Simon says

 Gradually, little by little, the parallel processes of reducing our world and beginning our travels are occuring.  Our first destination was our friends' house, 450 metres away, one street over.  It was amazing to me how that short physical distance felt so far from our old lives.  We had far too much residual baggage, frantically moved to our new digs as the move-out deadline loomed, but the space was different, and the perspective was different.  The kids went to splash and serve camp at the beautiful Britannia Yacht Club, and Crystal went on a canoe trip in Laverendrye for Kindra's 40th.  I enjoyed that now rare sensation of aloneness: me in a silent house.  I biked at will, but also experienced the holy grail of relaxation... book, coffee, silence.  Albeit it for one short afternoon, but it was enough to signal the possibilities ahead. Photo break (please excuse the subsequent formatting issues; luddite defeated by computer): Felicity squeeze...

 The rest of June just got busier and busier until the wave crested during a manic 4-day period after work and school ended when we had one day to pack up the rest of the house, one day to move it all, one day to clean the house, and finally one day to paint, repair, fix and clean a bit more.  And all that during a crushing heat wave.  One morning I woke up at 4.15am in the house we've borrowed from friends, couldn't get back to sleep, got to house at 5am and was still there at 10pm.       Hot, tired people in front of a big truck The final 15' Uhaul This is what most of the contents of our house looks like Meanwhile, the fever on the pitch is England's dreamlike run in the Euros.  I haven't seen much of it but it as one commentator asked, "what is this parallel universe in which we find ourselves?".  Long may it last.  Semi-final coming up on Wednesday.  We took Francine for a family walk and swim on the Friday evening before she w...