I say this in jest. Friday means little when most of my days are spent the same. I work on Mondays and Tuesdays doing remote speech therapy so the rest of my week is rather hedonistically open. Friday still means the weekend and in my case, a cocktail. Today was wonderful.

I delivered my cookies this morning to my neighbor and I have to admit that I felt quite clever with my hand-written French card. I left it right on top of their mailbox so I was sure they would find them. I took off for the gym early after some avocado toast. Sophie still hasn’t forgiven me for choosing avocado over peanut butter. Today was weightlifting and I was so grateful it was just upper body and abs because my legs are still recovering from Wednesday’s workout.

When I was leaving the gym, the boys called and proposed we meet for lunch at the Epicerie in Fontaine Daniel. They said I should bring Sophie and we could have a walk afterwards. It was a bright, crisp day so I concurred and I raced home, showered and drove to meet them. I won’t go on and on about Fontaine Daniel because I have before but it is one of the prettiest little villages I have found here. It has gorgeous stone buildings with window boxes, large, tall trees, and the prettiest tree covered roads I have ever seen here. It is made famous by its textile mill that still produces absolutely beautiful fabrics. There is a fancy restaurant there, a creperie and an epicerie where they do daily lunches. The epicerie is basically my dream shop and also has books, beautiful groceries, dishware, and toys.

Dave won’t go to the fancy restaurant so we enjoyed a delicious meal at the epicerie. It was advertised as a tortilla with spinach and feta accompanied by roasted vegetables. Well turned out that it was two quiche-like structures and yes folks, that means I ate egg. It was marvelous. I think this is a big step in my phobia-facing mid life. Perhaps next week I will hold a snake. The main course was followed by a slice of almond cake and an espresso. After our meal and Sophie’s prolonged patience we went for a walk. There used to be a lake in the village but it was dry and in fact, filled with plant growth. I’m not sure if this reflected the drought and hot summer this part of France faced but it was a disappointment.

We have done a walk on one side of the “lake” previously but this time we went the other way past a beautiful chapel and a little water mill. The trail seemed to peter out after a while and Dave urged us to turn back. I saw some orange blazes marking a trail made possible by the dried-out lake and suggested we try to circumnavigate the lake. Matt was in but Dave was wary. In his defense, the trail was steep, uneven and narrow. We made a few scrambles down steep inclines that could have left one of us with a broken hip. Eventually, after Dave complained nearly nonstop, we reached a “bridge” that brought us to the other side of the lake and a familiar trail.

Hearing Dave complain gives me tremendous joy and I felt such happiness being back with my boys-my chosen brothers. What a wonderful day we had.

Now…. for that cocktail.