A great first week for Richard at Mobify

Richard phoned today and is loving his new job and location.  Mobify is in the Nordstrom building and they share the same office space as Microsoft.   There are about 75 employees and the office space is an open plan with lots of light.  They can also book private offices if they want to.  He is finding the open plan a good space to work in and people are very friendly and also very quiet and considerate.

He sold his car and belongs to three car shares.  He finds taking the bus to work (15 min.) is the best option as the Granville Bridge is a bit hairy for cycling.  We're happy about that!

Besides work,  he's perfecting the music he and some friends created for a gig May 20.  The music is to celebrate the new Twin Peaks debut.   It's great to see him involved in music again....this time round he learned to keyboard so won't be playing the sax.  We're looking forward to seeing his new band play in May.

Great to talk to you today,  Richard,  and so glad things are working out so well!

An out of the box solution to homelessness and lack of rental accommodation

I found the city of Portland's idea of putting these little houses in backyards of willing homeowners quite intriguing.  The idea is that after 5 years of housing homeless people,  the property owners could use them for rental income.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/portland-pilot-program-puts-homeless-in-residents-backyards/2017/03/17/c22ae848-0b52-11e7-bd19-fd3afa0f7e2a_story.html?utm_term=.82ee55bb0b0a

Desert X

I'm looking forward to checking out some of these art installations.  There was a good article in the Desert Sun today.   This turned up on Facebook yesterday.   This particular installation is about a 10 minute drive away.  I may do that today since it's going to be 94 F....will be cool in the car!

Art Installation by Jennifer Bolande for Desert X

Photograph by Lance Gerber Studio

Visible Distance / Second Sight is an art installation by Jennifer Bolande for DesertX. The temporary artwork can be found along the Gene Autry Trail near Vista Chino (33°50’41.70”N 116°30’21.02”W), where a series of consecutive billboards have been replaced by perfectly aligned photos of the landscapes they are blocking. 

From the DesertX project page:

Each photograph is unique to its position along this route and at a certain point as one approaches each billboard, perfect alignment with the horizon will occur thus reconnecting the space that the rectangle of the billboard has interrupted.

In the language of billboard advertising this kind of reading is referred to as a Burma-Shave after the shaving cream company of the same name who used sequential placement to create messaging that could be read only from a moving vehicle.

Within the desert empire of roadside signs, Bolande chooses to advertise the very thing so often overlooked. Looking up at the billboards our attention is drawn back to the landscape itself, pictured here as a stuttering kinesthetic of real and artificial horizons.

From Feb. 25 through April 30, 2017, the Coachella Valley and its desert landscape will become the canvas for a curated exhibition of site-specific work by established and emerging artists, whose projects will amplify and articulate global and local issues that may range from climate change to starry skies, from tribal culture and immigration to tourism, gaming, and golf. 

The art works, in various indoor and outdoor locations, will be available free and will offer visitors a way to see the valley and reflect on serious and playful issues through the lens of the participating artists’ creativity and work.

For all information visit desertx.org

http://twistedsifter.com/2017/03/visible-distance-second-sight-by-jennifer-bolande-for-desertx/

Zadie Smith

Well,  I've read 90 pages of Swing Time and really quite impressed.   I found a YouTube interview with her with Charlie Rose when she was 24 and had published White Teeth.  Quite fascinating and also learned that BBC paid 5 million (not sure if it was pound or dollars) for the rights to a TV series which was made and seemingly got quite good reviews.  I'll see if I can get hold of this somehow.

The interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB4nF5WD8l8

More bargains and lunch...

We had lunch at Tablita's...we just love the food and decor here.  With an $8.95 lunch combo you get a cup of wonderful tortilla soup for $2.50.    The $5 Margarita goes down well with it all.  Revivals next door had a 50% off sale on clothing so Jim got a like new long sleeve Brook's Brothers cotton shirt for $2.50 and I got this framed print for $18.  It goes perfectly with my yellow walls and my soon to be purple carpet.

The wall is a darker yellow than what is showing with the sun on it at the moment.

Woven in Italy no less...

Scoring at the Canyon Sands yard sale

We don't like to do much before we have our morning coffee but it is just out the front door so Jim stumbled out first and when I caught up with him he was wearing a new sweater and had a bag of stuff!  I found something too.   It was a small yard sale this year but the year we got the most.

An old Swiss Army type knife for a dollar  close to the original we still have from our first trip to Europe in 1972 except that it even has two saws.

These aren't from the yard sale but needed to show how great they look.

These are collectables ($5 each)....houses from "Postcard Row" in San Francisco.  I thought they would be perfect additions to my Christmas village but I think I'll leave them on this table all year round.   Memories of SF and Paris....what a combination!

Jim has a lot of sweaters but not ones in baby blue and yellow...$4 each.

Pencil sharpener for a dollar.   The one Jim bought at the Dollar Store isn't working very well.

12 Galloways for a dollar....you can't beat those prices!

Who knew?

