I was not supposed to spend a week in Santa Barbara. Well not with out a job, that is. The car problem became a big problem. It's not just the money to repair my car that is troublesome but the time it will take to repair it. A bolt that is needed for the fix is being shipped from LA. My car will not be ready until Tuesday. 7 days after my car broke down.

Many people would see this as a wonderful predicament to be in. I suppose if you are going to be stranded some where, Santa Barbara is better than most anywhere. It's like the French Riviera; A beautiful ocean side tropical paradise! If I had someone to share it with, I would agree. But having just left the man I loved and lived with for 3-1/2 years, with anticipation of another 40 years, being alone in such a place as this is emotional torture. I have too much time on my hands to resist thinking about how much I want to be with him. Something very disturbing to me, is the fact that I now can not remember the reasons I wanted to leave him. All I can remember are the good times.

Back to Thursday. I visited another Grumbler, David Beardon, Owner of Santa Barbara Frame Shop & Gallery (www.santabarbaraframeshop.com ). Another beautiful shop with some wonderful original paintings adorning the walls. From what I could observe, his location is top rate; A downtown street with lots of traffic. David is a friendly guy who is always willing to help out a fellow framer. We didn't have much trouble talking about framing and business. His framing competitors are many, the closest is across the street from him! There are 28 shops for a population of 86,000 people! And I thought Napa had too many with 13 shops for 75,000 residents.

I love how small this world is sometimes. As David and I were talking, I mentioned a gallery frame shop in San Rafael and how at one point earlier last year I had wanted to purchase it as it went up for sale. I was not able to do so but as I mentioned the new owner who had recently taken over, David said he had met her while she was in his shop asking questions. San Rafael and Santa Barbara are approximately 300 miles apart. That is very cool!

The Frame-Up in Goleta (just North of Santa Barbara) was my next stop (www.theframe-up.com). It was an unplanned visit, as I saw it while I was looking for lunch. I walked in and introduced my self as a framer passing through. Lance immediately asked me if I wanted a job!! I was so surprised that I stuttered a bit and replied "I could stick around this area for the right offer."
Actually, it was not Lance looking to hire a framer, but the gentleman who is about to purchase the business from him. Yes, you guessed it, Lance is giving up his long standing career in framing. The economy has gotten to another one! But don't feel bad for him. It's what he wants and he is excited about his new future. Best of luck to him!