A great lunch and swim with Roger and Kerry yesterday

It was great to see their place and spend their last evening in PS with them. Then, they took us out to Lulu's...wonderful food and atmosphere as usual. A lot of people downtown.

And then lots of goodies to take home since they're leaving this morning.  Thanks so much, guys! I hope this can be a tradition,

They rented a really nice house for the week.

Amazing how comforable these dining room chairs were.

Roger standing under the halo light...well, he is a little angel, isn't he?

 Even a pool table along with a pool, of course.

Nice view of the mountains. They had some wonderful sunsets.

We sat outside and had a great view of the mountains at Lulu's.

Always a fun place to be.

Contentment!

Don't we all remember this day 30 years ago on November 9

Just picked up this wonderful display to mark the anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. We'll certainly never forget going through East and West Berlin in 1976.  Lots of problems in the world but at least there isn't that horror.

"During a time when it seems like walls between individuals and nations are popping up left and right, we are also reminded of when walls were torn down and people were once again reunited.

On November 9th, Berlin celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Peaceful Revolution and the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The highlight of the celebration was Patrick Shearn’s and his Poetic Kinetics team’s colorful motion art installation comprised of 120,000 colorful fabric ribbons."

A pretty lazy day...

Jim went to his Spanish conversaion group and I just read a bit and did nothing.  Morning swim, of course. Trader Joe's Orange Mandarin Chicken and basmati rice for dinner.

And the livin' is easy...

All about books

I had a wonderful time at our session today. I just love this group!

And this from our founder, Kathy, who now is the SF area.

Dear CS Readers/Friends*--

I am thinking of you on the eve of your gathering again for All About Books. You have had an extraordinary year+ of health issues. How I wish for a health benefactor with some magical powers! Magic aside, I know that you benefit from the support of one another. Thus, as I think of you, I am smiling.

I read to p. 254 in Where the Crawdads Sing in Sea Bright, NJ, in September, and last Tuesday, I picked up a library copy that I put on hold at the end of August and finished the book that afternoon. I know that you have been sharing copies; I wish that I could be in your circle tomorrow and hear your responses. The screenplay is supposedly almost finished, and the book continues to appear on the NYT Bestseller List. 

When I changed to Mac OS Catalina operating system on my computer this weekend, I lost my most recent 15 entries, including Where the Crawdads Sing, in my 2019 reading journal. C'est la vie! (I say that, Patti, with a pretend cigarette in hand.) I learned long ago not to fret over what I cannot fix. I am comforted by knowing that I can return to any of the books and refresh my memory.

I have enjoyed reading several books that I would classify as novellas . . . many of them translations. The most recent of them that I would recommend is  A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio, translated from the original Italian where it is entitled Arminula.

Recently, I attended a session of Another Look, a longtime Stanford reading program that focuses on rereading books. The night that I attended, the book was A Face for the World To See, a novella about Hollywood in the 1950s. What really attracted me to the session was an opportunity to see and hear Tobias Wolff in person. I first read his writing when Hilary was at Stanford in the late 1980s.

In December, TheatreWorks will debut a musical version of Pride and Prejudice. 

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley rings in the holidays with the new musical Pride and Prejudice, the 2019 Tony-winning company's 70th World Premiere. Based on Jane Austen's iconic novel, this engaging work features book, music, and lyrics by Paul Gordon, whose musicals include TheatreWorks favorites Jane Austen's EMMA, Daddy Long Legs, and the Tony-nominated Broadway musical Jane Eyre. Pride and Prejudice follows delightfully liberated Lizzie Bennet and dashing, disdainful Mr. Darcy as they discover the irresistible power of love. A favorite from TheatreWorks's 2018 New Works Festival, this brand new musical romantic comedy will be directed by TheatreWorks's Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley.

Continue to support one another. Continue to share. Continue to read. 

Love and laughter,

Kathy

* I know everyone except royalbirth and jlsolo. Welcome! You have joined a great group.

So, how did that happen...well, it always does!

Roger and Kerry came for lunch yesterday....lots of laughs and fun and old memories.

But I didn't take a single photo! Well, we'll be seeing them again Friday before they leave Saturday.

Roger was telling us about a song they helped create for the project he's been working on in Ethiopia to reduce infant mortality. He's been working on this as part of his research at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. It's a culmination of the program and what a super way to do that.

https://www.ualberta.ca/arts/faculty-news/2019/october/song-aims-to-reduce-maternal-deaths-in-ethiopia

We'll see them in the house they've rented and then Lulu's for dinner.
Looking forward!

Tour of The Desert Sun newspaper offices and printing press

This was so interesting for us being forever print subscribers of newspapers no matter where we are. The tour began at 12:15 and we arrived early to see the Palm Springs Historical Society display and when we arrived a photographer from the Desert Sun was giving a presentation on using a drone for his photography...fascinating.

And the editor for the Desert Sun was there answering  questions. Just recently the Desert Sun has been "merged" with Gateway Press but she is determined to keep a local focus. It's what it's all about and why we pay for this when we're in PS.  Over the past 10 years, they have lost more than half of their subscription customers.  They are being creative about this. The space where the presentation was in was reconfigured to have such presentations and also to have things that people pay for so that helps revenue. They are being creative for sure.

Then we had a tour of the presses and a press was being run since they contract to print other local newspapers...this was the paper from Ventura County.  It was great to see the press running. The Desert Sun runs their press around 10pm and those newspapers are ready by 2 am but they distribute all sorts of other newspapers (private company) so that's why delivery doesn't happen until much later...sometimes 10 am in sme areas.  We get our newspaper before 8 am so I guess we're lucky that way.

When we start up our paper here there is always have a hassle getting the newspaper delivered but that is also all contracted out. The editor isn't pleased they don't have control over that stuff. It all makes us even more tolerant of their problems since we do love our printed newspaper delivered to our door. It does get here eventually.

We were in Palm Springs when this happened.

The drone is in front of the photographer..guy on the left.

 Photos of the newsroom...it was lunchtime so not many folks around.

These next ones are of the printing press area. Due to budget constraits they have a mechanic who works if something breaks down. They don't do regular maintenance now.

Palm Springs Art Museum wonderful as always

The Henry Moore's are back at the entrance...great...just love them. They were in the lower level for a while.

And this new display is just amazing...a Canadian who now works out of LA. There was a wonderful video of her explaining her work. Interesting also because Jim is preparing his keynote address at the Huxley conference in Toulon where Huxley wrote Brave New World. (well, Sanary but very close).

And these works by another artist, Adee Robinson...fabulous too.

And other stuff...