Thread Drift

[shootingstar]

Hope renos for your condo goes well, Crankin and sale of present home at a good price.

Most likely Helene, you and hubby might do best living somewhere in Canada that's not too far from an urban centre that's diverse. I was surprised to learn of some historic francophone towns in Saskatchewan and Alberta.. One just never heard about them in the news/history books when I lived In Ontario. The level of awareness about francophones right now here in southern Alberta, strikes me as low. People here don't think of govn't services in French....whereas in Ontario there was some awareness.

My preference honestly is to live an urban area of Canada that is quite diverse in its local people and cultural offerings. I don't want to be in old age stuck in hearing/learning in 1 local perspective and people dominated by a similar background. I have a good close friend who is close to 80 in Toronto and I can see her own vitality, in addition to her interests, she loves learning..and that has been gained by meeting people from a wide spectrum of backgrounds regularily. She no longer travels outside of T.O. much because of cost, no longer has a car...but a strong network of friends who help and who also like her, want to keep on learning.

[Crankin]

Real estate person is coming tomorrow, to help us set price, etc for our house. Sadly, the woman we used for all of our other homes here died about 7-8 years ago. She was the best. We will use the woman who sold us the condo, who appears to be similar. Houses in our neighborhood have been selling quite well this summer. But, we are always realistic about price!
I also prefer to stay near an area where there are cultural activities and lots of restaurants, as well as good cycling. While Great Barrington in the Berkshires is a town, it has an awesome downtown, in a rural setting, and near all of the cultural attractions, and is a 4 season recreational paradise. The down side is, that despite being in Massachusetts, the area is overrun with New Yorkers, from the city. That can be a bit much for a New Englander like me, but, it's mostly second home owners. However, I just am not sure I want to make a permanant move away from here, as I just love it. If we can swing having 2 places, at least while I am still young enough, that's what I want. DH now thinks he will retire at 62, which is only 3 years away. We will see. I am not sure if I want to permanently stop working, even then, because if I stop, I still need to take continuing ed to keep my license up. I will be almost 65 when he retires, so I really don't know. I could easily work 1-2 days a week in either place.