Now we've been back home for a few days, plowed through the inevitable laundry, and caught up on our friends doings, it feels like home again.
We went to view Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii, but the giant caldera is pretty colorless, mainly a dull grey at the moment, with a bit of steam coming up in places, no bright red runs of lava visible although it is currently quite active.
We didn't hang around til evening as it was a 2.5 hour drive to get there, so we just kind of explored around through the park, even at one time taking a side road out to a viewpoint that turned out to be a bit of a time waster, 10 miles one way, just to view a large expanse of coastline in the mist.
We went to view the Thurston lava tube, the island of Hawaii has many lava tubes, but this one is big enough to walk right through, and is illuminated. They are formed when the outer layer of lava cools and hardens, but the inner core is still hot and flowing.
We might have been better instead of turning off the main road to the viewpoint, by staying on the main road down to the sea to see the current effects that the newer lava flow is having. It is quite fascinating to think of the land mass still increasing and actively changing due to all the flowing lava. Oh well, next time.....
You can't currently drive all around the caldera, part of it is now blocked off due to an eruption in 2011. It is challenging to wrap your head around the idea that the land mass is still in the never ending process of growth and change. Working there must be very interesting indeed. Change is constant there.
The naturalist aboard our ship last year said that the land masses of Hawaii are shifting off the exact tops of volcanic activity as the tectonic plates shift around worldwide.
I bought lots of lovely pieces of fabric from Hawaii, not sure exactly what I will do with it, aside from a few bright tablecloths that I can make, but it is so lovely and bright, so evocative of Hawaii.
When we got home from Hawaii to Desert Hot Springs we found all 4 parcels that we had sent ourselves had arrived ahead of us. There is a flat rate box that you can use to send things from Hawaii to continental US for a flat fee of $15, which makes it pretty easy to buy, buy, buy. Things are so pretty there, I love the silk leis and silk flowery hat bands, one for every outfit.....hey, why not.
Lary bought koa wood hoping that a flute maker friend of ours might make him a new flute. And he sent home some clothing too. We both bought splashy aloha shirts, often for good prices. We were very surprised that Walmart in Kona carries quite a bit of very reasonably priced merchandise, including lovely fabric.
This past weekend our park was very busy holding a massive garage type sale, clothing, shoes, electronics, china, baked goods, furniture, working TVs, bedding etc, etc. so that kept us both busy on Friday and Saturday. Friday was organizing and pricing the material donated, and Saturday the doors opened for the general public at 7:30 AM. They finished the sale at 1:00 PM, and then everybody pitched in to help clean up. It is a big fundraiser for the park, it will be interesting to see exactly how much we raised in all.
Lary played his flute a wee bit as entertainment to spell off the main entertainers, a trumpet player and a keyboard player, and I was selling merchandise inside our clubhouse. We also sold burgers outside, around 11:30 or so, so there was lots going on everywhere. Just near the end of the sale they changed the rules and sold brown paper bags for a dollar, big grocery bags with handles on them, and people could fill them up with anything at all, jam them full in fact, so that part is very popular of course, even though the stuff has been pretty well picked over by then. It thins down the volume even more as the rest of the leftovers go to a local thrift store.
Sunday we went over to Indio about 3/4 hour from us here, and attended a lovely Southwest Art Festival, with about 250 merchant artists selling things. From high end clothing to metal work sculptures, lots and lots of paintings, jewelry, Moyo drums made out of propane bottles, didgeridoos, music being played by a man playing a Chapman stick, another North American flute player like us, wood work, very beautiful basket weaving, it was held on the Empire Polo Grounds which is a huge venue, the booths are all organized in a huge grassy area, it's lovely and a real barrage to the senses. Beautiful sculptures, it is fascinating and stimulating to see what all is being sold there. It was a 3 day event, and our friend Annie and her friends Rick and Linda were selling their moyo drums. Annie just wrote a book about how to play the moyo, so that is very neat.
Sadly there has been an outbreak down here of equine herpes, one polo horse had to be put down, and the polo horses have all been put in quarantine. There is no vaccine against it, it sounds very severe and tragic for horse folk, and is the second outbreak of it that I have heard of.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Back home but what a super 2 weeks
Lary's cold turned nasty and stayed with him our whole two week holiday, but as it was warm and humid he coped pretty well and we managed to see and do a lot.
