Everyday doings and a visitor

{View from the observatory overlooking Cannes}

      First off, I can't believe it's November 22nd and it is in the low 70's. For the last week or so, we have been pretty fortunate to have the sun shining and warm temperatures. I feel kind of stupid for packing my warm weather clothes and putting them in storage already (you would think this being our 4th year in the south I would have learned by now...you would think..). In addition to putting everyone in a great mood, it also allowed me and a friend to do some outdoor exploring. When hearing about Shaun's injury, our friend Chuck decided to fly out for the weekend to spend some time with us and lift our spirits (if needed).  In the short time he was here, we ate out (also consumed a bottle of wine or two), hung at a pub with our ex-pat friends, walked along the sea, and found an abandoned observatory with possibly the best view of the cote d'azur. When I say 'found', we actually saw it on the hill between Antibes and Cannes from the roads below and decided to try to get up there, one way or another. 25 minutes later and many a u-turn we had arrived. We scaled the pad-locked/ barbed wire fence (shhhhhhh) and took in one of the most unbelievable views from Cannes to Monaco. Even though it was abandoned and dilapidated, a few walls remained and obviously screamed 'blank canvas' to the many graffiti artists that passed by. We kept our visit short since neither one of us found the prospect of jail desirable by taking pictures quickly all the while keeping one eye on the gate and our car. Once home, we looked on the internet to find some information about the property since my friend had me totally convinced that we could go in and buy it together with questions/statements like : Can you imagine the view?  The main house could be here. Could you imagine the dinner parties? etc... I am thinking a 90/10% split sounds doable for us, not so much for him and his 90%. What we found was in 1989, an affluent family from the United Arab Emirates bought the property with the plans to build a villa only to be shot down by public vote and denial of building permits. Since then, they have let it go to shambles in their disgust and spite with no plans to this day of attempting to re-build. C'est dommage because I was really starting to envision dinner parties there, sigh.

{Not a graffiti fan but I have to admit some of the pics were pretty impressive}

{Even found a few inspirational quotes}

 
     Back to reality, Shaun has been doing well, started serious rehab this past week so he has been sore and a little tired. However, unlike the last week where rest and elevation was pretty much the extent of his days, he now has goals that drive him to give him that little competition he misses, even if it is just with himself. I know I have said this before but people have come out of the wood works for us, which we appreciate greatly. Going as far as his assistant coach joining him for his rehab/weight lifting sessions at night and even a player coming over tonight to cook us dinner. I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he is doing it out of the goodness of his heart and not the fact that we have American cable and the option of every Champions league game on tonight. Thanksgiving is in full planning mode here, as we are doing ours on Saturday since the team has practice and a team function tonight. So bright and early tomorrow, I will get started on preparations for the 20-25 people we are feeding. I'm beginning to think I may have bit off more than I can chew... Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

{Shaun's rehab session with the trainer and asst. coach}