Notre Dame...mon amour

 I really never wanted to do another trans Atlantic flight but the pandemic lockdown is giving us itchy feet so we just might go to the Aldous Huxley Symposium in Marseille in October if it goes ahead. It was supposed to take place October 2020. The organizers say it's too early to make the decision to go ahead. April 2022 might be more realistic. Everyone attending the conference will have to be vaccinated.  I guess this will be the case with many large events in the future.

We would fly into Marseille and do our favourite haunts in the south of France...Sanary, Bandol, and Carqueiranne. I always thought I couldn't go to France without going to Paris but I couldn't bear to see my favourite building in the world, Notre Dame, undergoing repairs which won't be finished until 2024 and maybe even not by then. Well, I've been to Paris 12 times and spent a total of around 6 months there and it's runined by tourists these days anyway.

Well, we will get lots of pleasure thinking about having moules-frites washed down with the wonderful rosé of Bandol sitting at a terasse overlooking the Mediterranean.

Yep....just might be the way they do it.

 

Tribute to Tiger Woods at St. Andrews

 I thought this was very cool and I'm sure everyone wishes him well. We went to see St Andrews when we were in Scotland.  You have to book long in advance and also have a foursome so not really a possibility to play.

Lobster summer at the Keg?

 I know I'm getting a bit ahead of myself but we can dream a little and think of going to The Keg for fresh lobster this summer. Linda made a post on her blog about The Keg yesterday and it got me thinking.

https://lindaandcec.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-keg.html

We've been big fans of The Keg since it opened and when we lived in the West End we loved taking the Granville Island ferry over to it. We had "resident only" parking so no problem parking close to the ferry stop. When there isn't fresh lobster available I get the prime rib.

We also each had a whole lobster for dinner Tuesday. Safeway had frozen whole lobsters on sale a couple of weeks ago and I bought three. Not quite the same as what we'll get in the summer but pretty good all the same. 

So, we can dream that this summer we might be able to safely dine in and feast on lobster on Granville Island at The Keg. The Yaletown Keg is pretty cool too with the roof top dining. 

Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory ....mon amour.

 Well, normally we would probably be in Palm Springs and attending this in person and arriving ahead of time to enjoy this amazing library and no doubt pick up some materials.  But it was pretty nice to be sitting in the sunshine here in Vancouver (very windy and cool, though)  enjoyng this lecture on Zoom. Yes, Mozart was really a genius that is for sure. The presenter played a minuet he wrote when he was five years old which showed amazing talent and innovation. All the more appreciated by a minuet his father wrote which was pretty pedestrian in comparison.

I missed the Part 1 but will definitely be sure I watch Part 3.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "Writers and Lovers"

"Writers and Lovers" by Lily King

:I wasn't familiar with Lily King but it got a good review somewhere and it ended up being my first ebook I read from the library on my new Kobo. I really enjoyed the experience of reading on my Kobo and it was a very good novel...about writing and lots of stuff. I'll have to look at other things she's written.
 

So many new places to try in Palm Springs

 "Dead or Alive" Bar for wine sounds and looks great.

I would love to be drinking this rosé wine from Morocco in the Palm Springs sunshine right now. Looks like Vancouver is in for a "Pineapple Express"....lots of rain but mild at least.

This came up as a memory on FB yesterday. Our dear friend, Elaine (in the blue sweater ahead of me), was visiting and treated us to the show at the Purple Room.

Another day in paradise...swim in the morning, trolling consignments shops, another swim, then off to one of the Modernism Week's events called "Paris Loves Palm Springs" at the Purple Room in the Club Trinidad... very cool mid century venue. We happened to be sitting exactly where Frank Sinatra proposed to Nancy!

Far Away From Far Away " on your mobile phone

 This NFB project was featured in The Sun on Saturday. I've alway been interested in Newfoundland especially since Jim's father was from there and recently one of my bookclubs read "The Wake" by Linden Macintyre.

I went through the experience pretty much in a linear way. I seemed to have problems swiping back and forth between past and present but I'll work on that for next time. It's pretty cool. The link is 

faraway.nfb.ca 

and must be accessed on a mobile device.

Full link to article  here: (the excerpt comes up a bit weird...can't seem to fix it)

https://www.nfb.ca/interactive/far_away_from_far_away/

A STORY ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE

Far Away From Far Away is a reminder that we walk with one foot in the past and one in the future. Inspired by the early life of visionary Zita Cobb, it tells the story of a young 

girl growing up on the remote Fogo island with her father during the 1960s and ’70s. More than a historical retelling, it offers a contemporary interpretation of time and place while 

painting a powerful picture of rural life in that era.

As we travel through the radical upheaval in Fogo Island’s fishing industry, we also witness a dramatic transformation of the local communities. We’re invited to immerse ourselves in Cobb's personal history and, in doing so, to think about what we value in the world.

Work in progress

My title for this painting is "Mondrian goes Fingerpainting". 

 

Snow in New York

Looks like the city is really getting hit with snow. We enjoy watching our Channel 67 on Shaw...Pix 11 news. We love NYC and we really like the people who read the news and especially Mr. G. who does the weather. He's very famous.

 

A lovely surprise today in the mail

 A Huxley friend of Jim's sent him this little bust of Huxley. Peter is a very sweet guy and teaches special needs kids in the NYC area.  Thank you, Peter!

