This and That

LL

Life has brought us fairly close again, but now I am no longer in the North. Back where I 'belong' when I'm over in the UK - the South. Belgravia to be precise. Well precise is not quite the appropriate word as that would involve giving you my address here.

We enjoyed our couple of days touring around The Lake District and being warm and snuggly afterwards in our own place in Keswick. Funny really there was us, husband and wife, enjoying a few days entirely alone and enjoying each other, separated from you by just a few miles and ....10 years. Ironic don't you think? Separated by time and wealth.

I guess you could say separated by a stupid decision and some foolish carnal acts, on your part, as well.

Back then you hurt me badly at a time when I was 'down'. But, as you correctly identified, I am strong person. Yes, I played with you a bit to teach you a lesson, but to be frank my attitude was positive from the moment I learned of your infidelity (ies). Hence what I have told you in the past about my life and what has occurred back then as related in my Mutuality blogs. Anne, Rachel, Mandy etc. I though you might find them a little titillating and also something to reflect upon.

We are joining Charlie (Charlotte) tomorrow and all going to the Palace - yes, Buckingham Palace. Don't get too excited it's only an exhibition, but Ash wanted to see it and so does Charlie (CEO UK for our operations here and in Europe). Ash and I have been there before ... by invitation. I'll leave you to figure out the occasion.

I was reading your partner's social media earlier. Talk about self aggrandizement - re-posting all those comments about commentary skills is very vain. How is his authorship coming along? English improving? His grammar certainly needed a lot of work as did his prose.

Back home to New Hampshire in a few days. Weather is a whole lot better there and I have the horses, which I love.

That 10 years I referred to earlier has been filled with a very active life on my part, made easier through our wealth. Much of it you know about - business, flying, learning Italian to accompany my more limited French and German, travel, writing etc etc. However, I haven't said too much about my photography. I have studio equipment and cameras in most of our locations and mobile stuff for on location. I enjoy it greatly and still take 'holiday snaps' without getting too technical. Some of my commissions are fashion, some locations and quite a few for female nudes, mainly requested by the women themselves. They are not all beautiful but in the main they are. Here's a taster, so to speak - no it's not the moon in double image.

Quite satisfying really and a delight to be able to photograph the female form in all it's beauty. much of what I do is in black and white. If you ever want to see examples of my work you will have to contact me as I will not be posting them in a blog, for privacy reasons.

So I guess it's Spain again for you and yours - fairly soon. Funny really, you are back to where you were when I stumbled across you, although at least you fly there now. Did you really think I swallowed all that stuff about the Scot in Spain, the American and that Peter...oh and of course the supposed visit to an old colleague. If you did then I am just as good as I used to be, because I knew all along. You were an interesting if  not very challenging 'project', but somewhere along the line I fell in love with you...which then brought on the hurt you inflicted on me.

As I said earlier, I am strong, much stronger than you ever realized. I had no real pangs about looking back on you. I moved on and as you now know far more quickly than you could have imagined. So here I am teasing you with my wealth, life style, family and achievements. Against where you are and what you enjoy, you are not even in the same ball park.

But.....

......you could have been.

Have a nice day ma'am.

Ciao

East Bound

LL

After a brief stopover in Chicago and in New Hampshire here we are on a brief visit to the UK. Not staying long. Just some business in Cumbria and then we fly down to London. Our Gulfstream aircraft is quite close to you as I write Bet you'd love a ride in that kind of luxury.

It only takes four hours to be back on the West coast courtesy of our Gulfstream from our home in New Hampshire and we can sleep properly on board for longer trips, as we did last night.

You do, as you said yourself, make all the wrong decisions. Originally, what you said was prefaced with 'Why do I...'. I have no idea why you make wrong decisions, but I can tell you have been making them all your life and still are. Where your thinking went wrong, I have no idea. maybe you were just born that way. You needed a good man to take you in hand, but you never stayed with the good ones, the wiser and shrewder ones - you always went where your impulses took you rather than common sense. Looking back on over 60 years, are you happy with what you have 'achieved' and where you are? If you are, you have a skewed idea of happiness and a parochial view of living.

Funny being in your neck of the woods once more but thankfully 'down the road'. My agents are in your home town though, but I have already been there so no danger of meeting by accident. Tonight a nice meal out here and then another day or two here and we leave for London by our Gulfstream of course.

Main reason for being over here is London but we thought we might enjoy some of the Lakes combined with a little 'business'. I always make a point of touching base at least once a year from those who are working or acting for me.

Enjoy your week in the cool English climate we will soon be back in the USA.

The remainder of my travels in pictures will continue soon

Ciao

Sojourns

LL

I see you wearing a coat in August as you enjoy the benefits of your relationship, not least of which is the 'advantage' of heading north of the border each weekend. There's a lot of talk over here about people posting photos of meals they have had - they reckon it's inane.

