Hi there,
we have started a new blog, it is dilaryadventureon2.blogspot.com
See us there.
D & L
Monday, December 5, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Thursday dinner out and Friday packing up to leave
Thursday we spent mostly packing for our cruise, and also packing stuff to take home. My suitcase for the cruise is growing and growing, a very bad sign, so I have already added a second smaller suitcase. Lary has a gi-normous suitcase, but it isn't really full, and he also has a garment bag.
We are heading down to San Diego on Saturday, then on Sunday we'll go to San Diego airport and find a special bus that is taking us to Ensenada, Mexico to load onto the Carnival Spirit for the Hawaii cruise. There is some kind of law in the US that says if a cruise is domestic, it has to make one foreign port I believe, so think that's why we leave from Ensenada MX.
Thursday evening we went out with Wendy and Dave, meeting up with Louise and James at Trio restaurant in downtown Palm Springs for a lovely birthday dinner for Wendy. I hadn't seen Louise since high school days, so that was a fun get together. They both taught in the Williams Lake area in the early 80s when I was also there teaching out on the reserve at Alexis Creek, but I wasn't aware they were in Williams Lake at that time. I had to buy groceries each weekend in Williams Lake, a journey of 100 km one way from my school.
The restaurant Trio seems to be just over a year old, and it was very nice, Wendy and I had salmon and risotto, then we both had lemon meringue pie. Yum. It was quite busy, in fact crazy busy, it's White Weekend here for the gay crowd, and the noise was nearly deafening. Food was terrific as was the service. The tables are quite close, and the restaurant seems to be flourishing. We drove Wendy and Dave as they are camping nearly beside us here in DHS.
Today Friday we packed and organized the house a bit more, still looks like a tornado hit it, we gave W & D our frozen food from the freezer, pity to throw out good food. Did a final laundry and went out for dinner to Jackalope, yummy, I had prime rib and Lary had ribs. Good not great service, they are very busy on Fridays and Saturdays, but we had a gift certificate as we are VIP members there, so decided to do that for our last night in the wee house here.
Likely this is the last post we will make for this season until we get home and recap the Hawaii cruise, the internet on the ship is v. expensive, and normally we don't use it. I will have to rely on Lary to keep writing his diary, then transcribe it when we get home, if not slightly before then as we journey toward home in the car.
Because of the extreme heat in this area, we have decided to put a lot of food stuff in the fridge, and keep them there with the fridge turned on, til we return in late Fall. Hope that works, we don't want to leave any fresh food in the cupboards to attract critters or bugs.
The weather is currently bizarre, we have gone from over 100 degrees down into the high 50s or low 60s, and it's cloudy and overcast, threatening rain and lots of blowing dust, too.
Because of our park model trailer being in an earthquake zone we are told to lie down all table and floor lamps before we leave, unplug appliances, and generally batten down the hatches for the shake rattle and roll that an earthquake can produce.
We are actually located almost on top of the San Andreas Fault here at our location. The palm oasis on Thousand Palms Road is possible because of the fault line, and the water being very near the surface at the fault line.
Bye for now, and thanks so much for reading thus far. We'll continue posting, but just not immediately. We have 5 sea days then 7 days cruising the Hawaiian Islands on the Carnival Spirit.
We are heading down to San Diego on Saturday, then on Sunday we'll go to San Diego airport and find a special bus that is taking us to Ensenada, Mexico to load onto the Carnival Spirit for the Hawaii cruise. There is some kind of law in the US that says if a cruise is domestic, it has to make one foreign port I believe, so think that's why we leave from Ensenada MX.
Thursday evening we went out with Wendy and Dave, meeting up with Louise and James at Trio restaurant in downtown Palm Springs for a lovely birthday dinner for Wendy. I hadn't seen Louise since high school days, so that was a fun get together. They both taught in the Williams Lake area in the early 80s when I was also there teaching out on the reserve at Alexis Creek, but I wasn't aware they were in Williams Lake at that time. I had to buy groceries each weekend in Williams Lake, a journey of 100 km one way from my school.
The restaurant Trio seems to be just over a year old, and it was very nice, Wendy and I had salmon and risotto, then we both had lemon meringue pie. Yum. It was quite busy, in fact crazy busy, it's White Weekend here for the gay crowd, and the noise was nearly deafening. Food was terrific as was the service. The tables are quite close, and the restaurant seems to be flourishing. We drove Wendy and Dave as they are camping nearly beside us here in DHS.
Today Friday we packed and organized the house a bit more, still looks like a tornado hit it, we gave W & D our frozen food from the freezer, pity to throw out good food. Did a final laundry and went out for dinner to Jackalope, yummy, I had prime rib and Lary had ribs. Good not great service, they are very busy on Fridays and Saturdays, but we had a gift certificate as we are VIP members there, so decided to do that for our last night in the wee house here.
Likely this is the last post we will make for this season until we get home and recap the Hawaii cruise, the internet on the ship is v. expensive, and normally we don't use it. I will have to rely on Lary to keep writing his diary, then transcribe it when we get home, if not slightly before then as we journey toward home in the car.
Because of the extreme heat in this area, we have decided to put a lot of food stuff in the fridge, and keep them there with the fridge turned on, til we return in late Fall. Hope that works, we don't want to leave any fresh food in the cupboards to attract critters or bugs.
The weather is currently bizarre, we have gone from over 100 degrees down into the high 50s or low 60s, and it's cloudy and overcast, threatening rain and lots of blowing dust, too.
Because of our park model trailer being in an earthquake zone we are told to lie down all table and floor lamps before we leave, unplug appliances, and generally batten down the hatches for the shake rattle and roll that an earthquake can produce.
We are actually located almost on top of the San Andreas Fault here at our location. The palm oasis on Thousand Palms Road is possible because of the fault line, and the water being very near the surface at the fault line.
Bye for now, and thanks so much for reading thus far. We'll continue posting, but just not immediately. We have 5 sea days then 7 days cruising the Hawaiian Islands on the Carnival Spirit.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Monday Hawaiian dinner and farewell at Chip's
Monday night we were invited over to Chip's for a Hawaiian theme farewell dinner, and oh what a dinner it was. We all took flutes to play.
Chip showed us how to do the hula dance, and he had the table set outside with the most lovely hand printed cloth, printed and the dye outlining Hawaiian plant leaves, it was just lovely. And the table was set with coordinated colors of blues and greens, including candles. Mai Tai drinks to start, complete with spikes of pineapple, banana and cherry in them.
Chip made a huge chicken curry, Hawaiian style, with about 10 dishes of fruit and nut garnishes, and chutney, and coconut to go on top of the curry. Yum yum, it was just incredible. There was mango and papaya, banana, macadamia nuts, coconut, kiwi, pineapple and the most yummy stuff, and we were eating outside in the warmth, by his pool. OMG, it was so lovely. And Chip did a hula dance as he had accompanying Hawaiian music to go with it all.
Annie and Chip had both dressed up in Hawaiian theme clothing, Annie had pretty flowered culottes on, and Chip with an aloha shirt, as Lary had.
On Chip's granite bar was a lei but made completely out of shells. Macadamia nuts and another spicy nut mix for starters, puu puus that would be.....
Each of our plates had a banana leaf under the curry and rice, and there was a red hibiscus in the corner of each plate. It was all pretty as a picture. White wine with dinner, can't remember what we had for dessert, but then Annie left after a little while, she had gone to Santa Barbara the day before, it's a long drive both ways for her. She had been working more on the flute backing tracks with her sound recording/artist friend, and she was tired from that big day.
Chip didn't seem ready to call it a night, so the three of us played our flutes outside, with a local bird joining in, it was very amusing to listen to the bird imitating us. We did duets and trios. Such a great sendoff. Lovely warm desert night.
Tuesday Lary and I had a visit scheduled up to visit another flutemaker, John Stillwell, in Yucca Valley, about an hour away from us. We arrived at 10, and he looked at our flutes that he had made some years before, and we had bought second hand from Helaine, then he decided that both of them could be improved with a bit of work. His workshop is partially underground, so we went down nearly underground into his workshop. There are windows high up letting in light, and it's a round place, he thinks it was to be a swimming pool for the previous owner.
He worked for a while with a tuner, then decided that the holes of the flutes could be more undercut with a dremel burr, so that's what he did with each hole on each flute, then varnished the holes that he had undercut, and after about an hour and a half, we departed, thanking him profusely, as he wouldn't take any money at all.
Yucca Valley is high above the Coachella Valley, with very weird rock formations, and a lot of unpaved high desert roads. He lives off the main road, and his daughter has horses. He has been making flutes for about 10 years, and now a lot of his business is over the internet. It was much cooler up there than down on the valley floor where we live.
Lary and I did a bit of antique shop mooching, and then ate lunch at Willie Boy's Saloon on the way home, it is in Morongo Valley, and was a lot of fun. Yummy food, and it's kind of like a saloon, bordello, with the ladies rooms up above the saloon, and 2 huge bars to serve thirsty travelers. Debbie was our waitress, she was super, so friendly and helpful, she was tattooed all over her top half, and wearing a spaghetti strap top, and a very short skirt, and long black nylons and black boots. The other waitress was similarly dressed, with a long bow and tail of bright turquoise satin. It was such a kick to see the new restaurant, there is a huge size Chinese horse outside the building to mark its location.
Today Wednesday Wendy and I went over to her new place, Ivey Ranch and Country Club, and attended a luncheon and fashion show, the fashions were presented by Christal, who owns 2 quite high end clothing shops, and the fashions were very pretty, and the models lovely. Wendy and I drove by their new home, and we took a look although there are tenants in residence until nearly the end of April.
This afternoon we are heading over to Wendy and Dave's for Happy Hour, but it has been raining. Lary cleaned out our shed, tossed out lots of things that we don't need, and we have partially packed up our outdoor furniture for the season. Bit of a drag that it's raining, oh well, no doubt the desert needs it.
Chip showed us how to do the hula dance, and he had the table set outside with the most lovely hand printed cloth, printed and the dye outlining Hawaiian plant leaves, it was just lovely. And the table was set with coordinated colors of blues and greens, including candles. Mai Tai drinks to start, complete with spikes of pineapple, banana and cherry in them.
Chip made a huge chicken curry, Hawaiian style, with about 10 dishes of fruit and nut garnishes, and chutney, and coconut to go on top of the curry. Yum yum, it was just incredible. There was mango and papaya, banana, macadamia nuts, coconut, kiwi, pineapple and the most yummy stuff, and we were eating outside in the warmth, by his pool. OMG, it was so lovely. And Chip did a hula dance as he had accompanying Hawaiian music to go with it all.
Annie and Chip had both dressed up in Hawaiian theme clothing, Annie had pretty flowered culottes on, and Chip with an aloha shirt, as Lary had.
On Chip's granite bar was a lei but made completely out of shells. Macadamia nuts and another spicy nut mix for starters, puu puus that would be.....
Each of our plates had a banana leaf under the curry and rice, and there was a red hibiscus in the corner of each plate. It was all pretty as a picture. White wine with dinner, can't remember what we had for dessert, but then Annie left after a little while, she had gone to Santa Barbara the day before, it's a long drive both ways for her. She had been working more on the flute backing tracks with her sound recording/artist friend, and she was tired from that big day.
Chip didn't seem ready to call it a night, so the three of us played our flutes outside, with a local bird joining in, it was very amusing to listen to the bird imitating us. We did duets and trios. Such a great sendoff. Lovely warm desert night.
Tuesday Lary and I had a visit scheduled up to visit another flutemaker, John Stillwell, in Yucca Valley, about an hour away from us. We arrived at 10, and he looked at our flutes that he had made some years before, and we had bought second hand from Helaine, then he decided that both of them could be improved with a bit of work. His workshop is partially underground, so we went down nearly underground into his workshop. There are windows high up letting in light, and it's a round place, he thinks it was to be a swimming pool for the previous owner.
He worked for a while with a tuner, then decided that the holes of the flutes could be more undercut with a dremel burr, so that's what he did with each hole on each flute, then varnished the holes that he had undercut, and after about an hour and a half, we departed, thanking him profusely, as he wouldn't take any money at all.
Yucca Valley is high above the Coachella Valley, with very weird rock formations, and a lot of unpaved high desert roads. He lives off the main road, and his daughter has horses. He has been making flutes for about 10 years, and now a lot of his business is over the internet. It was much cooler up there than down on the valley floor where we live.
Lary and I did a bit of antique shop mooching, and then ate lunch at Willie Boy's Saloon on the way home, it is in Morongo Valley, and was a lot of fun. Yummy food, and it's kind of like a saloon, bordello, with the ladies rooms up above the saloon, and 2 huge bars to serve thirsty travelers. Debbie was our waitress, she was super, so friendly and helpful, she was tattooed all over her top half, and wearing a spaghetti strap top, and a very short skirt, and long black nylons and black boots. The other waitress was similarly dressed, with a long bow and tail of bright turquoise satin. It was such a kick to see the new restaurant, there is a huge size Chinese horse outside the building to mark its location.
Today Wednesday Wendy and I went over to her new place, Ivey Ranch and Country Club, and attended a luncheon and fashion show, the fashions were presented by Christal, who owns 2 quite high end clothing shops, and the fashions were very pretty, and the models lovely. Wendy and I drove by their new home, and we took a look although there are tenants in residence until nearly the end of April.
This afternoon we are heading over to Wendy and Dave's for Happy Hour, but it has been raining. Lary cleaned out our shed, tossed out lots of things that we don't need, and we have partially packed up our outdoor furniture for the season. Bit of a drag that it's raining, oh well, no doubt the desert needs it.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sunday art show at Indian Wells
Saturday was a very hot day, nearly 100 degrees, and we went to Home Depot to get some wide PVC pipe and end caps to make a hard flute case to protect Lary's new clay flute. A staff member there was very helpful, and glued one end of the pipe with the end cap before we left the store. Then on to Joann Fabric and Craft shop for leather to make straps to hold our flutes, they have small "ears" on them where we can thread a strap so that it won't fall on the ground and break. We can then put the strap around our neck.
Katie and Grant moved over to Sky Valley, just a bit farther away from us here, and they invited us out for Happy Hour, so we sat outside their van in the hot sun and had a drink and some yummy snacks. After that we 4 went into Desert Hot Springs and had dinner at the Thai place, the service was dreadful, but the food was just delicious. Also the A/C was on so strong that we all nearly froze. Oh well, great company.
Sunday we arranged to pick up Katie and Grant, and we 4 headed off to the Indian Wells Art Festival, it was lovely, a juried show, and we 4 poked about, admiring the lovely things on display, clothing, jewellry, pottery, painting, statuary, sculpture, and some incredibly beautiful things. A sensory barrage. The temps were much lower, around high 70s, with a bit of a breeze, so that was better. Many of the vendors had huge market type umbrellas to shade themselves, which made a big difference.
Katie and I both bought pretty hand painted scarves, I bought a small piece of clay jewellry, and Katie and Grant bought a lovely Raku fired piece of pottery for their home. We ate there outside at tables with umbrellas, thankfully, and listened to the spirited music playing.
We came home, and when we dropped off Katie and Grant we had a drink with them before we came home. The day before at Happy Hour the wind was nearly howling it was so strong, and again today the wind whipped up around 3:30 PM or so. It looked as if the wind was blowing quite a bit of dust around in Palm Springs, but at Indian Wells it was quiet. We were at the Tennis Gardens where the 2 week BNP Paribas Tennis match had just finished. It is an enormous stadium, but the art show was outside the stadium in the pretty grounds. A wonderful use for the space.
Now we will have to get busy and tidy up the house and think of what to take with us on our cruise, and for our trip home too, and what to leave in the house. They say that clothing with elastic will be badly damaged in the extreme desert heat of the summer, but I Di will leave a lot of clothes here, so I don't have to drag so many things back and forth.
We will put heavy silver insulation material on all our windows to deflect the sun's force during the summer, and will eventually shut off most of the power, water and gas to the house, also laying down the table lamps, and covering the furniture with plastic sheeting against the dust. We may leave the fridge turned on this time, as it had a very hard time starting up when we arrived here, makign tons of gurgling noises for a week or two in early November.
We likely won't leave much open food to tempt any critters looking for a free handout, and people say they often put even their canned food in the fridge to protect it so it doesn't explode in the heat. They say temps here reach 125 during the summer months. Glad we won't be here, we have been using the A/C in the heat, and we are sure that the electricity company will really love us this month, our bill may be way larger than usual. Oh well, we have been comfortable.
The people who enjoy our park in the winter and early spring have really started to leave now, and there are lots of spaces that look closed for the next few months.
Katie and Grant have been looking at park models for sale, both new and used, and thinking about what to do as they don't want to bring their van down for much longer, they would prefer to buy something, perhaps over at Caliente Springs. That way they can travel in their car back and forth, or even buy a vehicle and leave it here and come by plane.
New park models around 400 square feet seem to go for about $35,000 or so. The problem is whether to buy a small lot like we have in this park, with modest HOA fees, or go for a pad rental type of park in which to put their park model, where the fees are quite a bit more. Caliente across the street seems like a very nice park, the clubhouse facilities are very nice, as are the pools, etc.
They may even choose to rent next year, to try out a park, and make sure that is where they want to settle down in the future for their winter getaway place. They seem to enjoy this area, there are so very many things to see and do all winter long.
Katie and Grant moved over to Sky Valley, just a bit farther away from us here, and they invited us out for Happy Hour, so we sat outside their van in the hot sun and had a drink and some yummy snacks. After that we 4 went into Desert Hot Springs and had dinner at the Thai place, the service was dreadful, but the food was just delicious. Also the A/C was on so strong that we all nearly froze. Oh well, great company.
Sunday we arranged to pick up Katie and Grant, and we 4 headed off to the Indian Wells Art Festival, it was lovely, a juried show, and we 4 poked about, admiring the lovely things on display, clothing, jewellry, pottery, painting, statuary, sculpture, and some incredibly beautiful things. A sensory barrage. The temps were much lower, around high 70s, with a bit of a breeze, so that was better. Many of the vendors had huge market type umbrellas to shade themselves, which made a big difference.
Katie and I both bought pretty hand painted scarves, I bought a small piece of clay jewellry, and Katie and Grant bought a lovely Raku fired piece of pottery for their home. We ate there outside at tables with umbrellas, thankfully, and listened to the spirited music playing.
We came home, and when we dropped off Katie and Grant we had a drink with them before we came home. The day before at Happy Hour the wind was nearly howling it was so strong, and again today the wind whipped up around 3:30 PM or so. It looked as if the wind was blowing quite a bit of dust around in Palm Springs, but at Indian Wells it was quiet. We were at the Tennis Gardens where the 2 week BNP Paribas Tennis match had just finished. It is an enormous stadium, but the art show was outside the stadium in the pretty grounds. A wonderful use for the space.
Now we will have to get busy and tidy up the house and think of what to take with us on our cruise, and for our trip home too, and what to leave in the house. They say that clothing with elastic will be badly damaged in the extreme desert heat of the summer, but I Di will leave a lot of clothes here, so I don't have to drag so many things back and forth.
We will put heavy silver insulation material on all our windows to deflect the sun's force during the summer, and will eventually shut off most of the power, water and gas to the house, also laying down the table lamps, and covering the furniture with plastic sheeting against the dust. We may leave the fridge turned on this time, as it had a very hard time starting up when we arrived here, makign tons of gurgling noises for a week or two in early November.
We likely won't leave much open food to tempt any critters looking for a free handout, and people say they often put even their canned food in the fridge to protect it so it doesn't explode in the heat. They say temps here reach 125 during the summer months. Glad we won't be here, we have been using the A/C in the heat, and we are sure that the electricity company will really love us this month, our bill may be way larger than usual. Oh well, we have been comfortable.
The people who enjoy our park in the winter and early spring have really started to leave now, and there are lots of spaces that look closed for the next few months.