First on the list of fabulous was the whale watching cruise we did with Capt. Dan McSweeney to see humpback whales, and did we ever. The beginning of the trip we motored up the west side of the island for an hour or so, past the lava rock fields of Kona airport, there were 2 female crew and Dan driving the boat. He has an excellent reputation as a photographer, for National Geographic and Discovery Channel, etc, and has spent countless tens of thousands of hours studying whales, his boat is 40 feet long, and carries 36 passengers or so. It is a 3 hour trip and worth every penny. First thing we saw was tail slapping, quite impressive when you realize the whales are 80,000 pounds or so. 50 - 60 feet in length. $99 per person for a 3 hour cruise.
Then we began to see a whale breaching, and the grand finale was 2 whales breaching at the same time, beside each other. They winter in Hawaii between December or March /April or so, and the mothers bear their calves in the warm Hawaiian waters. They don't eat while on their Hawaiian winter holiday, they eat while they are in Alaska during our North American summer. At the end of the trip we all got a souvenir whale photo taken by Dan of a whale breeching, it was grand. We were given juice and water to drink, and fruit snacks, so that was very enjoyable.
Another day we decided to walk over to Kahalu'u Bay, about 10-15 houses away from Chip's place, and go snorkeling using the masks and snorkels at Chip's house. We saw the most beautiful reef fish, Hawaii has gorgeous crystal clear water there, and the colours of the fish are brilliant, many bright yellow ones, some variegated colored ones nearly irridescent, and others with beautiful stripes, dots and others with long tendrils on top of their heads. Others nearly black with bright orange marking near their tail fins. I saw at least 2 schools of fish, reminding me of a fishy curtain, and the coral reef itself was very varied and fascinating.
We were in pretty shallow water, without fins to propel us, just masks and snorkels, and the wind blew and the surf crested and pushed us around quite a bit. Di saw a yellow turtle just poking about underwater, munching away on the yellow weed covering the lava / coral at the edge of the sea. The clarity and warmth of the water was captivating, seemed more than 100 feet visibility, though the swell of the waves was a bit disconceting as we didn't want to touch or bump the coral, or anything else. The fish seem very used to people, they aren't fed so don't pay much attention to the snorkelers, just get on with their life on the coral reef where they live.
By the deeper reef a bit further out in the same bay there were lots of surfers as there was quite a bit of wave action, nearly our whole 2 weeks. It's a very popular place to surf, and one day while I was sitting on our porch (lanai) a lifeguard appeared standing on our lava wall, he was looking out to sea as there was what appeared to be an unattended surfboard. Another lifeguard swam out to it, and there was somebody near the board, perhaps snorkeling, I am not sure what the score was exactly.
It must be quite challenging lifeguarding on that beach, there were 2 lifeguard stations, and each station seemed to have 2 lifeguards in it. They came right out of their enclosure when somebody fell on the slippery rocks to help her up and make sure she was OK. Perhaps one lifeguard station watched the snorkelers, and the other station watched the surfers farther out, I am not sure how they worked it. The footing was quite challenging as it was very rocky with coral outcropping everywhere, and no clear path to the water through it all. Seaweed covered rocks too made it slick to walk on, and underwater coral made it easy to trip.
For another interesting experience we went out another day in the Marian, a glass bottom boat that also seemed to hold about 24 - 30 people. It had 6 kind of wooden frames with plexiglass bottoms, like windows, that you looked down into to see the reef below us. We cruised slowly above the reef below us, and it was like watching the reef through a window. It was again quite windy so the boat rocked and blew around a bit, the view was incredible, colourful reef fish and coral lovely to watch, we felt fine while on the boat, though once back on land after our hour cruise, we felt kind of ill for another hour or so. Weird feeling though lovely trip. $40. per person.
