It must be a sign

We haven't seen the swan for a couple of weeks but I look out at the lake every morning to see if she has returned. Well, today when I looked, there were two swans! Apparently she has found a mate. I don't know if it is a marriage or a civil union but who cares. They look identical, but one might be a little bigger than the other. Anyway, it was great to see them.

Probate

Well, this morning I was at the Fort Bend County Court for probate of Sally's will. Most of the things were in trust, but the house is jointly owned and was not in trust. In Texas, homes are not usually joint ownership with right of survival, but just joint ownership. So half of the house is now in Sally's estate. I hope to sell the house anyway, so I don't know what this all means, but at least the probate has been done.

I am still doing a little negotiating with the seller of the Condo in Sugar Land, but that should be finished soon. Currently closing is the end of February, but I may try and move that up. There are a few things that need to be done before I could move in and the sooner I can get started on that, the better.

Doing things with Val is really good for me. We're off to see a movie this afternoon (King's speech).

Happy New Year!

I hope that you all (or as is said here "all y'all") had a great holiday and are looking forward to the new year. I know that for me, this next year will be better than the last one. Lorrie had a description of the year of the Tiger (2010) that predicted that it would be a tough year, but the year of the rabbit is predicted to be much better and time to take a deep breath and renew.

Craig and family have been here for the past week. They go back today. We all had a great time and the cousins as always have had a good week playing and getting reacquainted. We had a wonderful rib roast at Lorrie's on Christmas day and a New Year's eve party last night over at Lorrie's. John loves to set off fireworks, which are easily purchased here, and so we had a fireworks celebration last night. Someone had given Craig a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne which we popped last night also.

On Wednesday we went to Austin for a day and came back on Thursday. It's

hard to believe but I had never been to Austin--a really wonderful city. Lots of weird stuff there. We stayed at the Driskill, an old historic hotel that is reputed to have ghosts wandering the halls. We listened and looked, but didn't see anything. The last haunted hotel Sally and I stayed in was the Stanley hotel in Estes Park ("the Shining"--here's Johnny!) where we didn't see anything either. I may not have the right attitude. Anyway, here is a picture of the Driskill taken Wednesday night.

A major piece of news is that I have decided to try and sell our house and move to a condo. We have been eyeing some townhouses in Sugar Land situated on a lake and near a shopping area with many upscale shops, a Whole Foods Market, and great restaurants. There is a trail around the lake for long walks. So I put an offer on one of the units and yesterday it was accepted. The units are new and the one that is now mine was a foreclosure when the developer went bankrupt. They had been taken over by the bank and were being sold by the bank. Now to sell my house in Richmond.