Some photos Heather sent me from her trip to Vietnam

Email from Heather today.

"We are at YVR after 24 hrs in transit.   Lovely sunny day in Vancouver.  Great trip!
Second to last picture is Ho Chi Minhs tomb where he is embalmed with body on view.  Hanoi, Vietnam. "

 
Great photo of Heather with a local woman.

India Oven

We haven't really sought out Indian food since we have so much on offer in Vancouver but my taste buds felt like a change and this place gets great reviews especially for its lunch special at $5.95.  What a deal!

The "Non-Veg" option includes one piece of tandoori chicken, meat curry,  one vegetable curry,  one daal,  basmati rice,  raita, one naan, one Indian pickle, and a dessert.

Very nice decor and intimate atmosphere and I loved the way they presented the food.

Desert was a very tasty rice pudding served cold in a cold metal dish…excellent.

More books...

Had lunch at the Elephant Bar yesterday…couldn't resist the calamari again…great stuff.  Then did a sweep of a few libraries to see what books they had for sale that we were interested in.  La Quinta Library has this 10 cent table and we lucked out with these great editions of Waugh…larger (but not the really large) print so real easy to read.

Then these three art books for a buck each.

I love all things Paris!

From Susan's art blog:

Love the way she did the word Paris using the Eiffel Tower motif.

Snowstorm's housemate….Roxanne…or Foxy Roxy

From Linda:

 I finally got a picture of Roxanne.  She is a rescue cat that is a real sweetheart.  She is almost three years old. 

Linda

What a gorgeous cat!

Bacon Art

What next to do with bacon?  This "artwork" doesn't have a name but I couldn't help thinking it looked like my "Tuscan Hills"  painting.

 "Tuscan Hills"  painted in 2002 after our trip to Italy.

Bacon Art…by Low Lai Chow

Itty Bitty Book Review: Gone Girl

Well,  this was quite a thriller….a real page turner!

Rocking it up at Las Casuelas

Great Mexican food as always and  new guy in the band who did some cool vocals especially a Willie Nelson…"You Were Always on My Mind"…really did sound like him.   As Jim said,  "so we saw Willie after all".  We were sorry to see he was sold out by the time we knew he was performing in Palm Springs.

And our fellow in the red hat was there along with our usual couple we enjoy seeing.  Lots of people dancing today.

Doing a "slow"….very cute.

Cat sitting…meet "Snowstorm"…love the name!

Linda's daughter and family are in Palm Springs at the moment and Linda is looking after the two cats.

"Cheryl got to Palm Springs
and was concerned the cat was in the closet.  When I went upstairs he was
sitting in the cat tree looking royally pissed off.  He doesn't bubble with
personality but he does usually like me.  She has a female cat who is
adorable.  She is lovable, fluffy and a nice cat.  They've had the male for
12 years.  He only ventures to the main floor when he needs the kitty litter
or food.  He is either in his house or under a bed. "

"Snowstorm"  was chosen as a name as Linda's family had two other cats called Snowball and Snowflake.  Now,  Cec says they have "Snomore"…they don't currently have a cat.

  
My goodness,  these cats have fancy places these days!  He does look a little miffed.

Now,  how about a photo of the adorable cat?

Happy Birthday Mac!

The Mac was released 30 years ago today.  It was my first computer although as a family we had an Adam,  an Apple II,  and a PC before I bought this for myself.  Schools were into Apple products so that's why I got one and was a little annoyed that I had to pay $4,000 for pretty much what Jim was able to buy in a PC for $1500.  That did include a printer, hard drive, and 1200 baud modem.  I was really thrilled with the modem as I had been using a 300 baud modem on the Adam.  I think the Mac itself was $2500 and someone said to me that it was a great deal and to think of it like I got the computer for free because the program Hypercard was worth at least $2500.  Hypercard came with it.

I forget what year I bought it.  Richard will probably remember since it soon became a shared  computer with him.   I went to a workshop that summer on Hypercard and came home one day being so proud of myself doing a couple of little linking of "cards"…a very mini mini program.  Richard saw in a demo how someone had made an animated figure do a somersault.  He asked me how to do that.  I said I didn't have a clue and probably would never be able to do that.

And so he figured it out himself and the rest is history if you know our son,  Richard!

Just thinking how many Apple products we've bought…
Apple II,  2 Mac Plus (one for Richard),  iMac,  2 iPods,  2 Powerbooks (one for Richard),  2 iPhones, iPad,  iPad Mini, and last and definitely not least…my  current computer that I absolutely love….MacBook Air.

Lulu's Palm Springs

First time here…great place.  We'll be back.  Tom and Claire loved it too.  We caught up on our Filmfest viewings.  We had the three course special.  Great value.

Itty Bitty Book Reviews

David Lodge is always very amusing and this is very funny along with being serious as well.  Lodge became prematurely deaf around the age of 40 and this lead to retiring from teaching and turning to writing.

