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Highlands at Sunset

Sitting on the back porch looking over the lake, I can hear a dog bark. Somehow, just by the bark, anyone could tell that it’s tied up. There are these little bugs that fly over the water.  They don’t seem to go anywhere. Instead, they just fly up and down, up and down.  Some small bird that flies like a bat darts in and snacks on them. Further afield (or on a lake, is it alake?) a red canoe slowly glides by with a teenage kid. He’s fishing for trout. While I could never think of the sound that an oar makes bumping into the side of a canoe, once I hear it, I know exactly what it is. His fishing line make a sparkling straight line on top of the water that is highlighted by the setting sun.  Somewhere on shore, off to the left but around the corner from my vision, another kid talks to him.  They talk in adolescent but quiet voices.  They know to be quiet when fishing. While I can’t hear the exact words, I can tell by the sing-song cadence that they are deep Appalachian born.  All of this
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Life Long Friends

Long term friends are somthing you have to earn.  The way you talk to one another,  care for and mercilessly tease one another is not somthing that just happens with the casually aquatinted.  The dinner dynamics with this group here in Provence is wonderful and complicated.  No backstabbing, but certainly open discussions and opinions.  A hard tease one moment and then a loving smile the next. I don’t think my skin is as thick as theirs. Another good lesson to be learned; know that your good friends love you even when they are taking the piss out of you. I think I take it too personally. I need to remember that.
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Side Trip

Glenn and I had a great time in Portugal and Spain.  (More on that another time.) Two days before returning to Atlanta, our friend Char emailed and said a room in the farmhouse she was renting in the Luberon had opened up in. Would we like it? Provence in September? Perfect! She and her guests were getting there Sunday. We were leaving from Lisbon Monday.  Glenn just couldn’t do it. Too much going on back home.  I however had nothing planned. After a few hours of checking schedules, I booked a flight from Lisbon to Marseille. It was meant to be; this flight was 15 minutes later than Glenn’s and it ended up being at the very next gate? It was strange saying goodbye to Glenn as he went back to Atlanta while I extended my stay in Europe to include a week in Provence. This is the stuff of fantasy for me.  Really? Getting a last minute call to join friends in southern France for a week of eating, drinking and touring? I read about these kind of things happening to others. Now I am here, dr
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Lisbon Day One

Glenn and I are taking a two week holiday in Portugal and southern Spain. We landed in Lisbon yesterday and hit the ground running.  It never fails that I catch a cold on the plane, and this was no exception.  Runny nose all day. Lisbon has no real wow! attractions. In fact it feels a little run down compared to other Western European countries.  I was beginning to wonder if we had made a mistake booking three days here.  Maybe it was the Benedryl or the jet lag, but as soon as the sun set on that first very long day, this town came alive. The hot expanses of stone became shiny wonderful plazas with folks of all walks of life wondering around. The hawkish menu pushers outside of every restaurant seemed to have a knowing smile that let me in on the joke.  The shabby old buildings felt like noble old structures. I’m not sure why, but I really like this place.  Moreover, I think I like how I feel here. Relaxed and interested.  Tonight we ate at one of the countless street restaurants that
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Sold!

My previous postings were written but never published. I didn’t want to jinx the sale. But it all went through! We closed March 30th (Good Friday), and the new owners took possession on Monday April 2nd. That happened to be my husband’s birthday. He will have a hard time topping that birthday gift! After 52 days of cross training, I am completely out of the business.  They have called a few times, and I expect that will occur occasionally for the next several months - which I don’t mind, but I am essentially unemployed. What does that feel like? Hard to tell.  The first week was sort of an Atlanta staycation.  I had the car in the shop, I pressure washed the sidewalk, took Ralph, our dog on long walks. That was great.  For about 4 days.  There were two days that I didn’t have my car and Glenn was out doing his business. I thought to myself, this isn’t going to work for me.  I have been going, going, going for so many years that I am not sure how to slow down.  I am still gobbling down
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Under Contract

It's Sunday January 21st  and the store is under contract.  It’s contingent on the buyer getting a business loan, so we won’t know if it will go through for probably another two weeks. The waiting is driving me crazy. Strangely, a possible yes is worse than not having a buyer. Part of me wants to  fantasize about what I will do, where I’ll live etc. once the sale goes through.  The other part of me doesn’t want to jinx the sale by getting too far ahead of myself.  So basically, my life is on hold for the next few weeks. I’ve been lying awake in bed one minute thinking about what I’ll do once the business is sold, and the next minute planning what I’m going to change this season at the store.  It’s a mental waiting room where I am waiting for the doctor to come out and give the results.  I keep telling my husband that I’m not getting excited, that we just need to wait and see. While that sounds very rational, I have gotten excited about the possibility of selling.  But that is tin
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Under, Fall through, repeat.

Early March 2018 Well, the contract expired before the prospective buyer could secure financing.  He started dragging his feet and we all got the sinking feeling he was stalling because the banks were turning him down for a loan. So while the ultimate failure was suspected, it was still a blow when the contract fell through.  It was a little too tough to write about when it happened so I’m just now documenting it. With a month of perspective, I can honestly say it was for the best for everyone.  It became increasingly clear that his business acumen was likely not up for the business. I think he was buying our store in an attempt to save his other failing stores with the cash infusion from our positive cash flow.  Long-term, I’m not sure he could’ve run the store successfully.  In the meantime our contract ran out with our broker. Then, two weeks after it expired, they had an interested buyer so of course we said let’s talk to them.  Turns out they are a couple from Virginia with a st
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