A gorgeous day in Palm Springs

And on this day 51 years ago in Vancouver it was a wonderfully warm sunny day...a perfect day for a wedding...ours! Then to my parent's waterfront place on Gabriola Island for a cheap honeymoon since we were still students at UBC. A friend remarked when we got home that the problem with that type of honeymoon was all the cooking and cleaning. Jim looked surprised and said, "What cooking and cleaning...that wasn't a problem."  Ah yes...times haven't changed very much :)

We did a day trip to Victoria one day...little did we know we would end up living there for over forty years. Little did we know we would end up living at UBC. And little did we know we would be in Palm Springs 51 years later saying goodbye to our wonderful desert paradise.

Ah life...it's been pretty amazing.

We're off to celebrate with dinner at Lord Fletcher's today. Tbis was Frank Sinatra's favourite haunt and we got rather interested in it after seeing the film, "Frank Sinatra in Palm Springs".

David Fletcher, son of the original owner, who still runs the place. He was interviewed in the film.

lordfletcher.com

Ricard, Salade Nicoise outside for lunch, and sun umbrella up...

Would you believe it wasn't really inviting enough in terms of temperatures to do any of these things we associate with particularly warm weather when we were here Feb-April.  Well, we're cathing up!

The Supreme Dragon for lunch yesterday

It was supposed to be cloudy and even rain. The rain ended up to be a few drops...typical. Well, there was wind later (didn't stop us from an afternoon swim and had a nice chat with Ken)  but really nicely cool and lots of sun. Looking quite cool this coming week so I'm very happy about that. We haven't even had the AC on.

We just love this place!  What a deal. And he always has a reasonable bottle of wine waiting for us.
I forgot my camera but we had the usual duck($9.95) for me and pepper beef ($7.45) for Jim and hot and sour soup (99 cents each) to start. And they give you each an egg roll.

The owners are from Hong Kong and really nice people. Always nice to feel welcome.

We lucked in with cooler weather in Palm Springs this May

From the Desert Sun:

"If you think it hasn't been terribly hot this May in the Palm Springs area, you're not wrong. 

But if you think it's been unseasonably cool, you're not right. 

The city's average temperature from May 1 to May 13 was 76.2 degrees, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Moede. That ranks as the 47th coldest May in Palm Springs since 1922, which puts it roughly in the Goldilocks zone of historical temperatures.  

"It isn’t anything unusual," Moede said of the May temperatures.

Moede said that this month so far is the fourth coldest of the past 10 years. The coldest for the firth half of May was 75.8 degrees in 2010 and the warmest was 80.3 in 2013."

Please vote for this!

This is so cool! This is Carol's grand daughter, Quinn, and her Dad. They made this video for a cooking contest. Please vote for them! Carol and I grew up in the same neighbourhood in Vancouver.

Now, I think Kate and Eliot should enter as well...what a hoot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=179&v=4XC4JMjZHpg

First stop today Trader Joe's

Even before our morning swim!

Some of our favourite things....

I was really pleased to get the English Coastal Cheddar as it is as good, possibly better than Balderson's.  It's not always available. And I can never resist Societe Roquefort.

Just came in from swimming in the moonlight...

Everything went well with the flight and we enjoyed a nice lunch at Canucks Resstaurant as usual. I usually get the burger but tried the beef dip...excellent.

It was so balmy swimming tonight. We really loved it. We didn't go shopping as we have bread, pb, coffee and canned fruit. Looking forward to Trader Joe's tomorrow and perhaps we'll go downtown to Fisherman's and have our usual grilled catfish...

Getting ready to board...

Much welcome rain and coolness since the forest fire season already seems to have begun.  It will be quite a change in PS.  We swam this morning and looking forward to an eveing swim in the sunshine in PS.

Cool PS poster...we'll soon be there!

All packed up and organized. It's easier when you're just going for a short period. It will probably be raining when we leave today. 99 F awaits us in PS but then it does get cooler and apparently even some rain.  I'll believe that when I see it!

 

A wonderful day yesterday....

Richard was in Victoria to be a "judge" at Kristen's cooking competition. He sent me a warm Mother's Day wish which was much appreciated.

We had tickets (free) to Vancouver Academy of Music's Symphony concert at the Orpheum. Donna joined us and we all loved it. It was particularly special since the son of one of our Jane Austen members was the featured concert pianist. Jon Kimura Parker played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. And her nephew is Ian Parker, the conductor and musical dirictor of VAM (Vancouver Academy of Music).

Before the main event there was the Intermediate VAM Orchestra playing some selections. These are younger people and perhaps one of them was playing my father's violin. Nice to think about. We got introduced to this school because I donated my father's violin to them and it seems that I have free tickets forever.