First on the list of fabulous was the whale watching cruise we did with Capt. Dan McSweeney to see humpback whales, and did we ever. The beginning of the trip we motored up the west side of the island for an hour or so, past the lava rock fields of Kona airport, there were 2 female crew and Dan driving the boat. He has an excellent reputation as a photographer, for National Geographic and Discovery Channel, etc, and has spent countless tens of thousands of hours studying whales, his boat is 40 feet long, and carries 36 passengers or so. It is a 3 hour trip and worth every penny. First thing we saw was tail slapping, quite impressive when you realize the whales are 80,000 pounds or so. 50 - 60 feet in length. $99 per person for a 3 hour cruise.
Then we began to see a whale breaching, and the grand finale was 2 whales breaching at the same time, beside each other. They winter in Hawaii between December or March /April or so, and the mothers bear their calves in the warm Hawaiian waters. They don't eat while on their Hawaiian winter holiday, they eat while they are in Alaska during our North American summer. At the end of the trip we all got a souvenir whale photo taken by Dan of a whale breeching, it was grand. We were given juice and water to drink, and fruit snacks, so that was very enjoyable.
Another day we decided to walk over to Kahalu'u Bay, about 10-15 houses away from Chip's place, and go snorkeling using the masks and snorkels at Chip's house. We saw the most beautiful reef fish, Hawaii has gorgeous crystal clear water there, and the colours of the fish are brilliant, many bright yellow ones, some variegated colored ones nearly irridescent, and others with beautiful stripes, dots and others with long tendrils on top of their heads. Others nearly black with bright orange marking near their tail fins. I saw at least 2 schools of fish, reminding me of a fishy curtain, and the coral reef itself was very varied and fascinating.
We were in pretty shallow water, without fins to propel us, just masks and snorkels, and the wind blew and the surf crested and pushed us around quite a bit. Di saw a yellow turtle just poking about underwater, munching away on the yellow weed covering the lava / coral at the edge of the sea. The clarity and warmth of the water was captivating, seemed more than 100 feet visibility, though the swell of the waves was a bit disconceting as we didn't want to touch or bump the coral, or anything else. The fish seem very used to people, they aren't fed so don't pay much attention to the snorkelers, just get on with their life on the coral reef where they live.
By the deeper reef a bit further out in the same bay there were lots of surfers as there was quite a bit of wave action, nearly our whole 2 weeks. It's a very popular place to surf, and one day while I was sitting on our porch (lanai) a lifeguard appeared standing on our lava wall, he was looking out to sea as there was what appeared to be an unattended surfboard. Another lifeguard swam out to it, and there was somebody near the board, perhaps snorkeling, I am not sure what the score was exactly.
It must be quite challenging lifeguarding on that beach, there were 2 lifeguard stations, and each station seemed to have 2 lifeguards in it. They came right out of their enclosure when somebody fell on the slippery rocks to help her up and make sure she was OK. Perhaps one lifeguard station watched the snorkelers, and the other station watched the surfers farther out, I am not sure how they worked it. The footing was quite challenging as it was very rocky with coral outcropping everywhere, and no clear path to the water through it all. Seaweed covered rocks too made it slick to walk on, and underwater coral made it easy to trip.
For another interesting experience we went out another day in the Marian, a glass bottom boat that also seemed to hold about 24 - 30 people. It had 6 kind of wooden frames with plexiglass bottoms, like windows, that you looked down into to see the reef below us. We cruised slowly above the reef below us, and it was like watching the reef through a window. It was again quite windy so the boat rocked and blew around a bit, the view was incredible, colourful reef fish and coral lovely to watch, we felt fine while on the boat, though once back on land after our hour cruise, we felt kind of ill for another hour or so. Weird feeling though lovely trip. $40. per person.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Wow in Kona Hawaii
We have been in the big island of Hawaii staying in Kona on the west side of the island, at our friend Chip's family cottage since Weds. The flight was direct
from LAX, about 6 hours, and Hawaii is 2 hours ahead of the continental US at the moment. We're here for 2 weeks.
The cottage we are in has been in Chip's family for over 40 years, in '96 a hurricane filled it 2 feet full of water, rock and glass bits etc. Ick, what a mess, we saw photos. It's right on the lava rocks, and faces due west, with a 2 foot lava wall at the front of the property, that is we have the sunsets right touching our toes so to speak. Beside us on each side are 2 storey houses, but we are small and discreet, just a single storey house. We park right on the lawn.
