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.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
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.
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