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.