Pontevecchio=Casafina

My grandparents live in a hilarious neighborhood. It's one of those in Florida with a gate, all of the mailboxes are the same, they have a certain number of trees allowed in their front yard, etc. I'm sure you've seen them. When we go there, it makes me laugh. Each complex has its theme, and none of them has a personality. My grandparents' is called Pontevecchio - yup, just like the bridge in Italy.

We live in basically the same thing in Singapore. Ours is called Casafina. I had posted a few pictures before on this post. It has palm trees. They're real, but they don't look like they are, and they're certainly not primary growth forest. The whole place is cleaned each day, and there is never any litter (other than the lambchop). We have at least three pools, over 20 fountains or places of public running water, and we have strict rules for the tennis court (but not as strict as Florida - and no angry 70 year olds enforcing them). It was all digestible until last week.

Last week, they put up a SUPER tacky sign on the guard house that reads, "Casafina" in white neon lights - arched like cheap word-art. It's really ugly.

In other news - I'm really scared the Splinter has left this world. She hasn't come to visit us since breakfast Thursday morning. In fact, I didn't see ANY cats in our complex for two full days. When I left to go out this evening I saw some of the cats had returned, but it's now been more than two days, and I really hope she's okay. I hope that they didn't take all of the cats and kill them. It would be okay if they took them all and killed them - except Splinter.

In addition, Matt and some friends went to Johor Bahru right across the border (it's like Windsor to Detroit) for Christian's wedding. Right when they left, I turned on the dining room light, and I heard a pop, and now none of the lights are working. I'm writing by dim lamp light. The fuse box is in Maria's (the imaginary maid) room, but we have a desk, a kitchen table, a tv stand and about four other things in between me and the fuse box. I think I will wait until Matt comes back.