Thursday, February 28, 2019

From Linda's blog...

You see, John, someone likes my Vancouver sunset photos:)


Our weather has been very clear and cold.  I miss Janice's sunset pictures she puts on her blog when she's in Vancouver.  Last night Ginny posted this on Facebook so I'm hoping it's okay I shared it too.  What a gorgeous night to go skiing!

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Wildflowers blooming now...

Photos by Kenny Irwin.











Itty Bitty Book Review: "One Step Behind"

"One Step Behind" by Henning Mankell


Well, this certainly kept my interest. I didn't stay up all night reading it like The Guardian reviewer did but I kept going back to it even though I thought I had figured it out at one point. I never figure these things out so should have known I hadn't. I would have been very disappointed in Mankell if I had. He got me on a red herring, of course.



Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Amazing snow on the mountains everywhere....and a wonderful visit

Just walking in from the mailbox and got this but we see wonderful vistas all the time when we're driving around. We love these mountains without snow but it really makes a nice change.


Susan and Brian came for drinks and snacks...such fun. They leave Friday for Vancouver but Susan was enjoying the recent good weather with shorts and t-shirt...good on you, Susan. I might be there soon...hopefully.

Sunday, February 24, 2019

First time for Mexican food this year

We went to La Tablita yesterday. We find their food very good and particularly like their tortilla soup (different than Las Margaritas but on a par) and their salsa is also excellent. It's always a warm cosy atmosphere and although it was a beautiful sunny day it was still coolish.





Saturday, February 23, 2019

Just couldn't resist posting these...

Only one more day and I guess these daily emails from Modernism Week will end.




Hugh Kaptner exhibit at the Art and Architecture Museum

He's still working as an architect...the last one of the modernist era types. Very nicely presented.

Well, one of the most interesting firehalls in the world. He was asked to make it fit into the environment and local architecture of the time.



It seemed he was really into building model airplanes and that's what got him into architecture. Boys got all the good toys....building models, train sets, mechano sets and us girls got some boring old dolls:)





An old desk of his. I would have been interested to see what he uses now. I'm sure computers play a large part.


Friday, February 22, 2019

Should be a very pretty swim today

One thing about it raining yet again yesterday is that the mountains have fresh snow and it's very beautiful. Nicki wanted me to take photos of the mountains this morning since they don't see them from where they are staying this year. She knew the rain would make them all pretty. It seemed quite warmish when I took these photos so we won't be completely shivering when we get out of the water from our swim.



And Kenny Irwin posted these on FB today. I love the ones with the snow and the palm trees.








And while we're on the subject of cheap....

Love this quote and so true!

“The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind.”
– Elizabeth Hardwick, The Paris Review, interview


The Best Libraries In The World
  1. Library of Congress -- Washington D.C., USA. ... 
  2. Bodleian Library -- Oxford, United Kingdom. ... 
  3. Reading Room at the British Museum -- London, England. ... 
  4. Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library -- New Haven, Connecticut, USA. ... 
  5. Vatican Library -- Vatican City, Rome.

We've been to #2, #3, #4. The Vatican was a surprise for me but, of course, they would have a wonderful library. It seems Pope Francis began a digitizing process of its holdings. That will be an incredible boon for scholars. Jim's research has become totally changed because he can now be sent PDF's of materials most of the time. Just the other day he got a PDF of an important letter for his keynote next year at the Huxley conference. The cost was a grand total of 60 cents!

Photo of The Vatican Library....looks pretty amazing.


Thursday, February 21, 2019

A very cheap decorating idea....

Jim thought we should get rid of my Alexander Calder type painting and go with the vintage French poster idea to fit into our France theme in the living room. I printed up these 5 on photo paper at home and bought five 8 x 10  photo frames at Dollar Tree for a buck each.

Looking pretty good I think!


These all have a lot of meaning for us.


Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Going to be a great wildflower season

From The Desert Sun:

"Wildflower enthusiasts and desert lovers alike are wondering: When can we expect this year's super bloom? 
Recent rain in the Coachella Valley and surrounding areas has experts looking forward to a wildflower boon across the California desert. 
"This year is definitely shaping up to be a very good wildflower year," says Cameron Barrows, an associate research ecologist at UC Riverside's Center for Conservation Biology. "I've lived here in the Coachella Valley for over three decades, and there have been maybe two to four exceptional wildflower years, and this is one of those."


I remember we rented a place in San Diego with the Curlings probably in the 90's and there had been a few more inches of rain than normal and the wildflower season was spectacular. We went out ot Anzo-Borrego Springs Park and it was wonderful. Someone showed us that some particular wildflower that hadn't bloomed in around 50 years. Imagine, waiting around until there was just enough rain to finally bloom!

At some place where we stopped for lunch, they were ignoring the no smoking ban so perhaps around these times.

California banned smoking in most indoor workplaces in 1995, including the non-bar areas of restaurants. A temporary exemption for more than 35,000 bars, casinos and bar-restaurants ended on January 1.Jan 23, 1998


Out and about yesterday

I got my morning swim since it was a beautiful sunny day and there is sun this morning so looking good at the moment for swimming. It does remain unseasonably cool but driving around yesterday it was 80 F in the car so it felt like old times.

We did our library run....Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, and Cathedral City. Jim picked up about a dozen free books at Cathedral City and already he found an important lead in one of them to his current research.

There were a couple of old wonderful classic cars parked at Rancho Mirage Library.

I think this Lincoln rates as one of the most esquisite classic cars I've seen. It was hard to photograph as the blazing sun wasn't in the right place and it was parked beside other cars.




This T-Bird was right at the front entrance and had a tape around it so it was on show specially.





At Rancho Mirage we got this annotated two volume Sherlock Holmes for a dollar if you can believe it! It also has the slipcover. Jim saw one on ABE for $80 US without the slipcover so quite a deal. It's so interesting with all sorts of photos and info about where the stories take place. It's going to be fun to browse.