He tossed my bags in the trunk, while I slid thankfully into the back seat. I'd made it! After a short drive, we pulled through the gates of what would be my home away from home for the next six days. Lee met me at the door, we dumped my luggage in the hall, grabbed a cup of coffee and headed for the terrace to enjoy the warm sunny weather. As we were catching up on recent news, a familiar voice in the doorway behind me suddenly said, "hello there". I jumped up and ran for a hug from my most favorite flute player. He was wearing a t-shirt that said "Aged to perfection" and oh, do I agree with that! Ray has hardly changed at all since the last time I saw him in 2002.

He joined us on the terrace, and our conversation eventually turned to dinner plans. I was getting the royal treatment - Sunday roast beef, roasted homegrown veggies, Yorkshire pudding, berry cobbler - the works. As Ray retired to the kitchen to get things going, Lee and I strolled down to the pond. Wow, it's gorgeous ... makes my own pond seem downright wimpy in comparison.

After dinner (you did yourself proud, sir!) we schlepped my bags upstairs, then took our coffee to the lounge to go over the plans for the wedding reception/garden party. Lee read the menu, and described the marquee in which the dinner would be held. Marquee, of course, is the proper name, but Midwestern girls that we are, we ended up referring to it most of the time as "The Tent".

After a thorough discussion of The Plans, it was time for the nightly ritual of duck and fox feeding. I watched from the terrace as Lee made her way to the lower lawn, and had to laugh at the procession of ducks coming up from the pond for their evening meal. When they were done eating, it was dinnertime for the foxes. As she prepared the feast, Lee explained, "Keep the foxes well-fed and they won't eat the ducks". Sounds perfectly logical to me, and it definitely seems to work.

I wandered around the house, checking out all the different rooms. It was a large house, to be sure, but not what I'd think of as a mansion. It was too homey and comfortable to be considered such. Everything was top of the line, but none of it was pretentious in any sense of the word. Lee's touch was evident in the flowers on the hall table, scented soap in the bathrooms, candles in the dining room, the beautifully tended garden beds. The longtime bachelor pad had become a home.