First 2 days it was humid as there was 'vog', smog caused by Kilauea volcano erupting. After that- starting yesterday it has been sunny and warm, low 80s, with a nice breeze thankfully. The surfers launch right off our rocks, the rocks look a bit formidable for us, as yet. Lumpy black lava. Sharp, black and not smooth. The surfers walk across it like a sidewalk. But we aren't accustomed to it, nor are we so young.
The cottage has a kitchen, living room/dining room combo across the front, then 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms across the back, with a small shower. There are louvered windows to open and let the breezes blow through in all rooms, screens on all windows. Louvers in the front and back doors too.
Big bifold doors close off the bedrooms from the living area, and the house is fully equipped, whatever you need just seems to be there, it's kind of the honour system for replacing stuff. What you need you just buy and leave the left overs for the next people after you. One bedroom has a queen bed, the other bedroom has 2 twins.
There is the most wonderful collection of woven grass hats hanging in the guest bedroom, and some very pretty art on the walls everywhere. Also there are enchanting hangings of driftwood, shells, urchin shells, and other interesting sea flotsam across the front of the house, hanging off the corners of the eaves. Grassy lawn surrounds the house. Chip's family seems very artistic indeed. There is a pretty painting that Chip did in the living room of tropical fruit.
Rock doves and smaller birds, plus we think a pair of chicken sized Chinese quail are on the front lawn waiting for us to fill the feeder. We have 2 wee bright yellow birds, like canaries, called Saffron finches, the bravest of the lot, they greet us when we come home, stomping around in their birdie fashion on the lanai porch, asking for seeds, more seeds. There are also Java Sparrows, who look like miniature puffins. Chip calls them the little nuns. And there is a house finch, plus a couple of raucous myna birds. The Java sparrows hang off the tall palm trees waiting their turn on the seed feeder.
There are yellow hibiscus beside the house, and a huge banyan tree at the back of the house where bright green geckos live, out in the yard. They peek out of the many holes in the trunk of the tree and are very entertaining. There is even a timid bright red Cardinal who hangs out in the bushes mostly, he is quite small and very shy. A lovely splash of colour. Across the back of the house is vegetation to screen us from Ali'i Road, it's quite busy as it's a main road right into Kona, about 4.5 miles north of Chip's place.
The geckos come into the house and run all over the walls and the ceilings eating bugs, they are very entertaining as they walk upside down on the ceiling, their wee feet look like suction cups. They pop up in the kitchen, or inside the large lamps, on the hunt, ever on the hunt for those tasty bugs.
A bright emerald green gecko head will poke out unexpectedly, staring at you. Wish I had a better camera to capture their photos. About half way down their body they have 3 rust colored exclamation marks, and they are about 6 inches long tip to tail. Blue circles around their eyes. Very delicate treasures.
We saw a yellow turtle feeding in the bay near us, at Kahalu'u Bay, just his head poked up, and the occasional flipper. He looked to be about 18 inches across. It was quite windy and chilly that day as we ate our lunch in a local restaurant. Turtles are protected, as are monk seals. The turtles in the bay eat the seaweed stuff growing on the lava rocks and coral reefs.
We would love to take a sightseeing cruise to see whales as we think the humpbacks are around here at the moment, calving. And there are glass bottom boats to ride in and view the reefs with their coral and reef fish.
The fabric at the Kona market is just lovely, I bought a nice printed apron, and some flowered hat bands for every outfit imaginable. We also got some macadamia nut everything, and some cinnamon buns, and some banana bread with pineapple and coconut in it, yum yum. The macadamia nut chocolate ice cream iss to die for.
We are at an internet cafe, and Lary is smashing mini ants that are racing all over the countertops. We spray them at the cottage when they appear, I worry about killing the geckos that way, ouch. Oh well. Paradise has its troubles too. I think that everything rots in the high humidity, or rusts. High price to pay for paradise.
Lots of love, we will post when we find another internet site. Thanks for reading.
from LAX, about 6 hours, and Hawaii is 2 hours ahead of the continental US at the moment. We're here for 2 weeks.