Try to  guess where Jim saw a hockey game playing on a TV screen today?

Answer:  Filling up gas at ARCO

See link:  TV Screens at the pump

http://gstv.com/gas-retailers/

And then I was browsing a local free newspaper there is an advertisement for a company that actually sells,  services,  and has supplies for typewriters called Central Printer Resources.

We also service and sell all makes and models of Typewriters! --IBM, Smith Corona, Olympia to name a few. Electric and manual typewriters for those forms and envelops you need from time to time or just to have a typewriter sitting in your home or office for nostalgic reasons.

Spring has sprung....

These are some photos from Susan and Alan in Yorkshire.

From Alan's post on Facebook:

"Spring at Harlow Carr. Heathers rampant and early rhododendron bushes."

And these are some photos from Carol's blog in Vancouver.   More photos and commentary:
http://mountdunbar.blogspot.ca/2017/03/welcome-spring.html

And the wildflower season is amazing this year in the desert.  When driving we see all sorts of amazing displays but so far I haven't stopped to take photos since it's usually not a place that is easy to do that.  I will get some of my own photos at some point!

Our neighbours come to visit bearing gifts....

Jarret,  Erna's son,  is here for a visit before he returns to Baltimore Saturday so we had them all over for a drink and snacks today.  As usual,  having so much fun I forgot to take photos.

Coffee from Hawaii that Jarret brought....sounds yummy.

These oranges should make great juice...thanks Erna and Marvin.

I bought these daffs at Trader Joe's today to remind me of home.  They are just coming out now in Vancouver....later than usual.   They are in this Ricard pitcher we bought at a Canyon Sands yard sale.
The yard sale is this Saturday and we may just find some treasures...you never know.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "They may not mean to, but they do"

"They may not mean to, but they do"  by Cathleen Schine

I did really enjoy this novel that Kathy recommended for the Literary Women 2017 Festival in Long Beach.  Perhaps the best way to review it is with quotes.

Molly,  Joy's daughter,  is encouraging Joy to get out and do things after Aaron's (husband and father) death.

"You know I'm a very busy person, Molly....between losing things and looking for things I've lost and going to the bathroom...well, the day just isn't long enough."

Visited the Palm Springs Library yesterday...

 I got some "Hot off the Press" books....Richard Russo's "Everybody's Fool" and Zadie Smith's "Swing Time".  I loved Russo's "Empire Falls" and  "Bridge of Sighs"  so I think his current one won't disappoint.  I haven't finished anything Zadie Smith has written since "White Teeth"  so hoping this one will be a winner for me.  It's a problem when you write such a brilliant novel at the age of 24.

Jim scoured the used books for sale and got four treasures.  We also got the DVD of   "A Clockwork Orange" and watched it last night.  It is brilliant but the violence still shocks.  We saw this in London in 1972 and it made quite an impact because of the movie and also it was the first time seeing a movie in a London movie theatre....smoking,  drinking...all quite exciting.  The movie was banned in England not long after.

I was quite impressed by these models of mid Century Modern structures and it make me think that a mid Century Modern dollhouse could be quite fun to have...I never did have a dollhouse as a kid...

Wishing Richard lots of love and luck on the first day of his exciting new job!

Richard is very excited to begin work today at Mobify.   He's really looking forward to working in the  high tech start up environment again and to be working downtown so he can bike,  walk,  or take transit to work.

Richard,  you can see that our In-N-Out Burger hats have pride of place on top of the fridge.   Richard got a taste for In-N-Out when he was working in San Francisco in high tech start ups so it seems the appropriate photo for today.  We wish we could send you a Double Double Cheeseburger "animal style" with a Neapolitan Shake as a congratulatory lunch!

Another close talker...

I got a laugh out of Michelle's Catfé tweet.  Oscar was a close talker like this one seems to be.  So funny how most cats really don't want to get even near anybody let alone close up!

If it's Monday we must be at Bill's....

Wonderful pizza as usual and even though it was in the 90's we got a table in the shade with a bit of a breeze and it was perfect.  Of course,  'Baby Z's Luau" and for something different for the other side,  "Bacon Me Crazy".   Did I tell you I bought some "Bacon Jam" from Trader's....savory,  great on anything.

We've been doing two swims a day lately....wonderful to cool down.  We still haven't had the AC on.  The fans and the way our place is designed really don't make it necessary but it's wonderful to have it there.

Our first sighting of a gecko ....you know it's hot when these little guys turn up.

The leavings from Bill's....lunch tomorrow.

Palm Spring's Art Museum today

We went to see the Women of Abstract Expressionism exhibit.  Excellent!

http://www.psmuseum.org/calendar-2/287-women-of-abstract-expressionism?sort=start&direction=ASC&slug=women-of-abstract-expressionism&timeline=upcoming&ohanah_date_id=354

Preceded by snow crab clusters for me and smoked herring for Jim....crab is too much work for Jim....good thing for the budget!


The leavings...