It's Not How Well the Dog Dances

We like it here in Camden so much we’ve decided to move. Again. Not away from Camden, to a bigger condo in our same complex. Why would we do this? Well, I blame myself, mostly, although of course Zillow plays a big part in it. But no seriously since we’re both working from home, we find we would like a bit more space so that we’re not quite so keenly aware of everything each of us is doing all the time. Heh. Apparently I make quite a lot of noise as I go about my day.

Anyway so we’re moving to a place with this view, which is not all that different from the view we currently have, only bigger:

It also has offices for each of us and a place to put the piano, which is currently in storage in Philadelphia. In fact it is the last thing I own in Philadelphia which also feels a bit surreal but that’s life in the pandemic I suppose.

What’s really great about the new place though is that it hasn’t been touched, or really even lived in very much, since it was originally commissioned around 1985. Yes, the Reagan years. Walking in is very much like stepping onto the set of Family Ties, had it been set in coastal Maine rather than central Ohio. The decoration includes treasures like this lovely kitchen:

Yes, that is green Formica, and a down-draft Jennair cooktop. The giant “hood” over the range is strictly for show, or for whacking your noggin on. I remember very well when these appliances were top-drawer, back when I was in high school. You may also note, if you look carefully, an actual “kitchen phone” complete with touch tone keypad and a very long cord to get twisted and tangled as you walk around the kitchen with the handset cradled between your head and your left shoulder.

Anyway it’s all got to go, of course. This time I will not try to do it all myself, I have learned my lesson… although these photos from 2005 make it seem like I was having a good time. Wish I had taken more of them, maybe I will this time.

Wish us luck. We close May 8, if not before. Going on the market this week is our current place, which is turn-key ready and the last harbor view for sale in Camden. I predict it will sell quickly.

I didn’t realize when I took this that it’s pretty close to the same view in the post before, six months ago. Yes, it’s been six months since I put anything up here, which is lame at best, especially considering all the stuff that has happened!

The interesting thing about this photo is that it makes the scene look pretty bleak, but it actually is not. We’ve had some snow but also a ton of sunny days and in general it is very pleasant… if you don’t mind it being below freezing. Kim and I have somewhat different opinions on whether the below-freezing part is OK.

I have been spending a lot of time trying to work out exactly how to heat our place here with wood, which is actually a lot of fun but very fiddly. Log Management, we call it. Anyway, we have a wood stove which is actually a built-in insert into the fireplace. It produces a ton of heat, sometimes too much… but sometimes I put a log in there and it just dies. There is a whole other blog to be written about obtaining firewood in Maine, watch this space.

Anyway if there is a point to all this it is that the winter here is both exactly the same as and entirely different from my past experience with winter. Let’s just say it is waaay better than Detroit. Being on the seacoast makes all the difference…