Flown away

I am preoccupied with manners. So when someone comments about how bare my house is compared to other embassy families, what's the tactful answer? My answer was what I really think.  I don't know where they get the money.  I think the manners book says not to talk about money. But if your friend invites you for coffee at a shopping mall, it seems better to be clear up front that coffee is all I'm going to spend money on.

     What do you think? Polite evasion, as in, "They do have beautiful houses," or direct explanation, as in, "My house is bare because I am a tightwad." I guess it depends on whether I want to be invited back.  Leave a comment :-)

     I was stuck in the mall, wishing I had parked on the street and not in the garage so I could take pictures. What is there to take pictures of in the mall? Nothing. Or so I thought it first. Then, I wanted to take pictures of all the cute retirees, but it's not really acceptable here to take pictures of random people. 

So instead here's a picture of our loose, banging skylight. The workman came at 10:30 but didn't have a ladder so he left. When he came back well after dark, the skylight had "flown away" in two pieces to the neighbor's yard. That explained why it was freezing cold in the kitchen.  At  Troy's suggestion and with Troy's tools he put up Troy's tarp. At least today we had our first day of sunshine in six weeks, so hopefully it doesn't rain.