A day of lasts...for a while at least

Our last day swimming in our lovely pool...we've had it pretty much all to ourselves.  Last golf game yesterday.

Last USAD Prime steak....strip loin this time.  $26.95 a lb at Jensens and worth every penny.  Just can't get this quality of beef in Canada unless you go to a restaurant.

And a few last photos of cool things around here.  Went to Uptown yesterday to look at all the mid-century modern stores...prices are pretty much out of this world.  But just might treat myself to a cool bike.  I think we'll get into biking here.  Lots of bike lanes and also dedicated bike paths (well,  pedestrians are allowed too but you mainly see people riding bikes).

Always something of interest...

We dropped into the Palm Desert Library to their book sale area and we got 8 books for $6...all almost new or new.

Oh...and we got two free pens.

I thought this was a cool idea for encouraging kids to read...in partnership with In-N-Out Burgers:

For adults these free chef demos and music sounded interesting...didn't know about them.

 We were familiar with the Osher Institute of Learning down here...non-credit courses very reasonable.  You can take 5 a quarter for $150.  I picked up a brochure at the library today on LIR Institute...Learning in Retirement.  This is an even better deal...8 two hour sessions for each course and you can take up to 5 for $45.  That's about 50 cents an hour for instruction!

http://lirpalmdesert.com

And then of course as always the wild and weird world of the US...

 Look rather cool in the living room, n'est-ce pas?

The paperless society...

And I thought over 100 pages so far was a lot,  then we picked up the first lot from Escrow (more to be FedEx to Victoria)...about another 300 pages!

A great lunch at Jacalope Ranch...such a wonderful setting.

 This is an artwork they have there...made out of wood.

JIm had the  Jacalope's special prime rib beef dip and I had their signature lump crab and avocado with black beans and corn tostado...wonderful...about a whole crab of meat.  Was in heaven.

What greets us everyday...

Wonderful, wonderful sun and warmth.

I can't believe I have only read 36 pages of a book (and of course the daily newspaper) since we've been here.  Two to three swimming sessions a day, golf,  dining out,  getting redecorating ideas seem to take up all the time.   I also have seen none of the Oscar movies.  We thought we'd go to some movies down here but the weather has been too good.  I'm sure we'll have lots of opportunity to see movies when we return to the wet coast.

 And then all the real estate dealings.  We must have about 100 pieces of paper now.  Signed the "escrow" papers yesterday.  They have "escrow officers" rather than lawyers dealing with it all.  We are amused by the fact that "escrow" comes from the French "thief".  Guess it makes sense since that's what the process is designed to avoid.  We also had to give our thumbprints in case we had "stolen identities".

I'm very impressed by the process down here.  The buyer is certainly protected by various required inspections like termite inspection, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors (since we have gas)installed and working, etc.  In our case the seller is paying for them.  We paid for a third party inspection ($325) and I learned today that our realtor is asking the seller to pay for the the minor repairs that are "needed"...didn't seem like anything urgent or important to us.  This was apparently part of our "offer" to buy.

Soon off to the pool for our morning swim...

Colour scheme...

 The Mediterranean around Cassis in the south of France.

 "Les Pointus" fishing boats of Carqueiranne.

The pool from our villa in Carqueiranne.

Well,  I guess no one will be surprised that I want the living room carpet to be a blue that reminds me of these blues and places.  So,  my feet will be in the Mediterranean while I'm enjoying the warmth of the desert.

White leather furniture to remind me of the white cliffs of Cassis and accents of red for the poppies,  yellow for the mimosas,  purple for the lavender,  pink for the wisteria....

And of course these are all wildflower colours of the desert as well....perfect,  don't you think?

And of course, lunch at Las Casuelas...and our favourite rockers...

 I will never tire of walking out to the view of mountains,  palm trees, and sunshine.

One day we'll just have to sit at their cool bar and drink margaritas.

Pan Am Display at The Saguaro Hotel

Another Modernism Week event that we found very interesting with all the memorabilia,  travel posters, and the film.  Ah...the early days when jet travel was enjoyable.

Celebrating a successful home inspection

We went downtown to Pommes Frites to celebrate and to see "Marilyn"....we had seen her in passing but not up close.  Palm Springs is renting her this year but wants to keep her.  I think it's a great idea.  Wonderful meal....the "frites" are absolutely perfect like the best you get in France and Belgium.

We had the 3 course prix fixe at $16.96...wonderful.  We began with garlic roasted tomato soup, then tilapia perfectly grilled with the best fries in the world,  then on floating island and one creme caramel which we split.  Washed down with a super cab from Rutherford.

 Very cool car!

House Inspection today..

We attended the house inspection so got to see around the place more and take more photos and snag some tangelos from our tree.  Everything seems to be coming in very well.  The fellow said the air conditioner/heating unit would be out of the box if it was any newer.

 I remember enjoying the open kitchen to the living room and that handy counter.

 Our tangelo tree on the patio

 We were really pleased to see this fountain working....we really enjoyed it when we were here.

 We're getting rather used to two sinks in the bathroom.

 And we enjoyed this large square soaker tub in the master bath.

 The front entrance has a couple of olive trees....

Our very own (well soon to be...) oranges!

Beautiful blue skies today as usual....

Another day in paradise yesterday...swim in the morning,  trolling consignments shops,  another swim,  then off to one of the Modernism Week's events called "Paris Loves Palm Springs" at the Purple Room in the Club Trinidad... very cool mid century venue.  We happened to be sitting exactly where Frank Sinatra proposed to Nancy!

 Maybe I'll buy myself a fur coat!

 This is for Richard...an old favourite of his.

 Cool T-bird

Ooo la la...