The cottage we are in has been in Chip's family for over 40 years, in '96 a hurricane filled it 2 feet full of water, rock and glass bits etc. Ick, what a mess, we saw photos. It's right on the lava rocks, and faces due west, with a 2 foot lava wall at the front of the property, that is we have the sunsets right touching our toes so to speak. Beside us on each side are 2 storey houses, but we are small and discreet, just a single storey house. We park right on the lawn.
First 2 days it was humid as there was 'vog', smog caused by Kilauea volcano erupting. After that- starting yesterday it has been sunny and warm, low 80s, with a nice breeze thankfully. The surfers launch right off our rocks, the rocks look a bit formidable for us, as yet. Lumpy black lava. Sharp, black and not smooth. The surfers walk across it like a sidewalk. But we aren't accustomed to it, nor are we so young.
The cottage has a kitchen, living room/dining room combo across the front, then 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms across the back, with a small shower. There are louvered windows to open and let the breezes blow through in all rooms, screens on all windows. Louvers in the front and back doors too.
Big bifold doors close off the bedrooms from the living area, and the house is fully equipped, whatever you need just seems to be there, it's kind of the honour system for replacing stuff. What you need you just buy and leave the left overs for the next people after you. One bedroom has a queen bed, the other bedroom has 2 twins.
There is the most wonderful collection of woven grass hats hanging in the guest bedroom, and some very pretty art on the walls everywhere. Also there are enchanting hangings of driftwood, shells, urchin shells, and other interesting sea flotsam across the front of the house, hanging off the corners of the eaves. Grassy lawn surrounds the house. Chip's family seems very artistic indeed. There is a pretty painting that Chip did in the living room of tropical fruit.
Rock doves and smaller birds, plus we think a pair of chicken sized Chinese quail are on the front lawn waiting for us to fill the feeder. We have 2 wee bright yellow birds, like canaries, called Saffron finches, the bravest of the lot, they greet us when we come home, stomping around in their birdie fashion on the lanai porch, asking for seeds, more seeds. There are also Java Sparrows, who look like miniature puffins. Chip calls them the little nuns. And there is a house finch, plus a couple of raucous myna birds. The Java sparrows hang off the tall palm trees waiting their turn on the seed feeder.
There are yellow hibiscus beside the house, and a huge banyan tree at the back of the house where bright green geckos live, out in the yard. They peek out of the many holes in the trunk of the tree and are very entertaining. There is even a timid bright red Cardinal who hangs out in the bushes mostly, he is quite small and very shy. A lovely splash of colour. Across the back of the house is vegetation to screen us from Ali'i Road, it's quite busy as it's a main road right into Kona, about 4.5 miles north of Chip's place.
The geckos come into the house and run all over the walls and the ceilings eating bugs, they are very entertaining as they walk upside down on the ceiling, their wee feet look like suction cups. They pop up in the kitchen, or inside the large lamps, on the hunt, ever on the hunt for those tasty bugs.
A bright emerald green gecko head will poke out unexpectedly, staring at you. Wish I had a better camera to capture their photos. About half way down their body they have 3 rust colored exclamation marks, and they are about 6 inches long tip to tail. Blue circles around their eyes. Very delicate treasures.
We saw a yellow turtle feeding in the bay near us, at Kahalu'u Bay, just his head poked up, and the occasional flipper. He looked to be about 18 inches across. It was quite windy and chilly that day as we ate our lunch in a local restaurant. Turtles are protected, as are monk seals. The turtles in the bay eat the seaweed stuff growing on the lava rocks and coral reefs.
We would love to take a sightseeing cruise to see whales as we think the humpbacks are around here at the moment, calving. And there are glass bottom boats to ride in and view the reefs with their coral and reef fish.
The fabric at the Kona market is just lovely, I bought a nice printed apron, and some flowered hat bands for every outfit imaginable. We also got some macadamia nut everything, and some cinnamon buns, and some banana bread with pineapple and coconut in it, yum yum. The macadamia nut chocolate ice cream iss to die for.
We are at an internet cafe, and Lary is smashing mini ants that are racing all over the countertops. We spray them at the cottage when they appear, I worry about killing the geckos that way, ouch. Oh well. Paradise has its troubles too. I think that everything rots in the high humidity, or rusts. High price to pay for paradise.
