We had three important victories today, and each in its own space.

1. Today was our 31st anniversary. Conni has dealt with me for 31 (as my parents always phrased it) "long and miserable years." She renewed her option for one more year.

We had dinner, a truly above and beyond experience, at Villa Ixora, a local restaurant part of a small resort. As far as we can tell, there are about 8 little rooms and a small, 12-table restaurant. Most of the tables are 2-tops, although they pushed enough together for a 12-person group tonight. Villa Ixora is a perfect example of "enough-ness", the idea that when you have enough, that will do.

Last year, I had a spectacular version of a Salad Nicoise. This year, I had the most creative pork dish I've ever enjoyed. They described it as a "pork breast" so it was probably a pork belly, baked for 24-hours, then broiled to bring out the flavor of the pork skin. It appeared to be a layer of pork skin, a layer of fat, a layer of meat, and another layer of fat: it disturbed me. In fact, the fat was white pork meat. I believe that during the long baking, they simply melted out the fat and left nothing but very tender pork. The side was a mashed potato with lots of parsley and carrot blended in, topped by grilled eggplant. In addition to be being the most creative pork dish that I've ever had, it was one of the best. Naturally, Conni had duck breast in honey sauce: canard au miele: she's a sucker for that preparation. The entrée was a tomato salad with fresh, homemade mozzarella and some rolls of Serrano ham. Excellent! Conni chose a lovely French pinot that went perfectly with the pork and duck. Cocktails were MaiTais, of course. With fresh fruit juice, it's my favorite. We were enjoying the meal for 3 hours! What a wonderful evening for an anniversary. Two customers had birthdays, so they received a small desert and the staff sang, "Happy Birthday" in French, English, and Polynesian. That was a treat, too.

2. I completed the network and everything worked!. The new wind sensor worked, the new autopilot keyboard worked, and the old instruments worked. I've still got some wiring to do, but one main task is complete. I'll work on the autopilot drive installation and start on the solar panel controller.

3. We hired our friend and local worker, Richard, to help with the autopilot installation. Presently, the autopilot drive extends too far in one direction and not far enough in the other. Unfortunately, we can't move the drive any further. Our solution, and one that I considered before we departed home, is to cut a hole in a bulkhead and simply move back a section of the drive. Richard will fabricate a fiberglass "cup" to fill the hole that we cut and the drive end will be protected by that cup. It's a simple and effective solution, or so we hope. Richard came by today to take measurements and discuss options. For the first time, I feel that we can get this drive installed. I never doubted that the electronics would work, but the drive was something much more difficult.

It was a banner day for us. With luck, we'll complete the autopilot installation and the solar panel controller installation and move to the other repairs.

Wish us luck.