And then we all went to a Japanese restaurant in Kerrsdale where Donna lives and had a great dinner. The upcoming year for VAM sounds great and we are really happy to think we'll be able to take advantage of all of them. Going to Palm Springs we missed most of them. I get free tickets so if anyone else wants to join us, let me know.

The Orpheum...wonderful venue.

This was a lane just outside the Orpheum...kind of cool mural.

The new season. It just seemed right to take these photos on my wonderful quilt that my dear friend, Kerry, made for me. the colours are perfect.

Program from today.

My Jane Austen Society meeting yesterday

Always lots of fun and learning lots about Jane Austen. This time the focus was on aunts in Jane  Austen and some people spoke about their own aunts who were special to them.

And lots of yummy food! There were some very tasty pakoras. Which reminded Donna that Handi Indian Restaurant which is now closed on Dunbar will be reopening on Broadway. It is apparently excellent so we'll all have to get to it.

Very pleased with our new addition...

We decided to just live with what we had in terms of furniture when we moved to UBC to see what might work and we ended up using our occasinal chairs in our "sunroom" so what to do in the living room?  We thought about a couple of chairs but then Jim found this love seat which matched up with everything else. It was delivered today and we love it.

A walk on the beach and a smokie for lunch yesterday...

It's hard to beat the hotdogs at our English Bay guy since you have all the wonderful condiments that go with it and even hot banana peppers! The smokie is pretty good but just the basics...relish, mustard, ketsup. Well, you are helping the Parks Board maintain all the wonderful parks and beaches in Vancouver by patronising the concessions.

This was an old Ford Econoline. We wondered if they had the pop top made especially. They had everything they needed.

These driftwood "chairs" are an interesting artwork but I don't actually think you are supposed to sit in them. There is a sign saying "Don't cross this line".

What fun!

Jim invited Walter and Marketa to come for tea yesterday. Walter is a scientist and Marketa was a professor of German  at UBC. They came for tea so I brought  out my parents' china. They are both proposing presentations at the Huxley conference in Toulon in 2020 and Jim is helping them with their proposals. I know Jim is really appreciated in his studies in Huxley among Huxley scholars but these local folks obviously consider him a "rock star". He works very hard at all this and so nice to see he is appreciated even locally. We'll all be in Toulon for the Huxley Symposium in 2020 and we're all really looking forward to it.

I need to bring this out more often!

They are both always amazed at what Jim manages to unearth in terms of Huxley materials. And they both loved my artwork.  Maybe I'll get inspired to get going on this again. I have set up my easel and materials....

Lunch with Brian and Susan at the University Golf Club

It was great catching up and a great lunch. It really is a great deal and CDN dollars....loving it! Well, just a couple more weeks of American dollars (and we have US dollars from the sale of the car) and we will love being in PS saying farewell to our wonderful home regardless of the weather. We have amazing weather in Vancouver at the moment.  We do live in paradise.

Looking like a great week for weather...a week today we'll be in Palm Springs!

Vancouver forecast calls for a sizzling 27°C(80F) high and 7 days of bright sunshine

Palm Springs will be in the low 90's the first week we're there so that's not too bad.

Wonderful exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery

Wow...there were some really amazing works on loan from the Brooklyn Museum. It would be interesting to know what this collection was insured for. And we passed Richard's workplace. Richard, you should take this in. On Tuesdays, from 5-9, admission is by donation.

We took the bus down and it was so easy. There are so many buses coming and going to UBC. It was really fun taking the bus.  First time from UBC for me. It certainly is a great system but then we were out of rush hour. In forty years in Victoria, I never too the bus once. 

And I got the perfect gift in the giftshop especially since I will have to say goodbye to my wonderful Mondrian coffee table.

 Claude Monet

 Love this Cezanne!

Now, no one would ever guess this is Matisse...

 I haven't heard of this artist but I thought it was quite charming.

 I don't think I would have guessed Matisse for this one.

Nitobe Gardens yesterday

We've been almost going many times since we moved to UBC but weather, various commitments, etc. have stopped us. We got there yesterday and it was a warm sunny day so we enjoyed it to the max. When we were students at UBC we went there many times. It was free and always a nice oasis. Jim gets it free as Visiting Faculty and I paid $6 as a Senior.

This could be fun to go to.

The tearoom...you do have to have only socks on to participate in the ceremony.

Waterfalls...Illustrating the male and female traits of nature in the Shinto religion, the strength and masculinity of the waterfall contrasts with the calm, feminine stream. Hey, Grace, that's us, right...the calm feminine stream:)

Bridges - Water crossings reflect different stages of life such as marriage, spiritual growth, etc.