Friday, January 28, 2011

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.