Katie and Grant have been looking at park models for sale, both new and used, and thinking about what to do as they don't want to bring their van down for much longer, they would prefer to buy something, perhaps over at Caliente Springs. That way they can travel in their car back and forth, or even buy a vehicle and leave it here and come by plane.
New park models around 400 square feet seem to go for about $35,000 or so. The problem is whether to buy a small lot like we have in this park, with modest HOA fees, or go for a pad rental type of park in which to put their park model, where the fees are quite a bit more. Caliente across the street seems like a very nice park, the clubhouse facilities are very nice, as are the pools, etc.
They may even choose to rent next year, to try out a park, and make sure that is where they want to settle down in the future for their winter getaway place. They seem to enjoy this area, there are so very many things to see and do all winter long.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Visit to a flute maker
Forgot to say that we went to visit a flute maker on Wednesday, it was Jon Sherman, and he makes flutes from branches, called branch flutes. They are sweet and clear sounding, and we had such an interesting time meeting him and his wife.
Lary ordered a new flute that won't be ready for ages from him, we'll get it when we return this winter, he is very backed up with orders at the moment. Also met his wife Lindy who had been an ESL teacher, and she burned us a CD called Under the Oaks which is very lovely, combining bird calls and flute music. Superb, Jon is playing the flute and performing other music for the background accompaniment as well.
Very wonderful get together, and a super person. He plays his flutes and is very busy the month of April, it's Earth month or something, and he has a lot of gigs.
Lary ordered a new flute that won't be ready for ages from him, we'll get it when we return this winter, he is very backed up with orders at the moment. Also met his wife Lindy who had been an ESL teacher, and she burned us a CD called Under the Oaks which is very lovely, combining bird calls and flute music. Superb, Jon is playing the flute and performing other music for the background accompaniment as well.
Very wonderful get together, and a super person. He plays his flutes and is very busy the month of April, it's Earth month or something, and he has a lot of gigs.
103 Degrees Fahrenheit!!!
Summer has arrived with a vengeance this week. Temps are breaking records all over the area. We are thankful for the a/c in the trailer and the car and in spite of the heat get on with our lives.
Thursday was a flute session with Annie and Chip at Annie's house. It wasn't a lesson but a celebratory afternoon of music. Annie had written a poem a few years ago about the grape vines of her life and we all played our flutes between verses. Really workled well. Chip had made a grape pie to go along with it. He had decorated the top of the pie with maple leaves in honor of us being Canadians.
What a lovely mellow afternoon with dear friends. Went to the pool for a dip when we got back. Starting to work our way through the contents of our fridge and freezer as our departure nears. We have a lot of frozen shrimp to get through in the next week.
Friday was another 103F day. Wow. Di had to go get a pedicure and haircut but Lary stayed home and sat in the pool and got a bit of a sunburn. Tonight was our Cochella Valley Flute Circle. Several people are leaving. One chap is moving back to Montana because his wife wants to be close to a grandchild. Another chap is American Special Forces and thinks he might be in Libya next week. Even with all this gloom about people leaving it was still a very uplifting evening. All of our clay flutes that we made a while ago arrived and everybody played them. I am very thrilled with my "E" flute and Di loves her "D" flute. Must get some sort of protective case to transort them in.
Saturday, today is already over 80F at 9:15 AM. Thursday's heat broke records for the high in the hundreds, and the overnight high of 72 also broke a record for the hottest overnight temp. Whew. It is hot earlier than normal.
Thursday was a flute session with Annie and Chip at Annie's house. It wasn't a lesson but a celebratory afternoon of music. Annie had written a poem a few years ago about the grape vines of her life and we all played our flutes between verses. Really workled well. Chip had made a grape pie to go along with it. He had decorated the top of the pie with maple leaves in honor of us being Canadians.
What a lovely mellow afternoon with dear friends. Went to the pool for a dip when we got back. Starting to work our way through the contents of our fridge and freezer as our departure nears. We have a lot of frozen shrimp to get through in the next week.
Friday was another 103F day. Wow. Di had to go get a pedicure and haircut but Lary stayed home and sat in the pool and got a bit of a sunburn. Tonight was our Cochella Valley Flute Circle. Several people are leaving. One chap is moving back to Montana because his wife wants to be close to a grandchild. Another chap is American Special Forces and thinks he might be in Libya next week. Even with all this gloom about people leaving it was still a very uplifting evening. All of our clay flutes that we made a while ago arrived and everybody played them. I am very thrilled with my "E" flute and Di loves her "D" flute. Must get some sort of protective case to transort them in.
Saturday, today is already over 80F at 9:15 AM. Thursday's heat broke records for the high in the hundreds, and the overnight high of 72 also broke a record for the hottest overnight temp. Whew. It is hot earlier than normal.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Friends from Oliver, BC come over for Happy Hour
Woke up to a very hot day today, wow, nearly 90 and I feel as if I am gasping in the warmth. For the first time it is very warm inside, even though we have tinted windows and overhanging awnings that give us quite a bit of shade.
Friends of ours from Oliver, B.C. are here, and they called yesterday to say that they are staying right across the road, at Caliente Springs Park, so we invited them to come today for a visit. They walked over though it was pretty hot, and we had a lovely visit together.
Katie and I had worked together at Pemberton Holmes many many years ago, and over the years we have visited them up in their new home of Oliver. They used to live in Brentwood Bay, outside Victoria. Her hubbie is Grant.
Before they arrived Lary dashed off to renew the license plate for our trailer here, it is weird but in California you need a plate with a tag or yearly decal on it, even though the trailer will never move, it's parked forever, but still has its wheels attached, some sort of technicality. The license plate is tucked into a window where it will be visible.
The renewal papers go to our home in Nanaimo, so our tenant mailed them to us here, the renewal is later in the year. He got the decal. Last year we spent 2 hours in the DMV in a wait line, even though we were seated, but this year we discovered that we could go to AAA, he was in and out there in about 10 minutes. What a difference. DMV is usually a nightmare down here, it makes our system at home seem like a dream.
Friends of ours from Oliver, B.C. are here, and they called yesterday to say that they are staying right across the road, at Caliente Springs Park, so we invited them to come today for a visit. They walked over though it was pretty hot, and we had a lovely visit together.
Katie and I had worked together at Pemberton Holmes many many years ago, and over the years we have visited them up in their new home of Oliver. They used to live in Brentwood Bay, outside Victoria. Her hubbie is Grant.
Before they arrived Lary dashed off to renew the license plate for our trailer here, it is weird but in California you need a plate with a tag or yearly decal on it, even though the trailer will never move, it's parked forever, but still has its wheels attached, some sort of technicality. The license plate is tucked into a window where it will be visible.
The renewal papers go to our home in Nanaimo, so our tenant mailed them to us here, the renewal is later in the year. He got the decal. Last year we spent 2 hours in the DMV in a wait line, even though we were seated, but this year we discovered that we could go to AAA, he was in and out there in about 10 minutes. What a difference. DMV is usually a nightmare down here, it makes our system at home seem like a dream.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday off to College of the Desert
Sunday Lary rushed into the College of the Desert to get a barbeque cover, then he came home, and I took the car, picked up Sue, Jen, Heather and Royal, and we went to the College of the Desert. We all got some things, had some food, and listened to the nice music played by the South American flute player and guitar player duo. They are very talented.
Later we returned to the girls hotel, the Riviera, and spent a bit of time together around the pool, though it wasn't warm enough to swim. That evening Lary and I visited Bob and Joanne G here in the park to give them a train whistle that Bob had wanted, as he does gigs playing the guitar, and he sings some train songs. We had a glass of wine, and had a nice visit with them.
Monday I visited a new GP doctor down here for a B P consultation, she was super and very nice. Very pregnant too. She was helpful and not the type of person to overreact or flap.
Our weather had turned kind of cold and windy so that was a bit disappointing for us all, and for the girls too. We get a lot more wind over in Desert Hot Springs than there is at Annie's in Palm Desert, and often Palm Springs is calm while it is very blustery here.
Tuesday we met the girls and Royal for early lunch at the Blue Coyote restaurant downtown in Palm Springs, on the way to lunch Lary and I bought a nice laminated side table for the living room, it was reduced in price, and is very pretty, imported from Kenya.
Lunch was nice as it was warm enough to sit outside on the restaurant patio in the sunshine, we went to the Blue Coyote on the main street of Palm Springs, they serve Mexican food and it was yummy.
We all wanted to go to Agua Caliente Museum downtown in Palm Springs, but it was closed Monday and Tuesday, what a drag, so we sat around near there in the warm sunshine.
We then met up with the girls over at the Palm Springs Art Museum, they had a bit of a look inside, I particularly enjoyed the Donald Wexler exhibit, he is a modernist architect who has become quite famous around here. He is very well known for the industrial type of materials he used in local buildings, such as steel, aluminum and concrete, used for both houses, schools and commercial buildings.
After the visit to the Art Museum we said our final goodbyes, as the girls had to leave the following morning, and we weren't going in to say bye to them, they had a pretty early start, and once through security we couldn't visit together. They were going to catch a van taxi in the morning to the airport, which was quite close to their hotel.
Luckily their trip home didn't involve as many flights as the one coming down had.
Wednesday Lary did his final carving class at Catalina Spa, doing the final painting on his owl, and we had a plumber come by to give us an estimate for several plumbing jobs we had here in our park model, such as change the bathroom sink taps, remove the aged garburetor in the kitchen and change it to a normal sink, and repair 2 sets of PVC pipes outside that led to outside taps, both pipes needed repair, and he had some good ideas for modifications to simplify that area outside for us.
Later we bought some new taps for the bathroom. Also we went to the College of the Desert book sale, and got a whole big paper bag of books for a dollar. Then the fellow arrived at home with our new window screens, they all fit perfectly. They had replaced most of the frames for us, and rescreened them.
Heard the news that Elizabeth Taylor had died, she was sure a screen idol, even though she was somewhat troubled at times by different issues.
Thursday we had a super flute lesson at Annie's, Chip and I practiced on our new deep A flutes, takes a bit of catching on to, they are quiet, and big, a bit hard to hold on to, and very deep in sound. Chip and Lary did duets, and Annie and I did too. After an early supper we picked up Gail from Corkill Palms, and Lary drove us over to Annie's to complete the new rattles. That was such fun, we cut them down from their outside drying place, then we pulled out the stick, dumped out the hardened packed sand, and decided what to put inside them to rattle, in my case popping corn kernels, and a few pretty quartz crystals that Sharon Stevens provided for us.
She led this part of the rattle workshop, and it was fascinating how they all took shape, with some beautiful decorations on them. Some of them were painted, some were wrapped or decorated with leather lacing, we used beads and feathers, whatever we wanted, and then we had a bit of a rattle ceremony, it is very interesting when a group "rattles" somebody, it is lots of energy, and somehow soothing in a funny way.
We took turns in the centre of a circle and the group rattled around us, chanting or singing, or whistling. Very enjoyable indeed, how I love to make things and do craft projects in a group. We drove Gail home again and fell into bed later on.
Friday we went down to El Centro, a two hour drive south, to meet Nadia and Walter at Sizzler, we had lunch together, then went over to their Rio Bend RV Park, and they showed us around. It has a golf course, and we had coffee and sweets back at their rented park model. It is a nice one.
After we left there we went over toward Yuma, and got a room at the newish Quechan Indian Casino. It was very busy, we had to get a smoking room, though it didn't smell. We played the slots, and had a buffet dinner that was delicious.
Saturday we had buffet breakfast, and then drove the very short distance to the border with Mexico, a sleepy but busy border town called Algodones. You park your car on the US side, then walk over into Mexico.
We found a glasses place for me, and ordered a new pair of progressive style bifocals, with transition lenses that turn darker in the sunshine, and in 2 and a half hours they were ready for me to pick up. The edges of the lenses were even edge polished too, which makes the lenses seem not so thick. They are square -ish frames, silver colour, and I was quite happy with them. Elizabeth Arden frames. $215 total bill including eye exam, the optometrist said she saw cataracts forming in both eyes, very small still.
We ate at a nice outdoor restaurant there in Algodones, called El Paradiso, in the warm sunshine, though it was a bit windy, and then after making a few purchases we headed for home, a journey of about 3 hours, west toward San Diego first, then north toward Palm Springs.
We were in the Imperial Valley which borders the Salton Sea, and there is a huge agricultural business there, growing vegetables. They have very mild temps year round, so it's a great place for garden crops.
Most of the way the wind got very strong, and there was a lot of dust flying near the freeway close to home, the car was blown around a bit. We dropped by to see if Judy and Gary were home in Indio, but they weren't there, so we continued home which we reached around 6 PM after quite a full day.
Sunday Lary got an oil change for the car, then we went over to Catalina Spa park for ice creams, and stayed for the music jam, the last of this season, Lary and I did a flute duet, it was OK.
After the music afternoon and hamburgers at Catalina with Dave and Wendy, they came over to our house for wine and tea, and a bit of a visit. They are over at 1000 Trails park by the I-10 highway for 2 weeks, and they are buying a home in Ivey Ranch and Golf park, so great to catch up with all their news.
Later we visited Bob and Joanne again here in our park, we had a photo for them that we took on our Mexican cruise, and they are leaving shortly. We also showed them Di's new rattle, which immediately gave Bob lots of ideas, as he does a lot of leather work. He showed us a holster that he had made for a handgun, it was super.
Also Lary showed them his new owl that he carved, it is just wonderful, and very pretty. It's a tiny wee thing, a pygmy owl. They loved it. We will miss them as we enjoy their company.
Monday the plumber arrived at 11, and of course found more work under the kitchen sink, our P trap needed to be repaired, as it had 2 leaks and was pretty ugly and dirty. Now we have a nice new one. And he removed the garburetor, it was wrecked and old, and smelled bad as if it was burning when it was turned on.
Also he replaced the bathroom sink taps, luckily no extra plumbing needed doing in there. He also worked outside to give us 2 outside taps, they were both not working, or leaking badly. He kind of modified the tap arrangement out there, so it should be easier to get water outside at two taps, before we had only our inside water, and an outside tap is great for washing the car, etc.
The plumbing is above the ground, PVC pipe, it seems weird, I guess it doesn't freeze up in the winter, though we have some pretty cold weather.
We don't have plants to water thankfully, there are a few cacti, but they pretty well look after themselves. When we leave we will put them in their pots where they will catch the rains when they fall.
There are several cacti blooming here in the park, both the barrel cacti in lemon yellow bloom, and another species that looks like prickly pear, it has pale fuschia flowers, just gorgeous.
I think I have already spoken about the desert floor, covered now with soft lemon yellow flowers, and a round shrub, grey green in color, that blooms with bright yellow flowers that form kind of a halo around the foliage, I think Al H told me they are encilia. Also desert verbena is flavouring the air, it's a pale mauve carpet in places. Very lovely this year.
When you drive along the roads, the medians are prettily landscaped, and the ocotillo is in bloom, its long slender arms now covered with green leaves, despite the nasty thorns, and it has bright red 'flags' at the top ends of the arms. Palo Verde the green tree with green branches and trunk is starting to get its leaves, and the desert willow is sprouting leaves too.
Spring here is very pretty this year. Many things are in bloom, and for some people, it's sneezing season once again!!!
Later we returned to the girls hotel, the Riviera, and spent a bit of time together around the pool, though it wasn't warm enough to swim. That evening Lary and I visited Bob and Joanne G here in the park to give them a train whistle that Bob had wanted, as he does gigs playing the guitar, and he sings some train songs. We had a glass of wine, and had a nice visit with them.
Monday I visited a new GP doctor down here for a B P consultation, she was super and very nice. Very pregnant too. She was helpful and not the type of person to overreact or flap.
Our weather had turned kind of cold and windy so that was a bit disappointing for us all, and for the girls too. We get a lot more wind over in Desert Hot Springs than there is at Annie's in Palm Desert, and often Palm Springs is calm while it is very blustery here.
Tuesday we met the girls and Royal for early lunch at the Blue Coyote restaurant downtown in Palm Springs, on the way to lunch Lary and I bought a nice laminated side table for the living room, it was reduced in price, and is very pretty, imported from Kenya.
Lunch was nice as it was warm enough to sit outside on the restaurant patio in the sunshine, we went to the Blue Coyote on the main street of Palm Springs, they serve Mexican food and it was yummy.
We all wanted to go to Agua Caliente Museum downtown in Palm Springs, but it was closed Monday and Tuesday, what a drag, so we sat around near there in the warm sunshine.
We then met up with the girls over at the Palm Springs Art Museum, they had a bit of a look inside, I particularly enjoyed the Donald Wexler exhibit, he is a modernist architect who has become quite famous around here. He is very well known for the industrial type of materials he used in local buildings, such as steel, aluminum and concrete, used for both houses, schools and commercial buildings.
After the visit to the Art Museum we said our final goodbyes, as the girls had to leave the following morning, and we weren't going in to say bye to them, they had a pretty early start, and once through security we couldn't visit together. They were going to catch a van taxi in the morning to the airport, which was quite close to their hotel.
Luckily their trip home didn't involve as many flights as the one coming down had.
Wednesday Lary did his final carving class at Catalina Spa, doing the final painting on his owl, and we had a plumber come by to give us an estimate for several plumbing jobs we had here in our park model, such as change the bathroom sink taps, remove the aged garburetor in the kitchen and change it to a normal sink, and repair 2 sets of PVC pipes outside that led to outside taps, both pipes needed repair, and he had some good ideas for modifications to simplify that area outside for us.
Later we bought some new taps for the bathroom. Also we went to the College of the Desert book sale, and got a whole big paper bag of books for a dollar. Then the fellow arrived at home with our new window screens, they all fit perfectly. They had replaced most of the frames for us, and rescreened them.
Heard the news that Elizabeth Taylor had died, she was sure a screen idol, even though she was somewhat troubled at times by different issues.
Thursday we had a super flute lesson at Annie's, Chip and I practiced on our new deep A flutes, takes a bit of catching on to, they are quiet, and big, a bit hard to hold on to, and very deep in sound. Chip and Lary did duets, and Annie and I did too. After an early supper we picked up Gail from Corkill Palms, and Lary drove us over to Annie's to complete the new rattles. That was such fun, we cut them down from their outside drying place, then we pulled out the stick, dumped out the hardened packed sand, and decided what to put inside them to rattle, in my case popping corn kernels, and a few pretty quartz crystals that Sharon Stevens provided for us.
She led this part of the rattle workshop, and it was fascinating how they all took shape, with some beautiful decorations on them. Some of them were painted, some were wrapped or decorated with leather lacing, we used beads and feathers, whatever we wanted, and then we had a bit of a rattle ceremony, it is very interesting when a group "rattles" somebody, it is lots of energy, and somehow soothing in a funny way.
We took turns in the centre of a circle and the group rattled around us, chanting or singing, or whistling. Very enjoyable indeed, how I love to make things and do craft projects in a group. We drove Gail home again and fell into bed later on.
Friday we went down to El Centro, a two hour drive south, to meet Nadia and Walter at Sizzler, we had lunch together, then went over to their Rio Bend RV Park, and they showed us around. It has a golf course, and we had coffee and sweets back at their rented park model. It is a nice one.
After we left there we went over toward Yuma, and got a room at the newish Quechan Indian Casino. It was very busy, we had to get a smoking room, though it didn't smell. We played the slots, and had a buffet dinner that was delicious.
Saturday we had buffet breakfast, and then drove the very short distance to the border with Mexico, a sleepy but busy border town called Algodones. You park your car on the US side, then walk over into Mexico.
We found a glasses place for me, and ordered a new pair of progressive style bifocals, with transition lenses that turn darker in the sunshine, and in 2 and a half hours they were ready for me to pick up. The edges of the lenses were even edge polished too, which makes the lenses seem not so thick. They are square -ish frames, silver colour, and I was quite happy with them. Elizabeth Arden frames. $215 total bill including eye exam, the optometrist said she saw cataracts forming in both eyes, very small still.
