There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place Like Home

I kind of feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz  after she woke up from that crazy dream only to find that she was happy just being home in Kansas.   I'm not sure if after my summer away I have more courage, brains or heart...but I do have over 500 pictures and some great memories.  When it is all said and done though, it sure is nice to be home for a while!  Even though the the thermometer says 102 degrees and it still has not rained for months and I had to BUY lettuce at the grocery store instead of  pick it out of the garden.... on the bright side, I have twice weekly garbage pick up, a garbage disposal (curb your enthusiasm!), air conditioning, my car, my regular Tuesday golf game, my book club, and a life.   A life that has been somewhat neglected over the last few months....at least when Dorothy woke up she had only missed a day or two!

When I last left you I was lamenting the beauties of the shore and trying to hold on to that last bit of summer.  It was not the perfect summer but it had some very special times and was my first to "stay on".  I could definitely get used to "staying on".  Last year, re-entry was postponed with a trip to New York.  This year I managed to postpone real life another week by accompanying TJ on a business trip to the UK and Europe. 

London Bridge is not falling down!  It was quite lovely.

I sure hope there is enough paella for me to have some too!  Covent Garden...food court?

This is the train station in Antwerp where I walked from end to end pulling my bag and looking for my platform, or at least the platform I thought I was supposed to catch my train at, with no luck.  I started to feel like Harry Potter and expected to be sucked into the  train to Hogwarts at any minute!  I did eventually ask someone for directions and it turns out the train to Brussels is labeled.... Paris!?  Duh!

Hogwarts....I mean Brussels.  Where I walked approximately 20 miles and got to see a lot of beautiful buildings and gardens. 

When TJ was finally finished with his work obligations we were lucky enough to go to France and stay at his sister's house.  I know...can you believe she has a house in France?!  It is in an ancient town near Dijon.  If I thought being without TV at the shore was an adjustment, going to a remote French village with no TV, no clock, no phone and no internet was another thing altogether.  This would be a perfect place for a quiet retreat.  It took a bit to shift gears from London to remote ancient village in France!  It was beautiful!  We really enjoyed the surroundings and being transported to a different time. 

A long way from the farmhouse....in time and space.

A place where you drive down the road and see things like this!

In addition to ancient castles, we also came across a horse parade.  I guess these guys needed a drink at the cafe before the parade!

One way to make sure you do not miss the shore so much when you eventually get home is to go to a foreign country, live out of a suitcase for a week, have some gray gloomy weather, catch a miserable cold, spend a lot of time alone walking through large cities and find out that your French is only minorly passable as a means of communication.  It puts everything in perspective!

 Summer at the shore is over, everyone has gone back to their real lives, it is time to go "home".   A place somewhere in between the laid back, fresh shore air place where everyone knows your name to the crowded, busy, urban city where you are anonymous to the quiet, remote, ancient village....."home" is somewhere that has a little part of each.