Certainly a stamp collection would have been simpler to pack and cheaper to move than my accumulation of reference books. But it's too late now.
We're loading our wagons and heading west from the bread basket of the world (Linn County, Iowa) to the salad bowl of the world (Monterey County, California). These days are full of farewells and at Cooking Club Wednesday there was a party game (thanks, Beth!) which included the challenge Name five things you will find in Anne's purse. Among the responses - a thesaurus. Um... (depending on the bag) yup.
And from the amazing Kate, the gift of this enormous Webster's International Dictionary. The kind with the little letter tabs, black and white line drawing illustrations and brown speckled edges. It weighs 12 pounds. Too big for nightstand reading material but I love it.
From WID, random definitions of the word farewell (a word which, by the by, originated 800 or more years ago)
a wish of happiness or welfare at parting
aftertaste (the coffee left a good farewell in his mouth)
and farewell-to-spring: a summer-flowering annual herb cultivated for its showy flowers.