Lots of love, we will post when we find another internet site. Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Away to Kona Hawaii, ho ho
Lary got up out of bed Monday feeling a bit better, but sounding very croaky still. He went over to the Travel Club meeting at Catalina Spa, and I went and did girlie stuff, haircut, pedicure, nails etc.
When I got home Lary had his small suitcase ready to go, packed, and had washed the sheets from our bed. I packed in a bigger suitcase and did the rest of the laundry, it's pretty inexpensive here at our park, $1 for wash and same for dryer. And a very clean laundry room with iron and ironing board set up ready to go. Very handy even if I have to leave my unit to go up to the clubhouse. Some women have washing machines in their outdoor sheds, but not us. There are outdoor lines to air dry stuff you can't dry in the dryer too. And that works pretty well as the desert sucks the moisture right out of the clothes, usually overnight.
My hair is very short and the hairdresser didn't dry it which I don't care for, it fluffs up when it's dried with a blow dryer and that's what I like. When Cathy was doing my nails she put on the movie The Help, so I managed to watch a bit of that and realize that it is well worth seeing. Very touching, even the snippets that I saw.
Nice Christmas card from an old friend in Nova Scotia. Hi Ginny.
Now it's Tuesday, and we're waiting to leave for LA where we overnight (both ways) before flying to Kona tomorrow Wednesday, for 2 weeks. We are both really looking forward to the trip, the weather is supposed to be high 70s low 80s the whole time we are there, but it doesn't cool off at nights like the desert does. About 68 overnight or something like that in Kona.
Our weather here continues to be pretty well ideal, nice warm days and very chilly nights, great for sleeping. Wonder if we will find snow has arrived on the local mountains when we get back. We are very sorry to miss the Palm Springs Film Festival this year, it's right now and when we'll be away.
We aren't taking our computer with us, I have ordered an IPad 2 with our Air Miles points, but of course it will go to our Nanaimo home so I can't use it til I get home. It would likely have been very handy for this type of trip.
I was looking at Georgette's when we were together, but she's a real gadget girl and is very good with all the techie stuff, whereas I am not so good on it.
When I got home Lary had his small suitcase ready to go, packed, and had washed the sheets from our bed. I packed in a bigger suitcase and did the rest of the laundry, it's pretty inexpensive here at our park, $1 for wash and same for dryer. And a very clean laundry room with iron and ironing board set up ready to go. Very handy even if I have to leave my unit to go up to the clubhouse. Some women have washing machines in their outdoor sheds, but not us. There are outdoor lines to air dry stuff you can't dry in the dryer too. And that works pretty well as the desert sucks the moisture right out of the clothes, usually overnight.
My hair is very short and the hairdresser didn't dry it which I don't care for, it fluffs up when it's dried with a blow dryer and that's what I like. When Cathy was doing my nails she put on the movie The Help, so I managed to watch a bit of that and realize that it is well worth seeing. Very touching, even the snippets that I saw.
Nice Christmas card from an old friend in Nova Scotia. Hi Ginny.
Now it's Tuesday, and we're waiting to leave for LA where we overnight (both ways) before flying to Kona tomorrow Wednesday, for 2 weeks. We are both really looking forward to the trip, the weather is supposed to be high 70s low 80s the whole time we are there, but it doesn't cool off at nights like the desert does. About 68 overnight or something like that in Kona.
Our weather here continues to be pretty well ideal, nice warm days and very chilly nights, great for sleeping. Wonder if we will find snow has arrived on the local mountains when we get back. We are very sorry to miss the Palm Springs Film Festival this year, it's right now and when we'll be away.
We aren't taking our computer with us, I have ordered an IPad 2 with our Air Miles points, but of course it will go to our Nanaimo home so I can't use it til I get home. It would likely have been very handy for this type of trip.
I was looking at Georgette's when we were together, but she's a real gadget girl and is very good with all the techie stuff, whereas I am not so good on it.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Oh oh Lary's sick
Oh dear, on Saturday morning Lary felt sick, kind of a flu thing, which is a real drag seeing how close to departure day we are for our Hawaii trip. He stayed in bed both Saturday and Sunday most of the day, he got up when he was hungry and made some soup. Kind of worrying for us both.