We ate at a nice outdoor restaurant there in Algodones, called El Paradiso, in the warm sunshine, though it was a bit windy, and then after making a few purchases we headed for home, a journey of about 3 hours, west toward San Diego first, then north toward Palm Springs.
We were in the Imperial Valley which borders the Salton Sea, and there is a huge agricultural business there, growing vegetables. They have very mild temps year round, so it's a great place for garden crops.
Most of the way the wind got very strong, and there was a lot of dust flying near the freeway close to home, the car was blown around a bit. We dropped by to see if Judy and Gary were home in Indio, but they weren't there, so we continued home which we reached around 6 PM after quite a full day.
Sunday Lary got an oil change for the car, then we went over to Catalina Spa park for ice creams, and stayed for the music jam, the last of this season, Lary and I did a flute duet, it was OK.
After the music afternoon and hamburgers at Catalina with Dave and Wendy, they came over to our house for wine and tea, and a bit of a visit. They are over at 1000 Trails park by the I-10 highway for 2 weeks, and they are buying a home in Ivey Ranch and Golf park, so great to catch up with all their news.
Later we visited Bob and Joanne again here in our park, we had a photo for them that we took on our Mexican cruise, and they are leaving shortly. We also showed them Di's new rattle, which immediately gave Bob lots of ideas, as he does a lot of leather work. He showed us a holster that he had made for a handgun, it was super.
Also Lary showed them his new owl that he carved, it is just wonderful, and very pretty. It's a tiny wee thing, a pygmy owl. They loved it. We will miss them as we enjoy their company.
Monday the plumber arrived at 11, and of course found more work under the kitchen sink, our P trap needed to be repaired, as it had 2 leaks and was pretty ugly and dirty. Now we have a nice new one. And he removed the garburetor, it was wrecked and old, and smelled bad as if it was burning when it was turned on.
Also he replaced the bathroom sink taps, luckily no extra plumbing needed doing in there. He also worked outside to give us 2 outside taps, they were both not working, or leaking badly. He kind of modified the tap arrangement out there, so it should be easier to get water outside at two taps, before we had only our inside water, and an outside tap is great for washing the car, etc.
The plumbing is above the ground, PVC pipe, it seems weird, I guess it doesn't freeze up in the winter, though we have some pretty cold weather.
We don't have plants to water thankfully, there are a few cacti, but they pretty well look after themselves. When we leave we will put them in their pots where they will catch the rains when they fall.
There are several cacti blooming here in the park, both the barrel cacti in lemon yellow bloom, and another species that looks like prickly pear, it has pale fuschia flowers, just gorgeous.
I think I have already spoken about the desert floor, covered now with soft lemon yellow flowers, and a round shrub, grey green in color, that blooms with bright yellow flowers that form kind of a halo around the foliage, I think Al H told me they are encilia. Also desert verbena is flavouring the air, it's a pale mauve carpet in places. Very lovely this year.
When you drive along the roads, the medians are prettily landscaped, and the ocotillo is in bloom, its long slender arms now covered with green leaves, despite the nasty thorns, and it has bright red 'flags' at the top ends of the arms. Palo Verde the green tree with green branches and trunk is starting to get its leaves, and the desert willow is sprouting leaves too.
Spring here is very pretty this year. Many things are in bloom, and for some people, it's sneezing season once again!!!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Saturday workshop at Annie's making elkhide rattles
Wow and more wow, more creativity over at Annie's place. We made elkhide rattles today, Ken was the leader of the workshop, Chip was there, and a new lady Gail, who lives near me here in Corkill Palms, plus Sharon and Annie.
We cut out the rattle body from elk hide, 2 mirror image pieces, then learned to sew it together after we used a Tandy leather punch, kind of like a 3 or 4 pronged fork which we used to punch the holes all around the body and the neck of the rattle.
We kind of used a blanket stitch, to close the 2 pieces together, and then we stuffed them very tightly with sand to hold the shape of the rattle as it dries in the sunshine at Annie's house for the next few days.
We'll return Thursday evening to Annie's to dump out the sand, fill them with the kind of rattle material we want, and do some embellishments on them. Should be great. I can't wait.
We went out with Sue, Jen, Heather and baby Royal to eat dinner together on their first day, Monday, we ate at Billie D's in the Holiday Inn where they were staying. Food was good, their renovation seems well done, and the staff was friendly and helpful.
Tuesday we went to Manhattan in the Desert for supper with Sue and Jen, we had ordered a new living room chair before that, as Lary's recliner had broken and needed to be replaced. Before that we had a swim at their hotel. Nice hotel, newly rehabbed.
Wednesday Lary carved, he has nearly finished painting his Northern Pygmy Owl, and we girls all went out for retail therapy, first to TJ Maxx, then over to Westfield Mall. The lady guests Sue Jen and Heather didn't seem to find that much, but we mooched around anyway.
l had a swim with them at their hotel, and then we watched a movie outdoors by the Holiday Inn pool. It was a fun one, something about Traveling Pants 2.
Thursday we had all the girls with baby Royal and Dave and Wendy for lunch here, cous cous and chicken, and chocolate cake, we ate outside on our patio as it was quite hot. We took the guests back to their hotel, and I raced back to DHS.
Then we rushed off and went over to Chip's for dinner, corned beef and cabbage, and carrots and many types of potatoes, with Irish soda bread, and freshly baked green chocolate chip cookies made by Chip's niece, Susie. Annie was there too, and Chip even fed us green coated cheese for appies, it was in a green wax coating. Chip was wearing a hilarious green t shirt. Susie was attending a conference for computer teachers, as that's what she does.
It was such fun, then after that we played our flutes. Chip's house is just incredible, it's over off Dinah Shore near Costco, it's in a small development, each lot is .5 of an acre. His home is so gorgeous, huge high ceilings, a pool, funny dog Lucy a hungarian dog, who was very entertaining. The development he's in only has 10 houses in it.
Because of the high ceilings the acoustics are incredible, and the best word for the house is handsome. Soft olive greens, handsome granite countertops, big airy rooms, and a prettily landscaped yard full of fruit trees with the fruit still on them.
He has had a lot of the furniture hand made for the house, it works so well, and he has many things all around him that have a lot of meaning for him, like some older family furniture and a large collection of hand bells, which was started by his parents, and he has carried on collecting them. His Dad was an architect, so he travelled extensively. The decorative touches in the house are just lovely.
Chip was an animator for Disney and Hanna Barbara, he made costumes and heads etc. for the walk around characters, pioneering some new techniques for the lighter weight materials for that. He told us that he had had older homes that he had renovated extensively before this home, his brand new dream home in the desert. He has been in it for only 5 years or so.
He has a big huge bed, and on the railing at the head of the bed are tons of his neckties, somebody told him that he doesn't have to wear them in the desert, so there they sit on his bed head rail. It was such a fun evening together, we all enjoyed our fluting so much too.
On Friday we sprang out of bed and off to Al H's place to see his flutes and flute making equipment, it was incredible, he explained what he does, and how he makes his flutes, and does the woodburning, too. They are so very distinctive, and his workshop is to die for, every tool known to mankind seemed to be there, not to mention a huge stock of wood of varying types, and his large inventory of flutes.
He has a shop with a large studio in it, we had a chance to try out many different flutes, and Chip and I had to get a new flute each. We played them with his microphone, they always sound so lovely that way.
We hadn't seen Jen and Sue either Friday or Saturday, so we'll get together with them tomorrow and go to the College of the Desert, the massive elegant flea market, it's not really a flea market but an upscale weekend market, that is all year round, here in the parking lot of the College of the Desert on Monterey Ave.
They went to the Thursday night market in downtown Palm Springs on Thursday evening, and ate at Maracas downtown. Today Saturday they moved over to Riviera Spa and Resort, where they have 2 rooms. We'll see their new digs tomorrow when we pick them up. I'll drop Lary off at College of the Desert then go pick up the girls and Royal. We need a bigger car for the ferrying of the group.
We cut out the rattle body from elk hide, 2 mirror image pieces, then learned to sew it together after we used a Tandy leather punch, kind of like a 3 or 4 pronged fork which we used to punch the holes all around the body and the neck of the rattle.
We kind of used a blanket stitch, to close the 2 pieces together, and then we stuffed them very tightly with sand to hold the shape of the rattle as it dries in the sunshine at Annie's house for the next few days.
We'll return Thursday evening to Annie's to dump out the sand, fill them with the kind of rattle material we want, and do some embellishments on them. Should be great. I can't wait.
We went out with Sue, Jen, Heather and baby Royal to eat dinner together on their first day, Monday, we ate at Billie D's in the Holiday Inn where they were staying. Food was good, their renovation seems well done, and the staff was friendly and helpful.
Tuesday we went to Manhattan in the Desert for supper with Sue and Jen, we had ordered a new living room chair before that, as Lary's recliner had broken and needed to be replaced. Before that we had a swim at their hotel. Nice hotel, newly rehabbed.
Wednesday Lary carved, he has nearly finished painting his Northern Pygmy Owl, and we girls all went out for retail therapy, first to TJ Maxx, then over to Westfield Mall. The lady guests Sue Jen and Heather didn't seem to find that much, but we mooched around anyway.
l had a swim with them at their hotel, and then we watched a movie outdoors by the Holiday Inn pool. It was a fun one, something about Traveling Pants 2.
Thursday we had all the girls with baby Royal and Dave and Wendy for lunch here, cous cous and chicken, and chocolate cake, we ate outside on our patio as it was quite hot. We took the guests back to their hotel, and I raced back to DHS.
Then we rushed off and went over to Chip's for dinner, corned beef and cabbage, and carrots and many types of potatoes, with Irish soda bread, and freshly baked green chocolate chip cookies made by Chip's niece, Susie. Annie was there too, and Chip even fed us green coated cheese for appies, it was in a green wax coating. Chip was wearing a hilarious green t shirt. Susie was attending a conference for computer teachers, as that's what she does.
It was such fun, then after that we played our flutes. Chip's house is just incredible, it's over off Dinah Shore near Costco, it's in a small development, each lot is .5 of an acre. His home is so gorgeous, huge high ceilings, a pool, funny dog Lucy a hungarian dog, who was very entertaining. The development he's in only has 10 houses in it.
Because of the high ceilings the acoustics are incredible, and the best word for the house is handsome. Soft olive greens, handsome granite countertops, big airy rooms, and a prettily landscaped yard full of fruit trees with the fruit still on them.
He has had a lot of the furniture hand made for the house, it works so well, and he has many things all around him that have a lot of meaning for him, like some older family furniture and a large collection of hand bells, which was started by his parents, and he has carried on collecting them. His Dad was an architect, so he travelled extensively. The decorative touches in the house are just lovely.
Chip was an animator for Disney and Hanna Barbara, he made costumes and heads etc. for the walk around characters, pioneering some new techniques for the lighter weight materials for that. He told us that he had had older homes that he had renovated extensively before this home, his brand new dream home in the desert. He has been in it for only 5 years or so.
He has a big huge bed, and on the railing at the head of the bed are tons of his neckties, somebody told him that he doesn't have to wear them in the desert, so there they sit on his bed head rail. It was such a fun evening together, we all enjoyed our fluting so much too.
On Friday we sprang out of bed and off to Al H's place to see his flutes and flute making equipment, it was incredible, he explained what he does, and how he makes his flutes, and does the woodburning, too. They are so very distinctive, and his workshop is to die for, every tool known to mankind seemed to be there, not to mention a huge stock of wood of varying types, and his large inventory of flutes.
He has a shop with a large studio in it, we had a chance to try out many different flutes, and Chip and I had to get a new flute each. We played them with his microphone, they always sound so lovely that way.
We hadn't seen Jen and Sue either Friday or Saturday, so we'll get together with them tomorrow and go to the College of the Desert, the massive elegant flea market, it's not really a flea market but an upscale weekend market, that is all year round, here in the parking lot of the College of the Desert on Monterey Ave.
They went to the Thursday night market in downtown Palm Springs on Thursday evening, and ate at Maracas downtown. Today Saturday they moved over to Riviera Spa and Resort, where they have 2 rooms. We'll see their new digs tomorrow when we pick them up. I'll drop Lary off at College of the Desert then go pick up the girls and Royal. We need a bigger car for the ferrying of the group.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sisters arrived safe and sound Monday
Sue, Jen, Heather and Royal arrived today, later on this afternoon. We went over to their hotel, and had dinner together in the hotel restaurant, Billie D's.
It was super to see them, and Royal has grown so. He's 5 months today. Wow.
Friday we went over to visit friends from home, Egon and Trudy, and had a super visit at their rental park model on Ramon, at Desert Shadows RV Park. Lovely park model, in a lovely well maintained park. The park has 4 pools or so it seems, and we were both very taken with it. They are loving their stay, they are in a newer park model, nicely laid out and decorated. They are also right across from a pool, so Trudy loves that. She is very tanned, and they both seemed very happy.
Saturday Lary went over to the Palm Springs Air Museum to their RCAF day, it was very informative, and he met a man who had known Di's Dad. One of the presenters was an air navigator, major level.
Sunday we went to La Quinta Arts Festival, it is in a beautiful park there, with a pond in the centre of the park, a bridge, koi pond, just a perfect setting for it. Very hot day, into the 90s, so we had to be pretty careful. We didn't buy any art, it's very high end, with some artists from all over the U.S., and though it was very beautiful work, it was not for us. The glassware mostly was surrounding the pond, and that is such a spectacular setting and background for it. Shows it off so beautifully. There was also an artist, a sculptor of wildlife from Victoria, B.C.
In the evening we went over to Agua Caliente Casino and met Egon and Trudy, and we had the yummy buffet together, prime rib and shrimp, and then spent an hour or so feeding the slot machines. They seemed to have fun, and Trudy won a bit of $. Lary did too. It was a nice time together.
It was super to see them, and Royal has grown so. He's 5 months today. Wow.
Friday we went over to visit friends from home, Egon and Trudy, and had a super visit at their rental park model on Ramon, at Desert Shadows RV Park. Lovely park model, in a lovely well maintained park. The park has 4 pools or so it seems, and we were both very taken with it. They are loving their stay, they are in a newer park model, nicely laid out and decorated. They are also right across from a pool, so Trudy loves that. She is very tanned, and they both seemed very happy.
Saturday Lary went over to the Palm Springs Air Museum to their RCAF day, it was very informative, and he met a man who had known Di's Dad. One of the presenters was an air navigator, major level.
Sunday we went to La Quinta Arts Festival, it is in a beautiful park there, with a pond in the centre of the park, a bridge, koi pond, just a perfect setting for it. Very hot day, into the 90s, so we had to be pretty careful. We didn't buy any art, it's very high end, with some artists from all over the U.S., and though it was very beautiful work, it was not for us. The glassware mostly was surrounding the pond, and that is such a spectacular setting and background for it. Shows it off so beautifully. There was also an artist, a sculptor of wildlife from Victoria, B.C.
In the evening we went over to Agua Caliente Casino and met Egon and Trudy, and we had the yummy buffet together, prime rib and shrimp, and then spent an hour or so feeding the slot machines. They seemed to have fun, and Trudy won a bit of $. Lary did too. It was a nice time together.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Hooray, Thursday is flute class
Today Thursday we had a super flute class up at the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains National Monument, which has a lovely covered front patio with a drop dead gorgeous view over the Coachella Valley, and has beautiful desert plants all around it, filled with desert birds singing their hearts out.
Lary and I took our micro cube amps and pick up the world mikes, and we had such fun, playing duets with Chip and Annie, and working on enjoyable stuff in the lovely warm afternoon up there. It was a very warm afternoon, perhaps into the 80s, and the overhanging shelter from the sun was very welcome indeed.
Annie and I did a dueling girls thing, where we one upped each other, then gradually got to like each other with our flutes. The Bev. Hills bitc***!!! It was a hoot. We used matching flutes, same key, same maker.
One of the terrific things that Lary and Chip did was 'old man/young child' with 2 D flutes in the same key, but one high flute and the other deep.
Another thing Chip did was he was an old dog out for a walk on the desert while Lary was doing his desert morning welcome to the 4 winds and the sun. We all had such fun, and enjoyed trying out our John Stillwell flutes, too. They rock!!!! and are also very pretty. We are so very happy to have them now.
We bought a lovely photo of Bryce Canyon at a recent art market, and now we are having it framed, happily we found that Michael's is having a framing sale. Hooray. We got a good price.
Monday I had a haircut, it is extremely short now, Simon the hairdresser said "just wear long earrings!" and laughed. Neither of us envisioned it that short, lucky for me it's thick and grows fast like a weed, too.
Tuesday we took friends Judy and Nick out to Agua Caliente Casino for buffet lunch, it was very very quiet in the buffet that day, tasty food, good selection, and after that we gambled in the casino for an hour or so. Even made a few $$, though we didn't invest heavily to achieve that.
Then we carried on to Shield's Date Garden, they are putting in a new back area with a breakfast/lunch cafe, and a nice garden centre, making it much nicer than it was previously. Busy location, lots of folks shopping and mooching about at the long meal counter that feels as if it's right out of the 1950s.
Wednesday Lary went over to paint his wee pygmy owl at Catalina Spa, and I went into Palm Springs and met Jan from Nanaimo, we went to Fisherman's Market for lunch in P.S., yum yum, and we sat outside in the warm sunshine to eat. You order your food in a queue, and then go to your assigned table, and your food is delivered to you when ready. Interesting, fresh fish and seafood, reasonable prices, and a nice time to have a catch up.
After that we mooched about doing retail therapy in the warm sunshine, in and out of stores and districts, til I dropped Jan off in the late afternoon. They are renting a lovely condo owned by 2 guys, and it's located on S. Palm Canyon, right under the mountains, to the south of Palm Springs, across the road from the picturesque hills. What a gorgeous location.
Stunning older condo, 2 bedroom 2 bathroom, and beautifully decorated in browns and turquoises. Charming. Two or three floors, outside hallways, walk up outside stairs, and a pool in the centre of the complex, that is surrounded by the condos, it all looked so attractive.
Jan is staying with a friend, and her Mom and a friend are in the same condo bldg, in another suite owned by the same fellows. They share one rental car. It seems that they are having a most wonderful visit, and they have several trips by bus planned to take them into the busier areas like the Garment District of L.A., and over to Algodones, MX for a daytrip. Jan is here for a month from Nanaimo.
I picked Lary up from Wendy and Dave's, he had gone there after carving. We had a nice Happy Hour together sitting outside, in the warmth. Marvellous.
Fun to hear about their new home at Ivey Ranch.
Lary and I took our micro cube amps and pick up the world mikes, and we had such fun, playing duets with Chip and Annie, and working on enjoyable stuff in the lovely warm afternoon up there. It was a very warm afternoon, perhaps into the 80s, and the overhanging shelter from the sun was very welcome indeed.
Annie and I did a dueling girls thing, where we one upped each other, then gradually got to like each other with our flutes. The Bev. Hills bitc***!!! It was a hoot. We used matching flutes, same key, same maker.
One of the terrific things that Lary and Chip did was 'old man/young child' with 2 D flutes in the same key, but one high flute and the other deep.
Another thing Chip did was he was an old dog out for a walk on the desert while Lary was doing his desert morning welcome to the 4 winds and the sun. We all had such fun, and enjoyed trying out our John Stillwell flutes, too. They rock!!!! and are also very pretty. We are so very happy to have them now.
We bought a lovely photo of Bryce Canyon at a recent art market, and now we are having it framed, happily we found that Michael's is having a framing sale. Hooray. We got a good price.
