Friday, March 20, 2015

Palm Springs Forever

It is so wonderful that so many mid-century modern houses and neighbourhoods have been preserved here.  By chance and circumstance really.  Property values were such that originals weren't worth tearing down and rebuilding monster houses out of character.  Lucky Palm Springs!

It's such a pleasure to go into these areas and take photos and admire the houses and gardens….and of course the San Jacinto Mountains are usually there as well.  It makes up a bit for the sadness I feel about my wonderful hometown of Vancouver  where lovely old character homes are being torn down and replaced by ugly (to me) monster houses.

A few photos today from the Deepwell neighbourhood.













Review

Jim's open textbook that he created last year for B.C. Campus has been reviewed and it received 4.9 our of 5 and excellent comments.  Congratulations,  Jim!




http://open.bccampus.ca/find-open-textbooks/?uuid=f373dca8-65c1-4a28-974a-035fe681f15a&contributor=&keyword=&subject=English

Thursday, March 19, 2015

More on the Stanley Park herons

They also now have someone you can email with questions.  This is her reply:

Dear Janice,
Thank you for your interest in the great blue herons nesting in Stanley Park.

After the fledglings leave the nest, the herons disperse to local feeding grounds such as Lost Lagoon, Beaver Lake, the Stanley Park shoreline, Coal Harbour, False Creek, and the coastline from Jericho to Wreck Beach. Some likely move to Ambleside Beach, the West Vancouver coastline, the inner area of Burrard Inlet, the Fraser River, Iona Beach and to some of the islets and islands off the mainland. In winter, adult and juvenile herons can be seen feeding around the shoreline and in agriculture fields around the Fraser Delta.

Breeding Pacific Great Blue Herons require accessible prey within about 10 km of a nesting location. Adults from the colony have been observed around the Stanley Park’s coastline, as well as along English Bay and Burrard Inlet shorelines. Although they used to feed mainly along Spanish Banks, the majority of herons now fly across the city at the north arm of the Fraser River. A few herons have even been observed flying past Point Atkinson towards Horseshoe Bay or Bowen Island. There is actually a very large colony of herons nesting at the base of the ferry terminal jetty in Tswassen, and those birds all feed on the mudflat there.

For more information on herons including FAQ’a, nesting timeine and history of the colony or to join the Adopt a Nest program, please visit: http://stanleyparkecology.ca/conservation/urban-wildlife/herons   

Sincerely,
Robyn Worcester, RPBio

Stanley Park Heronry Webcam
#HeronTalk   

Good times at Catalan Restaurant last night.

We had lots of laughs and good food last night with Erna and Marvin.  They make a pretty decent paella….not as good as mine,  of course!

 My chicken livers on cauliflower puree.


 Jim's pork belly and argula salad….we shared our appies.


 Erna and Marvin had salads to start.


 JIm and I both had paella.


Erna and Marvin both had the scallops on a butternut squash puree.  They were excellent if a bit minimal….I think they could have added some rice or roast potatoes given it was a main course.

Desserts were rice pudding for Erna and Marvin and a lovely raspberry sorbet for us.  The rice pudding looked good too.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Itty Bitty Book Review: "The Chameleon's Shadow"


 "The Chameleon's Shadow" by Minette Walters

I hadn't read a Minette Walters for a while.  Elaine picked up The Echo at one of our library book nooks and so was reminded how much I enjoyed her work.  The Echo is a nice little paperback so I'll save it for the plane.  I picked this up at the library.  She hasn't disappointed so far….a good psychological thriller.

Herons in Stanley Park


This part of Stanley Park is just steps from where we live and we enjoy watching the "heron drama" especially the birds flying out for fishing and the fledglings.  The newspaper article mentions a webcam the Vancouver Parks Board set up but it doesn't seem to be functioning at the moment.  That will be neat because you can't really see much once the trees have their leaves again.

It was interesting to know both parents hunt for food as we were under the impression it was the female only and also that they eat more than fish which must make it a little easier for these overworked parents.  We see them flying in with gullets full of fish and the chicks are always chattering for more food!

Story in the Vancouver Sun today:

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/close+with+Stanley+Park+herons/10897791/story.html

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Good as new

We have used our fireplace a lot over the past two years and noticed the log was getting very black.  We thought we were going to have to buy a new log set but learned from googling and also having it confirmed by a local fireplace shop to clean it with a paint brush.  We weren't hopeful that a simple brushing would get rid of the soot but lo and behold it came off very easily….who knew!

 Before….


After….

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

On my cat calendar today…"Who would believe such pleasure from a wee ball o'fur?"
-Irish saying



Sunday, March 15, 2015

Having fun Sunday afternoon at Melvyn's in the Casablanca Lounge

I've been wanting to go to the Sunday afternoon music at the Ingleside Inn and we went this afternoon. Quite a crowd and the only seats were at the piano…literally a "piano bar".  Now we know you can reserve and that would be the way to go but it was fun to sit at the piano!




 I took a little video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfg1jQ8NBOk&feature=youtu.be


It's a crazy world out there….

Is this really for real….buying bonds that will pay a negative yield in order to get a secure investment?   And I thought 1.5% on GIC's was bad!  I remember my Dad getting 19.5% on Canadian Government Bonds that were completely secure.  Of course,  at the time we were paying 22% on a mortgage…

http://www.desertsun.com/story/morrisbeschlosseconomics/2015/03/02/morris-beschloss-economics-inflation-interest-yield/24259625/

And the Euro tumbling.