We have been enjoying this part of California, as my posts and photos show.

I thought it might be apposite to set out where I have traveled since we parted as part of my mission to keep you apprised of what you have missed.

So before I met my wife, but after you, for starters...

Florida of course

Cincinnatti, Ohio
Indianapolis and Muncie (I'll explain that latter one sometime), Indiana
Salt Lake City, Utah
New York City
Washington DC
Boston, Mass
States:Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, South Carolina, Georgia

Phoenix and Tucson Arizona
New Orleans
Seattle
Portland, Oregon
Palm Springs, California
Cambria, Ca
San Francisco, Ca
San Mateo, Ca
Yosemite
Klamath Falls, Or
Bend, Or
and whole lot of smaller places...everywhere here.

Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Spain including Majorca and The Canaries.

After meeting my wife, last 10 years or so..... :

Much of the above plus San Diego and New Hampshire of course - later is the family base for Ash's tribe.

Chicago,
Minneapolis
San Diego
Lake Oswego, Oregon

Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin,Wyoming, The Dakotas, Colorado, Utah, Washington State, Oregon, California, Texas, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri...think that's most of them.

Overseas:

UK
France
Spain
Italy
Croatia
Greece
Israel
Turkey
Germany
Austria
Antigua
Barbados
Bermuda
Switzerland
The Netherlands
Belgium
Denmark
Sweden
Egypt
Morocco
South Africa
India
China
Hong Kong
Malaya
Thailand
Singapore
Japan
Australia
New Zealand
Canada - east and west

If memory serves you destinations have amounted to three different countries/places - S G & M - and a lot of repeat visits to two destinations. Mine is a pretty long list and I don't think it is exhaustive. I've probably forgotten a few places. Point is that you would have shared this if you hadn't been so foolish!

There is a life...and there's life. I think you will understand that message and the difference between the two phrases.

I am attaching a gallery of photos from most of the above so that you can see what you have missed, as well as reading about it. When it comes to wrong decisions you are the champion! You were a complete idiot, because I loved you back then and would have given you the world. You just couldn't see it and were so risk averse you couldn't climb out of your rut which, incidentally, you are still in.

Beyond all of the above of course is my wealth. I don't need to dwell on that, but I do recall you making some disparaging remark about flaunting. Just remember, I merely flaunt to remind you of what you turned your back on. Something I know you will regret for the rest of your life...but it's undoubtedly far too late now.

This perhaps sums up the bubble you have lived in -  perhaps, appropriately, it's by Robert Burns

"Oh would some god the giftie gie us

  To see ourselves as others see us"

You never saw yourself as others did...and do. They wouldn't tell you to your face, but they sure told me. You see, they saw me as the decent person and the aggrieved party, not you. I say they as there is more than just 'M'. Most are quite close by you, but you'll never know who.

You once said I could never keep a secret. Oh yes I could!

I only allowed you access to what I wanted you to know and what was safe and pertinent at the time. Remember my background? Intelligence. Read a good spy novel you'll get the idea. Bit like a magician really. I get you to focus on one thing while another is going on, out of sight.

That's enough for now. I like to keep my flaunts on the boil :)) Just remember you could have had it all. You just didn't have the courage, integrity and sincerity. He's very welcome to you even if it is only two and a bit days a week.

Here are the photos - they cover just A-B as you will see:

Antigua:

 Australia - last visit 2014:

 Barbados:

 Boston Mass. (winter - to cool you down):

Rest of the alphabet to follow, but we are leaving for Chicago later today and want to make the most of our last day. Off to the shore, care to join us?

Ciao....sciocca signora.

Traveling Man

LL

Seems both the current and possibly the immediate man before him are both travelling.

In my case it's to San Francisco with my beautiful wife, via Dallas and a visit to my good friend and business colleague Rick, for the best of Texan hospitality. In your case you have a man making a brief Eastern visit before he gets back to his soccer and then you. I wonder which takes precedence? The soccer was there before you were....

I guess age has changed you and as an older (old?) woman your outlook has adjusted to your circumstances, which haven't changed a great deal in 10 years. Still working? I suspect you are - no State Pension until 66. That would have been loose change if you had stayed put and behaved yourself. For me, on reflection, it seems it was a close shave, a very close one.

We flew here in our own jet. Thought you might like to see the interior. It's a Gulfstream G650. Employ our own crew as we fly pretty frequently and whenever we feel we wish to. I still fly the propeller model around Florida, for fun....fair weather pilot you could say although we flew right across the country and back some few years ago. Little older now... like us all.

  Taken at the time of delivery

Those large seats fold down into beds, as to the couches... well I leave that to your imagination..... There's a fully galley on board and we get to eat our favorite foods

Looks complicated doesn't it - it is! :) 

If you are really, really clever you can work out where it is.