Monday I had a haircut, it is extremely short now, Simon the hairdresser said "just wear long earrings!" and laughed. Neither of us envisioned it that short, lucky for me it's thick and grows fast like a weed, too.
Tuesday we took friends Judy and Nick out to Agua Caliente Casino for buffet lunch, it was very very quiet in the buffet that day, tasty food, good selection, and after that we gambled in the casino for an hour or so. Even made a few $$, though we didn't invest heavily to achieve that.
Then we carried on to Shield's Date Garden, they are putting in a new back area with a breakfast/lunch cafe, and a nice garden centre, making it much nicer than it was previously. Busy location, lots of folks shopping and mooching about at the long meal counter that feels as if it's right out of the 1950s.
Wednesday Lary went over to paint his wee pygmy owl at Catalina Spa, and I went into Palm Springs and met Jan from Nanaimo, we went to Fisherman's Market for lunch in P.S., yum yum, and we sat outside in the warm sunshine to eat. You order your food in a queue, and then go to your assigned table, and your food is delivered to you when ready. Interesting, fresh fish and seafood, reasonable prices, and a nice time to have a catch up.
After that we mooched about doing retail therapy in the warm sunshine, in and out of stores and districts, til I dropped Jan off in the late afternoon. They are renting a lovely condo owned by 2 guys, and it's located on S. Palm Canyon, right under the mountains, to the south of Palm Springs, across the road from the picturesque hills. What a gorgeous location.
Stunning older condo, 2 bedroom 2 bathroom, and beautifully decorated in browns and turquoises. Charming. Two or three floors, outside hallways, walk up outside stairs, and a pool in the centre of the complex, that is surrounded by the condos, it all looked so attractive.
Jan is staying with a friend, and her Mom and a friend are in the same condo bldg, in another suite owned by the same fellows. They share one rental car. It seems that they are having a most wonderful visit, and they have several trips by bus planned to take them into the busier areas like the Garment District of L.A., and over to Algodones, MX for a daytrip. Jan is here for a month from Nanaimo.
I picked Lary up from Wendy and Dave's, he had gone there after carving. We had a nice Happy Hour together sitting outside, in the warmth. Marvellous.
Fun to hear about their new home at Ivey Ranch.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Busy day today at Art Shows and Greek Festival
Whew, up and off once more. Went to the Cabot's Pueblo Museum display of Mata Ortiz pottery, one of the more prominent pottery villages of Chihuahua State in Mexico. Their pots are made totally by hand, coil pots out of clay, fine, thin pottery, and then burnished smooth, and later painted in the most finely intricate way, all by hand. Lastly I believe they are put in the kiln to fire.
Their village has about 400 potters in it now, and the work is so fine it's nearly unbelievable. One of the artists is Diego, and I was speaking with him. He's a trained engineer but now makes his living making pots. He is really branching out and making lovely modern art form carved pots, way out there in style and shape. It is so interesting to watch him work, and listen to his explanations about the techniques. He was burnishing or polishing his pot with a rock that appeared to be a highly polished agate. That way they achieve a high polish on the outside of the pot, before it's fired.
Another man is incorporating bird carvings into his pots, kind of carving them right into the clay, but the birds are sort of in relief, raised a bit from the surface of the pot. Very impressive and beautiful.
There seem to be many different styles of decoration, and lots of different shapes, the color I love is bright onyx black, highly burnished on the outside, with very intricate finely detailed painting, black on black, so this year I bought a wee pot for myself.
I spoke with a young American woman who has an online art gallery, and she travels quite frequently down there to the village, and seems to know some 100 of the potters herself. She appeared quite knowledgeable about the work, and told me there is a couple who do the style of black fine pots that so appeal to me.
Some of them are rounded on the bottom, so you get a little "donut" for it to stand on when you purchase it.
I bumped into two people I knew, one was Greg H, another flutie we have met at Annie's, he was playing his flute music there and entertaining for the event, and we had a chance to chat a bit. It was quite windy so the potters couldn't do the firing that is so fascinating, all by hand with a wood fire as a kiln. They build a kind of beehive of wood chunks all around the fire that has the pot in it, and it fires inside the 'burning beehive'. But not successfully on a windy day.
Then inside I met Buff B, an old high school friend, we both admired the pottery a lot, she is a potter who lives in Williams Lake, BC now. A retired teacher, we have some mutual friends, and she is staying for a while near us here in DHS with a friend of hers from our school days.
Later we zoomed downtown to Palm Springs for the art show in Frances Stevens Park, and enjoyed a lovely warm day there, surrounded by beautiful works of art, and with great artistic vibes in the air. We met a lovely metal work artist, Laura Knight, her work is so pretty and delicate, yet so very tough in fact. We chatted with her for quite a while, she was such a sweetie.
Then off to the El Paseo District in Palm Desert, for the Greek Festival held at the Greek church there on Larrea Street, it's a wonderful annual event. There is a tented marketplace with lots of things Greek and otherwise, singing, music and dancing, with another area for food. And what food it is, sweet pastries of course, salads, stuffed vine leaves, gyros, Greek salads, Greek coffee, fried goat cheese or saganaki, and tons of other yummy things to explore, sniff, and try.
We had a nice green salad, some stuffed vine leaves, some cheese in phyllo pastry, and some sweet little things like donut holes, but covered with honey and crushed almonds I think it was. And retsina to go with it all. Yum yum. Found more goodies in the marketplace, too. Hooray.
As we were coming home, it had been quite hot during the middle of the day, high 70s or so, but the skies were filling with heavy cloud, the wind was whipping up, and the dust was just flying everywhere.
The weather is changing for a day or so. A new storm system is blowing in now, bringing cooler temps for a while.
There is extensive highway construction on I-10 at the moment, most of the major overpasses into Palm Springs and the neighbouring cities are getting remodeled and widened, so that the dust and ground has been disturbed and disrupted, and the wind kicks up dust and the air turns thick with brown grit and brown clouds of flying dust everywhere around the base of Mt San Jacinto.
Their village has about 400 potters in it now, and the work is so fine it's nearly unbelievable. One of the artists is Diego, and I was speaking with him. He's a trained engineer but now makes his living making pots. He is really branching out and making lovely modern art form carved pots, way out there in style and shape. It is so interesting to watch him work, and listen to his explanations about the techniques. He was burnishing or polishing his pot with a rock that appeared to be a highly polished agate. That way they achieve a high polish on the outside of the pot, before it's fired.
Another man is incorporating bird carvings into his pots, kind of carving them right into the clay, but the birds are sort of in relief, raised a bit from the surface of the pot. Very impressive and beautiful.
There seem to be many different styles of decoration, and lots of different shapes, the color I love is bright onyx black, highly burnished on the outside, with very intricate finely detailed painting, black on black, so this year I bought a wee pot for myself.
I spoke with a young American woman who has an online art gallery, and she travels quite frequently down there to the village, and seems to know some 100 of the potters herself. She appeared quite knowledgeable about the work, and told me there is a couple who do the style of black fine pots that so appeal to me.
Some of them are rounded on the bottom, so you get a little "donut" for it to stand on when you purchase it.
I bumped into two people I knew, one was Greg H, another flutie we have met at Annie's, he was playing his flute music there and entertaining for the event, and we had a chance to chat a bit. It was quite windy so the potters couldn't do the firing that is so fascinating, all by hand with a wood fire as a kiln. They build a kind of beehive of wood chunks all around the fire that has the pot in it, and it fires inside the 'burning beehive'. But not successfully on a windy day.
Then inside I met Buff B, an old high school friend, we both admired the pottery a lot, she is a potter who lives in Williams Lake, BC now. A retired teacher, we have some mutual friends, and she is staying for a while near us here in DHS with a friend of hers from our school days.
Later we zoomed downtown to Palm Springs for the art show in Frances Stevens Park, and enjoyed a lovely warm day there, surrounded by beautiful works of art, and with great artistic vibes in the air. We met a lovely metal work artist, Laura Knight, her work is so pretty and delicate, yet so very tough in fact. We chatted with her for quite a while, she was such a sweetie.
Then off to the El Paseo District in Palm Desert, for the Greek Festival held at the Greek church there on Larrea Street, it's a wonderful annual event. There is a tented marketplace with lots of things Greek and otherwise, singing, music and dancing, with another area for food. And what food it is, sweet pastries of course, salads, stuffed vine leaves, gyros, Greek salads, Greek coffee, fried goat cheese or saganaki, and tons of other yummy things to explore, sniff, and try.
We had a nice green salad, some stuffed vine leaves, some cheese in phyllo pastry, and some sweet little things like donut holes, but covered with honey and crushed almonds I think it was. And retsina to go with it all. Yum yum. Found more goodies in the marketplace, too. Hooray.
As we were coming home, it had been quite hot during the middle of the day, high 70s or so, but the skies were filling with heavy cloud, the wind was whipping up, and the dust was just flying everywhere.
The weather is changing for a day or so. A new storm system is blowing in now, bringing cooler temps for a while.
There is extensive highway construction on I-10 at the moment, most of the major overpasses into Palm Springs and the neighbouring cities are getting remodeled and widened, so that the dust and ground has been disturbed and disrupted, and the wind kicks up dust and the air turns thick with brown grit and brown clouds of flying dust everywhere around the base of Mt San Jacinto.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Long day over to visit friends in Barstow, CA
Our flute circle evening on Friday was just terrific, we took 3 flutes over to Annie's to sell or swap before the flute circle happened, and ended up selling one or maybe 2 of them, and bringing one home.
But we each bought a fabulous John Stillwell made flute from Helaine, Sharon's Mom. I bought a key of F which I don't have, except for a ceramic drone, and Lary bought a key of G, they are both made with incredible workmanship, and we were so proud and happy to get them. And Helaine said that we played them to her huge satisfaction also, so that was wonderful indeed, and very encouraging for both of us. We bought them at used prices, so another joy.
We both played our new flutes in the flute circle gathering which lasted from 7:30 to 9:00 PM due to the swap and shop beforehand. Now that I am a bit more experienced, I often ask if people would provide lots of other sound, and it is so encouraging and exciting to have other talented folks join in, and we all rock on out. It is an incredible bunch of people, and Lary and I are both growing and learning so very much from everyone.
Lary and Chip played duets, and Annie and I also played duets, so that was very cool indeed. Both of us also played alone, I think that everyone got 2 turns if I am not mistaken, the time just flies past way too fast. We were 15 fluties, and 2 guests.
We have another flute lesson this week Thursday, but up at the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Monument on Hwy 74 in Palm Desert, which is a park with a ton of information about the desert flora and fauna, on the Palms to Pines Hwy.
And the following week on Friday morning we'll go over to visit Al Hollinger at his place, he's a fabulous flutemaker out here in Desert Hot Springs. It will be terrific to see his flute making workshop area.
I had developed a bad allergic hive reaction to one of my blood pressure medications, and I was scratching my legs raw, so I went to Eisenhower Medical Centre Urgent Care. I got an injection to stop the hives, and a followup dose of both an anti itch medicine, and some prednisone to stop the allergic reaction, as well as an Epipen in case of beestings which I am desperately allergic to.
It turns out that my home doctor had continued to leave me on a diuretic which I am obviously allergic to, from previous experience, so we discontinued that, and I stayed on my main blood pressure med. But now I will have to follow up by finding a doctor down here to sort out my BP meds. Ah me.
Today Saturday we raced up to Barstow, CA to visit friends Harold and Georgette Gillis who are now on their way home, (way too early in my opinion), it's a journey of 100 miles to Barstow from our place, and took us about 2 hours each way in our car.
Together we ate lunch at IHOP in Barstow, then went up to a ghost town named Calico, about 10 miles from Barstow off I-15. The town name comes from the variety of colors in the towering King Mountain that provides the backdrop for the town. The town produced 86 million dollars of silver and 45 million dollars of borax, and was born in 1881 amidst the largest silver strike in California. At the peak of production it had over 500 mines.
Highest pop. was 1200 officially, with 22 saloons, a China Town and a red light district. It is open every day of the year except Christmas Day, and when we visited the temps were very pleasant and warm.
The Silver King, Oriental and Bismarck mines were the driving force behind the town that flourished between 1881 and 1907, but when the price of silver was halved, the town became a ghost of its former prosperous self. Other mines of note were the Odessa, Waterloo, Garfield and Maggie.
Today Calico is one of the few remaining original mining towns of the western United States. The town has burned in its entirety twice, and water supply has always been a problem there. Originally the town got its water from a nearby above ground part of the Colorado River, but that ceased when some of the town's folks died of typhoid from the same river water.
Mr. Walter Knott of Knott's Berry Farms rebuilt the town in 1951 although some 5 of the original buildings seem to remain, and in 1966 he turned over the town to San Bernardino County which now operates it as a county regional park.
There is a nice campsite right there in the narrow canyons below town, it is open all year round with full hookups, and there are 6 camping cabins, and a large bunkhouse that provides heating and A/C and bunk beds for groups.
Off highway vehicle camping with restrooms and showers is also available, and when you camp there your admission to the town is included in your campsite fees.
The town is basically one main street, with many very nice stores with good reasonable prices for shopping.
A mine tour is available in the Maggie Mine, one of the more important mines in Calico, and the Calico/Odessa Railroad takes you on a narrated 8 minute ride where you spin around a small hill and see more of the mined area, and the mining equipment, and you hear a good talk about the town and the mine operations. We didn't see the cemetery, but we also could have panned for gold, and visited the Mystery Shack.
Our driver was John, a most colorful Harley Davidson owner, and former freight operator on a train system in California. He was friendly, chatty and seemingly perfect for the job, as were all the other park rangers that we encountered. A wonderfully fun location to visit, with restaurants and a beer garden to visit and support your needs, not to mention a couple of restroom locations in town, too.
Shopkeepers there are very friendly, and most interesting of all was the man who runs the Boot and Saddle shop, he makes period saddles from yesteryear to sell to folks doing historic reenactments and things like that. He took special joy in pointing out that he had sold a Union saddle to a Rebel for a historic reenactment of one of the battles of the Civil War. This Civil War reenactment takes place on the President's Day weekend in February each year.
He also showed us several types of pack saddles, and he does leatherwork of all kinds. His was a most wonderful shop.
We four wandered the town, rode the train, got an ice cream, sipped on beers at the beer garden, and just enjoyed a lazy afternoon together in the sunshine.
Returning from Calico to Barstow we had a glass of wine with Harold and Georgette in their room at the California Inn, and then went to Sizzler for dinner together. We left right after that and drove back home along Hwy 247, a country highway through the desert areas. Saw more wildlife at night than in the daytime, a small vole and a rabbit crossed the road in our headlights.
But we each bought a fabulous John Stillwell made flute from Helaine, Sharon's Mom. I bought a key of F which I don't have, except for a ceramic drone, and Lary bought a key of G, they are both made with incredible workmanship, and we were so proud and happy to get them. And Helaine said that we played them to her huge satisfaction also, so that was wonderful indeed, and very encouraging for both of us. We bought them at used prices, so another joy.
We both played our new flutes in the flute circle gathering which lasted from 7:30 to 9:00 PM due to the swap and shop beforehand. Now that I am a bit more experienced, I often ask if people would provide lots of other sound, and it is so encouraging and exciting to have other talented folks join in, and we all rock on out. It is an incredible bunch of people, and Lary and I are both growing and learning so very much from everyone.
Lary and Chip played duets, and Annie and I also played duets, so that was very cool indeed. Both of us also played alone, I think that everyone got 2 turns if I am not mistaken, the time just flies past way too fast. We were 15 fluties, and 2 guests.
We have another flute lesson this week Thursday, but up at the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Monument on Hwy 74 in Palm Desert, which is a park with a ton of information about the desert flora and fauna, on the Palms to Pines Hwy.
And the following week on Friday morning we'll go over to visit Al Hollinger at his place, he's a fabulous flutemaker out here in Desert Hot Springs. It will be terrific to see his flute making workshop area.
I had developed a bad allergic hive reaction to one of my blood pressure medications, and I was scratching my legs raw, so I went to Eisenhower Medical Centre Urgent Care. I got an injection to stop the hives, and a followup dose of both an anti itch medicine, and some prednisone to stop the allergic reaction, as well as an Epipen in case of beestings which I am desperately allergic to.
It turns out that my home doctor had continued to leave me on a diuretic which I am obviously allergic to, from previous experience, so we discontinued that, and I stayed on my main blood pressure med. But now I will have to follow up by finding a doctor down here to sort out my BP meds. Ah me.
Today Saturday we raced up to Barstow, CA to visit friends Harold and Georgette Gillis who are now on their way home, (way too early in my opinion), it's a journey of 100 miles to Barstow from our place, and took us about 2 hours each way in our car.
Together we ate lunch at IHOP in Barstow, then went up to a ghost town named Calico, about 10 miles from Barstow off I-15. The town name comes from the variety of colors in the towering King Mountain that provides the backdrop for the town. The town produced 86 million dollars of silver and 45 million dollars of borax, and was born in 1881 amidst the largest silver strike in California. At the peak of production it had over 500 mines.
Highest pop. was 1200 officially, with 22 saloons, a China Town and a red light district. It is open every day of the year except Christmas Day, and when we visited the temps were very pleasant and warm.
The Silver King, Oriental and Bismarck mines were the driving force behind the town that flourished between 1881 and 1907, but when the price of silver was halved, the town became a ghost of its former prosperous self. Other mines of note were the Odessa, Waterloo, Garfield and Maggie.
Today Calico is one of the few remaining original mining towns of the western United States. The town has burned in its entirety twice, and water supply has always been a problem there. Originally the town got its water from a nearby above ground part of the Colorado River, but that ceased when some of the town's folks died of typhoid from the same river water.
Mr. Walter Knott of Knott's Berry Farms rebuilt the town in 1951 although some 5 of the original buildings seem to remain, and in 1966 he turned over the town to San Bernardino County which now operates it as a county regional park.
There is a nice campsite right there in the narrow canyons below town, it is open all year round with full hookups, and there are 6 camping cabins, and a large bunkhouse that provides heating and A/C and bunk beds for groups.
Off highway vehicle camping with restrooms and showers is also available, and when you camp there your admission to the town is included in your campsite fees.
The town is basically one main street, with many very nice stores with good reasonable prices for shopping.
A mine tour is available in the Maggie Mine, one of the more important mines in Calico, and the Calico/Odessa Railroad takes you on a narrated 8 minute ride where you spin around a small hill and see more of the mined area, and the mining equipment, and you hear a good talk about the town and the mine operations. We didn't see the cemetery, but we also could have panned for gold, and visited the Mystery Shack.
Our driver was John, a most colorful Harley Davidson owner, and former freight operator on a train system in California. He was friendly, chatty and seemingly perfect for the job, as were all the other park rangers that we encountered. A wonderfully fun location to visit, with restaurants and a beer garden to visit and support your needs, not to mention a couple of restroom locations in town, too.
Shopkeepers there are very friendly, and most interesting of all was the man who runs the Boot and Saddle shop, he makes period saddles from yesteryear to sell to folks doing historic reenactments and things like that. He took special joy in pointing out that he had sold a Union saddle to a Rebel for a historic reenactment of one of the battles of the Civil War. This Civil War reenactment takes place on the President's Day weekend in February each year.
He also showed us several types of pack saddles, and he does leatherwork of all kinds. His was a most wonderful shop.
We four wandered the town, rode the train, got an ice cream, sipped on beers at the beer garden, and just enjoyed a lazy afternoon together in the sunshine.
Returning from Calico to Barstow we had a glass of wine with Harold and Georgette in their room at the California Inn, and then went to Sizzler for dinner together. We left right after that and drove back home along Hwy 247, a country highway through the desert areas. Saw more wildlife at night than in the daytime, a small vole and a rabbit crossed the road in our headlights.
