The story continues.

So all the thinking and agonizing was over. We were going to leave California...but, to go where? It didn't take much time to realize that my husband and I both wanted to go home. Home was the east coast. Land where the ocean is calm enough and warm enough to actually walk into without a wet suit and diving experience. Land of tree-lined roads and forests and unpredictable weather and, well, land where we were born.

We decided to drive across country and check out other areas too, just to be sure we weren't missing something great between the two coasts. It was a wonderful experience but nothing grabbed us until we crossed the Appalachian mountains into Tennessee. It even smelled like home.

We veered south a bit and stopped to see an old friend who had worked in the Philly area for years but came back to his hometown, Athens, GA when he retired. We had never been there before but we liked it.

Athens is a town with a very long history, wonderful old homes and newer ones and a great university...the University of Georgia. We took it all in but headed north where we were sure we'd end up.

Again, we had a wonderful time. We saw old friends in Martinsburg, WV and fell in love with that area too. Unfortunately it has gotten wildly expensive in the years since we left. Not as bad as California but high nonetheless.

We headed home with lots to think about. Over the next few months we considered all our options and decided on Athens. That done, we put our house on the market and it sold in less than a week. We zipped across country to Athens where we hoped to find a house in four days. And, as often happens when things are meant to be, we did find our dream home and bought it on our second day there. Back to CA to pack up and move.

By July 18th we were settled into our new home.

Now, I will not lie, Athens is not without problems. July and August come quickly to mind. I thought I knew hot and humid but I had not a clue. We were unprepared and unschooled in how to survive in all that heat. This year I'm ready. The air conditioning will be on and I will be inside spinning and knitting and enjoying the cool until it is bearable outside again.

How did those ladies survive in corsets and long, full dresses in the South in July and August?

The photos are of places I love. The first is a spot in California somewhere between Santa Rosa and Sonoma. The others are of Athens and the mountains to the north of us.

Enjoy