It was a little fun to go downtown Saturday, despite my well-know dislike of the mainland and the sludge that makes up its citizenry. I knew that Rosa Fabrics would have the material for Baby Jane's dress and they did: pale lavender satin with light stripes. Simply gorgeous, and I bought a lot of lace and satin ribbons. Oddly, Rosa doesn't sell notions, but they kindly directed me to a store around the corner that had a Spanish name so long I'd never remember it; naturally I was the only customer or employee speaking English (but this is so normal I don't think about it anymore).

This store was not any old notion store, it was a wedding notion store that spanned half a block, a sort of Walmart of buttons and bows. "No wonder everyone is so animated," I thought. "They're getting married." Every bead, every yard of satin or lace, ANYTHING needed for a wedding was here along with a dizzying array of hats and hat forms.

There was so much of everything gaudy, and I couldn't help fingering the fringe or gliding my hand across a brocade. A couple of grandmotherly types eyed me with suspicion behind the counter so I raised my nose in the air and said, "How do you do, today?" Now they knew: GRINGO FAG and hastened back to work, which consisted mainly of speaking Spanish to each other; no work, really.

By this time I'm thinking of a new gimmick for Sunday: a wide-brimmed hat to which I would add a veil. As someone of note or beauty walked by I would lift my veil and beckon them over in my best Catherine Deneurve nod of the head. For all others, there would be no invitation, no recognition. THEN...as if to jolt me from the fabrications that usual make up my mind...

I turned a corner and found an entire wall with every possible color evening length glove. My heart skipped, and the possibilities opening before me were making my mind spin. There were short gloves too, men's and women's. I knew I had to get out fast before that thing happens that makes me buy lots of stuff I really didn't need. But all those gloves.....

Walking out I saw one of those pieces of Miami architecture that dot the downtown and defy description. This was a Catholic church and I actually walked up a few stairs to determine that. Like other buildings in the area, it would have been built in the early 1900's when there was no style defining the young city apart from what the color pink could do; I kept trying to figure out just what style it was when a shabbily dressed man came to the door. He didn't say anything to me, and I certainly refrained from a "How do you do, today" also. (I couldn't tell if he was a local bum seeking relief from the heat or a down-and-out priest.) Downtown is strange. And, anyway, I had already found a piece of heaven a few minutes earlier and I had a dress to make.

Thanks, Countess Bedelia for your help in this mess.