Friday, March 4, 2011
First big Happy Hour here Tuesday
This Tuesday we had 6 people over for an outdoor Happy Hour. We started at 3:30 so that we could sit outside, and even starting then I had to go in the house and get coats for most guests before they left around 5:30 PM.
It was Judy and Nick, Fop and Bill, and Trudy and Egon, all friends of ours from our Happy Islanders camping club.
Sunday evening we had watched the Oscars, what fun, I love the clothes that the stars wear.
Lary carved on Wednesday, his project is at the painting stage, and his shaky hands were apparently a bit of a problem for him that day. He came home a bit frustrated.
Thursday we had a super flute lesson over at Annie's with Chip back from Australia, and Chip brought us a big bag of oranges, and another big one of lemons. So I will have to get right on that and make some lemon loaf for him as a thank you.
It has turned quite warm in the daytime now, today lots of dust was kicked up by the wind, there is a lot of construction all along our part of Hwy I-10, and that likely makes the dust even worse as the ground has been disturbed.
Tuesday evening we attended a Chinese auction over at Catalina Spa, it was kind of crazy and lots of the stuff we won we ended up donating to the charity shop, oh well, it's to a good cause.
Tomorrow is Flute Circle, which means we get together once again at Annie's for a monthly flute playing event, this time it might be a bit different to start out, as Annie is having a swap and shop, we bring flutes we no longer want, and swap or sell them if others want them. Both Lary and I have a flute we want to part with, and today I gave Lary one of mine to have forever, he seems to enjoy it, it's key of G, and is very pretty, though I enjoy the other 2 key of G flutes I have a bit more.
I am selling a C flute, and he's parting with a D flute. Should be fun to see what people decide to part with.
Jet emailed us to say they are in Barstow, they are there for 2 nights, and we may dash up and see them if they wait til Saturday, we're busy tomorrow.
Did laundry tonight, it was 22 or 26 degrees depending on what part of the city you were in this afternoon. Over at Annie's in Palm Desert she is quite sheltered from the wind, whereas over here in Desert Hot Springs we are in the wind tunnel path, just downwind from hundreds of wind generating windmills, so we get lots more wind than Annie.
It was Judy and Nick, Fop and Bill, and Trudy and Egon, all friends of ours from our Happy Islanders camping club.
Sunday evening we had watched the Oscars, what fun, I love the clothes that the stars wear.
Lary carved on Wednesday, his project is at the painting stage, and his shaky hands were apparently a bit of a problem for him that day. He came home a bit frustrated.
Thursday we had a super flute lesson over at Annie's with Chip back from Australia, and Chip brought us a big bag of oranges, and another big one of lemons. So I will have to get right on that and make some lemon loaf for him as a thank you.
It has turned quite warm in the daytime now, today lots of dust was kicked up by the wind, there is a lot of construction all along our part of Hwy I-10, and that likely makes the dust even worse as the ground has been disturbed.
Tuesday evening we attended a Chinese auction over at Catalina Spa, it was kind of crazy and lots of the stuff we won we ended up donating to the charity shop, oh well, it's to a good cause.
Tomorrow is Flute Circle, which means we get together once again at Annie's for a monthly flute playing event, this time it might be a bit different to start out, as Annie is having a swap and shop, we bring flutes we no longer want, and swap or sell them if others want them. Both Lary and I have a flute we want to part with, and today I gave Lary one of mine to have forever, he seems to enjoy it, it's key of G, and is very pretty, though I enjoy the other 2 key of G flutes I have a bit more.
I am selling a C flute, and he's parting with a D flute. Should be fun to see what people decide to part with.
Jet emailed us to say they are in Barstow, they are there for 2 nights, and we may dash up and see them if they wait til Saturday, we're busy tomorrow.
Did laundry tonight, it was 22 or 26 degrees depending on what part of the city you were in this afternoon. Over at Annie's in Palm Desert she is quite sheltered from the wind, whereas over here in Desert Hot Springs we are in the wind tunnel path, just downwind from hundreds of wind generating windmills, so we get lots more wind than Annie.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
OMG we made our own clay flutes Saturday
Friday Lary was still feeling pretty poorly with his cold.
We went to the charity shop to buy mens shirts to handle our clay (messy) for our flute making workshop on Saturday at Annie's.
Lary ended up finding some very nice looking splashy print shirts, they aren't made for tucking in, but are made to wear outside trousers and still look dressy.
They look a bit weird at home but are so attractive and suitable for down here, and often I think they come from either estates, or overstock in department stores.
The shirts he got didn't seem as if they had been worn, and I found a pair of brand new slacks. Still had the store label on them.
The charity store we patronize, called Angelview, helps challenged adults to find employment, so we enjoy supporting them. And often we pick up small housewears like vases, cups, small bowls and the like there, and books too.
Saturday we went over to Annie's and had coffee before our class, we were 6 people in all, plus Annie our teacher, and Nash the instructor who is a young Mexican man, now living in the States, and a flute maker of some reknown.
He comes from a pottery making village in Oaxaca, quite a remote location we understand, but he has been in the US for many years now. Over lunch he was telling us about his life in his early years, he was a goat herder as a boy, and learned to make pots by watching his parents and the other villagers.
First we rolled out our clay to make a rectangle form, using a dowel as a roller, and some steel rods as measures for the depth of the clay. Then we put vaseline on the dowel, and rolled our piece of clay around the dowel, and used 'slip', a clay bonding cement, to join the clay into a tube formed around the dowel. Then we removed the dowel carefully, and made end caps for both ends of the clay tube.
When you use slip to join parts of a flute you rough up the parts to be joined first with a scorer, then apply the slip liquid, then join the parts and smooth it all out carefully. Rough edges stay pretty rough when the clay is fired, so you want to remove them or make them smooth.
We had already kind of chatted about what key flute we wanted, and 5 people made flutes, another person made a big barrel flute shaped like a drain pipe with an end cover on each end, and another lady made a jaguar ocarina. It was fascinating to see them all take shape. I had decided I wanted a D flute, so mine was a bit longer than the others were. Lary was making an E flute.
After putting the end caps on both ends of the tube using slip, we made mouthpieces, we used kind of a bamboo sliver, tapered at one end, to form the airway for the mouthpiece. We made a rectangular shape first of all, inserted the bamboo sliver, cut clay away for the airway, and joined that piece to the flute tube using more slip.
We shaped the clay by kind of pulling it up to seal the joins, and then Nash cut the airway through, which nobody else dared to do by themself. We were using a hairdryer to speed up the drying process a bit, normally Nash would do some steps then leave the flutes and come back to them later to do the next part.
Then we burnished them to get a nicer smoother finish, using shiny rocks to rub all over the flutes, although they were pretty smooth already, the clay we used was red potters clay, fine grit with no rough bits in it, it came in big blocks inside big plastic bags, and Nash cut us all the piece he felt we needed. The ocarina was made with 2 little hollowed out cups joined together, and the sculpting was incredible to watch as the jaguar head took shape.
The barrel flute was wrapped around a large cardboard shipping tube that had been wrapped in plastic to ease the on and off process.
Nash provided all the tools, Annie had 2 big tables all covered with plastic, and we each had a big board to work on, they weren't made of plywood, they were some kind of dense board as you didn't want the grain of wood showing in your clay flute.
Before Chip put the final touches on his lovely barrel flute, he formed a gecko which wound across the front of the flute, it was wonderful to see how he made that gecko, but then while he was burnishing the flute, in the final stages, the mouthpiece fell off, he was really heartbroken, but Nash very quietly and patiently repaired it for Chip.
It was a very long day, at the end some of the people played all different kinds of wooden flutes together, getting into the Anasazi and Shakahachi flutes, but I was just exhausted, so didn't try that. Neither did Lary though he tried one with no luck. They are very different to play, and take a lot of patience and a steep learning curve.
Once we got home, it was nearly 7 PM, and we had a quick dinner and went over to visit Wendy and Dave, who were very excited as they had just bought a new house, over at Ivy Ranch and Golf Course. We were both pretty tired, but super exhilarated too, after the day of flute making.
We can't wait to try them out, they will dry at Nash's house for about 2 weeks, and then he will fire them, and get them back to us.
We went to the charity shop to buy mens shirts to handle our clay (messy) for our flute making workshop on Saturday at Annie's.
Lary ended up finding some very nice looking splashy print shirts, they aren't made for tucking in, but are made to wear outside trousers and still look dressy.
They look a bit weird at home but are so attractive and suitable for down here, and often I think they come from either estates, or overstock in department stores.
The shirts he got didn't seem as if they had been worn, and I found a pair of brand new slacks. Still had the store label on them.
The charity store we patronize, called Angelview, helps challenged adults to find employment, so we enjoy supporting them. And often we pick up small housewears like vases, cups, small bowls and the like there, and books too.
Saturday we went over to Annie's and had coffee before our class, we were 6 people in all, plus Annie our teacher, and Nash the instructor who is a young Mexican man, now living in the States, and a flute maker of some reknown.
He comes from a pottery making village in Oaxaca, quite a remote location we understand, but he has been in the US for many years now. Over lunch he was telling us about his life in his early years, he was a goat herder as a boy, and learned to make pots by watching his parents and the other villagers.
First we rolled out our clay to make a rectangle form, using a dowel as a roller, and some steel rods as measures for the depth of the clay. Then we put vaseline on the dowel, and rolled our piece of clay around the dowel, and used 'slip', a clay bonding cement, to join the clay into a tube formed around the dowel. Then we removed the dowel carefully, and made end caps for both ends of the clay tube.
When you use slip to join parts of a flute you rough up the parts to be joined first with a scorer, then apply the slip liquid, then join the parts and smooth it all out carefully. Rough edges stay pretty rough when the clay is fired, so you want to remove them or make them smooth.
We had already kind of chatted about what key flute we wanted, and 5 people made flutes, another person made a big barrel flute shaped like a drain pipe with an end cover on each end, and another lady made a jaguar ocarina. It was fascinating to see them all take shape. I had decided I wanted a D flute, so mine was a bit longer than the others were. Lary was making an E flute.
After putting the end caps on both ends of the tube using slip, we made mouthpieces, we used kind of a bamboo sliver, tapered at one end, to form the airway for the mouthpiece. We made a rectangular shape first of all, inserted the bamboo sliver, cut clay away for the airway, and joined that piece to the flute tube using more slip.
We shaped the clay by kind of pulling it up to seal the joins, and then Nash cut the airway through, which nobody else dared to do by themself. We were using a hairdryer to speed up the drying process a bit, normally Nash would do some steps then leave the flutes and come back to them later to do the next part.
Then we burnished them to get a nicer smoother finish, using shiny rocks to rub all over the flutes, although they were pretty smooth already, the clay we used was red potters clay, fine grit with no rough bits in it, it came in big blocks inside big plastic bags, and Nash cut us all the piece he felt we needed. The ocarina was made with 2 little hollowed out cups joined together, and the sculpting was incredible to watch as the jaguar head took shape.
The barrel flute was wrapped around a large cardboard shipping tube that had been wrapped in plastic to ease the on and off process.
Nash provided all the tools, Annie had 2 big tables all covered with plastic, and we each had a big board to work on, they weren't made of plywood, they were some kind of dense board as you didn't want the grain of wood showing in your clay flute.
Before Chip put the final touches on his lovely barrel flute, he formed a gecko which wound across the front of the flute, it was wonderful to see how he made that gecko, but then while he was burnishing the flute, in the final stages, the mouthpiece fell off, he was really heartbroken, but Nash very quietly and patiently repaired it for Chip.
It was a very long day, at the end some of the people played all different kinds of wooden flutes together, getting into the Anasazi and Shakahachi flutes, but I was just exhausted, so didn't try that. Neither did Lary though he tried one with no luck. They are very different to play, and take a lot of patience and a steep learning curve.
Once we got home, it was nearly 7 PM, and we had a quick dinner and went over to visit Wendy and Dave, who were very excited as they had just bought a new house, over at Ivy Ranch and Golf Course. We were both pretty tired, but super exhilarated too, after the day of flute making.
We can't wait to try them out, they will dry at Nash's house for about 2 weeks, and then he will fire them, and get them back to us.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
2 nights in Laughlin and wild burros in Oatman
Left awfully early on the bus from Catalina Spa on Monday morning. Off to Laughlin for a couple of overnights, in the small gambling town in Nevada. About 3 and a half hours from our area.
Stayed at Colorado Belle which looks like a riverboat, and the next day we spent the day traveling to Oatman, a gold mining town in the early 1900s which has hokey little shops, and wild burros who wander into town to mooch carrots and alfalfa pellets from the tourists. The burros were left behind when the miners pulled out of the mining area after the mines shut down for good. But an interesting note is that now that gold is so expensive, the mines have reopened again and I think we heard that there were about 150 miners there now.
A fun outing. Back in Laughlin we both lost a bit of money to the "one armed bandits" there, did a bit of shopping at the outlet shops, and enjoyed ourselves for a couple of days away from home. Home on Wednesday, I had very kindly given my cold to Lary who by then was feeling dreadful.
We had spent the weekend over in Dana Point with our aunt Penny and her family, who are all wonderful. She gathers her three daughters and their families together, and we get to visit them all at once. Such fun seeing the next generation growing and developing. It is so nice to have a catchup with them all at one time. Mary and her two boys have moved out, but live nearby, with her fiance a very nice man Dave.
Thursday Di had a flute lesson with Annie, and Lary stayed home with his cold.
Stayed at Colorado Belle which looks like a riverboat, and the next day we spent the day traveling to Oatman, a gold mining town in the early 1900s which has hokey little shops, and wild burros who wander into town to mooch carrots and alfalfa pellets from the tourists. The burros were left behind when the miners pulled out of the mining area after the mines shut down for good. But an interesting note is that now that gold is so expensive, the mines have reopened again and I think we heard that there were about 150 miners there now.
A fun outing. Back in Laughlin we both lost a bit of money to the "one armed bandits" there, did a bit of shopping at the outlet shops, and enjoyed ourselves for a couple of days away from home. Home on Wednesday, I had very kindly given my cold to Lary who by then was feeling dreadful.
We had spent the weekend over in Dana Point with our aunt Penny and her family, who are all wonderful. She gathers her three daughters and their families together, and we get to visit them all at once. Such fun seeing the next generation growing and developing. It is so nice to have a catchup with them all at one time. Mary and her two boys have moved out, but live nearby, with her fiance a very nice man Dave.
Thursday Di had a flute lesson with Annie, and Lary stayed home with his cold.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Valentine's Day Dinner here
Wendy and Dave joined us for dinner on Valentine's Day, and it was very pleasant to be together.
Tuesday Di started to feel like a head cold was coming on, so that was yucky.
Weds. Di dropped off Lary at carving, his wee owl is really coming along nicely, and then Wendy and Di went for a stroll around CatSpa park, looking at the few things offered for sale at people's sites. Bought a couple of used books, and then started to feel pretty coldy, so I came home, and went to bed. Lary stopped carving near noon, and came home to change his clothes and head off to the CSA meeting over in Indio at Fantasy Springs casino.
Lary went to the Canadian Snowbirds Association annual meeting down here, and he came home with a ballcap and t shirt for himself, and a visor for me. And of course full of information about the latest in crossing the border of the US/Canada. As usual the customs officers actually Homeland Security now, have all the power and we have none, and no recourse if they decide we can't enter the States for some reason.
Thursday Lary headed up to the clubhouse for coffee and the weekly business meeting, and then we got a package of mail from our tenants at home, so we shouldn't have so much when we arrive home.
Our Hawaiian cruise tickets have arrived, hooray, and we're also heading off to Laughlin with the Catalina Spa travel club this Monday, for 2 nights. Should be interesting, we don't really gamble that much, but there is a discount outlet mall across the street from the hotels, and on Tuesday there is also a busride to Oatman to see the wild donkeys there, which we have never seen before. Laughlin hotels seem to be very reasonable in price, like $25 dollars nightly or something. Very good prices.
Tuesday Di started to feel like a head cold was coming on, so that was yucky.
Weds. Di dropped off Lary at carving, his wee owl is really coming along nicely, and then Wendy and Di went for a stroll around CatSpa park, looking at the few things offered for sale at people's sites. Bought a couple of used books, and then started to feel pretty coldy, so I came home, and went to bed. Lary stopped carving near noon, and came home to change his clothes and head off to the CSA meeting over in Indio at Fantasy Springs casino.
Lary went to the Canadian Snowbirds Association annual meeting down here, and he came home with a ballcap and t shirt for himself, and a visor for me. And of course full of information about the latest in crossing the border of the US/Canada. As usual the customs officers actually Homeland Security now, have all the power and we have none, and no recourse if they decide we can't enter the States for some reason.
Thursday Lary headed up to the clubhouse for coffee and the weekly business meeting, and then we got a package of mail from our tenants at home, so we shouldn't have so much when we arrive home.
Our Hawaiian cruise tickets have arrived, hooray, and we're also heading off to Laughlin with the Catalina Spa travel club this Monday, for 2 nights. Should be interesting, we don't really gamble that much, but there is a discount outlet mall across the street from the hotels, and on Tuesday there is also a busride to Oatman to see the wild donkeys there, which we have never seen before. Laughlin hotels seem to be very reasonable in price, like $25 dollars nightly or something. Very good prices.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Lots of stuff happening
Weds I took Lary to carving, he is at the painting stage on his wee Pygmy Owl, and then I went into PS and picked up Georgette. We drove out through PS, then on over along Hwy 111 to El Paseo, the swanky shopping area here. But first we visited the most terrific bead shop off El Paseo, called Hacienda Anura Bead Co.
We shopped happily for a couple of hours, and watched the classes going on, then went to the Gardens shopping area, where we sauntered through the pretty gardens and bronze sculptures of children frolicking. Jet was photographing. Then we had a coffee at Starbucks, and headed up the hill, Hwy 74 the Pines to Palms Hwy to the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Natl. Monument, there is a wonderful interpretive center there, which has many of the local cactus growing there, identified and named, and is a very good overlook of the Coachella Valley. It was wonderfully warm, and we really enjoyed ourselves.
Then back to Westfield Shopping Center for a bit of retail therapy, and we shopped finally at Walmart for food for dinner. Harold came over, and we had a yummy dinner feast together at home.
Our new blinds needed a bit of an adjustment, so the tech guy came over on Thursday, then we headed off to Annie's for another flute lesson, and after that we flew into PS and picked up H & G for the Village Fest Street Market in downtown PS. We wandered along browsing the stalls, and munching on the goodies offered. Again it was quite warm til later on that evening, and the town was very pretty, and full of fun with the street entertainment. Had a bit of wine back at their hotel in north PS, the Palm Court Inn.
Friday I got a pedicure, then we had lunch at Bristol Farms grocery store, their cafe, and rolled home to spend time at our pool in the warm sunshine. Bliss.
Saturday we went to College of the Desert, we wanted some stuff for the house, then we came home and sat in the sunshine and swam in our pool here. More bliss.
That brings us to today, Sunday, our pals Nadia and Walter came to visit us, and we sat outside drinking tea, visiting and munching on home made lemon loaf. Yum, it was great to see them both looking so well, they are in El Centro in a rented park model for 2 months, we showed them around our house, that doesn't take long, then strolled around our park to look at our clubhouse, pool and hot tub complex, and wandered back home and said our good byes for now.
They told a very scary tale, their daughter in law was shopping alone in Walmart in Campbell River last weekend, and after she returned to her vehicle and got in, and turned it on, a young man knocked on her window, indicating that she had trouble with her rear tire.
Getting out of the vehicle she went to the rear of the car, and he hopped in and took off with her car, with her wallet, purse, phone, credit cards and all inside. Needless to say she was very shocked at what had taken place. He was wearing a hoodie, isn't everybody, and she thought he was a skateboard type, but she wasn't sure, she was so focussed on the rear tire problem.
