Dia de los Muertos

Halloween came and went unnoticed here, but Mexican Dia de los Muertos was yesterday. the day when Mexican families honor their dead by going to the cemetery and having parties at the graves of their elders. Many also build colorful altars, often with skeletons or decorated sugar skulls. I couldn't manage any of that but decided we needed something to honor not only the dead but the living, so no skulls 

We took the day off today and had friends here for lunch. This has become something of a tradition  and it was our turn. The date was set several weeks ago. The other two couples weren't evacuated and had power last week and asked if we still wanted to do it. I said, "Hell yes". So they all did what they do best and pitched in and helped....

Tobi picked lettuce from our garden (the one for which Tobi's husband Dan built the cage to keep the ground squirrels out) and made salad. We went to the store and got deli meat and cheese for sandwiches. The only problem was that there was no bread because the bakeries had not been able to deliver it, or had been closed themselves. But it happened that Renaissance Man Dan had just made bread and brought a loaf. Gail brought brownies for dessert and she also brought her husband Bob, a real character who kept us entertained with stories of his time as a psychiatric resident in the emergency room at Mt Zion hospital in San Francisco in the 60's. Dana and Jim  brought a nice bottle of white wine from Dry Creek Valley outside Healdsburg. Dana did all the dishes and Jim gave advice to Tobi and Dan about internet connections in their remote location.

We are a very diverse group.  We are a wonderful group. It was a good time.