#19 March 13, 2021: 3 of 4 Months In Airbnb In Harvest, AL (Huntsville)

Pretty Roasting Veggies in our Oven!  Brocolli, Brussel Sprouts, Asparagus, Colorful Carrots, Parsnips, Leeks:  Toss in light coating of olive oil and salt.  Roast in 425 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

Saturday morning pancakes by Darrell!!  He makes gluten-free pancakes now.  These are really delicious as now he has taken to adding muesli that has hazelnuts in it and shredding a fresh pear into the batter.

Darrell finished his pancakes on that empty plate.  My pancakes are filled with fig goat cream cheese mixed with Icelandic yogurt, then topped with blackberry pie filling (from an Amish store), banana slices, toasted pecans (from Tom at church) and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.  So amazing and delicious!

Snapping a picture for our grandson Quinn!  We sent him a video in return for one of from his Momma.

He is just past 6 months in this picture.  He is smiling big because he really likes his Daddy playing with him and giving him fun swinging rides!

We are here in Harvest, Alabama until May 1st.  We have rented our 1 bedroom Airbnb house for 4 months.  I spent a month away visiting Vancouver, WA, Quinn and his folks.  Darrell has remained here doing his 40 hour work week all online in his home office that we carry with us in my car and set up in the Airbnb.  We walk two or three times daily around our neighborhood at 2 miles per round.  The weather has gotten into the high 70's this week.  It has been lovely and mild with the white ornamental pear trees blooming in full as well as pink tulip trees and yellow forsythia.  

The yard and neighborhood around us is full of 30 foot tall pines.  The variety of birds including cardinals, robins, and mockingbirds are singing springtime songs.  

Darrell and I spend time talking about our down-sized living adventure.  We are mostly observing and feeling how this feels different from living in a house with all the responsibility that comes with that.  We are not missing the house, and the activities that we were accustomed to there.  

We wake up early most mornings by 5am with the alarm at 5:30, get up and do a DDP yoga routine of varying degrees of challenge.  We have been building up our days of the week and doing these pre-recorded routines since 2012.  We just increased our routine mornings to every morning now.  We do 2 mornings of more strenuous workouts and one morning that is a gentle 23 minute stretch.  These workouts feel really good to us now, but it was tough in the beginning and we perservered.  We totally recommend these old recorded workouts beginning with 2 tutorials of a breathing instruction and an position instruction called The Diamond Dozen.  In the first 2 weeks I began 3x per week and did the 25 minute Diamond Dozen as my exercise time!  Then worked into doing a 23 minute workout called 'Energy' 3x per week as a minimum.  Now it's like an old and good friend!!

As nomads we are learning about tempo, and how fast we want to move about.  We have decided that 4 months is longer than we want to stay in one place next time.  Maybe our limit is 2 months.  We know what this feels like and we are ready for a scene change!  So while we are here for so long (lol), we have gotten rid of more items from our clothing boxes by donating about 4 bags to a thrift store.  We have taken out 2 of our larger cooking pans with lids that are in good shape and found a family to give them to.  

It is amazing to us that we have downsized to our truck and car holding everything we own.  Except the small fireproof box of documents and keepsakes at a son's house, we still have too much for our current use!  We are storing most everything in our truckbed and the back seat of our double cab in: 4 sealable trunksized boxes, 8 stackable and rectangle shaped crate type boxes, 2-3 personal suitcases, a cooler, 1-2 backpacks, and a hanging bar for an option to hang a few clothes.  In our car, we are storing our home-office items which currently include a printer and a big, comfy office chair!  By the time we get to Darrell's retirement this time next year, we plan to be finished with many of our home office items and the car too.  

We have our travel and Airbnb calendar filled-in through mid-August 2021.  We have also booked 3 cruises for 2021 and 2022: a 7-day on December 12, 2021; a 34-day beginning May 26, 2022, and a 27-day beginning November 6, 2022.