The visit

My old friend from back home and her new (to me) man finally made it here yesterday. We had a wonderful visit. Her manfriend seems like a unique, intelligent guy in touch with nature. And dogs.

Their camper couldn't make the sharp turn into our driveway from our narrow, winding road, so they parked it on the only even-sorta wide part of the road, which is within view of our house. Elizabeth walked up the driveway first. Sadie barked and circled her but she likes women, so I wasn't worried. I explained that my dog had been abused and was wary of strangers. He followed a few minutes later and grasped the situation immediately. He squatted down on the driveway and let Sadie check him out without looking at her until she was comfortable. After that, she was his good friend.

I had bagels in the oven when they arrived. We had a lunch of bagels with cream cheese and cucumbers and smoked turkey out on the patio since the weather was nice. Then we talked a while and went for a hike in our woods along the creek, which they thought was beautiful.

We went to dinner at the Tin Angel, a place where I had filled in for another pastry chef for a short stint because her mother was dying. Food, company and atmosphere was all really good. Then we went downtown to see a free show on the lawn in front of the courthouse. The band was boring, so we walked along the river then up Broadway, which is the tourist strip in Nashville. It's full of honky tonks and neon, a good place to take visitors. Then we went to Printers Alley, also a bar strip in the downtown area but not as much aimed at tourists. We went into a place that we knew would be having a writers night, where Kurt sometimes plays. The clubs on Broadway all have people playing cover tunes of country hits. They wanted to see what the people who live here do, which they liked better. We knew some of the songwriters and some of the folks there. We stayed until it got late, came home and talked some more before going to bed.

They left after a leisurely breakfast. We sent them on their way with pears and fresh eggs, something we do with everyone who comes here these days. The tree is dropping fruit like crazy and two people definitely don't need five laying hens. Fortunately, everyone loves fresh eggs.

I think one of the really nice things about old friends is that the stories and the connections to the people in them go way back and are intertwined. I have friends here but I have no past with them. Roots are a good thing.

I was too busy enjoying the rather short visit to remember to take pictures. I snagged this off her facebook page.