Packing: The Final Stages

We're leaving tomorrow for a short vacation in West Marin.  It's been frenzied around here getting ready to go, even though we've been vacationing in Inverness for 20 years, and we've stayed in more than a dozen rental houses.  I know the drill, but I get frenzied, anyway.

Our landlady, our friend Elisabeth, is going to England,  so we get to stay in her beautiful, well-organized, and fully equipped house with a view of Tomales Bay:

I can tell you that working for the Department of Pre-Travel Overkill has been exhausting. Here's what I've done:

1. Finished the design of a quilt that's been stuck in a drawer for three years, constructed numerous squares, labeled them, stacked them, and packed them so I can construct a quilt top while we're there, possibly to auction off to benefit the Berkeley Food Pantry.

I also packed a rotary cutter, sewing machine, rulers, cutting mat, thread, seam ripper, and all the other quilting paraphernalia I might conceivably need (no fabric store there).

2.  Planned two weeks of dinner menus, made a list of all the ingredients, bought them, and loaded them into plastic bins.

Staging area.  Jerry packs.  Note several pages of typed list.

My packing consists of parking things in boxes

Don't ask me why, but we never eat out there, unless it's at somebody's house. Yes, there are grocery stores there, but we hate shopping.

3.  Bought reading material:  four novels and then I managed to track down  a copy of Roz Chast's latest, "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?" as a treat to read while I'm away.  I couldn't help myself and read it last night (Excellent!  Funny! Sad!  Depressing!)  Will take it anyway.

 4.  Washed numerous pairs of jeans, plus t-shirts, and debated what to take.  Bright colors are not worn in West Marin unless you're a tourist, in my experience, and I feel uncomfortable wearing them there. (Once I wore a bright orange fleece jacket and was asked if I worked for Caltrans). Of course, I am a tourist, but that's beside the point.

5.   Chose a jigsaw puzzle from a stack in the basement.  I hate jigsaw puzzles, but Jerry and my sister like them and swear at me for bringing them on trips because it "wastes so much time."

Bought it at a garage sale.  Are all the pieces here?

5.  Drove over to Inverness last weekend with two bicycles and stored them at Elisabeth's.  We're actually taking two cars on our trip, but bikes would take up the back of one car, and the other car couldn't contain all our stuff.  For two weeks.

Jerry, who once drove home from Inverness the day we arrived to retrieve his briefcase, has only two categories of packing:

1. Bug-collecting equipment
2. A small, random collection of clothes "because there's a washing machine there."

An hour ago, I talked to Elisabeth, who faced the challenge of leaving her house ready for renters (us) AND packing for three weeks in England.  She was at San Francisco Airport buying a book to read on the flight.  She actually apologized for leaving dishes in the drainer and laundry in the dryer.  She is another member of the Department of Pre-Travel Overkill.

Now I'm going to fall asleep at the keyboard because I managed to wedge in a trip to the allergist for a shot.  Benadryl is very relaxing.