Sunday, April 28, 2013

Weekend Activites


  • Black Mountain hike - took the Glider Point trail up the NW side to the peak, then down the road to the Miner Loop trail back

  • Zoo with the family

  • Midway with dad and friends

  • Another Troop 774 Eagle Court of Honor

Books






Monday, April 08, 2013

Farewell, Shady Acre Circle

This week was a farewell to our family’s home for the past eleven and a half years.
When we moved back to California from Arizona in the fall of 2001, we drove along the coast looking for the perfect place to live.  We didn’t want to raise kids in LA and Orange County was getting too crowded so Jyoti suggested we head down to San Diego.  We started at Camp Pendleton and headed south along the 101.  A guidebook described the journey as “scruffy” Oceanside, “time warp” Leucadia, “new age” Encinitas and so on.  One of our stops was at the Potato Shack in downtown Encinitas.  Our short time in the area convinced us that this was the place.  After I landed a new gig, I commuted from a good friend’s house in Carlsbad while we looked for a home.  I think it was paramount to choose a place to live, then find a job and a house.
We decided on Village Park due to the greenbelt, pool and playground.  Not to mention it was one of the least expensive places in the city at the time to buy.  We ended up paying around $250,000 for the 1400 sq. ft., 3 bedroom, 1 ½ bath condo.
At first, the cul-de-sac had a few families, one of which had a daughter that became Jaya’s best friend.  After a few years, most of the families moved out and some seedier elements moved in.  There was some tough times with bad residents but we stuck it out.  Around the time of the 2008 crash, families started moving back in, the bad seeds were evicted or moved and the street become a vibrant, kid-friendly space again.  Bengt especially loved all the kids and was outside often playing with them.
Over the years, we have remodeled essentially everything in the house.  

  • Carpet was replaced by laminate flooring, except for the stairs and hall where we put new carpet in.  
  • The bathrooms were remodeled, the upstairs bath twice.
  • The kitchen was totally gutted and replaced with a fantastic custom IKEA kitchen;  I will miss that kitchen.  
  • All windows and sliding doors replaced.  
  • Radiant floor heating added. 
  • Front and back yards where constantly in motion.  
  • The garage was organized with shelves and a workbench. 
  • Hot water heater was moved outside creating a new storage closet.

I am not sure of the real reason we moved.  We had discussed moving over the last few years.  One morning, while enjoying breakfast at St. Tropez in the Lumberyard (not far from the Potato Shack where it all began), Jyoti saw an ad for a place not too far away.  After calling the owner, she felt a connection and we went to look.  By the end of the next week we had signed a lease.  The new home has the attributes we had been looking for: larger, newer, nicer, closer to the beach, close to SDA.  In a whirlwind of activity, we moved within just a few weeks.  We have been back and forth lately getting the condo ready for renting but it is only a matter of days before I rarely will go back.
The years we spent at Shady Acre Circle were the best of my life and the memories will last forever.  But time moves on and so do we.