Saturday I went over and had happy hour with Wendy and Dave, it was their last day in the house as their winter tenants were arriving who will stay for 3 months. Wendy and Dave had their 5th wheel out in front of their house, kind of packed and ready to go. The three of us went out for dinner to Applebees, yummy steak and shrimp.
Today Sunday I went down to Thermal to visit our pals Georgette and Harold from Nanaimo, I ended staying for dinner, then came home. The wind has kicked up, and of course the temps are down. They showed me around Oasis RV Park out there, quite nice, an old citrus grove which has been a campsite for about 16 years now.
It's very near the Salton Sea on the west side, a bit removed from most things, but they seem to like the location, whereas I prefer to be nearer a city. Apparently there is a road runner who promptly appears as soon as they fire up the tractor, I guess he runs behind when the ground is disturbed, picking up grubs and snakes and the like. Quite enchanting when you don't see them very commonly.
They gave me some tangerines and a lemon, and another lady in the campsite gave me 2 red peppers, so that was nice.
Tomorrow we have lots of stuff to do, and our suitcases to pack, then on Tuesday we'll be off to LA, then overnight there, and head out on our flight to Kona on Weds AM. Chip has been giving us all kinds of hints about the location of things, and foodly goodies to buy when we're there, so that is very neat.
I am getting very excited about our Hawaii trip now. Hoorah.
Saturday I went over and had happy hour with Wendy and Dave, it was their last day in the house as their winter tenants were arriving who will stay for 3 months. Wendy and Dave had their 5th wheel out in front of their house, kind of packed and ready to go. The three of us went out for dinner to Applebees, yummy steak and shrimp.
Today Sunday I went down to Thermal to visit our pals Georgette and Harold from Nanaimo, I ended staying for dinner, then came home. The wind has kicked up, and of course the temps are down. They showed me around Oasis RV Park out there, quite nice, an old citrus grove which has been a campsite for about 16 years now.
It's very near the Salton Sea on the west side, a bit removed from most things, but they seem to like the location, whereas I prefer to be nearer a city. Apparently there is a road runner who promptly appears as soon as they fire up the tractor, I guess he runs behind when the ground is disturbed, picking up grubs and snakes and the like. Quite enchanting when you don't see them very commonly.
They gave me some tangerines and a lemon, and another lady in the campsite gave me 2 red peppers, so that was nice.
Tomorrow we have lots of stuff to do, and our suitcases to pack, then on Tuesday we'll be off to LA, then overnight there, and head out on our flight to Kona on Weds AM. Chip has been giving us all kinds of hints about the location of things, and foodly goodies to buy when we're there, so that is very neat.
I am getting very excited about our Hawaii trip now. Hoorah.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Flute class Thursday, flute circle Friday night
Had a very interesting lesson at Annie's yesterday. All about playing duets, often with the same key flute, but an octave apart. Some very good clips from Clint Goss website, then we practiced lots, it was interesting, challenging and fun, too. Chip and Marty were there, as well as us, but Barbara was missing, busy doing something else. On the way to Annie's we actually bumped into Georgette and Harold, our friends from home. I recognized their motorhome and her car, I know the licence plate. So we both pulled over on the shoulder of I-10 and had a visit. Turned out that they had spent Wednesday night in the park right across the street from us, at Caliente Springs. What a coincidence to meet friends from home just arriving down here in the Valley.
Picked up my shoes at the shoe repair shop, and ate dinner at a wee Greek restaurant right downtown, then came home and spent a quiet evening.
Today Friday I went to exercise class, and Lary walked out into the desert. After that we cleaned our dusty windows here at the trailer, then we headed into town to meet other friends from Nanaimo, Diana and Howie. We ate lunch at Jackalope Ranch sitting outside in their pretty gardens, it was very warm, 78 or so today, but a windy weekend forecast, and temps to go down somewhat. Still no snow on the local mountains as yet.
We are starting to get excited about our trip to Hawaii now. Tuesday we go to LA and Weds we fly to Kona. Tonight we went to Annie's flute circle at 7 PM and played our flutes, it wasn't our 'finest hour', Lary and I did a duet and it wasn't good, rather yucky in fact. Oh well. We tried something without practicing first.
