We were busy last week, our friends John and Mary returned to Mérida and we had dinner with them.

The next night was a concert by Lisa Paige, an excellent singer, at Terrence's spectacular new house. Well, his house isn't new but he's been doing a lot of work on it and the results are stunning.

The concert was a benefit for Oasis, an AIDS charity. I couldn't find a link for it, what I was told is that there are 2 AIDS groups here, Abrazos which deals with helping people live with AIDS, and Oasis which helps them die. It is a hospice type place, a safe place to die. I'll add more info about it when I can get it.

I went over to Debi and Tom's on Wednesday and arranged for their housekeeper to come here a few days a week. This place is much too large and we have too many pets to keep up with it ourselves. We did try, we were only partially successful and it took all our time. Gabi has been here twice and I'm very happy with her so far. We are no longer dodging tumbleweeds of dog hair and the woodwork shines again.

A side benefit of visiting Debi's gorgeous garden is that I came home with 2 pieces of an orchid. I'm really going to try not to kill this one. Did I tell you internet that I brutally murdered my very first phalenopsis? This after I told the whole world that raising orchids was going to be my new pastime? Also, after I spent untold hours reading orchid blogs and forums? Yea, well, it's dead. Still alive is the one that Tandy and David brought me, it's even still blooming. There is hope for me but I have acquired some new humility about this hobby.

Oh, and the outside pond is green because it is leaking and I have to add so much water to it every day that it can't cycle. The inside pond, however, is mysteriously gaining water. We vacuum it dry and after about 4 days there is a foot of water in the sump. I have no friggin clue where the water is coming from. Last night while I was trying to use the video chat with my son Mimi suddenly yelled "listen" and we both ran into the hall where water was pouring from one of the pipes into the sump. Cool, except we have no idea where that pipe is connected so we still don't know where the water comes from. I have grim ideas but I hope I'm wrong.

We were keeping it empty because I'm not satisfied with the design or function and I needed to just contemplate it for awhile. I guess I'm glad to find this out before there are any fish or plants I care about in there. The outside pond has fish and some plants and I think they will have to break out part of the wall to fix the leak.

On a bad news/good news note, Mimi's computer is biting the dust. It's about 6 years old so I'm not surprised. The power supply is going and this would be the 2nd one we've purchased. So, I think I'm going to get a new mac 13" powerbook. I loved my 14" Sony Vaio and while I also like this big macbook pro, I'd love to go back to a small netbook type. Mimi will take this one and I think she'll still let me use it for graphics if I need to. She's off to the USA next week so we are in a buying and shipping frenzy so she can haul the loot back in her luggage.

Oh, did I also mention that Saturday we both woke up really sick? Fever, headache, joint pain... we slept most of Sat and Sunday and today are feeling a little better and walking around and eating a little. Who knows? Just something going around I guess. Pain pills, Electrolit, and lots of water and we seem to be recovered.

For not having anything to say, I sure took up a lot of space.