The police came to help her, but she was very relieved that she hadn't had her 3 year old daughter with her in the vehicle. Her vehicle was recovered later, minus the wallet, credit cards, vehicle registration and car and house keys.
They of course are having the house locks replaced, but I think that is a very good warning for all of us, don't trust people in shopping center lots necessarily when they approach you. Scary for sure, and I know it happened for sure, almost right in our back yard on Vancouver Island, last weekend.
Be aware everyone.
We shopped happily for a couple of hours, and watched the classes going on, then went to the Gardens shopping area, where we sauntered through the pretty gardens and bronze sculptures of children frolicking. Jet was photographing. Then we had a coffee at Starbucks, and headed up the hill, Hwy 74 the Pines to Palms Hwy to the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Natl. Monument, there is a wonderful interpretive center there, which has many of the local cactus growing there, identified and named, and is a very good overlook of the Coachella Valley. It was wonderfully warm, and we really enjoyed ourselves.
Then back to Westfield Shopping Center for a bit of retail therapy, and we shopped finally at Walmart for food for dinner. Harold came over, and we had a yummy dinner feast together at home.
Our new blinds needed a bit of an adjustment, so the tech guy came over on Thursday, then we headed off to Annie's for another flute lesson, and after that we flew into PS and picked up H & G for the Village Fest Street Market in downtown PS. We wandered along browsing the stalls, and munching on the goodies offered. Again it was quite warm til later on that evening, and the town was very pretty, and full of fun with the street entertainment. Had a bit of wine back at their hotel in north PS, the Palm Court Inn.
Friday I got a pedicure, then we had lunch at Bristol Farms grocery store, their cafe, and rolled home to spend time at our pool in the warm sunshine. Bliss.
Saturday we went to College of the Desert, we wanted some stuff for the house, then we came home and sat in the sunshine and swam in our pool here. More bliss.
That brings us to today, Sunday, our pals Nadia and Walter came to visit us, and we sat outside drinking tea, visiting and munching on home made lemon loaf. Yum, it was great to see them both looking so well, they are in El Centro in a rented park model for 2 months, we showed them around our house, that doesn't take long, then strolled around our park to look at our clubhouse, pool and hot tub complex, and wandered back home and said our good byes for now.
They told a very scary tale, their daughter in law was shopping alone in Walmart in Campbell River last weekend, and after she returned to her vehicle and got in, and turned it on, a young man knocked on her window, indicating that she had trouble with her rear tire.
Getting out of the vehicle she went to the rear of the car, and he hopped in and took off with her car, with her wallet, purse, phone, credit cards and all inside. Needless to say she was very shocked at what had taken place. He was wearing a hoodie, isn't everybody, and she thought he was a skateboard type, but she wasn't sure, she was so focussed on the rear tire problem.
The police came to help her, but she was very relieved that she hadn't had her 3 year old daughter with her in the vehicle. Her vehicle was recovered later, minus the wallet, credit cards, vehicle registration and car and house keys.
They of course are having the house locks replaced, but I think that is a very good warning for all of us, don't trust people in shopping center lots necessarily when they approach you. Scary for sure, and I know it happened for sure, almost right in our back yard on Vancouver Island, last weekend.
Be aware everyone.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Nanaimo friends arrive Monday
Monday we had a travel club meeting at CatSpa, and so I dropped Lary off and headed to Westfield Mall for a haircut.
When I came home from that Wendy and Dave had been here for happy hour with Lary after they brought him home, and Harold and Jet had arrived from Nanaimo, they couldn't find a place to stay in DHS so they went over to Palm Springs, and we went in to have a drink with them later, and we all crossed the road from their hotel and ate at Billy Reed's, an old established place in P.S. Yum yum, prime rib for all 4 of us. Their room was really nice, at Palm Court Inn. We were impressed.
Tuesday they came out for soup at the clubhouse, then we participated in the music jam, Dud was here from Rainbow Park with his banjo, Bob G. with his guitar, and Ruth on keyboard, and me and Lary with our flutes, it was enjoyable. I played from sheet music, and we did a fun duet about the hawk and the eagle and the gecko. Yum yum, the hawk ate the gecko.
Then we showed Jet and Harold CatSpa, and then Caliente Springs, they liked Caliente a lot. They don't have their motorhome, they are just hoteling it with travel coupons, and doing quite well that way. Nice clean rooms, nice hotels, and not that much money. We had tea back here, then they left and I'll meet Jet tomorrow for a shopping/look around.
Harold is convinced that Palm Springs is a big city and he's worried about driving there, we can't seem to convince him that it isn't!!!!!! Grrrrr.
Tonight we went to a nice evening thanks to Dave S suggestion, a jazz evening with John Boliver quartet at Pete Carlson's golf store on Hwy 111. Weird venue for jazz, in a golf store, but lovely jazz, John plays a sax, and has a bass player, a drummer and keyboardist accompanying him. He was very well received, and they were selling tons of golf clothing for $5 a piece, so it was flying off the racks, and out of the store. For $10 we had a 2 hour jazz concert session, wine and cheese and lots of munchies. And the money all went to charity.
Harold's chilling tomorrow while we girls head out to mess around, and Lary is carving over at CatSpa. Then we are coming home for dinner here. We girls will buy dinner and bring it home.
When I came home from that Wendy and Dave had been here for happy hour with Lary after they brought him home, and Harold and Jet had arrived from Nanaimo, they couldn't find a place to stay in DHS so they went over to Palm Springs, and we went in to have a drink with them later, and we all crossed the road from their hotel and ate at Billy Reed's, an old established place in P.S. Yum yum, prime rib for all 4 of us. Their room was really nice, at Palm Court Inn. We were impressed.
Tuesday they came out for soup at the clubhouse, then we participated in the music jam, Dud was here from Rainbow Park with his banjo, Bob G. with his guitar, and Ruth on keyboard, and me and Lary with our flutes, it was enjoyable. I played from sheet music, and we did a fun duet about the hawk and the eagle and the gecko. Yum yum, the hawk ate the gecko.
Then we showed Jet and Harold CatSpa, and then Caliente Springs, they liked Caliente a lot. They don't have their motorhome, they are just hoteling it with travel coupons, and doing quite well that way. Nice clean rooms, nice hotels, and not that much money. We had tea back here, then they left and I'll meet Jet tomorrow for a shopping/look around.
Harold is convinced that Palm Springs is a big city and he's worried about driving there, we can't seem to convince him that it isn't!!!!!! Grrrrr.
Tonight we went to a nice evening thanks to Dave S suggestion, a jazz evening with John Boliver quartet at Pete Carlson's golf store on Hwy 111. Weird venue for jazz, in a golf store, but lovely jazz, John plays a sax, and has a bass player, a drummer and keyboardist accompanying him. He was very well received, and they were selling tons of golf clothing for $5 a piece, so it was flying off the racks, and out of the store. For $10 we had a 2 hour jazz concert session, wine and cheese and lots of munchies. And the money all went to charity.
Harold's chilling tomorrow while we girls head out to mess around, and Lary is carving over at CatSpa. Then we are coming home for dinner here. We girls will buy dinner and bring it home.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Sunday's doings here
Eileen and Rick came over here, we met them and showed them around our park, they are trying to sell their home in LA and move back to BC, but of course the economy is very tricky for home sales at the moment.
If they go to Canada to live, they might want to have a small unit here in California's desert, so that they could have a winter burst of sunshine during the wintertime.
They left, then the Superbowl was on TV, Lary was watching, and I went up to the pool for a swim and chatted with some nice folks there, then came home and watched the game. It's a big event here, and Lary has some money invested in a game score pool.
It's a warm day, we had a bit of wind howling earlier, but now at 7 PM it is very still, and still warm, though cooling rapidly. We've had both the doors open today, it's been lovely.
We were up in the 70s today temperature wise I imagine, there was an earthquake near Ocotille CA with the intensity of 4. Nice sunny day, but almost nary a person on the roads in our complex, guess everyone is inside watching the close game with the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
If they go to Canada to live, they might want to have a small unit here in California's desert, so that they could have a winter burst of sunshine during the wintertime.
They left, then the Superbowl was on TV, Lary was watching, and I went up to the pool for a swim and chatted with some nice folks there, then came home and watched the game. It's a big event here, and Lary has some money invested in a game score pool.
It's a warm day, we had a bit of wind howling earlier, but now at 7 PM it is very still, and still warm, though cooling rapidly. We've had both the doors open today, it's been lovely.
We were up in the 70s today temperature wise I imagine, there was an earthquake near Ocotille CA with the intensity of 4. Nice sunny day, but almost nary a person on the roads in our complex, guess everyone is inside watching the close game with the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Blinds installed on Thursday- whooopeeee
Thursday our vertical blinds were installed, they are a warm beige with streaks of white, and they look so perfect with our new paint job. Whoo hoo.
Then off to our flute lesson with Annie, we are having fun being on our own with Annie, Chip's off on a gorgeous cruise to Australia on the Queen Elizabeth doing part of their round the world maiden voyage. And we are working on what we should do if we entertain on our own.
We kind of created some scenarios in words with Annie's help, and then created them on our flutes in music, I didn't know how creative Lary is, but it's so amusing to hear what he comes up with. We created a scenario where we were walking in the desert, saw a hawk flying above us, then spied a wee lizard scurrying along, then the hawk dives, and yum yum, dinner for the hawk.
But then Lary came up with the idea of the eulogy for the lizard, such a laugh, and we tried to recreate it in flute sounds. So creative, challenging and fun too.
We created several scenarios and played them on our flutes, it's interesting because Lary has only 3 flutes, but every one of them co-ordinates with one of mine, so we did that, and then played with Annie's new backing tracks, with flutes, guitar and didge as back up, and us just blowing to accompany that. So neat. Listening and playing along is very interesting, you really need to play very quickly when you hear the backing track, it's very challenging, and exciting to do, matching your music flute playing to the CD track that is playing along.
Annie had her fireplace burning logs, it was that cold. Smelled very good, and was toasty warm too.
Friday we kind of vegged, Lary made a double meat loaf with beef and turkey, and I made a double lemon loaf in a big loaf pan we have. So then we took Annie 1/2 of the lemon loaf, she set it out for the Flute circle folks that were there, it was yummy. She serves coffee at her events, and our lemon loaf seemed to fly off the plate too. Hooray.
Another magic evening with Annie at the helm, it is so interesting what comes out at that evening of flute music together.
Saturday Eileen and Rick friends of ours from L.A. came over to spend the night at Homewood Suites in La Quinta, we went to an art show at a Seniors Centre in La Quinta, then when Eileen phoned us, we went over there, had a beer together on their nice deck, she's a Hilton employee, and brought us a few goodies from Hilton, we saw their nice suite, then we went out to dinner at the Jackalope Restaurant, indoors.
Nice meal, we all ate ribs, and then went back to their place for a bit of a chat, then off home.
Then off to our flute lesson with Annie, we are having fun being on our own with Annie, Chip's off on a gorgeous cruise to Australia on the Queen Elizabeth doing part of their round the world maiden voyage. And we are working on what we should do if we entertain on our own.
We kind of created some scenarios in words with Annie's help, and then created them on our flutes in music, I didn't know how creative Lary is, but it's so amusing to hear what he comes up with. We created a scenario where we were walking in the desert, saw a hawk flying above us, then spied a wee lizard scurrying along, then the hawk dives, and yum yum, dinner for the hawk.
But then Lary came up with the idea of the eulogy for the lizard, such a laugh, and we tried to recreate it in flute sounds. So creative, challenging and fun too.
We created several scenarios and played them on our flutes, it's interesting because Lary has only 3 flutes, but every one of them co-ordinates with one of mine, so we did that, and then played with Annie's new backing tracks, with flutes, guitar and didge as back up, and us just blowing to accompany that. So neat. Listening and playing along is very interesting, you really need to play very quickly when you hear the backing track, it's very challenging, and exciting to do, matching your music flute playing to the CD track that is playing along.
Annie had her fireplace burning logs, it was that cold. Smelled very good, and was toasty warm too.
Friday we kind of vegged, Lary made a double meat loaf with beef and turkey, and I made a double lemon loaf in a big loaf pan we have. So then we took Annie 1/2 of the lemon loaf, she set it out for the Flute circle folks that were there, it was yummy. She serves coffee at her events, and our lemon loaf seemed to fly off the plate too. Hooray.
Another magic evening with Annie at the helm, it is so interesting what comes out at that evening of flute music together.
Saturday Eileen and Rick friends of ours from L.A. came over to spend the night at Homewood Suites in La Quinta, we went to an art show at a Seniors Centre in La Quinta, then when Eileen phoned us, we went over there, had a beer together on their nice deck, she's a Hilton employee, and brought us a few goodies from Hilton, we saw their nice suite, then we went out to dinner at the Jackalope Restaurant, indoors.
Nice meal, we all ate ribs, and then went back to their place for a bit of a chat, then off home.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Brrrrrr overnight freezing temps
Weds Wendy and I went shopping and had a girl day, Joanne Fabrics, Walmart, a furniture store searching for a floor lamp, and Target and Bed Bath and Beyond.
A nice day together, on the way home we saw a 5 car pileup on Monterey, ouch, the main roads are mostly 50 mph so when you make a mistake at that speed, it's bad.
Then when you need to pull out into the other lane the wonderful drivers won't let you in to their lane. Hmmmm.
Got home after tea at Wendy and Dave's, we ate dinner then went back to Catalina Spa to see the entertainment, it was Rod Erickson, a guitar player/yodeler of some fame/ and good fun singer with a great range of songs. A nice evening, Wendy joined us there.
Temps forecast to be down at the freezing level overnight, brrrrrr for us.
A nice day together, on the way home we saw a 5 car pileup on Monterey, ouch, the main roads are mostly 50 mph so when you make a mistake at that speed, it's bad.
Then when you need to pull out into the other lane the wonderful drivers won't let you in to their lane. Hmmmm.
Got home after tea at Wendy and Dave's, we ate dinner then went back to Catalina Spa to see the entertainment, it was Rod Erickson, a guitar player/yodeler of some fame/ and good fun singer with a great range of songs. A nice evening, Wendy joined us there.
Temps forecast to be down at the freezing level overnight, brrrrrr for us.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Rummage Sale at Almar Acres Saturday
Saturday we had the annual rummage sale in our park, it was from 8 - 1, and was very busy and successful. Lary and I played a few flute pieces for the entertainment, and overall we enjoyed
the lovely warm sunshine and the perfect day. We bought a bit of stuff from the sale, and towards the end they were handing out big brown grocery bags for a dollar, and you could fill them up with goodies that were left over and would go to charity or the dump. I paid the asking price for stuff up til then.
The park sold baking, served eggers for breakfast, then cooked burgers, and sold sweets and ice creams very cheaply indeed. There was a huge table of baked goods for sale, and sodas and chips to go with the burgers. Tons of stuff got sold.
It was so amazing to see, and the proceeds go to our park for improvements and special projects.
There was furniture, bikes, appliances, our whole clubhouse was a sale area, clothes, purses and bags, bedding, toys, Xmas decorations, and furniture outside. People came from all over, and our friend Bob Gromling played easy listening Country and Western music on his guitar, and sang lots of tunes.
After the sale finished, we went back to Catalina Spa and had a swim in the pool, it was lovely and warm, as was the air.
That evening we went over to the Gardens shopping area off El Paseo, the swanky shopping area down here that is like Rodeo Drive in L.A., but much smaller. There was a young Brit guy playing a gorgeous saxophone there, we paid $12 and that got us 2 small glasses of wine, and a cheese and fruit plate, and the hour long concert. Wine started at 5:15 PM, concert was from 6 to 7 PM. It was held on the lawn of the shopping area, that lawn area has gardens and breath taking bronze sculptures of children frolicking. It is lovely, but by 7 PM we were well and truly frozen stiff.
We had Wendy and Dave with us, and we went over to IHOP and had dinner, Wendy had a coupon for each of us, then came home to our temporary and pitiful rental park model at Catalina Spa. We have a double size box spring held up by 2 construction bricks and a board, with a queen size mattress on top of it, and Di observed that it was a little like a self dumping log barge, if you got too close to the unsupported edge or end of the mattress, you got flipped out of bed. And we have an invasion of mini ants, they offered us a bottle of windex to help us with that plague!!!!! Nice accommodation indeed, and we paid $65 per night for the palace!!!!!
Sunday it blew quite hard, and some of the roads into and out of Palm Springs were closed due to drifting sand which covers the road, and makes it very hard to see where the road is, and where you are going, too. We loaded up our car, and Lary took a few loads back to our own park model, we had our luggage and clothes from our Mexico cruise with us still.
Our trailer has just been totally painted, ceilings bright white, walls pearly white, and cupboards, drawers, doors, valances all a warm beige, and it looks so nice. We were just thrilled to see it finished, and we moved back in, painty odor or not.
We feel as if we are living in a goldfish bowl though, we gave our 2 layers of drapes and sheers to the charity shop before our paint job, and we ordered vertical blinds to coordinate with our paint, but due to a SNAFU, the original fabric we ordered for the blinds wasn't available, and when we got home from the cruise, we had to choose new fabric, so we set the production of the blinds back considerably, but they should be here at the end of this week.
We won't miss the dreadful dump we were staying in at Catalina Spa, it was truly pathetic.
We stayed home and didn't do much at all for the rest of Sunday, the wind was kind of howling, and it had turned quite chilly, and in the evening we watched the SAG awards.
Today Monday we went to the clubhouse for a meeting to plan the Board meeting agenda for next week's meeting, it got quite unruly over the issue of whether to close our front gates or not during the daytime. Currently they are closed, and it's quite inconvenient for people who come to visit, and for the tradesmen who come to the park.
But then again there has just been another golf cart stolen from the park directly across the street from us again, and on Weds night past, a young fellow jumped over our fence, and was caught in our park by one of the owners. He said he was after his soccer ball, but there wasn't one, and his 2 pals ran off when he was caught.
Then after that meeting we came home, changed into shorts and t shirts, and walked out into the desert across the street, and hiked up to a rocky rise, where despite the wind blowing quite hard, we both played our flutes for a while, and then came down and met a lady from a neighbouring park whose husband sells High Spirits flutes, so we chatted all about flutes and flute heroes, flute players, flute makers and the like, and it was very nice to meet her. They are at Desert Pools, pity they are leaving tomorrow or we would have offered to get together with them. They are full timers from Wisconsin.
Later we went into Desert Hot Springs, our flute pal Chip had given us some grapefruit, lemons and oranges, so I want to make some lemon loaf and use the fruit. And we bought some very nice chairs for our deck, they were $25 each, and have nice arms, and are kind of a meshy vinyl fabric, they seem very nice and should be perfect for Happy Hours if it warms up enough to sit out there.
Our weather is changing, going downhill again, tomorrow it's supposed to go down to nearly freezing overnight, and very chilly during the day, in the 50s or 60s, but by the weekend it should return to the 70s that we have been enjoying recently.
the lovely warm sunshine and the perfect day. We bought a bit of stuff from the sale, and towards the end they were handing out big brown grocery bags for a dollar, and you could fill them up with goodies that were left over and would go to charity or the dump. I paid the asking price for stuff up til then.
The park sold baking, served eggers for breakfast, then cooked burgers, and sold sweets and ice creams very cheaply indeed. There was a huge table of baked goods for sale, and sodas and chips to go with the burgers. Tons of stuff got sold.
It was so amazing to see, and the proceeds go to our park for improvements and special projects.
There was furniture, bikes, appliances, our whole clubhouse was a sale area, clothes, purses and bags, bedding, toys, Xmas decorations, and furniture outside. People came from all over, and our friend Bob Gromling played easy listening Country and Western music on his guitar, and sang lots of tunes.
After the sale finished, we went back to Catalina Spa and had a swim in the pool, it was lovely and warm, as was the air.
