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.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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.
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