Meanwhile, here on the island, life goes on. Mimi flew across the country to Puerto Vallarta a couple days ago. I'm doing ok on my own. Saturday, I went to the Oktoburfest at the convention center near here. I've always found it difficult to go out to eat by myself. I don't have any problem traveling alone or doing anything else but sitting down and eating somewhere is hard, especially in this land of family togetherness where you hardly ever see anyone alone. I made myself go and walk around, there was an oomp-ah band and stands with sausage and sauerkraut and booths with Corona beer. Darn, no German beer. I got a plate and a beer and sat and ate. OK, I did it and I'm proud of myself but I can't say I really enjoyed it.

I'm sorry that I can't regale you with pictures and stories from the Day of the Dead. We kind of ignored it. Mimi was getting ready to leave, we had bought some tiles from another couple who are finishing their renovation and we had to pick them up and we spent every morning taking the truck to the mechanic and not getting in. He's a busy guy, which I think bodes well for his abilities. We'll find out, we finally got the truck in and I'm supposed to call him tomorrow to see when it will be done. I have no idea how I'm going to pick it up by myself but since it might not be ready yet I'm not worrying about it.

We spent more time standing around in the kitchen of the house trying to envision where I want things and how big they can be. I'm supposed to call Henry this week and meet him over there and walk it off with him. I've been shopping appliances, writing down model #s and dimensions and prices. The number of decisions is overwhelming if I think about them all, I have to just put one foot in front of the other and not look up at the whole project.