#70 Nomad Diary. March 5, 2022.

Week Highlights 
I went to sit with Owen.  While I was out for a walk, Andrea and Quinn called. Quinn enjoyed seeing Owen. I enjoyed singing to both of them at the same time.  They are cousins born one year apart on September 2020 and 2021.
My song pick: "Skiminy Rinky Dinky Dink." 
I met up with two longtime friends, Laura and Marcy, at Mildred's restaurant in Ardmore, Alabama. We had a wonderful visit and the restaurant is really good too.
Darrell in our Five Points Airbnb in the background of Fish Tacos, a favorite meal of ours. We have discovered that we like most fish that we've tried and it cooks up fast. We also discovered that we love smoked cheddar on these tacos, and spiced up cole slaw using fresh lime juice, Serrano peppers and Tapatio hot sauce.

Friday lunch with Darrell's friends from work over the last decade plus. They gathered to celebrate his retirement. The day was perfect for outdoor dining and catching up with each one and enjoying being on the downside of the pandemic. Darrell's office closed and went remote in March 2020, and they are planning to reopen sometime this year. The office changed location and getting it fitted out as well as aligning with updated requirements is still in flux.
His boss brought him a US flag that had been flown over the capital of Alabama! This took some doing and it's such a fitting nod to his government service that includes 11 years in the Army. 
 
Saturday Activities
Sleep in. Cue "This is the first day of the rest of your life" music: "Hold Us Together" by Matt Maher. Get up and do DDP Yoga routine. 

Find out that there is a plumbers chemical residue in our drinking water and we decided to go out for breakfast. We go to Hartselle to a local restaurant called Mister Henry's. We don't recommend it. 

We get back to our house and meet the plumber who fixed our issues, and we visit a while in the yard. 

Darrell calls his mom for a weekly chat, and Jeremy calls us on my phone. We have dueling conversations and catch up on the details later.

Eric, Erin and Owen meet us in Somerville less than 2 miles from us at Pizza Roma. Eric eats gluten free and they have that on their menu for brick oven pizza.  Our occasion is Darrell's 62nd birthday on Sunday.  The pizza was excellent! I shared the gluten free pizza with Eric and Erin and Darrell shared a chicken Alfredo pizza with traditional gluten crust.

After pizza for lunch, we drove to rural Union Grove, Alabama to Christine's German Bake Shop. We got a loaf of wheat-flax bread and 2 pieces of plum kuchen.  I ordered a loaf of sourdough to pickup on Wednesday.
Plum Kuchen from the German Bake Shop that we ate on Darrell's birthday. 


Owen and Grandpa at Pizza Roma in Somerville,  Alabama. 

Eric, Erin and Owen drove out to Somerville for Darrell's birthday celebration a day early. It's a brick oven pizza place about 2 miles from our airbnb. Recommended!
Darrell having a phone call with his Mom on our airbnb porch and a gorgeous morning. 
Our view of the country pond.

Nomad Notes
Our pack up and move on Friday was fairly easy. We were tired by bedtime. 
This is a mug that I have kept. A nice gift from my kids.  It was hard to downsize gifts, but some remain and warm my heart and give me a sense of grounding on this moving day.
Darrell carrying one of our trucks into the house.
Our wrap around porch.
A full kitchen with a 1/2 size dishwasher:)
Our crates stacked by the bookshelf. Cooler on the counter.  Door to laundry room and bathroom.
All in one living. This is small for us, but we decided to try it since neither of us are working now and no longer need the extra privacy. We moved the dining table closer to the kitchen so we have more room around the bed.
Cleaning out my car for selling. Just a few items left to donate, and some trash.
We bought this car new in Dec 2010. With car prices inflated and this being a sought after Rav4, we expect to do well. 




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