just doing, ..doing what? I dunno....

Finally a posting, and you would think we were busy, but not really!  First of all a big THANK YOU to Allen and Lolita for dropping off some real tamales, yes, real homemade by Lolita - mmmm...... A lovely gift from fellow bloggers.

The days seem to go by here at the Sands,and we have been joined by some great friends from the great white north, Allen and Linda, who are staying for 3 months.  Yesterday, we enjoyed a day together at the COD ( College of the Desert ) Street Fair, and then lunch at Ruby's and a walk about downtown Palm Springs.

Allen and Linda bundled up - they must think it's winter here!

No matter where we seem to be, there are visits to Home Depot - hmm - how are we at a home building store when we are not at home? Donald is being very creative and building me a wooden box to hold my sewing machine - this is then put on a pull cart so I can pull it easily to quilting on Wednesdays! It is a Janome 6600, and very heavy.

Do you think the aisles are wide enough to just pull in the rig and set up?

Ah yes, the other place we went was to Shields Date Farm in Indio.  I thought perhaps there would be tours in the date fields, but alas, there was a poorly done video in a run down room, an extremely touristy tacky gift shop and dates for sale that were twice as much and staler than the farmers who sell at the COD Street Fair. We did learn from the video that it takes the trees almost 15 - 20 years to produce after being planted.  That may be longer than a vineyard - have to ask Allen and Linda, who after their tour at the Robert Mondavi vineyards in the Napa valley are now our 'go-to' for wine questions.  BTW, they said that was a great tour!

Even though we thought that it might be cold walking around downtown Palm Springs at night, we went to last Thursday's Street Fest and really enjoyed ourselves.  It was quite warm and the street looks so festive at night. So, we'll have to decide if we want to do that again this Thursday, or go to the dance at the RV Park.

Young son: DRIVE SAFE. You know I'm talking to you. Yes, that's a mother's job to tell you that.

out to the local pizza joint...

Another dull weather day, so Kim headed off early in the morning with Karen and Paulette to Joanne's, the 99 cent store and Kohl's.  She wasn't the buyer again! Do you think she has had enough of shopping?

We had a request from Allen and Lolita for the Slow Cooker recipe: Slow Cooker Lemon and Olive Chicken
2 carrots, 2 ribs celery, 1 bulb fennel, 1 onion - all chopped, thrown in the pot
16 large stuffed green olives ( I used the large feta stuffed olives I bought at the Olive Pit in Corning!)
4 -5 cloves garlic, chopped,crushed
2 bay leaves
1 tsp Oregano, some salt and pepper
12 boneless chicken thighs
3/4 c. sodium-reduced chicken broth, 3/4 c. water
Throw all this in the slow cooker, chicken on top. Cook as best directed with your slow cooker.
Just before serving, take 1 c. of the liquid out, whisk with 1/4 c. flour, add back to pot with 2 TB lemon juice, 1/2 c. chopped parsley and the grated zest of a lemon.

 You can serve it also with a mix of chopped parsley and lemon zest sprinkled on top of your guests' helping.  Serve over rice.  MMMM!

Donald said no thanks to leftovers for supper, so we went out for supper to a local Pizza joint with Ken and Karen. Fun!

Arrivals at the Sands

After the 5th wheel landing jacks were finished and repaired yesterday, the weather sure looked glum, so we took a chance that the laundry room would not be over run with other people thinking the same thing - and lo and behold it wasn't!  So, five loads later and we're good to go for another couple of weeks.  At some point it will be hard to go back to doing one load at a time when we come off the road, as it sure is nice to throw in 5 loads at once and be done in just over an hour.

In the meantime, it started to pour rain and that is when Al and Linda showed up with their Titanium, new to them this year. They started down from northern B.C. early in November and had great weather till they hit the Sands! As we shared our dinner menu of Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken with olives, they told us of their past week or so in the Napa Valley, touring the country, wineries and lunch at the CIA.
We will have to save our pennies...dollars.... gold coins so that we can do that someday as well.

Congrats to the Seahawks of course. Took you a while to get going, boys!

La Quinta Farmers Market

There is some upcoming unpleasant weather, so we headed off Sunday morning to the La Quinta Farmers Market, in " Old Town".  It isn't very old, just made to look old.  A very enjoyable market with about 25 booths and a nice coffee shop. Yep, that is all we bought - a cup of coffee.

 On the way back, we took Highway 111 all the way to Palm Springs, and I suggested we stop for lunch at Shermans' Deli.  We had heard some great reports on this place from Rick and Paulette and a number of the quilting ladies.  Sure enough, all reports were correct and we enjoyed great corned beef sandwiches.  We also liked the fact that there are water bowls for dogs and baskets of dog biscuits for those patrons bringing along their furry pals.

Donald looked everywhere on the satellite TV guide for the Seahawks playing time on Sunday and guess what? They play Monday Night football tonight - whoo hoo! Go Hawks!

Guess what else happened this morning? The landing jacks were fixed!  Big WHOO HOO!!!! Thanks ever so much to Mario Sanchez of Palm Drive RV Service.  Great guy, great service.

So, we are re-levelled and finally able to feel settled here.  In the crockpot: Slow Cooker Lemon and Olive Chicken. Hope it is good, as it is supper for ourselves and Allen and Linda, who are due to arrive today ( I hope - or else I made this big pot for 2 only ! )

Temecula was busy

The sunny warmer weather is back upon us, and we love it.  Yesterday, Kim went off with the quilting ladies of the park to Temecula, a very quaint old type town southwest of here.  There is a large quilt shop there and they visited a couple of others, using up the whole day as they didn't get home till dark.  There were bargains to be had, but she came home with very little.  Seven ladies in a van talking quilting. All day. A person would go crazy.

Paulette, butting in line ahead of her friends!

" Sorry ladies - what was I thinking? I must be wool crazy!"

She did manage to pick up a brochure of Temecula, and that will be added to the list of places to perhaps visit when the gang gets here in January.

We have heard from our friend, Bob, whom we spent time with last winter boon docking around Arizona. He stopped at Lake Mead and we forgot to ask how high the lake level came up this summer.  While we we there last spring, it was in the newspaper that the lake levels were going to rise as high as 22 more feet, and large equipment was cleaning the beaches in preparation for this.

Saturday on Temecula main street

One of the advantages of being in a more populated area like Palm Springs is that a major airport is close by in case you need to go off quickly in  family emergencies.  Boon docking in the desert or travelling into Mexico, does not necessarily lend itself to this.  So, for the present time, even though we would like to be in the desert, we are happy to be here.  It also means friends and family can easily get here, as well, and we're looking forward to Al and Linda arriving on Monday - hey guys - supper will be ready!

Plans for today? Maybe visit La Quinta old town. Before the winds kick up.