FERN AND VERNE

To travel well is to enjoy life wherever it takes you. Adapt to your new surroundings, marvel at the unique beauty, relish the tastes and sensations of cuisines and libations offered and smile broadly at your luck at having alighted on such a promontory.

Here we are now, Team VFH, nestled in the bosom of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in Collegeville and one could go on and on about how it ain’t what they wanted in life, and easily overlook the beauty that is at hand.

Sure, it’s a townhouse, sure it’s a deck, sure there is the potential to have nosy neighbors ogle your every move as soon as you flounce outside. Here, there is none of the solitude I had in Lambertville and the sophistication of the tony drinking establishments and restaurants of this area currently remain hidden from these searching eyes.

I’ll find them … don’t you worry.

Most importantly, Janet has worked her magic. She has transformed this little slice of real estate into a Garden of Eden, again. Again, the small deck in the back of her townhouse is a beautiful oasis for the summer. Flowers arranged tenderly in pots resting on the deck surface and ferns in window boxes adorning the rail. Hostas are sprouting and tomato plants have again been planted. Festive lights, candles and a pastel colored green umbrella complete the beautiful scene. Janet ekes out more beauty in such a small area that all my harbored misgivings and complaints are without merit. I sigh. I smile.

And that is what this website is all about. Enjoying life wherever the swells of fortune takes you. Janet makes it very easy to go with the flow. If we cannot go somewhere, what better way to spend the afternoon than to sit on our little deck with a book and a drink? Life beyond the ferns is inconsequential. 

GIVE IT AWAY GIVE IT AWAY GIVE IT AWAY NOW

I can’t tell if I’m a kingpin or a pauper

This really isn’t a travel piece, but it is one of good karma.

Faced with needing to consolidate a lifetime into a manageable array of boxes for the impending move to Janet's townhouse was daunting. The task of unloading much of a four bedroom home in order to squeeze into her place already brimming with things was a steep task, and given the short time of just 7 weeks until closing there was no time to dawdle or for that matter haggle over selling things in a yard sale. Time constraints and work pressing meant I had to make quick decisions and given the horrific timing I could not even rely on Lambertville’s storied Sparkle Week where one can throw EVERYTHING away. For whatever reason, Sparkle Week was pushed back to June this year rather than the first week in May.

SPARKLE WEEK 2016

So, I realized I could not bring THAT much with me and unless the item was slathered with sentiment or necessity it wasn’t making the trip to Collegeville. BUT…I collect things! Matchbooks, t-shirts, hats, sand, Olympic pins are just some of the crap I’ve acquired over the years. How does one toss away a bottle of sand from Normandy Beach, or for that matter the Banzai Pipeline!? When a matchbook from the Japanese Bullet Train is hovering over the abyss of a garbage can how can I let it go!? Don’t even mention my Olympic pins, or, my Aloha shirts.

JAPAN'S BULLET TRAIN

PAYING FORWARD

Turns out these sentimental things were easy to keep, because I wasn’t giving them away, but having a four bedroom fully furnished house had to be unloaded. Janet’s place was already nicely furnished so I had to get rid of stuff quickly. Thankfully I was smart and knew this move was inevitable, so for the past few years I had started shedding things in earlier Sparkle Weeks, or giving away things to people who could use them. The past couple of years my pile at Sparkle Week was impressive; the envy of the neighborhood. 

The King of
Sparkle Week

My dining room set and my son’s old bedroom set found new homes with greatly appreciative friends. I gave away my Discovery 158 Old Town canoe to my childhood friend.  My son took Edgar, the steer skull I drove with in the back of a rented sedan all the way from Texas. I had driven to the Lone Star State in order to research my second novel, “The Music Made Me Cry,” which takes place in the Hill Country of Texas. I offered my rustic looking chiminea to the buyers of my house and they said they had been secretly hoping I WOULD leave it behind.

 THE MUSIC MADE ME CRY

The only item sold was my record collection. The rest was given away. Goodwill Industries and the Salvation Army each had numerous visits from me, but it was the VVA, that helped me the most and left me feeling the best about the whole process. The Vietnam Veterans of America helps the general welfare of veterans of all conflicts, but especially those homeless and disabled. They take donations of clothes, shoes, books, small appliances and other household goods, as long as the boxes or items can be carried by one person and with them VVA helps assist those veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other disabilities. It is a good cause and, they come to your door.

You phone or go to their website in order to schedule a pick up. It’s that easy. I felt like I was doing something worthy and it was a huge help with my limited time.  

PICK UP PLEASE.ORG

The house though was still brimming with things too large for the VVA to pick up and so I placed an ad in Craigslist. I’ve heard horror stories about the website that it was crawling with unsavory types. I placed an ad that basically said, Free! Get it Outta Here!,  and posted several pictures of my furniture.  One of the first and really the only viable contact was Ray from Trenton. He’s a grave stone engraver. His small family was moving from a “1 ½ bedroom house” in Trenton to a farmhouse and they needed furniture…. Lots of it! It was like hitting the lottery for both of us. Ray cleaned me out of everything. Overall he made four trips in his pick-up and he took everything but my couch.

HOW TO BECOME AN ENGRAVER OF TOMBSTONES

I was thankful that this process of moving out of Lambertville was so easy and that sentimental items found new loving homes.  It was important to me to give things away to people who would appreciate them and somehow cherish and use them as I had over the years. Life should always be so good.