Of course, along with nature comes the creatures that live here. Deer sightings are common, occasional coyotes, rabbits, hawks, crows, spiders and lots of bats! At night, its not uncommon to see an occasional bat silhouette flying near the street lights going after insects. Pretty cool.

And my backyard birds do not disappoint. There are the usual cardinal couples, mourning doves, titmice, chickadees, yellow and house finches, bluebirds and wrens, but no blue jays so far. New to me: Mockingbirds, Towhees and a murder of crows. The crows in particular were quite interesting. They appeared in our back yard in June/July, about five of them together. They are big and pushy, and since I have read that they can hold grudges, we were pretty nice to them. Happily, they flew elsewhere and have not come back, but it was an adventure watching them so closely for a while. I do miss my winter dark-eyed juncos–they use to flock to my back yard up north, but only a couple have appeared down south. I guess they like it a little cooler.
Below: Pine trees, pine straw (needles that serve as mulch) and my DH

While there are multiple species of trees and shrubs, very tall pine trees are in the majority, not only in the subdivision, but throughout the entire area–so much so that upon my first arrival as I stepped out of my car, the smell of pine was striking (I’ve grown accustomed to it now). And these are not Christmas tree pines…..they are 50 to 75 feet tall, And they shed pine needles all year around–the needles are used as mulch in flower and vegetable gardens. Falling pine cones are also constant and a pain to clean up, and every spring, the area is covered in layers of thick, mustard-yellow pine pollen. The deal is to wait until the pollen season passes, THEN work on spraying everything down in clean up. Also a pain.

Along with Georgia Pine comes Georgia Clay. All ground is made up of this clay, and it is a beautiful reddish-orange. The color combinations are quite striking.

All this, settled on rolling hills and more blue skies than not–I love living here!

Meanwhile, stress at the office was an all-time high, and I had become less and less tolerant of the unending difficulties that saturated my work. I had always assumed I would retire at age 65, but at 63, I was not certain I could tolerate the heavy load for two more years.
While I investigated the idea of a virtual office, I started musing about what life might be like with no work at all. Quick meeting with my financial advisor, and I found I was good to go! This all occurred in January 2021. By February, I had researched and decided on my retirement location, and my DH and I had hired a realtor in Georgia. By March, we located and purchased a home, and put together this and that to get our existing home sales-ready. We listed in April, sold the home in 4 days, and prepared for the big move!

It all happened so fast, but being a hard worker, I buried myself in the tasks at hand (selling furniture at home and at the office, finalizing client matters or setting up referrals, canceling services, transferring client files, scanning and shredding confidential information–OMG!) and didn’t give much thought to what life would be like on the other side of the chaos. On May 27, 2021, we loaded the house plants (about 60) in one car and the two dogs in another and made the drive from Porter County, IN to Georgia, leaving our empty, sold house behind. I arrived at the new house at around 4 AM the next morning, jumping into bed to be up in time to meet the movers at 8 AM!
Below: The last picture I took of our Indiana home right before driving off, leaving it, and my career, behind.

Quick study in January, and the decision was made–my business was closed and I was out! Hard to believe I walked away from all that I worked so hard to build and the fruits of these labors. But here I am and there is no time to waste to enjoy the calm, freedom and new adventures of retirement!