The big book sale yesterday....

We have come out with bags of books but Jim got only about 8 this time...someone was scooping up the literature section.  I was pleased to get this Picasso book....Susan,  you'll enjoy looking at it when you come down here next year!

This guy scooped up 100's of books.

My Picasso treasure...$3.

And it was a perfect day for dining outside....

Super time today with Nicki and Stan!

Daffodils from Trader Joe's and what's growing in our garden....

Took these photos this morning.

There are some lovely little purple flowers but they come out later in the morning.

 Well, cheating a bit.  These are on our side of the wall but come from Erna and Marvin's patio.

Just had to post this from "The Good Life France"

"Typically lunch time in France! Moules et Frites (mussels and chips). This is at Villefranche-sur-Mer looking to Cap Ferrat... yes please!"

We've only been in Villefranche-sur-Mer once but I don't think I can count the number of modules-frites with rosé wine meals we have had overlooking the Mediterranean....in the 100's.

Well,  the Good Life Palm Springs continues.  We were at our favourite Chinese restaurant yesterday and had their wonderful duck and hot and sour soup among other things.  Nicki and Stan are coming for lunch today and our only concern is if it will be too hot to eat outside.  I think it will be perfect!

This blog post came up as a "Memory from three years ago" on Facebook.

This was fun for me to read today....my decorating ideas for PS.  I have had such fun getting things the way I wanted in our little piece of paradise down here.

http://janicesextonart.blogspot.com/2013/02/colour-scheme.html

I had forgotten that I wanted white leather to remind me of the white cliffs of Cassis.

Well, if it was Monday, we were at Bill's

And a beautiful sunset...just grabbed these with my iPhone.

Reflection in our pool.

A little bit of Paris in Palm Springs

Peninsula Pastries,  Palm Springs.

http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/March-2015/A-Case-for-French-pastry/

We should treat ourselves just a little more often to these wonderful goodies and also you get to talk a bit of French to a Parisian but I guess there is still something of the frugal student in me.  That,  I think, and also remembering that a baguette in France cost 12 cents the first time we visited and you could get bread,  a round of Camembert,  and a bottle of wine for less than a dollar.

I do refuse to pay $3,50 US for a croissant.   And they have been out of bread every time I've gone there. They import their flour from France so I was hopeful you might get that very special crust you only seem to get in France.  Voila!  It is that crust!  However,  I paid $2.70 US for a very small baguette (about 1/3 of a normal size).  It was gruyere but still.   It was to die for....

Elaine,  and Susan and Alan....yes...it was like the bread in Carqueiranne!

Visited Modernism's Week CAMP yesterday

This is a great venue this year in the old Alley Store.   It was especially fun since they have a great display of Mad Men costumes,  decor,  memorabilia all from the original set.  We're on our last season of rewatching now...great stuff the second time around too.

 They had two of Joan's red dresses,  one of Betty's, and one of Peggy's.

Don's jacket and hat.

And on site they had this very cool Airstream trailer you could go through.

And this is  the Bosch demonstration kitchen...loved the Mondrian effect.  When I painted my table I didn't really think about it being mid-century modern but it's perfect really.  They weren't giving a presentation when we were there but there were some tasty bites on hand.

Today is... drum roll... National Drink Wine Day! Who's going to celebrate?!

Ah...a very familiar scene to us!

Friends of the Palm Springs Library Bookclub

Kathy offered to drive yesterday to the meeting...always interesting to talk to her.  The group was discussing "All the Light You Cannot See".  Everyone loved it (unusual to get that much consensus in a bookclub) except for one person who had only read some of it...well,  somehow that doesn't quite count.   There were probably around 60 people for the discussion.   It's very well run and no one dominates.  Perhaps a little surprising because probably half of the group are retired teachers:)
Most people belong to other bookclubs and almost every bookclub has discussed it or is going to discuss it.

The next selection is "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.  Kathy is moderating that one and I'll be sorry to miss it.  I have the book from the library and it looks like a fun read.  I may take a break from "Purity" which I am currently reading and enjoying but it's not exactly a light read.

This from a review:

“The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” is about a middle-aged man who owns a failing independent bookstore on Alice Island off the coast of Massachusetts. Depressed for the past two years following the death of his wife, Fikry is lonesome, angry and a bit of a literary snob. He doesn’t just stock any old book in Island Books, where “No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World.” Only those titles that satisfy his old-fashioned tastes are allowed in:

“I do not like postmodernism, post­apocalyptic settings, postmortem narrators, or magic realism. I rarely respond to supposedly clever formal devices, multiple fonts, pictures where they shouldn’t be — basically gimmicks of any kind. . . . I do not like genre mash-ups à la the literary detective novel or the literary fantasy. Literary should be literary, and genre should be genre, and crossbreeding rarely results in anything satisfying. I do not like children’s books, especially ones with orphans, and I prefer not to clutter my shelves with young adult. I do not like anything over four hundred pages or under one hundred fifty pages. I am repulsed by ghostwritten novels by reality television stars, celebrity picture books, sports memoirs, movie tie-in editions, novelty items, and — I imagine this goes without saying — vampires.” 

