John Clark watching the dust settle following our move. We completed the removal of everything (ye Gods what an abundance of stuff left after two rounds of decluttering) Monday afternoon including mowing the lawn and washing the floors (compulsive, much?), then closed on the sale Tuesday after going swimming for the first time in almost three weeks. We’re still facing the slightly overwhelming process of sorting box after box, but the task is lessened by the absence of a timeline, as well as a true sense of comfort we both feel in our new home. It reminds me of what my late friend St. Roland Dube often said. “Serenity is the ability to live with unresolved problems.” I can read happily while surrounded by clutter.

There are more aspects to moving than you can imagine if you haven’t done it in a while, even more when you’re a writer. For example, how will your new place affect your creativity and ability to sit and write? Haven’t checked that yet, save for slitting open pre-created sweepstakes entries and writing out 3×5 cards with the new address, phone and email. Then, there’s the tendency to mind-drift while making out new entries and mixing the new address with the old phone or email. One good note, the mail is generally here 2 hours before it arrived in Hartland. However, I can’t dump pick, orget all the latest news from the postmaster and we have to buy fancy purple trash bags or bury everything in the back yard. We also have a much quieter street with no semis jake braking down the hill at 3 am and there’s an abundance of cardinals serenading us.

Every time we think all the contacts (mostly online) are updated, another one comes to mind. The spectrum of difficulty required to change information is as wide as the Indian Ocean. One entity is even mailing me a keyword in order to do an update and informed me it might take two weeks for it to arrive. The process makes me realize how valuable a second email account is as the one that came with our TDS Telecom phone service died a day earlier than requested…I was prepared, Beth was not, but we learned how to export our address books to a spreadsheet, so at least that got saved. Various investment accounts and banking entities required patience as well. When chatting with my AA buddies and later, members of the Hartland Library board, it was eye opening to learn how many still had sealed and untouched boxes from moves made as long as twenty years ago. The more I look at ‘stuff’ the more I realize that the recognition process to accept what I can live without is an evolving and ongoing process. I am, however, determined to pare down until I can honestly say that each thing remaining is necessary. Stay tuned to see how that shakes out.

On a different note, we enjoyed our annual week in Washington County over the 4^th of July, staying at Cod Cove Cottages in Perry like we’ve done several times over the past twelve years. If you haven’t taken time to explore that part of Maine, I encourage you to do so. The Maine Coast Heritage Trust (https://mcht.org/) has accumulated and preserved many really unique parts of the Down East area. If you like hiking quiet trails through woodlands to ocean beaches, have they got places for you. Every year, we discover new ones to explore and unlike many public conservation areas in the more populated areas, we’ve often had trails all to ourselves.

When we stop in Eastport, we always visit the Peavey Memorial Library (https://www.facebook.com/Peavey-Memorial-Library-133835136652440/). Dana Chevalier, the director, is one of the librarians I admire the most because she’s been able to so much with so little. If you’re looking for a place to invest some money in order to help make the world a better spot for your fellow Mainers, they’re trying to raise $50,000 this summer and everything up to that amount will be matched. As soon as I got home, I wrote out a check because I know how important a good library is to a small Maine town, especially in the winter when there are no tourists and most folks are trying to survive on what they earned in a four month season. The address is 26 Water St. Eastport, Maine 04631.