That evening we went over to the Gardens shopping area off El Paseo, the swanky shopping area down here that is like Rodeo Drive in L.A., but much smaller. There was a young Brit guy playing a gorgeous saxophone there, we paid $12 and that got us 2 small glasses of wine, and a cheese and fruit plate, and the hour long concert. Wine started at 5:15 PM, concert was from 6 to 7 PM. It was held on the lawn of the shopping area, that lawn area has gardens and breath taking bronze sculptures of children frolicking. It is lovely, but by 7 PM we were well and truly frozen stiff.
We had Wendy and Dave with us, and we went over to IHOP and had dinner, Wendy had a coupon for each of us, then came home to our temporary and pitiful rental park model at Catalina Spa. We have a double size box spring held up by 2 construction bricks and a board, with a queen size mattress on top of it, and Di observed that it was a little like a self dumping log barge, if you got too close to the unsupported edge or end of the mattress, you got flipped out of bed. And we have an invasion of mini ants, they offered us a bottle of windex to help us with that plague!!!!! Nice accommodation indeed, and we paid $65 per night for the palace!!!!!
Sunday it blew quite hard, and some of the roads into and out of Palm Springs were closed due to drifting sand which covers the road, and makes it very hard to see where the road is, and where you are going, too. We loaded up our car, and Lary took a few loads back to our own park model, we had our luggage and clothes from our Mexico cruise with us still.
Our trailer has just been totally painted, ceilings bright white, walls pearly white, and cupboards, drawers, doors, valances all a warm beige, and it looks so nice. We were just thrilled to see it finished, and we moved back in, painty odor or not.
We feel as if we are living in a goldfish bowl though, we gave our 2 layers of drapes and sheers to the charity shop before our paint job, and we ordered vertical blinds to coordinate with our paint, but due to a SNAFU, the original fabric we ordered for the blinds wasn't available, and when we got home from the cruise, we had to choose new fabric, so we set the production of the blinds back considerably, but they should be here at the end of this week.
We won't miss the dreadful dump we were staying in at Catalina Spa, it was truly pathetic.
We stayed home and didn't do much at all for the rest of Sunday, the wind was kind of howling, and it had turned quite chilly, and in the evening we watched the SAG awards.
Today Monday we went to the clubhouse for a meeting to plan the Board meeting agenda for next week's meeting, it got quite unruly over the issue of whether to close our front gates or not during the daytime. Currently they are closed, and it's quite inconvenient for people who come to visit, and for the tradesmen who come to the park.
But then again there has just been another golf cart stolen from the park directly across the street from us again, and on Weds night past, a young fellow jumped over our fence, and was caught in our park by one of the owners. He said he was after his soccer ball, but there wasn't one, and his 2 pals ran off when he was caught.
Then after that meeting we came home, changed into shorts and t shirts, and walked out into the desert across the street, and hiked up to a rocky rise, where despite the wind blowing quite hard, we both played our flutes for a while, and then came down and met a lady from a neighbouring park whose husband sells High Spirits flutes, so we chatted all about flutes and flute heroes, flute players, flute makers and the like, and it was very nice to meet her. They are at Desert Pools, pity they are leaving tomorrow or we would have offered to get together with them. They are full timers from Wisconsin.
Later we went into Desert Hot Springs, our flute pal Chip had given us some grapefruit, lemons and oranges, so I want to make some lemon loaf and use the fruit. And we bought some very nice chairs for our deck, they were $25 each, and have nice arms, and are kind of a meshy vinyl fabric, they seem very nice and should be perfect for Happy Hours if it warms up enough to sit out there.
Our weather is changing, going downhill again, tomorrow it's supposed to go down to nearly freezing overnight, and very chilly during the day, in the 50s or 60s, but by the weekend it should return to the 70s that we have been enjoying recently.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Southwest Arts Festival at Empire Polo Grounds
Went over to Almar today and looked at our paint job, it's coming along really well. The walls are pearl white, and the cupboards and drawers are a warm beige. The ceilings are painted white too. They were very busy over there getting ready for tomorrow's rummage sale which will be held from 8 - 1. We may play our flutes for a couple of songs there.
Then we went over to Indio to the Empire Polo Grounds to attend the Southwest Arts Festival, it's a gorgeous sensory blast of very high end art, jewellry, painting, sculpture, photography, glass art, pottery, it is just a wonderful show, and in the warm sunshine even better. A lot of it is mind blowing stuff, so beautiful, I believe it is a juried show and there are exhibitors from all over the US. It's on the lawns at the polo grounds.
I bought a small glass heart, some niobium earrings, a lovely book of photos by John Parkinson, wow and more wow, he has photos and poetry combined. His work is so lovely, he inscribed the book for us.
We also bought some very nice steel art figures for the house, Kokopelli, an indian dancer and a cave painting like dancer, they are about 6 inches high, and very attractive.
We came home and ate spaghetti up at the clubhouse here, after previewing the rummage sale at Almar, where we bought a blanket and a vase.
That's about it for today, but I remembered the words of the song for the red dress number that made us laugh so much at the Laughing Bird music performance on Weds. night.
"The only thing different, the only thing new,
I've got your picture, and she's got you."
and as she sang those lines she hauled another item out of the front of her flashy red dress bodice. It was just hilarious, especially when she hauled out the golf club and then the full length fishing rod.
Then we went over to Indio to the Empire Polo Grounds to attend the Southwest Arts Festival, it's a gorgeous sensory blast of very high end art, jewellry, painting, sculpture, photography, glass art, pottery, it is just a wonderful show, and in the warm sunshine even better. A lot of it is mind blowing stuff, so beautiful, I believe it is a juried show and there are exhibitors from all over the US. It's on the lawns at the polo grounds.
I bought a small glass heart, some niobium earrings, a lovely book of photos by John Parkinson, wow and more wow, he has photos and poetry combined. His work is so lovely, he inscribed the book for us.
We also bought some very nice steel art figures for the house, Kokopelli, an indian dancer and a cave painting like dancer, they are about 6 inches high, and very attractive.
We came home and ate spaghetti up at the clubhouse here, after previewing the rummage sale at Almar, where we bought a blanket and a vase.
That's about it for today, but I remembered the words of the song for the red dress number that made us laugh so much at the Laughing Bird music performance on Weds. night.
"The only thing different, the only thing new,
I've got your picture, and she's got you."
and as she sang those lines she hauled another item out of the front of her flashy red dress bodice. It was just hilarious, especially when she hauled out the golf club and then the full length fishing rod.
Home from Mexico
Wrote a long blog about our trip then it didn't post and got lost, so that is very disappointing.
Had a great cruise and in the next few days I will talk more about it.
This week has been very busy, we got home on Sunday, and on Monday we had to choose new blind material for the verticals, the first choice wasn't available. The painter started to paint at our house, it is incredible how much he has masked, we can't get into anything much as it is all under plastic, we aren't staying in the unit thankfully, so the painter can just down tools at day's end, and pick them up and resume the next day.
Marquis and Mike's relatives phoned us up and we went over to meet them at their rented park model in Indio, had a glass of wine together, and then went out to dinner at Hog's Breath in Indio. They were Diana and Howie Davis.
Had a pile of laundry to plow through, and Tuesday we got a newer golf cart, they took our old one which was 1984 like the trailer and very tired. We had soup at lunch time and then participated in the music jam at Almar Acres, lots of fun and folks seemed interested to hear our flutes which seemed mostly new to them. There was a keyboard player, a guitar player who sang, and a slide trombone player, and the two of us. The soup lunch diners stayed to hear us play and we got quite a few chances to play, it was enjoyable.
Wednesday I had a drum lesson, at Annie's, it was my last one, and I seem to have bought a new drum, a djembe drum from Africa, we can use it as a coffee table too. It's nice sounding, and I learned that you need to lift them off the floor to play them so the sound can come out properly.
Lary carved that day, and brought his wee pygmy owl home, it is so realistic, it has its eyes, and its feathers are all burned in already, and it now has a coat of lacquer on it.
Then in the evening we went up to the clubhouse to hear Laughing Bird, a very good pair of musicians, who travel in their motorhome and do shows. They are Tupelo Kenyon and Janey Wing Kenyon.
She did the most hilarious routine where she is wearing a red frilly long dress and long opera length gloves and pulls all sorts of stuff out of the front of her bodice, first a photo, then a CD, then some serving spoons, then a golf club and finally a whole fishing rod. She sings, "I got his picture, but you got him".
And then she pulls out the photo and throws it on the floor. It was a gas. He played tons of different string instruments, and he writes his own songs, some of which are just hysterical. It's a high energy show, and after the show they were heading off over to Yuma, where they seem to have quite a few bookings. Here they attracted about 150 people to watch them, and they have all sorts of albums and related material to sell. Good evening for sure, high energy.
Today Thursday after coffee at the clubhouse we had a fun flute lesson at Annie's, the other student Chip is heading off on a cruise to Australia on the brand new Queen Elizabeth ship with Cunard Lines, it may be her maiden voyage- and she's heading around the world, he's just doing one leg of the trip with 3 friends of his. Chip brought us some lemons and grapefruit off his trees at home.
Annie had some jam tracks or backing tracks that she had made with a fellow over in Santa Barbara I think it was, he played flute, and maybe guitar, and Annie played didge, and flutes, they laid down tracks, and we played to accompany that recording, it was so fascinating to do. Very challenging, and takes our playing to a new level.
We ate taco salad and pie up at the clubhouse tonight.
I didn't sleep very well on the cruise and I think I am catching up still.
Had a great cruise and in the next few days I will talk more about it.
This week has been very busy, we got home on Sunday, and on Monday we had to choose new blind material for the verticals, the first choice wasn't available. The painter started to paint at our house, it is incredible how much he has masked, we can't get into anything much as it is all under plastic, we aren't staying in the unit thankfully, so the painter can just down tools at day's end, and pick them up and resume the next day.
Marquis and Mike's relatives phoned us up and we went over to meet them at their rented park model in Indio, had a glass of wine together, and then went out to dinner at Hog's Breath in Indio. They were Diana and Howie Davis.
Had a pile of laundry to plow through, and Tuesday we got a newer golf cart, they took our old one which was 1984 like the trailer and very tired. We had soup at lunch time and then participated in the music jam at Almar Acres, lots of fun and folks seemed interested to hear our flutes which seemed mostly new to them. There was a keyboard player, a guitar player who sang, and a slide trombone player, and the two of us. The soup lunch diners stayed to hear us play and we got quite a few chances to play, it was enjoyable.
Wednesday I had a drum lesson, at Annie's, it was my last one, and I seem to have bought a new drum, a djembe drum from Africa, we can use it as a coffee table too. It's nice sounding, and I learned that you need to lift them off the floor to play them so the sound can come out properly.
Lary carved that day, and brought his wee pygmy owl home, it is so realistic, it has its eyes, and its feathers are all burned in already, and it now has a coat of lacquer on it.
Then in the evening we went up to the clubhouse to hear Laughing Bird, a very good pair of musicians, who travel in their motorhome and do shows. They are Tupelo Kenyon and Janey Wing Kenyon.
She did the most hilarious routine where she is wearing a red frilly long dress and long opera length gloves and pulls all sorts of stuff out of the front of her bodice, first a photo, then a CD, then some serving spoons, then a golf club and finally a whole fishing rod. She sings, "I got his picture, but you got him".
And then she pulls out the photo and throws it on the floor. It was a gas. He played tons of different string instruments, and he writes his own songs, some of which are just hysterical. It's a high energy show, and after the show they were heading off over to Yuma, where they seem to have quite a few bookings. Here they attracted about 150 people to watch them, and they have all sorts of albums and related material to sell. Good evening for sure, high energy.
Today Thursday after coffee at the clubhouse we had a fun flute lesson at Annie's, the other student Chip is heading off on a cruise to Australia on the brand new Queen Elizabeth ship with Cunard Lines, it may be her maiden voyage- and she's heading around the world, he's just doing one leg of the trip with 3 friends of his. Chip brought us some lemons and grapefruit off his trees at home.
Annie had some jam tracks or backing tracks that she had made with a fellow over in Santa Barbara I think it was, he played flute, and maybe guitar, and Annie played didge, and flutes, they laid down tracks, and we played to accompany that recording, it was so fascinating to do. Very challenging, and takes our playing to a new level.
We ate taco salad and pie up at the clubhouse tonight.
I didn't sleep very well on the cruise and I think I am catching up still.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Oops-posted late Weds so it looks like Thursday stuff
Last night I wrote the blog so late that Wednesday stuff looked like we did it Thursday.
Today Lary went for coffee and donuts at our clubhouse, I stayed in bed for a while. Then I got up and got going, we went over to Annie's for a flute lesson. It was totally terrific, we lugged our new amps and mikes with us, and we were totally wired. Lary and I decided to keep both amps and mikes as when we do duets it works out much easier that way, so we played some duets together, and voila, it worked out great.
Then Chip and Lary played duets, same thing, they worked out great. We then staged a kind of jam session together, us 3 students played instruments, and so did Annie, we played drums, rattles, and flutes, and it was a super afternoon together, learning and improving our musical ears.
We had packed our big suitcases before that, and also took some smaller items out of the house and out of the painter's way, and put them into the shed. Now for a change, Lary has 2 suitcases, and I only have 1. Hooray.
We got a notice today that our art piece that we bought on the Caribbean cruise has just been shipped from Florida, so I forwarded that to our tenants.
They had sent us photos taken very recently of a snowfall that they had to deal with, luckily they are from Manitoba and used to dealing with lots of snow and cold. Our tenants have also forwarded our mail in a large package, it hasn't come yet, but will, and we thought we could deal with some of our mail from home now, so getting home won't be such a slog when we get there in April. But as yet it hasn't arrived.
Today for the first time the air felt warmish, and there is talk that it is to go up into the 70s, so that should be really nice, I am a bit tired of being cold, though the sunny days and no wind are very nice. At night waiting in line to see the films at the festival I have been wearing a wool jacket, gloves and a scarf.
Dave and Wendy said that next year they might get 3 sets of 6 pack tickets to the film festival, so that way they can each see 9 films, and that made sense to us too. If we hadn't had to miss the last weekend of the film festival, we could also have seen quite a few more films.
They seem to be putting on more films this weekend, and at the end of this week, perhaps they are the most popular ones, I am not sure, but there is a bit of a learning curve to finding out about the festival, and how to take most advantage of your time and the programs that they have to offer.
There are about 195 films or so on offer, and of course a huge range of them to choose from. People say that their viewing habits change as they attend more and more film festivals. It is fascinating to be in a town where one is happening, and not have to seek accommodation here. I believe that the film festival brings quite a bit of revenue to the Coachella Valley each year. And it is during quite a quiet time of year. The next event coming to the Valley is the Bob Hope Golf Tournament, it's very soon, during the time we are away.
I called sister Sue tonight, as tomorrow is her birthday, and we caught up on the latest. I said that perhaps next year she might be interested in coming down for the film festival in early January. She has been over visiting Heather and Royal in Vancouver, Royal is now smiling, and growing as he should. Sue said they still had snow, but it is turning to rain now, luckily for them.
Tomorrow we'll leave our car over at Catalina Spa for the duration of our cruise, that will be handy for us as we need the car to tote our luggage over there, and then we were going to have to race back to our park here, park the car, and get back over to Cat Spa. Lary got a parking pass, and they told us where to leave the car safely in the park, as we are traveling with Catalina Spa's organized travel group on the cruise. There are quite a few folks from our own park going on the cruise, as well as lots from Catalina Spa and other surrounding parks, so we should know some of the cruise participants beside Dave and Wendy, should be more fun that way.
We have decided to take one flute each to play on board, as we have a balcony cabin, and should be able to sit outside and toodle. Annie was very complimentary about all 3 of our flute playing today, the 3rd person in our class is Chip, he was an animator for Disney and Hanna Barbara, he made life size characters, and is lots of fun. He is a full time resident here, as is Annie.
This will be our last post until we get back from our cruise, Lary will keep a diary and then I'll transcribe it when we get back, no point in lugging our computer, as computer time is very expensive from the ship so they say.
Today Lary went for coffee and donuts at our clubhouse, I stayed in bed for a while. Then I got up and got going, we went over to Annie's for a flute lesson. It was totally terrific, we lugged our new amps and mikes with us, and we were totally wired. Lary and I decided to keep both amps and mikes as when we do duets it works out much easier that way, so we played some duets together, and voila, it worked out great.
Then Chip and Lary played duets, same thing, they worked out great. We then staged a kind of jam session together, us 3 students played instruments, and so did Annie, we played drums, rattles, and flutes, and it was a super afternoon together, learning and improving our musical ears.
We had packed our big suitcases before that, and also took some smaller items out of the house and out of the painter's way, and put them into the shed. Now for a change, Lary has 2 suitcases, and I only have 1. Hooray.
We got a notice today that our art piece that we bought on the Caribbean cruise has just been shipped from Florida, so I forwarded that to our tenants.
They had sent us photos taken very recently of a snowfall that they had to deal with, luckily they are from Manitoba and used to dealing with lots of snow and cold. Our tenants have also forwarded our mail in a large package, it hasn't come yet, but will, and we thought we could deal with some of our mail from home now, so getting home won't be such a slog when we get there in April. But as yet it hasn't arrived.
Today for the first time the air felt warmish, and there is talk that it is to go up into the 70s, so that should be really nice, I am a bit tired of being cold, though the sunny days and no wind are very nice. At night waiting in line to see the films at the festival I have been wearing a wool jacket, gloves and a scarf.
Dave and Wendy said that next year they might get 3 sets of 6 pack tickets to the film festival, so that way they can each see 9 films, and that made sense to us too. If we hadn't had to miss the last weekend of the film festival, we could also have seen quite a few more films.
They seem to be putting on more films this weekend, and at the end of this week, perhaps they are the most popular ones, I am not sure, but there is a bit of a learning curve to finding out about the festival, and how to take most advantage of your time and the programs that they have to offer.
There are about 195 films or so on offer, and of course a huge range of them to choose from. People say that their viewing habits change as they attend more and more film festivals. It is fascinating to be in a town where one is happening, and not have to seek accommodation here. I believe that the film festival brings quite a bit of revenue to the Coachella Valley each year. And it is during quite a quiet time of year. The next event coming to the Valley is the Bob Hope Golf Tournament, it's very soon, during the time we are away.
I called sister Sue tonight, as tomorrow is her birthday, and we caught up on the latest. I said that perhaps next year she might be interested in coming down for the film festival in early January. She has been over visiting Heather and Royal in Vancouver, Royal is now smiling, and growing as he should. Sue said they still had snow, but it is turning to rain now, luckily for them.
Tomorrow we'll leave our car over at Catalina Spa for the duration of our cruise, that will be handy for us as we need the car to tote our luggage over there, and then we were going to have to race back to our park here, park the car, and get back over to Cat Spa. Lary got a parking pass, and they told us where to leave the car safely in the park, as we are traveling with Catalina Spa's organized travel group on the cruise. There are quite a few folks from our own park going on the cruise, as well as lots from Catalina Spa and other surrounding parks, so we should know some of the cruise participants beside Dave and Wendy, should be more fun that way.
We have decided to take one flute each to play on board, as we have a balcony cabin, and should be able to sit outside and toodle. Annie was very complimentary about all 3 of our flute playing today, the 3rd person in our class is Chip, he was an animator for Disney and Hanna Barbara, he made life size characters, and is lots of fun. He is a full time resident here, as is Annie.
This will be our last post until we get back from our cruise, Lary will keep a diary and then I'll transcribe it when we get back, no point in lugging our computer, as computer time is very expensive from the ship so they say.
Last film for us tonight
Today Lary carved over at Catalina Spa, and I went to my second drumming lesson over at Annie's place. Another interesting session, most of us use djembe African drums, they are quite attractive, and have a nice sound too. We had fun doing all sorts of stuff.
