We're now seated -- and private

OK, I'm talking about the house once more. Some people - like my Mom - want to see how we live.

We've almost completed the major projects. Our furniture arrived. Our neighbor Ally put together a communal order at the end of last December, and it came it last Monday. That's Larry checking it out. We now have a dining room table with chairs on the verandah, and two big chairs with footstools in our middle "tower" room. If you look back on previous posts, you can see how this room has evolved from pretty bare space into a comfy library.

We got curtain rods and curtain rod holder-uppers (what DO you call those things?) the same day. Leo, the man who made the grill work for our windows and doors, made them in his shop in La Colonia. Nice heavy iron work, enough for six windows and doors. He and Osvaldo, his helper, were here until 8:00 that night, drilling holes into solid concrete walls. We spent Tuesday cleaning up.

Now here's something really ironic (sorry, really bad pun): we also paid our property taxes last Monday. Price for the curtain rods and installation: 1,700 pesos. Price for a year's property taxes: 1,750 pesos. Knock off a zero and you're close to the U.S. dollar amount.