fun week ...

my friend Christie was here several days and it was so fun just hanging out, visiting and knocking around a bit. On Monday morning she helped me price a line of body products in the boutique and that afternoon she rode along with me to Brive for an appointment and it was a good thing, I needed her co-navigator skills to get me there. We met with the representative for a line of goods we will have in our new boutique, and it was fun having her there to try stuff on and give opinions ...

That morning I had put a market rabbit in the big casserole pot along with fresh tomatoes and herbs from my garden. We arrived home to a delicious Provencal stew (oh it had olives and peppers, too) ... we snipped fresh lettuces and nasturtiums in the garden and dined like gourmands!

Tuesday's plan was to head back south and lunch at one of our old favorite restaurants, Bistro d'En Face in Tremolat. After that, we went to Chateau Montdoyen, a winery. I had tasted their delicious cabernet blend, 'Tout Simplement', and thought it would be fun to check it out as I wanted more ... it was a bit hard to find, but we made it in time and ended up buying quite a bit. Also, I scored points with my local wine store ... I'd been trying to get him to carry their wine but he has been too busy with the season opening to make it down their for tasting. I brought him back a sampling box with a bottle of each of their wines. He was quite surprised at my effort.

Wednesday Christie helped me in the store, again! All of the clothing items are now priced and tagged. We also got a bit of shopping that she wanted to do finished. That night we had dinner with a french friend, the 3 of us went to Bourdeilles for their weekly 'saveurs' fete. We picknicked by the river and ate ourselves silly.

Thursday a.m. came too quick and too early. We drove to Limoges for her to catch her train on to Paris and the airport. We allowed 1-1/2 hours to arrive based on advice from locals. We arrived about 5 minutes after the train's departure time ... but by some miracle the train was delayed and she just got on.

As luck would have it, she missed her next connection and had to reroute her trip anyway!! I KNEW she should have stayed the week-end!