Tonight we saw our last film of the Palm Springs film festival, it was Bill Cunningham, a New York fashion photographer, who is a very unique individual. he rides around New York on a bike, and he has been photographing about 50 years or so. He has one or two regular columns in the New York Times paper, and he lived for many years at Carnegie Hall, in very rustic surroundings indeed. He is very eccentric, never married, seems quite a humble though very self possessed man, and his photos are just incredible.
He confesses to love women and fashion, he certainly loves the energy of N.Y. though he said he's had 27 bikes stolen over the years, he's on bike #28. He was previously a milliner of some repute there in N.Y. and is a real character, which comes through loud and clear in this film.
He is still alive, and we believe still taking photos and writing his columns for the N.Y. Times paper.
Many of his work colleagues and friends over the years were interviewed. He also has photographed the gays/ guys in drag there, and he appears to treat them all very respectfully indeed. He loves to wear the blue jacket that the working men wear in Paris, as his clothes are often damaged by his camera.
We learned quite a lot about him, I don't think that many people he knows really know about his living conditions or personal life much at all.
Tomorrow we pack, have coffee and doughnuts at the clubhouse, have a flute lesson at Annie's with our new electronic amp and mikes, and get ready for cruise departure day the next day.
I am really looking forward to being warm during the daytime once again, it is just starting to creep up in temperature, but tonight I was wearing my wool coat, gloves and scarf while we waited in line for the film to start.
Tonight we saw our last film of the Palm Springs film festival, it was Bill Cunningham, a New York fashion photographer, who is a very unique individual. he rides around New York on a bike, and he has been photographing about 50 years or so. He has one or two regular columns in the New York Times paper, and he lived for many years at Carnegie Hall, in very rustic surroundings indeed. He is very eccentric, never married, seems quite a humble though very self possessed man, and his photos are just incredible.
He confesses to love women and fashion, he certainly loves the energy of N.Y. though he said he's had 27 bikes stolen over the years, he's on bike #28. He was previously a milliner of some repute there in N.Y. and is a real character, which comes through loud and clear in this film.
He is still alive, and we believe still taking photos and writing his columns for the N.Y. Times paper.
Many of his work colleagues and friends over the years were interviewed. He also has photographed the gays/ guys in drag there, and he appears to treat them all very respectfully indeed. He loves to wear the blue jacket that the working men wear in Paris, as his clothes are often damaged by his camera.
We learned quite a lot about him, I don't think that many people he knows really know about his living conditions or personal life much at all.
Tomorrow we pack, have coffee and doughnuts at the clubhouse, have a flute lesson at Annie's with our new electronic amp and mikes, and get ready for cruise departure day the next day.
I am really looking forward to being warm during the daytime once again, it is just starting to creep up in temperature, but tonight I was wearing my wool coat, gloves and scarf while we waited in line for the film to start.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Film today - Acquainted with the Night
Today we went off to the fifth film, a Canadian one made by Michael McNamara, the title is above, and it was very interesting, a documentary about things that happen during the night, flights of bats, Northern Lights, Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico where the people decorate the graves of their deceased family members, then stay overnight visiting the graves, remembering their dead departed.
Very positive in general, there were some shots of people being offered viewings of the distant stars through telescopes set up for them. And other scenes of religious adherents ringing bells, and cymbals. And there were some scenes in a National Park in Utah where they measure the light at night, to see if there is an increase in light pollution or not.
It went to many different places around the world where they have interesting things that occur in the darkness of the night.
The only thing I didn't enjoy was the bar scene in Toronto, and then the fights that occurred after the bars got out, and the scenes of the low life in jail after they were put there for fighting and causing damage. That I didn't enjoy. But the bicycle policemen in Toronto were very interesting to listen to and watch while they did their jobs controling the bar patrons during their drinking hours, and then when the bars closed. There were also shots of police on horseback controling the bar patrons after closing hours.
The music and songs were wonderful, and most of the scenery was fabulous too.
Some of the things were very educational, like a man talking to people about the benefit of bats, trying to dispel the myths about bats being fearsome.
Tomorrow I have a pedicure and then a drumming lesson, and Lary carves his owl at Catalina Spa. The next day we both have our flute lesson, and pack for our cruise.
The painter came over tonight to chat about our job, we gave him our color choices and talked a bit about the logistics of the job. He'll start this weekend with the priming, and then do most of the job once we are back from our cruise.
Ginny Fernandez will you please email us after you read this? I don't have your email address in our address book down here.
Very positive in general, there were some shots of people being offered viewings of the distant stars through telescopes set up for them. And other scenes of religious adherents ringing bells, and cymbals. And there were some scenes in a National Park in Utah where they measure the light at night, to see if there is an increase in light pollution or not.
It went to many different places around the world where they have interesting things that occur in the darkness of the night.
The only thing I didn't enjoy was the bar scene in Toronto, and then the fights that occurred after the bars got out, and the scenes of the low life in jail after they were put there for fighting and causing damage. That I didn't enjoy. But the bicycle policemen in Toronto were very interesting to listen to and watch while they did their jobs controling the bar patrons during their drinking hours, and then when the bars closed. There were also shots of police on horseback controling the bar patrons after closing hours.
The music and songs were wonderful, and most of the scenery was fabulous too.
Some of the things were very educational, like a man talking to people about the benefit of bats, trying to dispel the myths about bats being fearsome.
Tomorrow I have a pedicure and then a drumming lesson, and Lary carves his owl at Catalina Spa. The next day we both have our flute lesson, and pack for our cruise.
The painter came over tonight to chat about our job, we gave him our color choices and talked a bit about the logistics of the job. He'll start this weekend with the priming, and then do most of the job once we are back from our cruise.
Ginny Fernandez will you please email us after you read this? I don't have your email address in our address book down here.
NEWER GOLF CART
Went to another movie at the Palm Springs Filmfest yesterday morning it was called "Runway". It was a really cute story set in Ireland. A South American pilot crashed his airplane, an ancient B26, outside a small Irish village. One 9 year old boy could speak a very little bit of spanish but he acted as an interpreter throughout the film. He was actually a mini con man because he changed everything the Columbian said to suit himself. Eventually the villagers repaired the plane and built a runway. Some bad guys were after the Columbian but it all worked out for the best. A fun story and if you ever get a chance to see it it comes highly recommended. One of the good things about the filmfest is talking to other people in line with you and getting their reviews of films they have seen. There is always a lineup so there is always a chance to chat.
Had a service call booked for our old golfcart. It was in need of some repairs and also would need new batteries soon. To make a long story short, we will trade the old one in on a much newer one with new batteries. It will be delivered after we get back from our cruise, on the 24th of Jan. Will get a proper cover for it at College of the Desert flea market.
Off to another film at noon today. Will fill you in on it when we get home.
Had a service call booked for our old golfcart. It was in need of some repairs and also would need new batteries soon. To make a long story short, we will trade the old one in on a much newer one with new batteries. It will be delivered after we get back from our cruise, on the 24th of Jan. Will get a proper cover for it at College of the Desert flea market.
Off to another film at noon today. Will fill you in on it when we get home.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Sunday night older movie made by Monte Hellman
Tonight we went over to see a movie made by Monte Hellman, one of his earliest movies, called the Shooting. It was totally weird, and was one of Jack Nicholson's earliest. He had been a director I believe, and perhaps had had a hand in writing the movie. Monte Hellman spoke, and he had made 4 movies in that year.
The plot was as follows: It had a tracker who was hired by a woman to take her to a place on horseback, no reason given. There was very little dialogue, and Jack Nicholson appeared during the movie, following the woman, also not explained. At the end of the movie the woman shot the tracker's brother, and that reason wasn't explained either. Both Jack and the woman were very violent, also no reason given.
Neither of us was very impressed with the film, but before in the lineup we met a very nice lady from Chicago who was staying at the Welk Development where Sal and Russ had been, her husband had died last August at 63 while they were in Yellowstone on holidays, and this trip had been planned before his death, so she came out here, kind of in his honour. And I think to get away from the snow.
Another one of the film days we had also met a nice pair of men who live here locally and we'd been chatting to them too. Waiting in the lineup for the film to start you get a chance to talk to your neighbours in the line. It's fun to discuss the films.
Earlier today we had gone over to Desert Hot Springs to Radio Shack and bought cable to connect our amps to the mini microphones, so we were torturing the neighbours out on our patio with our amplified flutes, both sets worked well, we both had wee mikes attached to our flutes, and were amped. Worked well for us. But then the wind came up and we got very cold, so came inside.
Yesterday, Saturday we had gone up to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument to their monthly art show as Annie was out there playing all day, so we joined her, Lesley Currie was there playing from our flute circle, and we got a chance to play a bit, and I bought a small bird whistle from Annie. We also stayed and helped Annie and her neighbour a very nice lady pack up Annie's car with her, she had it full to the brim with flutes, didges, whistles, CDs, and all sorts of other stuff. Her big amp weighs a lot. Lucky that she has a Honda Element so it can take a lot of stuff, and it was really full. It all is somewhat fragile too, Annie packs it all up very carefully. It's like a jigsaw puzzle going together.
Then we attended a dinner and dance at the clubhouse here, it was put on by the board of our park. There are elections coming up but we will be away on our cruise at that time.
The music was a bit loud, but we danced a bit to the music of Remember When. The Hermans, Mike and Pat, were at our table with an older couple from Cat Spa, and Ted, Paulette's husband was with us for the meal, Paulette wasn't feeling well so was at home. Pat Herman recommended to us the fundraiser, a House Tour to be held by the Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert, she thought it was to be in February. She said that the houses are just incredible, and that many of them aren't even lived in more than a month or two each year. We will look into that.
The plot was as follows: It had a tracker who was hired by a woman to take her to a place on horseback, no reason given. There was very little dialogue, and Jack Nicholson appeared during the movie, following the woman, also not explained. At the end of the movie the woman shot the tracker's brother, and that reason wasn't explained either. Both Jack and the woman were very violent, also no reason given.
Neither of us was very impressed with the film, but before in the lineup we met a very nice lady from Chicago who was staying at the Welk Development where Sal and Russ had been, her husband had died last August at 63 while they were in Yellowstone on holidays, and this trip had been planned before his death, so she came out here, kind of in his honour. And I think to get away from the snow.
Another one of the film days we had also met a nice pair of men who live here locally and we'd been chatting to them too. Waiting in the lineup for the film to start you get a chance to talk to your neighbours in the line. It's fun to discuss the films.
Earlier today we had gone over to Desert Hot Springs to Radio Shack and bought cable to connect our amps to the mini microphones, so we were torturing the neighbours out on our patio with our amplified flutes, both sets worked well, we both had wee mikes attached to our flutes, and were amped. Worked well for us. But then the wind came up and we got very cold, so came inside.
Yesterday, Saturday we had gone up to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument to their monthly art show as Annie was out there playing all day, so we joined her, Lesley Currie was there playing from our flute circle, and we got a chance to play a bit, and I bought a small bird whistle from Annie. We also stayed and helped Annie and her neighbour a very nice lady pack up Annie's car with her, she had it full to the brim with flutes, didges, whistles, CDs, and all sorts of other stuff. Her big amp weighs a lot. Lucky that she has a Honda Element so it can take a lot of stuff, and it was really full. It all is somewhat fragile too, Annie packs it all up very carefully. It's like a jigsaw puzzle going together.
Then we attended a dinner and dance at the clubhouse here, it was put on by the board of our park. There are elections coming up but we will be away on our cruise at that time.
The music was a bit loud, but we danced a bit to the music of Remember When. The Hermans, Mike and Pat, were at our table with an older couple from Cat Spa, and Ted, Paulette's husband was with us for the meal, Paulette wasn't feeling well so was at home. Pat Herman recommended to us the fundraiser, a House Tour to be held by the Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert, she thought it was to be in February. She said that the houses are just incredible, and that many of them aren't even lived in more than a month or two each year. We will look into that.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Busy Friday at the Palm Springs International Film Festival
Whew, this was a busy day, we started off our first film at the Palm Springs Art Museum, the theatre there is called the Annenberg, and we watched the most terrific film, made by a German man. It was Kinshasa Symphony and told the story of how in the midst of complete poverty and chaos in the Congo, in Kinshasa, one of the 3 biggest cities in Africa, a symphony was formed, comprised of the most normal and least likely people to be playing symphony.
Watching them play amidst such rustic surroundings, and against such incredible odds, was so uplifting and positive. Their lives are so dreadfully poor and challenging compared to ours, and yet they were playing Beethoven's 9th symphony, and the dedication was a real marvel to behold.
And the film maker gave a bit of a talk, and answered audience questions afterwards, due to his documentary film, he has been able to raise more money to sponsor more instruments for the players, they are all part of a kind of church there. The poverty and living conditions were totally gruesome, but very average people seem to have been lifted above their misery to rise above it and put on the wonderful music, and even inspire others to try thinking about classic music.
The second film we saw was at Camelot, after we had lunch at Annenberg cafe, outside in the chilly air, but surrounded by lovely free standing sculpture art. It was called Fifty Nothing, and both Lary and I found it a bit dull, 2 guys having a bit of a mid life crisis in L A headed out to Palm Springs to spend a weekend, and all that entailed. Not as impressive as the first film, though we sure enjoyed seeing lots and lots of shots of the Palm Springs area. At each film you have a chance to rate it on a scale of 1 - 5, 1 is excellent, 5 is not.
We both have a set of 6 tickets for films, and that cost us $54 each. That got us vouchers and we exchanged those online for the specific films we wanted to see. And the process also went very smoothly when we went in to the Film Festival office to pick up the tickets for our specific films, they just hit the button with our name, and out popped the tickets we had requested. Slick.
After watching that second film we headed over to Annie's to the monthly get together of the Coachella Valley flute circle, as usual an incredible evening with gorgeous music, Lesley gave a kind of demonstration of how differing combinations of keys of flutes played together created different moods. Then we all played, and it was such fun once more. There were some new people there who we hadn't met before, Mundo and Janice, Diane, Babs and her guest Loretta (?), we really enjoyed the evening there, and plan to meet as a flute class, myself, Lary and Chip next Thursday. Annie is playing her flutes up at the monument tomorrow, we may go and keep her company and play a bit if she wants that.
I had been at Annie's on Weds for the first of four drum classes, that was very interesting, led by Sharon Stevens, who is a certified Remo instructor. We put my new frame drum outside in the warm sunshine to shrink up a bit, Sharon said it wasn't very tight. Seemed to do the trick, and Annie lent me a Djembe drum, which you hold between your legs, with the bottom end of it off the floor for better sound. We all beat out our names as a memory game, after we had learned that the centre of the drum makes a deeper sound, and the edge is higher pitched.
Then she started a beat with her big drum, and we each added another "color" by adding our own beat that we had to continue to play, going around the circle we all added our new beats, and played them together as a group, then one by one we stopped our beat, it formed kind of like a wave of sound, and was very interesting indeed. Annie and Al were students, we were quite a big bunch of folks playing drums, very stimulating for me. When you try and think too much, you forget what you are doing, if you just let it flow you do much better.
Sharon also tightened a djembe drum, it is called pulling diamonds or something like that, it is adjusting the strings that hold the skin or head of the drum tight. It seemed to take a lot of strength in your hands and fingers to do that, it was fascinating to watch, and very effective. What you make when you adjust the strings are groups of diamond shapes.
Thursday we were just heading out to Annie's for our flute lesson when she called to say she was feeling very sick, so we stayed home, I played my flutes outside for a short while. And I cleaned some stuff out of the shed, too, and threw it away in the garbage.
Read an entertaining article talking about the new landscaping and outward facing triangles that are jutting right out into the busy road on the main thoroughfare of Desert Hot Springs. They are catching unsuspecting drivers unawares, and many folks are doing lots of tire and wheel damage on these stupid jutting out triangles, which really narrow down the road, too, not to mention impede and constrict traffic.
Apparently during the floods the triangles filled with water, and washed out the new plants and the watering for them too, not to mention these triangles were next to impossible to see under the flooding rains, and caused even more inconvenience for people that challenging day.
Watching them play amidst such rustic surroundings, and against such incredible odds, was so uplifting and positive. Their lives are so dreadfully poor and challenging compared to ours, and yet they were playing Beethoven's 9th symphony, and the dedication was a real marvel to behold.
And the film maker gave a bit of a talk, and answered audience questions afterwards, due to his documentary film, he has been able to raise more money to sponsor more instruments for the players, they are all part of a kind of church there. The poverty and living conditions were totally gruesome, but very average people seem to have been lifted above their misery to rise above it and put on the wonderful music, and even inspire others to try thinking about classic music.
The second film we saw was at Camelot, after we had lunch at Annenberg cafe, outside in the chilly air, but surrounded by lovely free standing sculpture art. It was called Fifty Nothing, and both Lary and I found it a bit dull, 2 guys having a bit of a mid life crisis in L A headed out to Palm Springs to spend a weekend, and all that entailed. Not as impressive as the first film, though we sure enjoyed seeing lots and lots of shots of the Palm Springs area. At each film you have a chance to rate it on a scale of 1 - 5, 1 is excellent, 5 is not.
We both have a set of 6 tickets for films, and that cost us $54 each. That got us vouchers and we exchanged those online for the specific films we wanted to see. And the process also went very smoothly when we went in to the Film Festival office to pick up the tickets for our specific films, they just hit the button with our name, and out popped the tickets we had requested. Slick.
After watching that second film we headed over to Annie's to the monthly get together of the Coachella Valley flute circle, as usual an incredible evening with gorgeous music, Lesley gave a kind of demonstration of how differing combinations of keys of flutes played together created different moods. Then we all played, and it was such fun once more. There were some new people there who we hadn't met before, Mundo and Janice, Diane, Babs and her guest Loretta (?), we really enjoyed the evening there, and plan to meet as a flute class, myself, Lary and Chip next Thursday. Annie is playing her flutes up at the monument tomorrow, we may go and keep her company and play a bit if she wants that.
I had been at Annie's on Weds for the first of four drum classes, that was very interesting, led by Sharon Stevens, who is a certified Remo instructor. We put my new frame drum outside in the warm sunshine to shrink up a bit, Sharon said it wasn't very tight. Seemed to do the trick, and Annie lent me a Djembe drum, which you hold between your legs, with the bottom end of it off the floor for better sound. We all beat out our names as a memory game, after we had learned that the centre of the drum makes a deeper sound, and the edge is higher pitched.
Then she started a beat with her big drum, and we each added another "color" by adding our own beat that we had to continue to play, going around the circle we all added our new beats, and played them together as a group, then one by one we stopped our beat, it formed kind of like a wave of sound, and was very interesting indeed. Annie and Al were students, we were quite a big bunch of folks playing drums, very stimulating for me. When you try and think too much, you forget what you are doing, if you just let it flow you do much better.
Sharon also tightened a djembe drum, it is called pulling diamonds or something like that, it is adjusting the strings that hold the skin or head of the drum tight. It seemed to take a lot of strength in your hands and fingers to do that, it was fascinating to watch, and very effective. What you make when you adjust the strings are groups of diamond shapes.
Thursday we were just heading out to Annie's for our flute lesson when she called to say she was feeling very sick, so we stayed home, I played my flutes outside for a short while. And I cleaned some stuff out of the shed, too, and threw it away in the garbage.
Read an entertaining article talking about the new landscaping and outward facing triangles that are jutting right out into the busy road on the main thoroughfare of Desert Hot Springs. They are catching unsuspecting drivers unawares, and many folks are doing lots of tire and wheel damage on these stupid jutting out triangles, which really narrow down the road, too, not to mention impede and constrict traffic.
Apparently during the floods the triangles filled with water, and washed out the new plants and the watering for them too, not to mention these triangles were next to impossible to see under the flooding rains, and caused even more inconvenience for people that challenging day.
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