Under contract

I am back in Georgia for a business meeting, to collect the mail that Sally kept for us, to pick up a forgotten pair of pants at the dry cleaner's, and to take a picture of the "under contract" sign in our yard. YES!

Legacy Village

We have been living in Texas for a week now. We're staying in a temporary apartment in Legacy Village, right in the heart of the Legacy Town Center. That is a newly developed urban style oasis in suburban Plano, TX. It blends businesses, retail establishments, a hotel, restaurants, offices and open spaces in a newly created town center. The lead architect and planner of the center is new urbanist Andres Duany. It's so urban that even parking can be a problem... that's unheard of in Texas.

Graceland

This posting is more than a week late, but hey... Elvis passed away 30 years ago on August 16th, so an extra week doesn't matter that much. On our way from Georgia to Texas, we stopped by at Graceland, Elvis' long time home in Memphis, to pay tribute to the King. We toured his home, saw the famous jungle room with green carpet on the floor and ceiling, and admired his pink cadillac and other cars, as well as his two planes. Taking care of business in a flash!

L'albero del nonno

Another current favorite of mine is Specialized's Tour de France commercial with Paulo Bettini. Bettini? Is he even participating?

The Perfect Three Way

My favorite commercial these days is a very simple 15 seconds long retro Reese's Cups clip that has everyone guessing about what song it is.

The Ocoee river

On our way from Atlanta to Texas we drove through the Ocoee river gorge in Southeastern Tennessee. Over millions of years, the Ocoee River has cut a steep, winding channel into a mountainside of hard rock in scenic Cherokee National Forest. It was the location of the 1996 Olympic whitewater competitions.

Today we stopped by to have a look at the rafts and kayaks navigating the rapids.

Wallpaper

Many people who came to look at our house commented on our wallpaper. They would have preferred more neutral colors. We did not like the loud patterns of our wallpaper either when we first moved in. Over time, we came to like it. Now I am positive that we will miss the hunting scenes in our powder room, the rabbits, pigs, and ducks in our kitchen, and the bookshelves and and the Scottish tartan motives in the bathroom upstairs. We never read "Travels in the English countryside" and "Les chateaux de France".

Moving out

We moved out of our house today. After two days of packing, all our stuff was loaded on a moving semi truck. Just plants, cleaning products, chemicals and lots of dust were left behind. Driver Jim also loaded his Harley and our Honda. He is taking everything to Texas where it will go into storage.

It was a little sad to see our gutted home. We will spend the weekend cleaning it up. Next week, we'll drive to Texas.

Thomas

Congratulations to Albert, Regina and Floris!

The Competition

After yesterday's successful lemonade sales, Greg and Sammy set up shop again today. Soon they found out that the world had dramatically changed. Across the street, Kayla and Maryn opened a competing lemonade stand.

Luckily for Greg and Sammy, they did not spoil the market. They kept prices flat at 50 cents a cup. But they offered custom made bead buddies to go with the lemonade.

The lemonade wars caused the market to double in size. Instead of buying one cup of lemonade, most customers bought two. One at either side of the street.