Wrapping Up Stage 10 and STORMS!

It's a rest day for Le Tour de France today, but I hope some of you caught the amazing ending of yesterday's end in Albi. What a surprise. I can't believe Michael Matthews (Sunweb) whose team led him out for the finish in beautiful style, and he just sat back and watched. It's a sprint, for goodness sake! I don't know what he was thinking, but he ended up in 4th, when he could have been the winner. Instead, Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) won the stage. As we go into the rest day, we've had ten days of racing and ten different stage winners. It's an exciting Tour. 

Congratulations to Wout Van Aert, winner of Stage 10 of this year's
Tour de France. I'm very impressed by this Belgian rider, he's been
right in the thick of things from Day 1. I look forward to seeing
what he can do in the mountains to come. The Pyrenees start on
Thursday! 

Last night, ten minutes before closing, the skies opened up, the thunder boomed, and I lost all power at the shop. I had just kicked my associate out of the store less than three minutes before because the wind and rain had gotten so bad. Now I was scurrying around by the light of my phone's flashlight, locking my doors, turning off lights that weren't on, and doing whatever I could with the powerblocks on my electronics before I had to shut everything down for safety. Then, I no sooner was ready to leave when DH texted me that we were out of power at home, too. As it turned out, my store and a few surrounding blocks, and my home and a few surrounding blocks, were all that was out in my area. Everything between was business as usual - lights, camera, action. *sigh*

Home was out of power until almost 10:00 pm, and I have to assume I have now have power at the shop once again, although I won't know how long it was out until I check the clocks in a few hours. I took some amazing photos to share, though. After the storm passed we got some incredible lighting outside, and even a rainbow as we were walking into McDonald's for a late dinner. I might push through a photo blog tomorrow (since today is a rest day on Le Tour), just to share some of the lighting with all of you. It was so beautiful! 

Here's that meme that's been going around, since today is a Rest Day for Le Tour. No Stage maps for today. I'll be back tomorrow for Stage 11, a flat sprinter's stage just before we finally hit the mountains in the Pyrenees. 

 Marriages: 17
 Engagements: 1
 Divorces: 0
 Kids: 0
 Brothers: 0
 Sisters: 0
 Current pets: 0 
 Surgeries: 4
 Tattoos: 2
 Been to an Island: No
 Flown on a Plane: Yes
 Rode in an Ambulance: Yes
 Sang Karaoke: No
 Ice Skating: Yes
 Been on a Cruise: No
 Rode on a Motorcycle: Yes
 Owned a Motorcycle: No
 Rode on a Horse: Yes
 Stayed in a Hospital: Yes
 Favorite Fruit: Strawberries
 Favorite Day: Sunday is my Day Off
 Favorite Color: Green, or Blue, or Red, or ... oh hell - I love all of them
 Last phone call: A call to my credit card carrier about a charge
 Coffee or Tea: Workweek - coffee. Day off - tea. Love them both. 
 Favorite Pie: Lemon meringue or cherry
 Favorite pizza : Lots of different meats with hot peppers
 Cat or Dog: Allergic, but both have their charms
 Favorite season: Spring followed closely by Autumn
 Met a star: No
 Rode in a helicopter:  Yes
 Been on tv: Yes
 Broken a bone: Yes
 Seen a ghost: No
 Been sick in a taxi: No
 Seen someone die: Yes

So there you go, meme accomplished, even with the little emojis. I hope all of you have a wonderful Tuesday and I'll return tomorrow.