Rain…finally!

We're getting quite a lot of rain so that's really good for the drought situation….not so good for some communities that are subject to flooding.  Hope things don't work out too badly for those folks.

Paper was drenched this morning even though it was in plastic.  Got the last one in the box.  Couldn't do without a paper especially on a rainy day.

I was in World Market yesterday and saw these products….hope the BBC makes lots of money on this stuff.

There was also some wine but that photo seemed to end up as a movie.

Picking up the paper this morning and treated to a rainbow!

It must have rained over the mountains….we need it down here and it seems we are getting some change in weather this weekend.  Beautiful warm sunny day so far.

Rainbows…along with snow and fog,  very exciting events for me as a kid.  Snow and fog lost their magic when I had to drive to work.

 Taken outside our garage door.

I went by the pool to take some more  but I think my first one is the best.

Wine Bookclub at the Azul Tapas Lounge

Erna and I went to this Bookclub sponsored by the Palm Springs Library.  They have a librarian to moderate the discussion and Azul laid on more fruit,  cheese,  and crackers than the group could even begin to finish plus "happy hour" prices for drinks…$4 for house wine.  The discussion was interesting and we were seated beside two neat women who have been friends for 40 years and get together frequently even though one lives in Chicago and the other divides her time between Palm Springs and  Redona Beach.  When they're together they drink only Champagne…they were working on a bottle when we arrived.

In the next area there was a group doing "Paint Night"…a very cool concept.  Easels,  canvas,  paints, brushes, smock are all provided and a teacher goes through doing a painting.   Subjects are chosen so people with no experience can have fun and take something home.  The people participating seemed to be having a good time.

A little YouTube video describing the process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpXuB7h4Kyk

Some of my photos

Hummingbird nest!

We enjoy our hummingbirds so much and they do get well fed from our feeder.  We consider them our "pets".

Marvin and Erna pointed out a nest just outside our back gate…amazing.  Look for the two little beaks and eyes.  The nest is about the size of a golf ball.  Obviously not room for the adults now.  I wonder if the parents are ones that use our feeder.  I hope we see the babies taking flight!

Hummingbird Nest Construction

Hummingbird nests are built entirely by the female bird – male hummingbirds do not have any part in raising chicks once the initial act of copulation is complete. The female, however, will spend several hours a day for 5-7 days collecting materials to build her nest. The most common nesting materials found in hummingbird nests include:

• Moss and lichen
• Plant down from thistles, dandelions or cattails
• Spider silk
• Cotton fibers
• Small bits of bark or leaves
• Feathers
• Fuzz or hairs from leaves

These materials are woven together into a dense cup that is frequently decorated with moss, lichen or other materials for camouflage. The edge of the cup is curved inward to protect the eggs from tipping out in high winds, and the spider silk used to bind the nest together gives it elasticity to enlarge as the hatchlings grow.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "The Amateur Marriage"

"The Amateur Marriage" by Anne Tyler

I haven't read any of her books for quite a while and enjoyed this one that was about an incompatible marriage and a family that spanned three generations.  All believable and fallible characters.

Lunch at the French Corner Café in Palm Desert

We met Tom and Claire for lunch today and enjoyed this place…excellent Croque Monsieur.  The owners are from France and some things seem very authentic.  The fries weren't but there is still Pommes Frites for those!  They also have a bakery.  They were out of baguettes but they might have a promising one given their "pain au chocolat"  and the pastry of the lemon tarte although the filling was a very mass produced lemon curd.  Such a shame to put such glop on a tart shell that was amazing. Ah well.

We swung by their place at The Sandpiper to see their new desert landscaping….looks great!

 Jim is almost ready to throw away his canes.

The season of perfumes

Lots of flowers blooming at the moment and along with our amazing mountain views while swimming at the pool we are getting all these wonderful scents.  Yesterday afternoon we were sitting out on our patio and were enjoying another wonderful perfume.  We thought it was from the neighbour's since we don't have many flowers other than a couple of "volunteers" that have been around and don't have a scent.  Then,  we realized it was the blossoms on our tangelo tree!   Lots of blooms so I think we'll have  another bumper crop of oranges in the Fall/Winter.

 Orange blossoms.

 These purple flowers have been blooming since we arrived in late October.

Update:  Just got an email from Linda in Surrey and they have more than a foot of snow!  Doesn't look like English Bay has much snow…just took this webcam shot.  I wonder how "Mt. Dunbar" is doing….John?

Someone asleep at the switch….

Read this in the Times-Colonist today:

"Flights at Victoria International Airport were grounded for much of Monday after the facility ran out of glycol de-icing fluid. The airport scrambled to bring in an emergency supply of 6,000 litres, allowing flights to resume in the evening.

The airport was prepared for rain and flurries, but not three days of almost-constant snow and freezing temperatures that required the de-icing of planes around the clock.

Enough de-icing fluid to usually last a season was completely used in 48 hours."

Now,  really,  how could this happen?  Didn't someone notice they were using more fluid than usual?   We follow the weather reports and this was all totally predicted.  Air travel is enough hassle with unforeseen problems let alone problems that are completely unnecessary.

Maybe the people responsible were too busy trying to find flowers for Victoria's annual flower count...

Vista Las Palmas Tour of Homes

There were a wonderful selection of houses to view and the neighbourhood put out a super booklet on the homes with information and wonderful photos.  A great souvenir!

Some photos I took.

 Susan,  making herself at home….

 Jim would love to have this telescope….great viewing around here.

 These people obviously have good taste since they have the Matisse Blue Nude!

 Chris,  holding up a tree….

 I didn't realize Edsel made a station wagon.  I imagine this is a pretty rare car.

 Loved this De Soto

 No shortage of colour in all the homes in the tour.

Way cool….mid century modern tours

In the morning we went through the Donald Wexler house that he designed for himself and that he and his family lived in.  His son was there so that was kind of neat.  The house didn't do that much for me as there weren't really spectacular mountain views and the current owners had made everything very grey with almost no colour.  Photos weren't allowed but lots of people were taking them so I took a few as well.

We figured this Ferrari belong to the son!

Another day in paradise….

There are these amazing songbirds singing all morning.  I haven't been able to really see them but they are somewhere around the bougainvillea climbing up the patio wall we share with Erna and Marvin.  It's great to see this blooming again and I have a direct view from the chair I sit in to read the morning paper.

And I am loving my new Olukai flip flops.  They have great foot support.  Susan was wearing ones she got in Hawaii and we are the same shoe size so I could see how they fit.  Not cheap at $65 (I saved 5 cents at Amazon but did get free shipping).