Trollope is always a good read.  It's about two women who are married to men who are old enough to be their fathers.  The real star of the show is an elderly spinster even older than the men.  Miss Beatrice Bachelor is a great character…love to see Maggie Smith playing her.

If it's Monday, we must be at Bill's Pizza

Went to Bill's yesterday, of course.  Had two very meaty pizzas….Moosilini and The Works.  Took home enough for dinner. Met some very amusing folks originally from Carlisle who were amazed we knew where it was and had even passed through!  They have been in California for 50 years but still had their charming accents.

Just as Jim got over his cold I got one for a few days.  But,  better now.  Golf this afternoon.  Off for our morning swim and sunbathe.

Martin Luther King Day

Another Henri Le Chat Noir

I always get a kick out of these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUtn3pvWmpg

College of the Desert

There are some wonderful mountain views from here and there was a mimosa tree in bloom…brought back memories of the south of France!

Art, art, art

I dropped into the Palm Spring Art Museum Sunday since Jim is still suffering from this cold.  Always interesting and loved seeing the Henry Moore sculptures again.

Then tonight,  Erna and I went to the Coachella Watercolor Society meeting to see a demonstration by Keiko Tanabe who was a very engaging presenter and did two paintings in less than an hour.  Most fascinating to see her create these paintings.

 She is working at the table on the right hand side and the work is projected on a big screen.

 The artist

 Her palette and brushes…she likes to keep the palette messy and not clean it while working.

Both paintings were of the same thing…the top one in daytime and the bottom at night.

For Don

Our dear friend,  Don,  passed away peacefully last night with Elaine by his side.

Dearest Elaine,  we know you will miss Don terribly and we hope all the happy memories will help through this time of grief.  You and Don really knew how to be a couple and your love for each other was boundless.

Earlier this week,  Don emailed his friends to say goodbye.  He asked us to remember the laughs and all the good times we shared together and not to be too sad.

We got to say goodbye.

Dear Don and Elaine,

Don,  you are larger than life and you always lived life large.  You are a completely unique individual and no one is like you in the entire world.  You have always had such a sense of fun and joie de vivre.  We feel very blessed and fortunate to have known you and to share so many good times and trips with you and Elaine.

We remember the blasts we had a Whistler for a number of years,  New York,  San Francisco, San Diego and local trips to the Gulf Islands and the Okanagan.  And when you joined us in Ireland.   But the best trip of all was when you joined us in at our villa in the south of France in our wonderful little village of Carqueiranne.  We took you to Paris, Brussels,  and all round the south of France but Don,  you always commented,  "Why are we going anywhere else…this (Carqueiranne) is the best place."  And it was!   Is there anyone in the world who enjoyed that market as much….I don't think so.  We still laugh when we think of the rabbit you bought from that fellow.  You made his day,  his year, his  life perhaps.  You are like that.  You can make people laugh and smile and appreciate things.

The laughs,  the food,  the fellowship….we will miss all these things, dear friend, but we have so many happy memories of our times together.  You will always be in our hearts and we know you'll be making wisecracks in the spirit world at our expense…and we will smile and not be sad.

Au revoir,  très très, cher ami.

All our love, Jim and Janice

Richard wrote Don a note as well and this observation captures Don perfectly,  I think:

Let me tell you about something I started doing as a kid but still catch myself doing.  It's a way of laughing I picked up from you.  I guarantee that we'll continue to share a laugh for many year to come because we literally share a laugh.  It's a short burst of a "ha" that stuns the uncomfortable,  makes it safe to make fun of anything and makes way for anyone to join in.  It's equal parts generosity, mockery, recognition and wonder.  Only you could make such a recipe work.

Don,  I'll never forget  you and your unflinching embrace of life.  And I'll always be grateful for having been swept up in that embrace.

Lots of love to you and Elaine,
Richard

Le Petit Train in Marseilles.

Carqueiranne.

Cassis

Marseilles, in front of a sign for Chaine des Rotisseurs (they were members in Victoria)

Bandol and the famous gambas!

Marseilles...we had a great time at the House of Pastis!

Don doing the honours cutting our bread for breakfast at our villa in Carqueiranne.

Our last dinner in Paris...some friendly Australians jumped up to be in the photo.

In their new condo.

Oysters on the half shell (best ever!) and lobster dinner in Ireland.

Don and Jim hiking in Ireland.

Don helping with the raclette dinner at our house.

Robbie Burns night at the Union Club.

Christmas at our place and a special gift from the Bings.

 In their house on Richardson where we had many a gourmet meal with Don as head chef.

 And of course, chefs have to get the best ingredients.  Sourcing sausage at Oyama.

 Richard watching Don open birthday loot.

 Don tried hard to make a chef out of Jim but at least he looked the part!

At our new digs in Vancouver.

I think this says it all.