Sitting Pretty in Belize

Finally back home in Belize and sitting pretty, just like the hermit crab below, after being in the US far longer than I had hoped to be.  

This lovely hermit crab was tucked into the edge of a coconut palm. 

I went back to Rochester, MN at the beginning of March to finish my work there.  My official retirement date was June 30th. The decorations on my office door (below) were from the very thoughtful party they put on for me.  Let me just say that I wasn't the only one with tears in my eyes.

Part of the decorations from my retirement party at work.  The party included very moving presentations from people I have worked with for the last 20 years.  I was very touched and pleased to be remembered in this way. 

I was able to make a couple of trips to Belize to see Dennis and Max between March and June (including a side trip to Chicago to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary seeing Joe Bonamassa in concert - click here to see some Bonamassa on youtube), but was stuck in Rochester from June 9th through August 16th; the longest Dennis and I have ever been apart.  Finishing up at work, being away from Dennis, and not being able to stay in our house in Rochester made those last months fairly stressful and depressing for me.  I am fortunate to have wonderful friends who let me stay with them, borrow their cars, and use their effort to help me do the things on my very lengthy "to do" list.

Our house is on the market again after a couple of months I spent doing some work on it. Got the long driveway resurfaced (it looks great), tended the neglected garden, put in a new backsplash in the kitchen, painted some rooms, bought some new furniture for the den, and got rid of some old furniture.  I will be happy when it sells.

Dennis was very busy at our place while I was gone.  He added a new deck along the south and west walls of the cabana and started on the addition for the cabana.  The original interior space is only 680 sq. ft.  The addition will give us nearly 600 sq. ft. more, but more importantly will give us more outdoor space and provide the roof at the right orientation to mount solar panels.  He also got our satellite dish for internet signal (ViaSat is the provider) that is so much faster than what we had cobbled together earlier.  Over the next few weeks I will post more about our progress and other things that are going around here.  For now I am happy to have made a graceful exit from work so we can concentrate on creating our new life in Belize.