A bit of rain, wonderful rain

I still got in a great swim when it was still a bit sunny and light rain just beginning so a wonderful smell of ozone. Birds came to visit me at the pool. I think we were scheduled to get  1/10 of an inch. We probably got about that. Blue skies again just as I finished my Autumn soup.

The first Calvados of the season at Trader's...$20 and very good quality.

Some other goodies. I think you can tell I LOVE Trader Joe's.

And it wouldn't be Christmas without Panettone. Jim was reading in a British newspaper that the young are rejecting the traditional English Christmas pudding and prefer Panettone. I'm with them. I never liked Christmas pudding as a kid.

The glasses contain Calvados.  The little snowman/snowwoman were gifts from Elaine.

Rain!

Mmm...good!

Back to sunshine.

Beautiful day yesterday like all the rest we've had during our stay...

But apparently there will be rain today and the temperatures go into the 60's I have all the ingredients for Autumn soup so will make that while Jim is at his Spanish class.

Lots of little dogs in baby strollers.

I picked up 15 lemons from a nearby tree. It will be hard to buy lemons when I get home.

We had a super golf game yesterday...on our own and no one before or behind. Just will never tire of the mountain views and the mid century houses.

Isn't this just the coolest metal fence?

Books

Scored a Star Gazing Party!

We got a space for next Tuesday night...wow....very excited!

Event Details

Each stargazing party is slightly different depending on what opportunities present themselves in the night sky, but generally the program consists of an introduction to the Observatory and it’s capabilities, a “tour of the night’s sky” on the Observatory deck with City Astronomer Eric McLaughlin or a trained docent, the opportunity to look at several objects in space through telescopes on the deck, and the opportunity to view one or more objects through the large telescope in the Observatory dome. Guests are provided information throughout the experience, and also have a chance to ask questions. 

Super lecture at the Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory yesterday

She was a wonderful speaker and began by talking about the Mars landing since it happened that morning...all very fascinating. She seems to talk in schools a lot and I can really see girls and young women being turned onto Science after listening to her.  

It was cute when she had a little difficulty converting measurements to non metric. Canadians and most of the world would have understood the metric but of course this is the USA. I see only the US, Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Liberia are on the Imperial system. 

What a facility this is! She made a point of saying the same thing. It's just everything about the library and the observatory...wow.

The opportunity for the Star Gazing parties begins at 10am tomorrow. I sure hope I can get spaces for us.

Event Details

NASA and other agencies have an exciting array of spacecraft missions to small bodies in the Solar System: to intriguing asteroids (incluing some "potentially hazardous" asteroids whose orbits bring them into Earth's neighborhood), to an icy body in the outer Solar System beeyond Pluto, and even a demonstration of asteroid deflection as a planetary defense technique. Come hear about the mission encounters with small bodies that are happening in the next few months, and the missions being developed in the coming years.

Kelly Fast is the Near-Earth Object Observations Program Manager for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. She earned her B.S. in Astrophysics from UCLA and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Maryland. Main-belt asteroid 115434 (2003 TU2) was renamed "Kellyfast" in honor of her contributions to planetary science.

Some stuff she brought from NASA that folks could pick up.

Some cool decals

A bookmark and info on the defense system being developed against asteroids that could cause a problem. 

These are wonderful glossy photos with great info on the back.

Lulu's

We went to Lulu's yesterday and had their 3 course menu starting with vichyssoise, then I had the pork chop in a glazed maple with apple sauce and Jim had the steak. We both had tiramisu for dessert. Excellent and great people watching. Packed as usual and it deserves to be...just a wonderful experience always. I used to make vichyssoise quite a bit and it really is quite easy. Perhaps I'll give it a try soon.

My pork chop.

Jim's steak.

Our view as the sun was going down.

More Black Friday deals yesterday

We went to La Quinta yesterday to go to In-N-Out Burgers (thinking of you, Richard) and hit the library for books. They were giving away white dot books and others were 25 cents.  We got 7 free ones and bought 4. Then Jim found shorts and a shirt at Revivals for $2 each and a night table with a drawer and room for files for $5. It fits perfectly.

And we dropped into the Art Under the Umbrellas event in old town La Quinta. I always find things of interest to look at and the fellow providing the entertainment was one of the performers at Melvyn's last Sunday.

All in all a good day and now enjoying a big cold glass of water with lemon. We may go for a second swim...just a gorgeous day.

Black Friday deals at Revivals

All donated items were 50% off yesterday so we thought we'd take a look.

We didn't buy these but I had to take a photo.

 This mat was a new item but it was 25% off so I got it for $3. I like having a mat by the kitchen sink and I loved the colours.

The hat was new for $6 and the sweater was $2. I usually don't buy clothes in thrift stories but I loved the colour!

And we got this bookcase for $10.

Then we got a great deal on a couple of golf gloves at Big 5...$6 each for good  cabretta leather gloves.

A wonderful Thanksgiving

We  really didn't know quite to expect but it was from Trader Joe's....great stuff and lots for tomorrow.

Our 1 minute Xmas tree.

And this wonderful turkey and stuffing in a philo pastry and with sauerkraut...apparently what is always served with turkey in Baltimore. We had some on hand from making Reubens. Steve told us about this at a recent Happy Hour. It's also from Trader Joe's so fabulous, of course.