Well…the mud has settled, and the right action has arisen. I’m taking the arctic plunge and moving to New York.

No, not that New York. I can’t make it there. I’m a wee bit claustrophobic for the Big Apple. I know it’s still the Mecca for print writers, and I will spend a fair amount of time there on book research missions. But the destination is even more richly symbolic: Ithaca.

That’s right. My odyssey seems to be coming to a close. 

When JP and his partner Asha come down to Florida with their pack of kiddos in April, they will be bringing me home with them. I have a great job lined up at the company where JP has been for 12 years, delivering mostly to natural food stores and co-op markets in a state where they are actually quite common. But my primary occupation will be working more intimately with JP, and with Joseph and Vera d’Angelo down in Brooklyn, to finish “Birding in the Face of Terror” 3.0 . In preparation for that, the immediate task is to turn Asha’s proofreading of Pez King into an alpha draft that’s ready for prime time by April, which I’m confident I can do.

Per Betty’s final wishes, this house is now the joint property of the d’Angelos and their oversized tribe, her two living sons, John and Elijah (who are rooted in the western US and Mexico respectively), JP and myself, to be managed and kept in perpetuity as a guest home for whoever wants to be here. (For a while anyway, that will be their cousin Maggie, coming down from Iowa to help out her ailing mother next door.) So, Not Two Studios will still have two studios, but one will be very active and the other, more of a vacation workplace.

It’s been a fantastic seven year stay for me here in Florida, and an honor to care for she who cared so much for me and my spiritual life. But without Betty’s presence—or, I should say, with her portable omnipresence— it feels like time to move on, and Ithaca is the perfect landing spot.

The one thing that almost tipped the scales against it all by itself is the WEATHER. Giving up year-round kayaking and fellowship with my spirit animal is going to be hard. Plus, I asked JP if it would be done snowing when we arrive in mid-April so I can prepare my nerves for next winter. He was….non-commital. 😳❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️