Tear man out of his outward circumstances; and what he then is; that only is he. — Johann Gottfried Seume

It is a wonderful and rare thing to encounter people of immense wealth who aren’t assholes. Last night we had for dinner a few of David’s parents’ friends who happen to be my favorite of all of their friends, because they exhibit that infrequent combination of worldliness and social grace, while maintaining a down-to-earth disposition and a dry sense of humor, the latter of which makes me feel comfortable enough to be myself, knowing that more often than not, my quips will amuse rather than appall. They remind me of that pleasant and hospitable couple we met while traveling through Europe, Nicole and Pierre Guenant, the ones we first encountered in Venice, then met up with at their vineyard in Provence, and finally, whose daughter (Berry) later guided us around Paris. You know, nice people, even though they don’t “have” to be. It’s just nice to find, is all I’m saying, because I frequently run into their antithesis.

So, regarding the corpse — if you keep up with my Twitter, you may already know that I rescued the lifeless body of my laptop. The saga will continue when I arrive home and take it to a REAL repair place, like, I don’t know, the Apple Store. Fortunately, the crisis part of the whole thing ended when I realized I would be able to do everything I needed to do on David’s laptop (from which I am now typing, case in point). Speaking of computers, for her birthday last week, we gifted Ency (David’s mother) with a new iMac, so incredibly slick looking I considered going desktop. But no, that wouldn’t work as I (and therefore my work) am too mobile. Speaking of which, have I mentioned we’re going to Spain and Portugal in October? Well, there it is. And some “surprise” place in August, as a writing retreat. David won’t tell me where, but I have a feeling it will be a wonderfully distraction-free location, as part of his helpful encouragement for me to finish this damn screenplay treatment that I haven’t found time to work on in weeks. David realizes that for me, time must be carved out in advance, else I will never get to my unpaid, ongoing labor-of-love projects.

In other news, I’m loving the lush greenness of the island this year, and we’ve had some warm rainy days, and warm sunny days. The only downside, the only dampener, really, is the mosquito. One interaction becomes an itchy nuisance for days, and for some reason, this time they all went for my feet. My toes, my instep, the top. My feet have been devoured by those little suckers. Oh, and there was my computer-capade, but that could have happened anywhere. I’ve yet to see a raccoon, but I did take a photo of some greasy miniature footsteps on the porch, leading away from the grill. I’ll post those as soon as I upload some of my photos to David’s computer. And now that I’ve simply begun listing things to do, I will let you go.