 Phone shot - slightly out of focus - just before delivery - Savannah, Georgia

Not bad for someone you 'wrote' off. 

I guess you must sometimes wonder what life would have been like with a wealthy guy who has homes in various countries, no financial worries and almost complete freedom. It's pretty damn good and, once, we would have been too. Your life has been pretty traumatic and it hasn't improved a lot since we parted. Me, on the other hand, had a wonderful life with my late wife and an equally good one now with Ash. Seems you always back the wrong horses. 'Why do I always make the wrong decisions *****'

Impulsiveness is part of it I guess, combined with what you termed 'boredum', more correctly spelled as boredom. Funny, life is anything but boring for me, whereas for you...well, you are well and truly in rut. A friend (a lady), called Virginia, recently said to me that she suddenly realized, seeing the life I have been leading in recent years, that she hadn't felt 'alive' for years, and had little beyond her normal routine and home life. Now, with our help, she has woken up to the fact that life is for living and living fully. Whether that is travel, meeting people who can enrich your life, or just make it so much more interesting than it is - she has taken all of it on board and is now for once in her life is truly 'awakening'. Work and a routine governed by eating, soccer and weekend visits is not a life, but it's the one you chose and the one you are lumbered with.

Remember when, after we had parted, I told you that I had paid off the mortgages on my property portfolio over here. That was when my wealth and certain career long investments came to fruition. It was also when my life changed and you missed it by a whisker. Ash did more to bring me back to the land of the living and help me emerge from my grief over the loss of my late wife than you will ever know. You never seemed to recognize where I was in that respect and adopted a selfish attitude centered on yourself and your 'needs'. I guess we would have both gotten where I am now, in time, but it was never to be.

I am heading for San Francisco shortly to our home there. Like the others dotted around the globe it is quite beautiful and exquisite. Ash has great taste...and I have a few ideas myself! Our homes vary greatly in style. In Venice it is a beautiful old apartment, furnished in Italian style, in London the beautiful and substantial home in Belgravia is the height of English refinement, in Lake Oswego, Oregon a more homely timber built home where we can relax and curl up together in front of a large open fire. As you might expect, our homes in Brisbane and Noosa in Australia are modern. A house in Brisbane and a large apartment in Noosa. Carcassonne in France, Barcelona and Marbella are pretty good too. Marbella, in particular, is a gorgeous home. If you drove around a bit when you are next there you might see it from the gate. Then there is our place Sorrento a favorite with us...so many romantic memories.Still have a place in Denia and of course in Keswick along with our beautiful homes in Sandbanks and San Diego. Nothing in Greece these days - sold Skyros several years ago. Finally of course there's New Hampshire, Ash's home State and that of most of her family and what we consider to be our equal first home along with Naples

You probably wonder why we have such places, but to understand that you have to understand and live the lifestyle. Based on that truth, I guess you will never understand.

To think I once fell in love with you.... Now your life and existence seems quite parochial to me. You never really knew as I have said in the past. Never knew what I had been involved in, in my service career or the true nature of my business dealings. In fact I knew far more about you than you ever learned of me...and I still do 😉

Remember when I bought that place in Spain and you waited outside the bank office with Steve the agent? Well I wasn't setting up a mortgage as you both thought. I was opening an account and arranging the transfer of funds to buy outright, which I did. You see, I had taken your advice before you gave it in that I was quite wary about revealing too much to you.  Turned out I was right. You never seemed comfortable what little of my wealth I revealed - some sort of inferiority complex, I guess - but you should have behaved and stayed, as you would have shared in all of it in time.

As it is I met and married another lady who had no such hang ups or, indeed, was lacking in assets in both meanings of the word.

Così è la vita

Ciao deve volare, letteralmente

An Insight

LL

I rarely give you an insight into our homes and realty businesses.  However here are a few projects including a home on the Bay in San Francisco to give you some idea.

You know how much I love the property business and the buzz I get from it, so no big surprises there except perhaps the extent of what I/we are involved in these days. Those 10 years from 2005 have made one hell of a difference!

Funny, how you never really knew me, or knew about me, isn't it. All that advice from you about not giving too much information away - remember that. Whilst it was welcome, I was way ahead of the curve. I never told you more than I thought it was safe to do. I was right about that too, wasn't I.

Onto more amenable things. We spent most of last weekend on our boat sailing in the Gulf between the Island and our home there and our real home in Naples. Weather - pretty damn good. It was heading for 90F/32C when I left.

I say left as I'm in DC (Washington DC) for a couple of days - business and pleasure. Catching up with an old buddy and some business with the DoD.

This is all I really have time for right now but as you always post food and drink and weekends north of where you live (for coming up to the eleventh year), I thought I would give you something else to dwell on.

Next week we are off to San Francisco, via Dallas (to see a business colleague and old friend called Rick) for a break. SF is my favorite City in, what I now call, my country.

Have nice day ma'am