The first of October? Already?

This entry in last year's parade was a huge hit with the kids!

It will time for the festival and ferias (fair) in just two weeks... and I am moving out of my little casita in mid-November, partly because the owner wants it back and partly because I am heading back to the U.S. to the twins in Seattle.

Yesterday my friend Isabel was working with some local folks to raise money for the Casa de Cultura's float for the festival parade. I have been invited to help the team paint it and assemble the floral parts (done in papier mache) so I will keep you updated on that particular adventure.

One of the views over the garden looking eastward; I'll have morning sun.

I have found a much smaller place to store the stuff I am not selling or shipping back to the U.S. It is unclear how much time I will be spending here for the foreseeable future, but I am not quite ready to close the door entirely on either Barichara or exploring more of Colombia as time allows. This new place is just three rooms and a kitchenette, but it is on property owned by a historian, and he has been gracious enough to tell me I don't have to worry about moving anything again as long as he is living. Leaving it there costs about the same as a storage unit, but it has a lovely view in three directions and will be a quiet retreat when I am back here. (The pipes in the picture are for the owner's new house up in the hills with an even more majestic view, he said. They are in the early stages of construction.)

Sombrita isn't crazy about moving either... but

During the past two years I have lived in three different places, four if you count this next (final?) move. As I dislike intensely moving, I am truly both frustrated and unsettled with the living arrangements here and cannot afford to buy land or even a mud shack to solve that, so I am incredibly grateful to my friends for their help. I will miss the little casita, but frankly coming back this time and knowing I have to move again, it hasn't been all that relaxing.

Although the cats will have to adjust, it won't be  too hard since it is only over one block from where we are right now. And Ultimo was found on the day of the visit to confirm the location and price to be hanging out there anyhow... must be a sign! I will be assured of their contentment knowing that along with a huge garden to explore, there are several bright parakeets in an outdoor cage for their entertainment...

Ultimo already hangs out at the owner's house!

The news about having to leave the house came while I was in the U.S. and I received it with mixed feelings. So I was really ready to just sell everything and consider my adventures over in Colombia, except that my friends urged me not to do that and helped me to find this solution. Thus I'm downsizing and preparing for both the move and to travel again... the photos and news I get about the twins is enticing, but other information is worrisome... hopefully resolving itself before I arrive.