Thank you Rick and Paulette!

What a wonderful day! Don and I were invited to take a trip to San Marcos and the Grand Country Quilt Shop... well Donald went along for the ride not being much interested in the quilt shop.  He says when the gals and I start talking quilting, it sounds to him like the teachers voice in Charlie Brown TV shows " whaa waaa waaaa waaa wan ".  Incomprehensible. To him.

Donald got the great pleasure of a couple of dog walks with Rick and in particular a fantastic hill park in San Marcos where they could see San Diego and our Mt. Jacinto in the distances. Lunch was great in a little town called Oceanside. Buccaneer Roadside Stand was calling our name for a burger and drink!

Rick continued on driving through Oceanside to the small craft marina, and what is driving in front of us, but a 4x4 truck from Coast Mountain GM in Smithers. BC. We tried to get a look at who was driving, but were not very successful.  What are the odds of that?

The weather was beautiful and clear and the ocean was magnificient.  Lots of public beach access at intervals between the oceanfront homes, with families enjoying the Christmas break.  We wondered how much those homes cost???? ( except you could hand your next door neighbour a cup of coffee without leaving your house ).

This morning we are off to pancake breakfast with our gang at 8:30, then Donald and I are on the hunt for some dates as I fly to Toronto this afternoon on WestJet for a couple of weeks. My father, a wonderful man, passed away Christmas afternoon.  He will be so missed.  It has been a great support to have friends here to lend their support. I had a difficult time on that day, but the thoughts and prayers of others is such a comfort.

Christmas dinner was still fun though and a few laughs.  Well, more than a few. We had the task of booking the hall and cooking the turkeys.  There are some who get up at 4 am to start their turkeys, and some who start them at 2:00 pm - we are the latter and there were a few raised eyebrows about whether those turkeys would be done!  They were small at 10 and 14 pounds, and a fresh and a frozen turkey, kept separate for taste comparison.  Well, no one could tell the difference except for the carver, Ken, who said the frozen turkey was way easier to carve.  Paulette made a yummy ham, and the rest of the dishes were ooooohhh too scrumptious.

We decorated the hall with our red geranium for a centerpiece, and Christmas/Winter quilts. Paulette had hers gone before I could get a picture, so check out her blog! I managed to get these ones done in time:

The tree quilt is 3-D in effect. For those who hear quilter talk and not the Charlie Brown teacher talk: it is a pattern, and I changed it by using Peltex in the tree parts, making it much more stiff, and stuffing those parts with dressmaking netting. There are also Swor. crystals in the background.  Ok, enough of the Q talk!!!!

I think we have seen more of Mr.Mason in blog talk, which is wonderful and he is some cutie, but here is Miss Emma ( and no, it is not a grandchild competition...)

She was enjoying waiting for the Black Ball ferry in Poppa's truck!

and her big brother.  Ok kids, Nanna's about to get all her winter gear on and leave the heat.....brrrrrr.

Merry Christmas

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  We have not posted for some time, and on Monday I ran into a new RV'er in the park who reads our blog, and I humbly mentioned how tardy I have been with posting.

I must say how very very lucky we are to be in place this winter with friends who are so supportive and caring.  We would like to let everyone know how very thankful we are.

I have booked the north hall here at the Sands, and 16 of these extra special people are gathering tomorrow for Christmas Dinner ( after golfing, of course ).  Our duties are to cook two small turkeys, one fresh, one that was frozen so we have a bit of a " taste test " just for fun.  We also managed to get a big bottle of Bicks Mixed pickles before we left home, as with all the myriad grocery stores in the Coachella Valley, there is no such thing as mixed pickles. Music is supplied by our Sirius satellite radio and its boombox. 

Friday we are off to San Marcos with Rick and Paulette, which is a real treat!  Of course, yes, quilting will be in the agenda. Come on, what else????

Donald has been busy baking his birthday cake for the end of January. Yes, it has to sit for a month.
Take a look at Paulette's blog today to see what I've been up to!

