Our new digs...

A few photos of our new digs.  A little hard to see what it's all about with the sunlight etc.  But...wonderful wonderful panoramic views everywhere and I really see my freighters.  We just love the space.

A new blog to follow

We reconnected recently with Dick,  an old friend from university days,  and met Susan, his wife.  Susan does really cool stuff with paper...just love it!  Take a look at her blog:

http://passionforpaper-passionforpaper.blogspot.ca

She made these collages from an old calendar.

I may never do housework again...

Quick trip into Victoria to get the house in order for selling.  Jim did an amazing job with everything.  I worked pretty hard too.  And Fern's "magic cloth" was amazing as usual....wow,  what a product!  My messy art studio is now a completely decluttered eating area and Kerry's quilt adds the perfect touch and covers up our rusty bistro table.

Took a break last night and had dinner with Don and Elaine at Uplands.  We hadn't seen Don since Christmas so that was great.

Now back to Vancouver to prepare for our apartment move April 3....

 Jim with the magic cloth...

My transformed studio...should have taken a "before" photo.

Great views from Cloud 9 yesterday

Perhaps the ideal camera for me

This Canon Rebel is being released in April....smaller and lightweight.  Richard did mention some things like this were coming down the pipe.  Perhaps I'll buy one in PS when we're there.

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Honey+shrunk+camera/8157572/story.html

Fabulous sunset last night...

Taken from our balcony.

And a beautiful soft sunny morning today!

Just a gorgeous day...!

Lunch at Las Margaritas then a drive along Cornwall and Spanish Banks...the mountains and ocean were just wonderful.

Chorizo and Co in Victoria.

This paella looks terrific and it seems they are going to have paella night on the last Saturday as a regular deal....fantastique!

photo.php

Exciting times

We learned that a two bedroom,  two bath suite was available in our building….just under 1300 sq feet on the 6th floor with wonderful views.  It's on the corner like ours so all those views plus a whole other bank of windows and another balcony.  We couldn't pass it up!  So,  back to selling the house and trying to relocate to Vancouver.  The house might be sold to a developer...the deal is almost set.

The apartment is available to move into April 1 so we have postponed our trip to Palm 
Springs.  We will now fly down April 8.

Also,  I hurt my foot so want to get that sorted out before we travel.  Guess Jim will have to do most of the packing up...good timing :)

A weird collision in the universe....

So,  just the week we buy a condo in Palm Springs (something I thought I'd never do),  the alternative newspaper begun in the wild '60's brings out an article on the cool things about Palm Springs...something I thought I'd never see!

http://www.straight.com/life/363601/palm-springs-livin-it-hotel-california

Back in Vancouver

Back to our wonderful wonderful place in Vancouver...can we give this up?
Thursday night at the Sylvia....Red Truck Ale,  food,  music...we've never had a local before...just love it!

We're there!

Mrs. Sexton,

We just received the recording confirmation; escrow is closed.  Thank you. 


Sincerely, 

Michelle Nelson 
Escrow Officer 

Yeah...we're now officially owners of our Palm Springs condo!


Soon to be swimming in this pool!

Just about there...

Escrow is supposed to finish today...that means "real estate conveyencing".  The wired money was received yesterday after being sent Monday when the CDN dollar wasn't too bad.  I see it went down today so glad that's all finished with.

My mind was spinning with dealing with the transferring of all the utilities and arranging a phone and the TV/Internet guy to come the day after we arrive.  SoCal gas was the worse to deal with and Edison for electricity the best.  A short telephone conversation and the email about competing the setting up of the account came before I got off the phone.

Great to see Patty and Terry Monday and we all enjoyed our meal in the Camus Room.  And last lunch with Elaine for a while yesterday.  We went to the Marina and had their wonderful chowder with smoked salmon and split a calamari....very us!

More good times with old friends...

Christine came over for a drink Friday and as usual we had lots of laughs and stories to hear and tell.  Then Saturday,  Heather and I went to the Yacht Club for lunch and the view and the food was wonderful.  Their new chef continues to do wonders.  I had a fabulous seafood stew and Heather the mussels and clams.

Then over to our neighbours,  Chris and Susan, for dinner.  Susan is an amazing cook and even though I said "make it simple" I wouldn't exactly describe the gourmet meal we were treated to as simple by any means.  Fantastique!

 Susan preparing the "simple meal"

 We all loved this scotch!

The baby whisperer...

I so admire Angela and her invaluable work with these babies. And what courage and depth of personal resources to be able to give them up after caring for them for so long. I was very moved by the transition period when these babies go to adoptive or foster parents. Yes...definitely a piece of her heart would go with each one.

http://www.timescolonist.com/life/the-baby-whisperer-view-royal-woman-fosters-addicted-special-needs-infants-1.92229

Good friends and old haunts

Elaine and I had lunch at the Oak Bay Baan Thai...first time for both of us and we were very impressed.  Great value for lunch that's for sure.  And finally,  after having to cancel just before Christmas because I had that wretched virus we got together with Carole and Don and Fern and John.   It was great fun and  Carole made these amazing meat pies for dinner...wow!

Jim and I went to the University Club Wednesday and Jim had the International Buffet option which was pasta...some very yummy things like lamb lasagna and smoked trout linguine etc.  I just can't eat much pasta so I tried the tempera haddock and chips...excellent.

Looking forward to dining on their wonderful patio in the Spring.

University Club  -  Painting by Robert Amos

And Mary and I got to the Snug at the Oak Bay Beach.  It's just an amazing hotel now and love the views from the new Snug but they really do have to get their act together to offer more than just ok food given that they are now probably considered a 5 star hotel.