Magical Palm Springs! Modernistic too.

-Eric Norland photo

Fun time with Erna and Marvin at La Tropicale

We always enjoy going to this place,  especially Erna and me for the calamari which is fabulous.  Erna had it with a mango sauce.  I stuck to the usual that comes with a spicy sauce.  The boys had Kobe Beef Sliders.  Very crowded but we got a table.  Everything is packed because of Modernism Week.

The light was such that no photo turned out but I did teach Erna to use chopsticks and she got pretty good at it!   We had cutlery too but for some reason they also gave us chopsticks with our calamari.  I learned to use chopsticks when I was at university and going out for Chinese food with my Japanese friend,  Judy.   We would go with her Chinese friends to the On On Garden where all the menus were in Chinese and no one spoke English and they only had chopsticks as utensils.  We would get a feast for 75 cents each....great for the student budget.

Always feasting....

Yesterday we had dinner at the golf course...it's really like a local for us being a 5 minute drive.  Sitting outside with a wonderful view of my beloved San Jacinto mountains as the sun went behind them.  At the Palm Springs Library today and feasting on the design,  the carp (they look mid century too!)  in the pool in the middle,  and the exhibit of Wexler.  Lunch outside on the patio,  swims,  and we are just loving watching Mad Men again.  The writing is so amazing and I have a much better appreciation of the  mid century modern sets and costumes....wow!

All photos taken in the PS Library.

Memory from three years ago on Facebook today...

This is the painting I did of the cactus garden in the patio of this condo we have put an offer on. Nice to buy a place you have stayed in for 2 months! Hope we get it…very hot real estate market in PS.

A perfect Valentine's sunset in Palm Springs

-Eric  Norland photo

Just in from an evening swim admiring the wonderful pink clouds.  Hard to top Valentine's Day three years ago when we put an offer on our PS paradise.  Jim cooking us steak tonight.

A super lunch with old Killarney School friends....

Nicki and Stan had Linda and Bill and Brian and Susan and us over for lunch yesterday.  Nicki made this fabulous Mexican Lasagna and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert....wow!  We had lots of laughs and not too much talk about school days....

Linda,  Nicki,  and Stan

Brian and Susan

Jim and Bill

A Closer Look: Jody Paterson: On the inescapable privilege of privilege

A really worthwhile article to read.

A Closer Look: Jody Paterson: On the inescapable privilege of privilege:     Having worked in poor countries for most of the last four years, there’s a lot about The Guardian’s  Secret Aid Worker feature th...

A Closer Look: Jody Paterson: These are the streets I know: A commuter's journey...

Jody Paterson was in the newspaper business in Victoria and wrote thought provoking articles,  was also an editor of some sort,  and then went to work with PEERS which is a support group for prostitutes.  She received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Victoria for her humanitarian work.  These past few years "in retirement" she has been volunteering for CUSO.

Usually the Blogger share option doesn't work for me.  Maybe it's the new system  Richard put on.

A Closer Look: Jody Paterson: These are the streets I know: A commuter's journey...:     Join me on my one-hour walk/bus to work in Managua through these 19 photos of the people and sights that I see most days as I walk alon...

Bookclub

We had our Canyon Sands Bookclub Wednesday....always a fun time.  Kathy,  our wonderful leader,  shared her experience with the Rancho Mirage Writers Festival and snagged us all a program.  It's quite the deal and likes to bill itself as the biggest in the country.  As Kathy says and I agree....bigger isn't always better.  You have to buy a rather expensive festival pass (over $200) that lets you into to all events over a three day period.    Expensive and a little too much of a good thing.  And then the "Angels" pay $5,000 which gives them lots of advantages.   In one way it's great to have these people with the money to support the arts in the Coachella Valley.  Kathy wanted to do it once at least but sounds like it will be a one off.
I won't even do it once.

I'm really looking forward to our next meeting where the focus will be ""Memoirs"  - the genre, the controversey,  winners and losers,   Bring a memoir that you have read,  are reading,  or want to read. Share your thoughts about what makes a memoir memorable.  Write a six word memoir related to your life."

Kathy gave us various handouts to help us along.  I like the six word story Hemingway made up:
"For Sale: baby shoes,  never worn."

I'm playing around with the six word memoir.  One I came up with was:

shy, wild,  centred, explore, create, enjoy

Mornings in Palm Springs...

Oranges to juice,  bougainvillea,  blue sky,  song birds singing....soon time for our morning swim in the sunshine....