Saturday I fly off to Toronto for an indeterminate amount of time.  More on that later. So, these wonderful group of friends will no doubt keep Donald busy when I'm gone.  Do I have winter clothes? No. Brrrr.

Solar at the College of the Desert

Just day to day activities and nothing really exciting happening here in the Coachella Valley.  WE attended American Thanksgiving at the main hall with 16 people at our table.  It was of course way too much food, and way too early in the day at 2:00 pm.  We will try for something different for Christmas dinner.

We hung out here for most of Black Friday, except a quick trip to the post office to mail a couple of parcels and we swung through Palm Springs and Tru Valu hardware, where there were no deals at all. In fact, way overpriced.

Today, after morning swimming, we enjoyed Pancake Breakfast in the main hall with friends, then off to the College of the Desert outdoor market.  Plenty of people there, and our quest was for shorts for Donald.  Quest successful.  There have been some big changes to this outdoor market since we first started coming to the valley.  It was quite small, and we used to park on the grass next to the parking lot where the market was.  Now, there are further parking lots being used, the Ceollege has been redesigned, and the market is twice as big.  The big change this year is that it is all under permanent hard cover, and this cover is all made of solar panels.  Huge and good to see.  We couldn't see where any battery banks would be, and there are big transformer type boxes in a number of areas, so perhaps they sell the excess back to the grid. I couldn't seem to be able to find any information about it.

Off to the neighbours for a burger tonight, and of course Heartbeat at 8:00 on Knowledge network.
Perhaps some skyping with the children.

StreetFest in PS

I was waiting till I got down to the valley for a haircut, and my friend, Karen, called our favorite hairdresser, Stephan, to set us up yesterday morning.  Three of us went, and even though he takes a long time, we had our cuts and then went off to see if there was any bargains at Steinmart.  There were not, and most of the clothes were winter related - big heavy sweaters, long pants.  When it's 90F outside, who wants to look at those clothes? 

Last evening was the StreetFest in Palm Springs, which happens every Thursday evening.  We joined some of our neighbours for a burger, and then walked the blocks, looking at all the wares and 'art' and seeing nothing much of interest.  Well, other than all the dogs in various get-ups!  It was quite busy as just as many people wandering as when the winter season is in full swing here.  We tend to park behind the Marilyn statue if we can as there is a large parking lot there and central to the hub of activity.  The statue is always busy, and a draw to those visiting Palm Springs.  People like to get their picture taken underneath her legs. Hairdresser Stephan informed me that there have been over 50 weddings recently and that Marilyn's legs are the place for your wedding photo!

A crunch at Costco

The morning was beautiful yesterday, so I completed some laps in the pool and then a very good water aerobic workout with the gals at 8:30.  We didn't have very much on the agenda, so some grocery shopping went to the top of the list.  The other day, we went to W*mart in Palm Springs, but we found it so very hectic and long lineups.  Well, there is more than one wally world here, so yesterday we tried the one in Palm Desert.  Much better.  Well, and while we were there Costco was calling us, and of course the cheap lunch there.  Great slice of pizza.  It is also a good way to talk to complete strangers, as tables have to be shared at lunch time. 

Back at the ranch, we relaxed as the day turned out hazy but hot ( 90 F ). Tomorrow is my first Wednesday quilting day and I am quite excited about that.  Donald and his buddies are off on a road trip to Camping World someplace west of here.  He tried crib night last evening at the main hall.  Said it was ok, but that all the many games took too long.  Of course, he was not the big winner, and lost his 50 cents, so that makes a guy pretty sad.

Oh yes.  When we were at Costco, we saw an accident.  The parking lot there has some "garden islands" with palm trees, some cactus like plants and sandy dirt.  Very nicely done.  Some fellow must have hit the gas instead of the brake pulling into his parking spot, and jumped the curb of this island and we think only the palm tree there stopped him altogether.  Oh my. We missed the initial hit, but watched him try to back out, with a car that had a low front bumper.  OUCH! Who knows how much damage he did.  Poor fellow.