Last run of the season at Steinmart and T-J-MAXX

I was very pleased since I got five tops and a pair of colourful sandals.

And of course I couldn't resist this lemon design!

Our doves enjoying our zero gravity chairs

I peeked out the curtains this morning to take in the wonderful blue sky and saw our doves pleased as punch sitting on our chairs.  One flew off and you can see its tail on the ground.

Absolutely beautiful

Thank you Joan Baez and President Obama.

Animated version of Joan Baez singing "The President Sang Amazing Grace".

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/556574/joan-baez-amazing-grace/?utm_source=eb

Beginning preparations for leaving our desert paradise

One of those things is using up what is around in terms of food.   Sometimes this means some "creative" meals that are a little wonky.  This year we seem to have a lot of good stuff around.  Last night we had rack of lamb.   Tonight we will have scallops and pasta with alfredo sauce. We also have a meal of steak and shrimp.  And we have lots of wine.

Chris and Susan brought over a bottle of Cotes Du Rhone so we opened that. When we looked at the label,  the first food mentioned as an accompaniment was lamb.  It was perfect and a wonderful bottle of wine...thanks so much!

When I downloaded these photos some photos from the Andy Warhol got downloaded.  This seems to be happening for some reason.  Sometimes not all photos get downloaded.  Anyway,  it was fun to see these surfboards that were in the gift shop for the exhibit. I don't recall seeing them when I went the second time so perhaps they sold them.

A wonderful day with Nicki and Stan

We played on the pitch and putt course....such fun.  What a great feature for people.  We were the only ones on it.   They showed us around the clubhouse and all the super facilities they have...wow...even a bocce court,  pool tables,   library,  theatre,  big hall for parties...can't even remember all of it.

Nicki made a wonderful meal of Mexican lasagne....yum, yum, yum.

Jim had a big second helping....he was in heaven.  Thanks,  guys,  we always have so much fun together!

 And then driving home to watching the sun set over the mountains and it was dark enough to see the wonderful neon Rancho Car Wash sign lit up....a perfect ending.

Another look at the Andy Warhol

I went to see the exhibit again yesterday and take a tour with a docent.  It was great and I bought the exhibition catalogue...just counldn't resist!  It's just so much fun going to this wonderful art museum and the new Persimmon  Cafe is now open so took some photos which didn't show up quite so well because of the light but I just loved the colours,  the set up,  and also the wallpaper.  When I heard about this wallpaper it sounded very busy and was thinking it wasn't exactly what one wanted after such a feast for the eyes viewing exhibits but I was wrong....wonderful.

Waiting for the docent tour I got a wonderful view of my Henry Moore.

The Cafe...definitely very cool and you can also take the food and drinks out to the sculpture garden.

The catalogue...front.

...back.

Chez Pommes Frites with Chris and Susan

We had a wonderful lunch yesterday at Pommes Frites with Chris and Susan and they are taking us to Si Bon for Easter Brunch on Sunday.  We haven't been to this restaurant but we have heard it's quite wonderful.  And the brunch is three courses....such a better idea than this buffet thing.  Here's the menu....yum!

https://www.sibon-sogood.com/image.ashx?i=8059947.pdf&fn=SIBON%20Easter%20Brunch%20MENU%202018.pdf

Chris began with French Onion soup then had Caesar salad with shrimp.

Jim is looking on with bemusement at the scissors for the cheese.

Susan's fish and frites.

Jim's steak and frites were pretty amazing.

I had a Croque Monsieur....always wanted to try their version....excellent.

Susan et moi.

We saw this wonderful vintage Nash Metropolitan downtown yesterday in fabulous condition.  The owner bought it at McCormack's in PS and I don't think he regrets it for a minute!  You see so many great classic cars in PS.

The owner talking to Jim about the car.

Mimosa trees

Jim was playing golf yesterday so I took a walk around Canyon Sands and saw these lovely mimosa trees blooming and they reminded me of the wonderful mimosa forests in Provence.  Here they call them acacia but in France they are called mimosa.  And then I thought I would look this up as the ones here aren't as big in terms of the tree and also the yellow blossoms as they are in France.  This is what I found:

"A large amount of confusion arises when discussing plants named mimosa or acacia. Both are botanical genus names and both names are used colloquially for certain species of trees that produce pink or yellow puffy flowers. The more ornate flowering species of acacia make showy cut flowers, are are commonly called mimosa."

The first time Jim taught in the winter in France (2002) we were driving from Nice to Toulon and saw these amazing bursts of yellow in the forests and wondered what they were.  It's an amazing spectacle and one of the things we looked forward to in subsequent visits at that time. In the markets they had wonderful branches of these trees as well.  

These photos are ones from Provence that I found in an image search.

Los Estudiantes

I noticed that Mizell Senior Centre down here has an intermediate Spanish conversation group that meets for two hours every Thursday so suggested Jim give it a try.  He has gone to two sessions now and loves it.  It's at a perfect level for him,  a mix of men and women,  some younger, some older and a nice group of people.  There are 8-9 who meet regularly and are retired lawyers, teachers, a librarian and a nurse.  About half are snowbirds but the rest continue on.

It has motivated me to go through the Destinos course and get up to speed in Spanish so I could participate next year.  I did take first year Spanish when we were doing grad work at the University of Oregon and did some conversational Spanish courses in Victoria so it should all come back.

The Destinos course is a lot of fun and the films and workbooks are all available online.

"Travel the world with lawyer Raquel Rodríguez as she solves a mystery for a dying man. Watch the complete Destinos series, practice your Spanish, and find new resources for learning and teaching Spanish. Episodes 1–2. Introducción. La Gavia. WATCH · PRACTICE. Episodes 3–11. España. WATCH · PRACTICE."

No snow at all on the mountains!

It has been quite warm lately...in the 80's,  but it rained on and off yesterday and seemed to have been quite a bit of rain last night.

So I went out to take photos and not only was there no new snow, there wasn't even the old snow!

I couldn't resist taking a photo of this orange tree and the olives trees as I walked in our front door.

Burgers, history, humour, and books....

In-N-Out Burgers....yum!  And learned you can get raw onions if you ask.

I've been wanting to get to the La Quinta Historical Museum for quite a while.  Loved the building and the displays were very interesting.

Frank Capra's bedspread.  A lot of stuff on The Desert Club where all the stars came to play.

They had a special exhibit on humour which was quite fun to see.

We got a laugh out of these old items from Crack a Joke shops.

And then to La Quinta Library where we got these 5 books for a grand total of 65 cents.  I'm really looking forward to reading "Kowloon Tong" although it does get rather mixed reviews.

From Goodreads"
"This book is set just before the handing back of Hong Kong to the Chinese and needs to be read in context. It gives a great insight into both the British and Chinese hopes and fears as well as prejudice and inherent racism on both sides. I found it a fascinating read despite the fact, or even because of the fact, that none of the main characters are particularly likeable. It is a novel of its time and does a good job describing the period."