It’s started.  The first phase of moving to Waynesville has started … packing up the stuff that will go into the storage building at the rental place in Hazelwood (what they call Old Town, Waynesville).

Hazelwood houses some of the most charming shops in the two square blocks the “downtown” Hazelwood area comprises … and I’m lucky enough to have bought property just up the road from it.  Yep … I’ll be the one in my hiking boots tromping into Hazelwood on a snowy day just to buy French Onion Soup and a bar of soap.

Hazelwood will be sort of the home base once in the house.  There’s an old fashioned pharmacy, my favorite place for soup and ice tea … The Bourbon Barrel Beef and Ale, and across the street is the Hazelwood Soap Company   The soap company is my favorite scent shop EVER … the entire house will smell like HSC’s version of Vetiyver … the scent of Sandalwood and Patchouli, musk and vetyver.  So basically the house will smell like a fresh clean hippy!  If Waynesville wasn’t enough to get excited about alone, I get to live a short hike to Hazelwood!

Now about the packing …

I’ve never packed for a storage building before, so all this is new to me.  Taping my precious books up in a sealed box was the most heart wrenching part of the ordeal.  Books, as most of you already know, are my friends, and knowing that I can’t reach over and grab a Ray Bradbury, Bill Bryson, or Flannery O’Connor off the bookshelf until I restock the new bookshelves in Waynesville in approximately four months, is a heart stopper.  I did keep out a few “EMERGENCY” reads in case I need a quick fix and all of them are by my three favorite writers … my Mountain Moms (Nancy Simpson) Poetry Books, “Farewell Summer” and “Dandelion Wine” by Bradbury, and Bill Brysons “A Walk in the Woods”.  I admit, I’ve read all of these at least ten or twelve times each, but these are the kind of books I never get tired of.

I also packed up all my rocks, that friends (and a few strangers) have given me … stuff from the kids … boxes of photographs … art supplies, and a world of other stuff that when I finally unpack it, I will probably hear the theme song from “Chariots of Fire” as I behold my lovely lovely things again!

So, the first batch is loaded and ready for transport during the next trip up to Waynesville,  With that trip is a search for a rental house or condo … and my second trip in to see my new boss at The Mountaineer , ‎Vicki Hyatt.

Oh, did I not mention THAT yet?

Well, it’s happened.  The thing I set out to do from Blog Day 1 has happened … and I can’t be more excited! Once relocating is completed, I’ll start my first assignment … outdoors and “Through the Lens with Lynn” … a challenge to all our readers to find and recreate the photo I post.  The idea is to get people out of the house and looking at Waynesville from a new point of view!  I can hardly wait!!!

So … Waynesville …  here I come. Ready or not!