THE GREAT MOVE

From Garrison Keillor comes the saying, "Serenity at 70; Gaiety at 80."  My wife and I are making an attempt to fulfill that thought this year. We have just deserted our big blue monster of a house in Monmouth, IL  along with all the winter travails that go along with it.

Our new home is a two bedroom apartment at Grand Living at Indian Creek in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  

Iowa wasn't really on our bucket list for exciting retirement abodes, but the time seemed ripe to move nearer to our daughter and to move while we were not facing a major health event. If you would like the new address or phone numbers, please e-mail me at dramajim@gmail.com

If this satisfies your hunger for knowing where we live, you can quit reading now. 

Continuing to scroll will get you more details of our new residence. Grand Living at Indian Creek is a 160 unit senior rental community (no lease or large un-refundable contributions required). It is located on the eastern side of Cedar Rapids, IA.  It has a 24 hour staffed desk at the entrance. Under current Covid rules all staff are  masked and residents are asked to be masked when not in their apartments or eating in the dining room.

To the right of the main entrance is the library. It holds a nice collection of current and classic fiction along with biography and travel books. You can read in the room or take items back to your apartment without charge. There is also a little corner where a jigsaw puzzle is waiting for completion.   

Straight ahead from the reception desk is a public living room where residents and their guests can relax or chat.   

Outside of the double doors at the back of the public space is a patio with tables and chairs. It looks  a bit bleak now, but is a cheery and sunny place to sit when the weather is nice. As you can see the back of the building faces a wooded area.

Also on the first floor is a large meeting room.  It is used for various group activities, meetings, movies, and performances.  It is equipped with a large video screen, some lighting, and a good public address system.

There are two dining areas on the first floor.  Below is the formal dining area for dinner. 

That's where we enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner with a neighbor who also supports our favorite football team.

There is another more informal dining and gathering space. It has not been used for meals during the Covid shutdown, but still does house coffee and social gettogethers as well as some craft activities, 

Finishing out the ground floor are offices, a beauty shop, a fitness center, and an open space for classes such as Yoga, Tai Chi, and Balance. 

Now that you have your bearings you can take an elevator to the fourth floor and visit our apartment. Exit the elevator, walk past a public room that contains a TV and pool table, then down a long hall to this door.

And that's where we live now.

Here's a little look at what we saw when we first looked at it. This is from the kitchen area looking at the living room.

Here's the reverse looking toward the the kitchen.

A close up view of the kitchen after we started to add some clutter to give the space a more lived in look

The kitchen area and island gets plenty of natural light from the screened patio doors that lead out to a small balcony.

The balcony has room for a small table and a couple of chairs. Standing there you can see the rear of the building and 

and also look out at a wooded area. What looks like a dirt road is actually a little walking path that belongs to our building. 

I took this shot on that little path a month ago.

If you look carefully just behind and to the right of the bench, you can see another visiting deer.  

 

From that path you can look back at our whole building and even see our balcony on the far left of the fourth floor. The fenced area is part of the memory care unit.

Back to the interior now. Here is our living room after it was furnished with a new recliner sofa, a new TV, some new tables, and some older items brought from Monmouth. 

It was inspected and found satisfactory by both our daughter and our son and his family when they visited from Finland in October. 

That's our daughter Amy with her little niece Selma. 

The living room has a neat gas fire place and provides a good space for our TV. You will note that the it is playing a Green Bay Packer game. Go Cheeseheads! 

A nice new side table has proved to be just the right spot to display some of our Southwestern pottery and other items from around the world.

The living room is large, comfy, and full of light during the day, but the master bedroom looks elegant too.  We treated ourselves to a new bed after over forty years and some new chests as well.    

The master bath is roomy with a double sink and walk-in shower. 

A huge closet opens off the master bath as well. 

The second bedroom has been converted into my office and study (though Jan has user rights as well).

There are just a few other areas.  Alongside of the the front door is a space for a table and a knick-knack shelf.  There is also a small coat closet in that space.   

As you move past the entrance area you look into a strange little windowless triangle space that the sales people called a den.  We have converted it into a little nook for Jan.  It contains her laptop and her parent's antique desk along with some long term storage.  It still needs some pictures to make it more homey looking. 

Another small space contains my mother's antique chest and two pictures given to us by our artist friend--George Olson. 

And that is that. We are enjoying our new home, the many activities, the caring staff, and the wonderful friends we have already made.   Come visit us if you are in the area.  

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