A good way to start the day....

It's lovely and sunny and I saw some egrets out front....such beautiful birds but they did fly away at my appearance. I captured the one in the first photo quite well. You can't see them in the others.

And then these photos on the Modernism Week daily posting. It seems they are going to do different things everyday with the photos...great!

Just about everything I love about PS in this photo....sun, San Jacinto Mountains, palm tree, cactus and cool modernist house with this fabulous orange door.  Well, I have an orange door too that we see everytime we come into the garage. Thanks to Erna for the great paint!

Looks like we missed all the fun...giant snowball fight at UBC

The event was hosted by the UBC Party Calendar, and the event kicked off at noon.

This is something that is pretty rare....ice flows in the Fraser River.

Yesterday was the wettest day in 76 years....it felt like it!

From the Desert Sun

"Over 3 ½ inches of rain fell Thursday in the Palm Springs area, bringing traffic on the ground to a virtual standstill, prompting at least three swift-water rescues and closing schools early.

Thanks to an “atmospheric river,” Thursday was the third-wettest day ever at Palm Springs International Airport, records from the National Weather Service show. Valentine's Day will be remembered as the wettest day in 76 years in Palm Springs. The city officially received 3.69 inches."

I  took a couple of photos at 9am this morning. Sunny and blue skies so we probably will get our swim today even though it's coolish. There doesn't appear to be any new snow on our mountains.

I'm amazed in the pelting constant rain more of the bougainvillea petals didn't fall.

This is it for the petals that fell and a maybe less as some  may have fallen before the storm.

Modernism Week begins

Photo courtesy of Megan McKean

Well, it was a pretty soggy welcome for people yesterday. I liked this image that was on the Modernism Week email about events. I wonder if they will have a new image every day. This is pretty cool.

Now, this is a fun guest room. I guess this is from one of the house tours.

Photo: Guest bedroom, Steinberg residence, Palm Springs. Fritz Taggart.

Yesterday's rainfall ranked #3 since records began.

1        4.57 inches        Jan. 23, 1943

2        3.80 inches        Dec. 10, 1943

3        3.59 inches        Feb. 14, 2019*

4        3.22 inches        Dec. 9, 1926

5        2.80 inches        July 23, 1948

-         2.80 inches        June 23, 1948

7        2.76 inches        Sept. 10, 1976

8        2.75 inches         Nov. 23, 1965

-          2.75 inches        Oct. 5, 1925

I thought the rain was never going to end and then about 4:30pm there was blue sky and no rain. 

My Autumn soup...we had it for lunch.

I was never so glad to see blue skies and no rain!

Happy Valentine's Day

My roses from Jim. He'll be cooking me a nice steak for tonight.

I'm glad I did my shopping yesterday as there is a really heavy rainstorm in PS and many roads are closed due to flooding.  Jim won't be getting to his Spanish this afternoon that's for sure. Well, I have all the ingredients for Autumn soup...a perfect day to make that!

From The Desert Sun about an hour ago and the rain doesn't seem like it will be stopping anytime soon. Consider that the average yearly rainfall in PS is 5.8 inches.

The storm and atmospheric river that pounded Northern California with record snowfall on Wednesday has brought "continuous" rainfall to the Coachella Valley and surrounding areas, flooding out key roads as forecasters predict as much as a quarter-inch of rain per hour will fall throughout the day Thursday.

As of Thursday morning, North Indian Canyon Drive was closed near the wash. Other roads that will close to due flooding are Golf Club Drive, Araby Drive, El Cielo and Farrell roads, according to Palm Springs police. Water was pooling on Gene Autry Trail between Interstate 10 and Vista Chino, but the roadway had not yet been closed. 

Cathedral City Public Works will be closed, officials said via Twitter. Cathedral Canyon at the wash and Los Gatos at Date Palm Drive are closed. 

The city of Palm Springs said VillageFest, the weekly street fair on Palm Canyon Drive, was canceled due to the storm.

At Palm Springs International Airport, 1.88 inches of rain has fallen since late Wednesday.
** update on rain By 12:30, 3.1 inches of rain had fallen at Palm Springs International Airport.

Our patio...we're usually basking in the sun this time in Feb.

And some photos of around PS from The Desert Sun.

