C'est la Vie

Another alarm morning.  We had an early appointment at a title company in Sarasota to sign the final papers for the sale of one our our units at the Colony Beach and Tennis Club.  A sad day for us, but life changes and we have to make accommodations for those changes.    The situation there is very complicated and very messy and we needed to reduce our exposure, but we still have another and we're going to let this one ride and see where it will go.

A view down Main Street in Sarasota

my reflection in the Cafe's window

After the closing we walked downtown and had a lovely cup and a bun at a small french Cafe on Main St. called C'est la Vie.  Apropos.  Again, we reminisced about our great times in Sarasota and look forward to more in the future.




Across the street is the new store and socialization center for Southeastern Guide Dog School.  We had been wanting to drop in for the last couple of years, but never had the time.  Today we did.  Had a great conversation with a couple of women from the school who were puppy raisers and scratched a few yellow lab ears while we were at it.   We're going back on Wednesday morning (Argh, another alarm morning)
for a guided tour of their new training and breeding facility.   They've come up in the world since they first started, it looks like first class all the way.  We can't wait to see and compare!

Southeastern Guide Dogs new store presence on Main Street

The Van we'll take on our tour of the school

The day was looking up.  Great coffee, pastries and conversation.  Dog kisses and gabbing with real dog people about a subject near and dear to us.  A crystal clear, sunny, warm day.  Why was I sad this morning?

AND, I finally found a Publix that carries my digestives! (No, not stomach medicine, they're english biscuits that I've become addicted to with my morning tea)  I've been without them for weeks and was sure I'd be able to get them down here...Publix always has an "English" section.  I bought the store out (all three packages) and went  home happy.

view from the Publix parking lot!  Does Wegmans have such a view?

This afternoon Richard and Ruth came over with a bottle of champagne to toast the "boys" retirement.
We've been talking about this day for years, sitting on the Colony's beach  hashing over their mutual business' highs and lows, employee problems, taxes, building problems,  government and union issues,  prices of new machines, economy predictions, etc., etc.. Now its here.  Our lives continue to parallel.
After some fine Champagne and smoked salmon in Beluga, we had a good dinner and watched the sunset at the Beach Bistro.