MOVING LINKS 4 YOU

News Flash – Zeppelin in Redding, CA – News Flash

I was driving home from wherever I’d been that day in August when something in the not too far distance caught my attention.  It was HUGE and it was lowering.  It looked like a mighty big airship but how could that be?

I grabbed my camera as I wondered if it was a mirage.

Snapping a couple photos, it looked just like a Zeppelin.

The photo was transferred to my computer and forgotten until today when I ran across a video of this Zeppelin visiting Redding on that day last month. 

The video will give you a great aerial view of this area I love in Northern California.  Be sure to note the Sundial Bridge spanning the Sacramento River – for which the Sundial Film Festival is named.  It is a great landmark in the City of Redding, CA.

O.K., so I really DID see it.  I decided to retrieve it from my computer and share it with you this week as my Friday Fun Foto.

He says he is probably biased about Belmont since he grew up there but he sees it as a sunny little suburban town, sandwiched between two watersheds – the Charles and Mystic Rivers, just 5 miles outside Boston, the “Hub of the Universe!”

Here is Greg’s take on Belmont:

“I spent my childhood and teens here, in Belmont, in Middlesex County.  I moved away for college and moved back in after graduation. 

How do I know Belmont’s best?  Well, my job takes me all over.  I travel for shows, events,a nd meetings.  I’ve been to forty-nine of the fifty states, a few Canadian provinces, the UK, a few islands in the Carribean and back these past couple decades.  I’ve met people and compared cultures and places, compared opportunities and challenges and yet I’ve always returned with a realization that home here in Belmont is Best!

By the numbers, it’s small (about 4.66 square miles).  It is mostly a suburban town of homes with about 10,000 housing units including 3800 rental units.  Median homes prices are under $400,000 with some that fetch in the multi-millions.  Median rent is around $1,000 though some run upwards of $15,000/month.  We’re a community of homeowners, by and large. 

Among our 25,000 residents, we have a lot of college professors from MIT and Harvard living in town. 

Our governor, Mitt Romney, called Belmont home.  So have Kissinger, Deviled ham-maker William Underwood, CIA Director John Deutch, cello man Yo Yo Ma, and many athletes. 

The town’s named after the estate of John P. Cushing, landowner of early colonial times 19th century farmer, Winthrop Chenery, was among the first to import Holstein cows to this country.  We were formed from farm land that fed colonial Boston.

With median elevation of 72 feet, in the town named Belmont, you’re pretty much going up or down a hill all day.  The view from downtown Boston is the vistas of Belmont.  A block away from my house, I can see the skyscrapers of Boston, the arched bridges on the waterfront, the Harbor during the day, and the Milky Way above me at night.

Our school system is one of the top 4 or 5 in the state in terms of standardized tests and college admisions.  You go through Belmont Public Schools, do well, and usually have your choice of Ivy’s.  And students?  Well, some 2500 kids are in Belmont schools.  Another 1400 or so are living here attending college in one of the Boston’s area’s many dozens of colleges and universities.  We’re about education.

Social Media Networking is all the rage these days in business.  It is also a great way to reconnect or stay in touch with friends and family.  What happened to email and the telephone? They are now just part of the mix and, for some, not the main part of the mix. 

Talking to friends, it is apparent so much of social online networking is Greek to them.  I have been heavily involved in it since early 2008 and now realize I have some things in my tool belt to be able to help others who have questions.

Thus, I wrote about the 3 social networking sites for
A News Cafe, an ezine (internet magazine).

Clean your closet by clearing it out prior to moving.  What an opportunity to go through and see what is there and get tough with yourself regarding those things you “might wear one day” but haven’t worn in
5 years!  Think about it!

Moving is a great idea every five years if, for no other reason. it prompts you to go through all the items we accumulate in that length of time.

These shoes are just a portion of what I recently pulled out of my closet and took to Goodwill.  We’ve been here 5 years and have no intention of moving in the near future but I will tell you this…I learned from our last move that it’s essential to go through our things periodically to have a good clean out.

I do not want to be stuck, as we were last time when moving, with two truckloads worth of things to transport.  What a nightmare it was to pack up and move – and then to unpack again just to have some of it sit there unattended again.

Rummage sales (aka jumble sales) are also great events to have prior to moving.  Between giving things away to charitable organizations or having a rummage sale prior to moving, these are good ways to unload some weight and give you peace of mind. 

Moving Links 4 You can assist in connecting to a trusted mover when it comes time.  But minimize what you have to move and you’ll be a lot happier about the process. 

What is the biggest item you have moved to the next home and wished you’d sold or given it away instead?

Mt. Lassen is not far away.  

I wake up to it every morning,  Some mornings, just like people, it’s more brilliant than others…

Breathtakingly gorgeous only begins to describe what I was taking in last week when I took this photo.  Sitting at over 10,000 feet above sea level and 2,000 feet taller than neighboing peaks, it gets our attention as it changes its mood depending on the weather.  Seeing it each day is one of the things I love most about where we live in Northern California. 

Mt. Lassen is in the Cascade Mountain Range.  Mt. St. Helen’s and Mt. Lassen were the only two peaks to blow their stacks in the 20th century.  Lassen blew in 1915 – almost 100 years ago now, as you drive through Eastern Shasta County, it is still very evident seeing lava rocks still prevalent in fields. I love the rock walls
some people have built on their properties.  It is a labor intensive thing to do, but what a beautiful result.

Frommers has noted Lassen Volcanic National Park is a must see.  It has certainly given us a lot of enjoyment – whether it’s hiking in the park or taking in the views from home

Have you ever been to California?  I’d love to know what YOUR favorite view was…

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