Paradise "Lost"

They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld

Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,

Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate

With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms:

Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;

The world was all before them, where to choose

Their place of rest, and Providence their guide;

They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,

Through Eden took their solitary way.

                                                          -- John Milton, Paradise Lost

Nothing endures but change.

                      -- Heraclitus

And so it comes to an end, our little experiment in living in paradise.

We have now been living in Two Harbors on the lovely West End of Santa Catalina for five years, and it's time to move on. I have recently accepted a position at Pacific Northwest National Labs ("Proudly operated by Battelle since 1965"), which is located in the Tri-Cities area of Washington.  I will be working with the Microbial Ecology group up there, bringing my genomic and metagenomic expertise to their group.

We have greatly enjoyed our association with the University of Southern California. Working for USC has been a great experience - my colleagues are excellent scientists and great people, and we have enjoyed many fringe benefits of being located at the Marine Science Center, including our wonderful interactions with the generous souls who populate the Wrigley Institute Board of Trustees. Thanks, all, for everything and Fight On!

We have also enjoyed being a part of the Two Harbors community. We loved (for the most part - long story) having our kids be able to go to school in the Little Red Schoolhouse, Taco Tuesday, walks to the hammocks, Ballast Point and Wells Beach, hanging out at the beach, being able to bicycle, kayak or hike to work in the absence of traffic, pollution or noise (save the waves), the foxes, the bison, the eagles, the safe environment, the fun activities organized by THE and the yacht clubs, and getting to know where EVERYONE in town lives. It is a unique and special environment that it has been our privilege to be a part of.

We have also made many friends and connections in Avalon, mostly through Scouts. We are sorry to be leaving such good people who constantly strive to Do Their Best. Thank you for all you have done for the boys.

We are planning on leaving the island in August, which doesn't leave much time, since we managed to fill up our summer with activities both for the boys and ourselves. It will be a grand challenge to get this move done in the available time. I was just telling Sweetie that we would have to hug during all discussions and start each with "Remember, I love you."

And so we once again are starting a long list of 'lasts'. We've had our last day of school at the LRSH, which made me quite sad, although Thing 2 seemed pretty okay with it. I don't think Thing 1 will miss the 3 hours on the bus each day, but he will miss the friends he's made here. We are thinking more about things we'd like to do before we leave - camping, hiking, snorkeling, grunion runs, etc. And there are the surprising things that we never did in the LA area that will probably not be done now - for instance, we never went on a studio tour or tried to be part of a live audience for Conan or Chelsea Handler.

I actually made this decision a while ago, but haven't been able to bring myself to announce because this is a great place to live and I'm sad to go. That's not to say I'm not excited about the new position, but, for Pete's sake, we live on an island! How cool is that?

So stay tuned to FB and this channel for updates on our progress on the move. And Zack's Adventures in Cuisine.

PS

This year is Sweetie's and my 15th wedding anniversary. Around about our 10th, Sweetie said, "Hey, let's go somewhere, just us two." And then we moved to California instead. So here we are 5 years later, and Sweetie was thinking "we should do some thing to celebrate" and then we decided to move. So I need SPECTACULAR ideas for our 20th, people. SPECTACULAR.