A quick move upstairs

Not a spectacular sunset, as sunsets go, but this is the view from my new apartment, from my sofa. Not bad. Not bad at all. Windows were open all day yesterday, with a cool and fresh westerly breeze blowing through. Also not bad. I like the apartment, and am very pleased to see that it does not have that awful, brown/gray carpet but a lighter one that is much more pleasing.

But quiet, blessedly quiet. And cool. Equally blessedly.

I'm still not completely moved. Just stuff left to put into boxes, not a lot of it. Then I have to clean the place. It won't need a lot, but some things. Like the refrigerator and bathroom and vacuuming.

Am I tired? You bet. But the achy back is gone and I'll be happy to finish this up and settle in here, though everything I've moved so far is already put away and the place looks pretty much as it always did.

Here she goes again...

Yep, moving again, but this time just up one flight of stairs (or a short elevator ride).

The apartment I'm in faces a very busy street that is very noisy. If the windows are open during the day, I can't even hear a person on the other end of the phone without going into the bathroom and plugging up my ears. Noise goes from around 5am to around midnight.

I have to use headphones if I want to watch TV with the windows open and don't want to blast my neighbors with volume.

The apartment is also uncomfortably hot at night during the coolest 9 months of the year, primarily because they keep the halls at a steady 73f day and night except for a few short summer months. Combine that with apartments above, below, and both sides and this apartment is just too hot. If I open the windows to keep it cool, the noise keeps me from sleep.

I'm not the only one who feels this way -- plenty of my neighbors on this floor feel the same. I could use AC, but I hate cold air blowing on me. I've slept abominably poorly since the heat went up last fall, and my brain and body are suffering because of it.  Right now, I'm using the AC for a couple of hours before I go to bed, to cool the place off for sleeping. For example. Last night I cooled it to 68, kept it there for awhile before going to bed. Then, turned it off, opened the living room window a few inches. Opened it wider at some point during the night when I got up to pee. At 5am the temp was back up to 70, with no source of heat. Outside temp was 53f. Arrgggggh!

All that to say -- I asked my doc for a required letter saying this is detrimental to my health, and on the day the letter arrived in the mail, about two weeks ago, I learned that a woman upstairs had died the previous day. Short story, I ended up getting that apartment. Third floor is cooler, according to some residents I've talked to. At least there's no insulating heated apartment above us up there. The apartment also faces the rear of the building, which is quieter. That will enable me to keep the windows open at night even in the winter, without being bombarded by noise when I'm trying to sleep.

Moving May 29th, day after Memorial Day. People here are helping, and I'll be given 2 days to get this apartment cleared out and turned over to the office. While I don't particularly look forward to the process of moving itself, I do look forward to the quiet and hopefully, cool nights.

Quiet walks on sunny days

Not far from where I live is a lovely 'private' path that cuts through a greenbelt between two rows of very nice homes. Their backyards look out over this, as well as lots of ponds and fountains. It's supposedly for residents only, but we use it since we are residents of the general area, and I can't imagine anybody challenging someone for using it, as long as they weren't doing anything but walk the path. It's not a lengthy path, maybe a half mile, but it's really lovely and this was a fine morning to take advantage of it. Spring greenery and sunshine -- a lovely combination.

I walked along this path a couple of weeks ago without my camera and came upon a few geese with at least 2 dozen little balls of fluff following them around. Hatchlings, before they start to grow and become a bit gangly, as these are. They scurried away from me and into a nearby pond, and I could have killed for my camera! Then the sunshine was replaced by clouds and fog for awhile, so I didn't get back over there until today.