so happy to be here for this prettiest of Charlotte springs

Spring in Charlotte this year (which seems to have ended when summer temperatures suddenly appeared yesterday) has been the prettiest I think I've ever seen. And after living here for over 10 years that's saying a lot.

Spring in Charlotte is full of color. Soft but vibrant color. The white of the flowering trees. The pinks of the azalea bushes. The purple wisteria growing wherever it can. The rainbow of greens in the grass and brand new leaves and the evergreens and magnolias. And don't forget those Carolina blue skies. At the horizon the blue is so pale it's almost white and as you follow the curve of the domed sky higher it becomes more saturated, but never darker. It's beautiful.

There is something very different about the sky here and the sky in Britain and Ireland. I haven't been able to fully put my finger on what it is. Sometimes I think the sky here is bigger. Sometimes I think maybe it's closer in Britain. I just can't pin point it, but there is a difference. I love the sky in both places, but this Carolina blue has captured my heart this spring.

So, not much measurable progress has been made on my job search. But I have received some helpful emails and links to websites and lots of encouragement. If I could get a job and move to Ireland purely on the good wishes of my friends I would be there tomorrow!

I've been doing other things to prepare for the move. Going through all my boxes of stuff and down sizing. This is always a hard thing for me as I tend to be very sentimental. For about 4 hours this morning and afternoon I was pulling boxes out of the storage room, opening them up, and sorting through what was to keep and what was to get rid of. I am very happy to say that the get rid of pile was several times larger than the keep pile. I've let go of over ten boxes of stuff. And I think the keep pile would maybe fit in 3 boxes, it has yet to be repacked. I only cried a little bit, when I opened my Christmas box. I think that was mostly about not having seen it for several years because I didn't make myself get rid of much from that box. Just the twinkle lights (it's just silly to keep electric stuff when you're moving internationally) and candles. Oh, and a box of plain red balls and some gift books. Nothing I was really attached to.

I kept reading the labels on boxes and thinking, "Oh great, this is where it gets dicey" and then having no problem what so ever. That is huge for me!!! (I guess that's not news to you after I memorialized a pair of shoes!) Speaking of which here is a picture of my other pair of new shoes. I like the pair they replaced, but not nearly to the extent of the brown pair. So no need to include a picture of them. The only thing memorable about them is that, more than any other pair of shoes, they taught me the valuable lesson that it is worth paying to have good shoes when you live in Europe and have to walk everywhere. (They were the "get one free" part of a Payless Shoes purchase.)