Listening to our rockers at Las Casuelas.

There is certainly better Mexican food around but we do love the music and the ambiane.

 Very warm day so decided to go with margaritas instead of wine….a small one would have done!


This young man was having a great time break dancing.


Saturday, March 14, 2015

Canyon Sands Yard Sale

It's always fun to take a look round.  We usually pick up something.




And since our place and down here in general remind us so much of the south of France,  it seemed perfect that there was a Ricard pastis water pitcher for sale!  We picked up a lot of our pastis things in flea markets in the south of France.


A pretty good deal for five bucks.

And these two cheese plates for a buck.

Friday, March 13, 2015

All About Books


I am so enjoying our Canyon Sands book group.  The format is really perfect and Kathy is a wonderful coordinator.   She always has something for us in terms of library materials,  events,  etc.  related to reading.  We each got a little present of a bookmark with this quote on it:

"There is a special congeniality between minds that share a feeling for literary expression.  Minds that can meet in mutual enjoyment of the same jewelled phrase or the music of a rhythmic line."

For this Wednesday's meeting we talked about our current reading and read a passage.  I talked about "My House in Umbria".

We will be flying home the day of the next meeting (April 8)…will have to organize our flights around the meetings next time!  Kathy has invited a local writer to come and talk.  I will be sorry to miss it.

Yesterday,  Stan and Jim played golf and Nicki and I went for lunch at Escena and enjoyed the wonderful views and then hung out at the pool.  We're so glad to have reconnected with Nicki and Stan as we all have such a good time together.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Colourful hot air balloon at The Parker

Erna alerted us to a this balloon that was being raised and belong lit up over at The Parker last night…part of some special party.   I'm sure John would have been able to get a good photo but I don't have a clue how to do something like this so just clicked when it briefly rose and the wretched camera wouldn't take the photo….waiting for more light I guess.

It was quite lovely to see….I should have stopped trying to get a photo and just enjoyed it.



This photos is really more what it looked like:



Monday, March 09, 2015

Change from Bill's Pizza today

We decided to go to P.F. Chang's today at The River.  We used to go here quite a bit but haven't been for a while.   We forgot how good the food is and it was fun to see the blackbirds again.  The major restaurants are still in this development and the movie theatres are doing well but otherwise there are a lot of empty spaces…rather sad to see but it is really just a mall after all.  It just can't beat downtown Palm Springs where so much is happening.



 Our friend waiting patiently…

 Excellent hot and sour soup.


 My sweet and sour chicken.

Jim's pepper beef.

Don't be fooled by the health food delusion...

Good article in the Vancouver Sun today…what I've always believed.

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/fooled+health+food+delusion/10871948/story.html

Sunday, March 08, 2015

Swimming at dusk

I often go for my second swim of the day when the sun is setting.   Elaine and I had a few lovely dusk swims.  This is our view.





Great finds at Ralph's today

I went to Ralph's today because I wanted to get a better selection of Cabs than Trader Joe's has.   I really should go there more often since it's really only about 5 minutes more drive than Von's and they have much more interesting stuff.  Jim has been missing garlic sausage.   There are things down here that are sort of equivalent but the texture is softer than we like.  I did find something at Ralph's that's pretty close and has the right texture.

I also found a baguette that is the closest to the wonderful baguettes we got in Carqueiranne.  I seemed to have missed this in past visits or perhaps I had forever given up on the perfect baguette quest as have Elaine and Susan and Alan….our guests in our villa in Carqueiranne and who know how wonderful the bread was.  Even in France these days,  you don't always get a good baguette.  This small village on the Mediterranean had five bakeries and all excellent.    But things may have changed since 2005 there as well.

Ah yes,  first world problems for sure….the perfect baguette,  garlic sausage,  and a good selection of Cabs.




Cool site!

Donna sent me this today…find out what was the #1 hit the day you were born.  Mine is a tune Perry Como did and who happened to be my dear father's favourite singer.

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

Here's the site…have fun!

What was the Number-One song on the day you were born?      
http://playback.fm/birthday-song

This
 is  amazing!  

- Donna

And then, of course,   I  checked Richard's birthday:

Oct. 17,  1977

Debby Boone  "You Light Up My Life"

Well,  how perfect is that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnk8SKD9zcA                                        

Saturday, March 07, 2015

Golf to the scent of citrus blossoms….

It was just magnificent on the golf course yesterday as the fruit trees are starting to blossom.   Our orange tree is providing a wonderful scent too as we have lunch outside.


Orange blossoms on our tree….looking forward to fresh orange juice next December!

Playing golf,  we met some Canadians who were retired teachers from Ontario now living in Nanaimo and Palm Springs.  Dawn taught English and Brave New World was on the curriculum so taught it for many,  many years.

Thursday, March 05, 2015

Is it really 50 years ago that we graduated from school….!

I've become involved with planning our school's 50th reunion.  I'm a complete newby at school reunions since we've never gone to one but thought this could be fun since we are now living in Vancouver.  Well,  it seems like quite a few of our  classmates also come to Palm Springs.  Nicki and her husband,  Stan,  came over for a drink today.  Really  great to reconnect….such fun!  And Stan's a golfer so Jim and Stan will get a game together.


Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Swimming in the sunshine and looking at snow capped San Jacinto Mountains

I took these photos this morning from the pool.






And these are from Hal Castle,  a neighbour.



Taken at dusk yesterday.