Meanwhile back home....Carol posted some very pretty pictures of snow on her blog.

http://mountdunbar.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-brief-experience-of-snow.html

My wonderful Canyon Sands Bookclub

It's always so much fun and so interesting!

We don't discuss a particular book that we've all read but have a theme. This was February's.

This will be March.

Definitely not a swimming day...hoping PS will miss the worst of it...we'll see

"Stormy weather
The strongest and potentially wettest storm of the winter season is bearing down on Southern California, threatening to unleash debris flows in burn areas in Orange and Riverside counties as the region’s wild winter continues. The atmospheric river-fueled storm, packed with subtropical moisture, will take aim at large swaths of the already-soaked state beginning early Wednesday and lasting through Thursday. Los Angeles Times"

I was wonderfing what Feb. 13 was like last year. 

From my blog Feb 13, 2018

Apparently there is even going to be a bit of rain or drizzle today.  I had fun taking photos of these clouds in the late afternoon yesterday.

Last bit of sunshine for a while it seems

I did have a swim in the sunshine yesterday but rain predicted for today. I will probably pass on my swim and go to Trader Joe's this morning. I can't quite believe I've been here for four days and not gone to Trader's.

Looking forward to seeing what's in the Fearless Flyer.

Interesting that this is the overall favourite at Trader's....something we love too and usually have in the freezer.

This came up quite high on the list...quite awful as far as we are concerned but then we are big fans of Balderson's Cheddar. We do get a cheddar at Ralph's that is pretty close that is a Boar's Head product.

More snow photos from Vancouver and Victoria....love them!

Schools and universities closed, planes delayed, ferries cancelled, roads a hazard but if you don't have to be anywhere and are stocked up on food, it can be really quite fun having snow on the West Coast since we don't get it that much and it's quite a novelty. Now...I'm not really missing it and glad we got away when we did but we would have been cosy and we would have enjoyed it while it was coming down. Now, the slushy mess and ice afterwards...not so much.

 Patty and Terry's backyard.

Another chez Patty and Terry.

Fern and John's front yard...now you can see the water!

Yesterday

We had a great swim in the sunshine. I took this photo on the way out to the pool. I haven't seen this much snow on these particular mountains for quite a few years.

It was great getting back to Bill's but we sat inside. We still have theee lingering colds.

 We went to Peninsula Pasteries and got a demi baguette and a peach pastry.

The owner here is very French and tying up a special pie with a pink ribbon exactly like they do in France.

And then to Revivals so Jim could check out the books.

This is the first time I've seen old 45's. I guess someone donated their collection. They were asking between $1-$4 for them.

I rather liked this pink elephant. I seem to remember Richard having something similar among his many stuffed animals.

Jim with his "treasures"....it's rare that he doesn''t find something to buy.

Victoria today at 3:45 pm

Fern reports that snow is coming down at quite a pace. Looks like she took this from a warm comfy place in her living room.  That is the Gorge waterway in front although you can't really see the water.

Another beautiful sunny day but coolish.

The high is only going to be 63 F.  It apparently will get up to 70 F Thursday but rain is predicted! I'm sure we will enjoy our swim in the sunshine again this morning and I think we'll be able to sit outside at Bill's Pizza. There's no wind at the moment.

Meanwhile back home...

Vancouver got more snow than predicted. Now, those readers of my blog who think all of Canada gets bad weather should know that some years Vancouver doesn't get any snow. This is very unusual!

Carol is on snow shovelling duty since John has a bum leg and using a cane at the moment. Reminds me of the big blizzard we had in Victoria (now that is a once in a hundred years event)  in 1996. Richard had broken his wrist snowboarding but tried to help Jim with the shovelling with one hand...didn't work out too well but it was appreciated!

Linda sent me these photos of their backyard. She doesn't know how much snow they've had since she's not going out! They live in a townhouse development so I think they won't have to do any shovelling.

Ron is keeping his sense of humour about it all and posted this on FB today.

Hummingbirds fed, driveway shovelled, time for a drink on the deck.

Lovely swim in the sunshine yesterday morning

Pool water was very warm and it was great to be swimming outside again.  Sounds like they're getting quite a bit of snow in Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

This came up as a FB memory yesterday. It was a lot warmer 6 years ago!

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