until just after Christmas. I worked my normal 8 to 5, Monday through Friday schedule. Evenings and weekends, we shared meals, I took care of some things around the house, and we had some fun: visiting our newly found favorite sandwich food truck, a concert, spending time with friends, the opera, and celebrating the holidays. Oh, and I took a curling lesson!

Garden upgrade

In 2017, I built wooden garden beds in my backyard. At the time, I knew they’d last 5 to 7 years. I’m not sure where the time went, but last summer, one was in serious danger of rapid self disassembly – I kept it intact with stakes and rebar. Still, it was clearly time to replace them.

I found metal beds I liked, so ordered the smallest one this company made and tried it out in a different part of the yard last summer to confirm I wanted to make the investment.

When the company announced deals on Black Friday, I placed my order. Between work, weather, and miscalculations, it took a few months to get them installed. I had to take the dirt out of the old ones, dismantle the old ones them, adjust the space for the new ones (more digging and dirt moving), lay hardware cloth (to keep moles out), assemble the new ones, and then fill.

For fill, I used a hugelkultur approach, starting with the board from the old beds. Then added aspen logs from a neighbor, small woody debris, and finally layers of compost and soil. In the end, I’m pleased with the results and they should last as long as I stay in this house.

Back on the main road?

The detour ended on April 30. I’m comfortable with my finances looking much better for the road ahead.  

So now, I’m back to where I was about a year ago – well, sort of…

While on the detour, the road ahead has changed and so have I. My original plans from last spring are still in place – some more road tripping (more to come on that), some more creative endeavors (felting? writing? video?).

I am a year older and some medical issues have become more urgent, so the first step is to tend to those. I have some appointments over the next month that will identify the path forward. My mom is also a year older and having some new medical issues of her own.

So last year’s road is not this year’s road, but I’m still excited for the journey ahead.

Cover photo

The road to Big Bend National Park in west Texas. Where will the road lead next?