Good-bye Seaview

This is a week of farewells.
Today Ozzie and I had our last hike on our favorite trail, the Seaview in Tilden Regional Park. We were joined by my good friend the Healer, who took this picture. It was a hazy day with the distinctive light of late autumn. At the halfway point (and also the high point) there is a picnic table. We sat and looked out over the bay with its view of three bridges and San Francisco. There was an interesting pattern of contrails criss-crossing the sky, echoed by the wakes of numerous vessels crisscrossing the bay. Ozzie, aware that big changes are taking place, stayed close--or maybe he was just waiting for the cores of the apples we were eating.

Last night we went to the Paragon restaurant in the Claremont Hotel and sat at the bar where we are well known to the bartender, Danny. He kept us supplied with wine which went a long way toward soothing our fragile nerves. In fact, we had "one for the road" just because we didn't really want to go home. When the check came, we realized that our "one for the road" was "on the house". A nice farewell from Danny, who in good bartender style had sympathetically listened to our tales of moving hell.

This morning the bank called as we were walking home from our coffee at Peet's to tell us that our loan had finally been approved and that we sign the closing papers tomorrow at 3pm. OilMan's hand was shaking as he gripped the phone and I couldn't tell from his conversation or his reaction what the call was about. It's good to know as I say my farewells to know at last that I will I have a place to call home.