A new Pope is chosen

I like what I hear so far about Pope Francis.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/03/13/pope-francis-facts.html

Bob Hope's house in PS for sale: $50 million

We had a view of his house from our kitchen window in the place we stayed in Canyon Sands this winter.  I was interested to learn that it was designed to look like a volcano.  Everyone refers to it as "the turtle house" because that's what it looks like from afar.  We thought we'd drive up there one day because there look to be a number of interesting houses in the area but our neighbours said they had guards who wouldn't let you drive up very far.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/08/bob-hope-lautner-volcano-home-palm-springs/#photoID-5696726

Cool poster by Snake Jagger

I imagine this poster is going to be very popular in Palm Springs and will probably become the "poster child" for the 75 Anniversary of Palm Springs taking place in April.

Palm Springs got a bit of a shake up yesterday.  Folks in the big tennis tournament got a bit of a scare.  The desert might be the best place to be in the "big one" since you have really no high buildings and no chance of a tsunami.  Not that one will be having a choice in that...just fate,  but hope hope all my friends and family are in the right place.

Netflix...a must!

If you haven't joined Netflix for Breaking Bad and other good stuff,  you must do it for House of Cards with Kevin Spacey....fabulous stuff!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2013/03/04/what-netflixs-house-of-cards-means-for-the-future-of-tv/

Ah yes...Wetcouver...

Well,  we should miss the predicted cooler Spring.  We'll be off to Palm Springs as soon as Escrow finishes.

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/rainfall+warning+issued+metro+vancouver/8078783/story.html?fb_action_ids=10151348292359220&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210151348292359220%22%3A162919253863308%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210151348292359220%22%3A%22og.recommends%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

White Spot for lunch today

Jim came swimming with me to the Hotel Grand Pacific and afterward we decided to go to the Flying Otter for lunch.  Some crazy mix up and no one was getting any food served.  Various excuses but I think the chef got drunk and fell in the drink.  So we ended up at White Spot.  Hadn't been there for years and really enjoyed our meal.  Jim got a chocolate shake and great to see that they are doing them the old way and even bringing you the rest in the metal container.  

A question

I had lunch today with someone who reads my blog and is one of the "invited readers".   We have been on email contact for years but now since my blog has been restricted she told me that my email comes with a "pshing" warning.  I've asked Richard why this would happen but curious to know if this has happened to anyone else?  Please let me know.

"Another day in paradise..."

I don't think there was one day we spent in Palm Springs when we didn't hear these words either at the pool,  on the golf course,  in restaurants, etc.  And there are a lot of days that we have been in Palm Springs.  I recently added them up and it's 2 weeks short of a year on 9 different occasions:

4 x 2 month stays
3 x 1 month stays
2 x 1 week stays

Oh...and Jim got another one week stay when his visited his golf partner,  Hans, who invited him to come to stay with him and his wife in Palm Springs.  Jim was doing some research in Los Angeles and had a meeting with Laura Huxley (I was slogging away in the school system at the time).    This visit introduced Jim to PS and we are eternally grateful to Hans because I'm not sure it would have been on our radar.

We just can't wait for all the paperwork to be finished and to get down to take possession of our condo and get it just the way we want it.  Although we've stayed in the Canyon Sands complex five of the times we've been in PS and been comfortable,  it's nothing like having everything just the way you want it.

BTW,  Jim has wanted to buy in PS since his first time there so this isn't exactly an impetuous decision...definitely in the "slow cooker" realm.  My parents didn't even spend one night on a Gulf Island before they bought their summer place on Gabriola and they were "careful" people.  Ah well,  it worked out for them and made me realize I wanted to travel the world which we've done and loved.  We're still trying to get off Vancouver Island let alone a Gulf Island!

Within minutes of our arrival in PS we will be jumping into our pool....can't wait!

Dinner with Monique

We had a great dinner with Monique Wed night and she just happened to have found a bottle of the rose de Bandol locally.  Usually not available in Victoria.  Just perfect for a crab dinner...wonderfully fresh crab from Thrifty's...even better than usual so we were in heaven!

Mon amour....I love you, but...

As much as we love Vancouver we have decided it makes more sense to keep our house in Victoria especially given the current market and since Jim still wants to continue working Sept-Dec.  So we will give up our apartment in Vancouver the end of August.  We'll have lots of summer in Palm Springs Jan to April so will probably rent our PS place Nov &  Dec.

We're feeling very good about this decision...made in an instant as per our usual style...

A few photos I took the morning we left Vancouver...a gorgeous day.

 Just loads of freighters in the harbour...beautiful to see!

We look forward to imbibing some cool drinks on our balcony in the warm weather looking at our new tropical garden.  Cool to see snowdrops and daffodils blooming under the Palm trees.

Dinner with Richard and Emily

It was great to see Richard and Emily last night and we had planned to go to the Boathouse for their Sunday night lobster feast.  At 7pm they were out of lobsters...not good enough,  Boathouse.  I double we'll ever be back.  So we ended up at Tanpopo for their all you can eat dinner.  Good food and a good time was had by all!

What a difference a day makes!

Woke up to blue skies and sunshine and relatively warm temperature.  After all the wind and rain yesterday it's great to see the passing parade of joggers, walkers, cyclists, sailboats, rowers...all enjoying this lovely day.

We did take advantage of the bad weather yesterday to see Lincoln...wow...what a performance by Daniel Day-Lewis.  We loved the movie.

One thing that isn't a bargain in the desert is sushi and Japanese  food.  So,  we went to Tanpopo for lunch and had their $6.50 lunch special.  I had the chicken teriyaki and Jim had the beef.   Along with 8 pieces of California roll,  mixed tempera including 3 shrimp,  miso soup,  fruit and salad and hot tea.  What a deal and a perfect lunch on a miserable day.

And then Jim went to his favourite thrift store on Denman and picked up The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature for a buck.  Looks brand new...list price $79.99.