My New Home

My Move from Norwalk

I have moved from Norwalk, Connecticut, to Montclair, New Jersey. This was a major move for me, to move in with my daughter Beth. Her husband and her 9-year-old son are also just moving in!

I had moved out of my big house at 1 Mansfield Place in Westport just under 2 years ago, to a one-bedroom flat in Norwalk. I took the things I needed, including a few books. And my bed! Now all of these are here with me in Montclair, including the pictures.

Beth took most of the things from Westport to her garage in her house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A few items made it into her house there. Now that she has moved to Montclair, she is uncovering many of those things from Westport in our “new” house.

So our new house in Montclair is a lot like our old house in Westport!

What else is old from Westport? Nearly everything portable! The masks, at least three of them, will have a home somewhere here. One of them is huge – it is about 4 feet long, and looks extremely frightening. I don’t yet know where we’ll put it. The old door that hung on the stairway in Westport is here. It is about 6 and 1/2 feet long. I also have no idea where that will go, but it should be  prominent.

Our dining table from Westport is in the dining room here, with the chairs. We even have the same chandelier in the dining room! The couches are all familiar from Westport, too. The chairs are also so well known to me. There are beds downstairs under Beth’s packing direction. I hope I can find one, maybe 8- or 9-inch, that will replace my 13-inch mattress.

My old cookbook – “Joy of Cooking” – is awaiting my perusal. There are many other cookbooks, including some from Beth which she promises never to use!

I have so many other belongings. Tons of books made it here. I have “Christmas in Biafra and other Poems” by Chinua Achebe. Frances Ademola had a book on “Reflections, Nigerian Prose and Verse.” Both of these belonged to me in Westport, but I had forgotten them! I also have a book on “High-Achieving Second Generation Nigerians in the United States,” a newer edition.

I believe I want to use this as a guide for my blog for the future! So be looking out for it!

We have a model of an elephant about 9 or 10 inches long, presently on the shelf by the TV. Clem must have been given this in South Africa. Or maybe I was! I really can’t remember how we got it!

My files are all in order in the bottom drawer of my desk. Our glasses for wine are in the cupboard to my left, in our small “butler” pantry, together with Beth’s glasses. The good dishes are in the right-hand cupboard, too.

Montclair, the Most Diverse City?

Montclair has a history as being one of the most diverse cities in North America. I hope this is true. I do see a variety of people at my downtown fitness center, Anytime Fitness.

In church it is similar to Westport, Connecticut, with just a few people coming now, but I hope it will pick up in the fall. As in Westport, there very few Black women or men.

On Friday last week I went to the home of one of our members. One of the women was Indian, but all the others were white. She was new, like a couple of others. I think several of the people are just resurfacing from COVID.

So I don’t have much to judge yet but I’ll be watching for what promises to be lots of exciting and thought-provoking events and opportunities.

My Son, Sam, Called

My younger son Sam called yesterday. He delighted in telling me the story about a tennis ball boy who used to pick up balls for us at our sports club, Ikoyi Club! I believe this was before 1986 when I went to the U.S.!

My husband Clem and I played on Saturday and/or Sunday for many years. That same ball boy had since then gone to the United States. He had worked as a semi-pro until just a few years ago. His name is Emeka; I’ll get the rest of the name later.

Emeka gave Sam a detailed history of our games, which I often won. Emeka and the others learned to cheat against me for Clem! So he and the other ball boys made me really annoyed, though I usually recovered in a few seconds.

He had also worked with Martin and the other Obianwu boys as well as other children we knew back in the day!

Emeka will be coming once or twice a week to help Sam improve his game.

Also, this great pic of Sam is an exclusive preview of his new press shots by a Nigerian celebrity photographer, TY Bello.

Sam is so handsome . . . I love it!