Itty Bitty Book Review: "Romance in Marseille"

 "Romance in Marseilles" by Claude McKay

I enjoyed all the crazy, wild, criminal characters in this novel. We have always enjoyed our times in Marseille and have had some wonderful bouillibaisse meals before heading on the night train to Paris. Claude McKay is known as a "Harlem Renaissance" poet although I see he has written a number of novels. He was born in Jamaica and moved to the US in 1912. 

I see the VPL has 16 items by him. I put a hold on a poetry book.

Coachella Valley Watercolor Society Annual Show

 I always enjoyed going to the show when we were in Palm Springs. I also went to a number of their meeting (a couple with Susan K.) as they welcomed everyone and usually had a very interesting demonstration.

This is the link to their annual show:

https://cvws.org/product-category/2021-show/

I've posted a some of the paintings of mainly desert and Palm Springs scenes.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "The Friend"

"The Friend" by Sigrid Nunez 

This novel annoyed me and delighted me. I could have done without all the "poor me, the writer" stuff but I did love the dog and the relationship with the woman (don't think she is ever named). The dog is called Apollo. It is a Brock House bookclub choice so I finished it. I probably wouldn't have but at least it was quite short. 

My other bookclub is reading "Through the Looking Glass"...always a delight.

Quite a bit more snow than predicted originally

I enjoyed watching it fall down while listening to the presentation of our Jane Austen group. I was so pleased to see Kathy Hug join us. I had suggested she attend. She ran the bookclub in Canyon Sands in PS and did a wonderful job. She now lives in Palo Alto close to her family. 

All photo taken from the balcony.

 

A bit of humour from Victoria

 

Memory on FB yesterday....8 years ago in Palm Springs...wish we were there!

 Treated to champagne brunch at Melvyn's. So great to see our old friends from Edmonton, Roger and Kerry.

And we got the news yesterday that they have become grandparents for a fourth time...Baby Cohen has arrived! It is Matt's first child...very exciting for everyone!

Ah memory...or lack there of....

 

Mine was Dexter 1269 Y

Bill Reid Art Gallery

This was a fabulous presentation Tuesday from Brock House Tuesday Morning Lectures. We've been to the Gallery and makes me want to go again.

"Our lecture for Tuesday, February 9, will be by Beth Carter, Curator of the Bill Reid Art Gallery.  The topic is BILL REID: TO SPEAK WITH A GOLDEN VOICE.  

I can still visualize the carvings done by Bill Reid at the Vancouver Airport.  It will be good to hear a knowledgeable person talk about the characters in the First Nations art.  A quick scan of the Bill Reid Gallery website showed that it has seniors visiting hours at 639 Hornby in downtown Vancouver.  And several on-line events.  "

Itty Bitty Book Review: "Primary Obsessions"

 "Primary Obsessions" by Charles Demers

This has been getting a lot of press and rightly so. It's a mystery set in Vancouver by someone who  lives in Vancouver. He already is working on the next one and I think the series will continue to have success. The solver of the mystery is a Dr. Annick Boudreau who is a psychologist using CBT with her clients. It seems she will be drawn into solving crimes. This time it's a client who is a young man and wrongly accused of murder.  She is Acadian and so I can see the other coast of Canada brought into it as well as "Cajun country" in the US.  Demers is very cleverly setting up lots of possibilities.  I'm always on the look out for a good mystery....this one's a winner! 

Can't wait to get back to Paradise and see these wonderful benches in Palm Springs

 "Since my original design for bench #2 was for a backless bench I had to rethink the composition. I made a little mockup (sans arms) to reorient the flower to include the back of the new bench. Will make it a lot easier for me to do the drawing. Wednesday we put the finishing seal on bench #1 "Save the Bees" and get the primer on bench #2."

- Diane Morgan

And love this bench too!

"Desert Life", the new bench by artist Ernesto Ramirez, honors the beauty of the desert We love them all, but this is one of our favorite benches!

And "Forever Marilyn" is returning!

PS Resorts has issued a tentative date for when the "Forever Marilyn" sculpture will return to Palm Springs.

PS Resorts Chairman Aftab Dada confirmed to News Channel 3 that the organization has finished the $1 million deal to purchase "Forever Marilyn" and bring the sculpture back to Palm Springs. The deal also includes installation fees. 

PS Resorts has set a tentative date of Sunday, March 28 as the day they will unveil in Palm Springs. 

As we reported back in November, Marilyn will be located at Museum Way in downtown Palm Springs.

 

Memories on FB 8 years ago...wish we were there!

Fabulous weather in Palm Springs since we arrived...2 games of golf, swimming and hot tubbing 3x a day, goodies at Trader Joe's, cheap booze, trolling the thrift stores (Jim picked up a book for 25 cents that is listed for $114 on Amazon..."Understanding Movies") and dinner with friends tonight in Palm Desert. Life is good. I'm sending Jim out to get some tangerines from this tree by the pool...fellow said the oranges were perfect right now. 

And Peninsula Bakeries in P.S. updated their cover photo.  Better breaad than you can often get in Paris these days. They buy their flour from France.

They do make fabulous desserts but the lemon tarte from The Mix on 10th Avenue is better...the best I''ve ever tasted anywhere.

This is the one from Peninsula.

Facinating sky tonight

 I just took these from my iPhone out the dining room window...pretty amazing.