We're off for Happy Hour and perhaps dinner out tomorrow with Wendy and Dave, and on Sunday have friends from Victoria coming over to visit us here. Would love to get in touch with Georgette and Harold, they are down in Thermal about 1.5 hours south of us here, but I phoned and left them a message, also emailed them, and no response so far. We are quickly running out of time to get together with them before Hawaii.
Picked up my shoes at the shoe repair shop, and ate dinner at a wee Greek restaurant right downtown, then came home and spent a quiet evening.
Today Friday I went to exercise class, and Lary walked out into the desert. After that we cleaned our dusty windows here at the trailer, then we headed into town to meet other friends from Nanaimo, Diana and Howie. We ate lunch at Jackalope Ranch sitting outside in their pretty gardens, it was very warm, 78 or so today, but a windy weekend forecast, and temps to go down somewhat. Still no snow on the local mountains as yet.
We are starting to get excited about our trip to Hawaii now. Tuesday we go to LA and Weds we fly to Kona. Tonight we went to Annie's flute circle at 7 PM and played our flutes, it wasn't our 'finest hour', Lary and I did a duet and it wasn't good, rather yucky in fact. Oh well. We tried something without practicing first.
We're off for Happy Hour and perhaps dinner out tomorrow with Wendy and Dave, and on Sunday have friends from Victoria coming over to visit us here. Would love to get in touch with Georgette and Harold, they are down in Thermal about 1.5 hours south of us here, but I phoned and left them a message, also emailed them, and no response so far. We are quickly running out of time to get together with them before Hawaii.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Visitors from home yesterday
Today Thursday we had coffee, donuts and a business meeting up at the clubhouse. Yesterday friends from home Jan and Russ visited us and had a nice visit, they were on their way to their park model home in Mesa, Arizona.
They had driven from Fresno that day, and the air conditioning wasn't working in their car, and it was 80 degrees, very hot, so they were very hot and damp. They had their energetic little dog with them, Peanut, but she's very good.
We had a light lunch and Russ had a swim in our pool, unfortunately Lary was off carving at his carving class, so he couldn't visit with them. He is concerned that he might not finish his bluejay carving this spring, as he'll miss 3 carving sessions when we are off in Hawaii later this month.
Jan and Russ left heading further east to Blythe on the CA/AZ border, hopefully their car had enough of a rest that the A/C worked on that leg of their trip.
Did the laundry last night, and today we're heading out to Annie's for a flute class with our fellow students, it will be so good to get back into it once more, I am finding that I am lazy and don't practice so much when we don't meet weekly.
Today feels a bit cooler, temps are supposed to go down slightly into the 70s; the trees roots beside our park on the east side have been invading the sewer pipes here in the park, so the trees are being removed, which will be a huge operation. They are tamarisk trees I believe, and have also been lifting our driveway road quite badly. It's a big project, and should be interesting to watch.
The huge acreage beside the park to the east seems to be unoccupied/ undeveloped, but our park has permission from the owners to get this clearing done. The trees have a bad reputation according to an article we read in the newspaper for being water hogs, and sucking areas dry of water near them.
They had driven from Fresno that day, and the air conditioning wasn't working in their car, and it was 80 degrees, very hot, so they were very hot and damp. They had their energetic little dog with them, Peanut, but she's very good.
We had a light lunch and Russ had a swim in our pool, unfortunately Lary was off carving at his carving class, so he couldn't visit with them. He is concerned that he might not finish his bluejay carving this spring, as he'll miss 3 carving sessions when we are off in Hawaii later this month.
Jan and Russ left heading further east to Blythe on the CA/AZ border, hopefully their car had enough of a rest that the A/C worked on that leg of their trip.
Did the laundry last night, and today we're heading out to Annie's for a flute class with our fellow students, it will be so good to get back into it once more, I am finding that I am lazy and don't practice so much when we don't meet weekly.
Today feels a bit cooler, temps are supposed to go down slightly into the 70s; the trees roots beside our park on the east side have been invading the sewer pipes here in the park, so the trees are being removed, which will be a huge operation. They are tamarisk trees I believe, and have also been lifting our driveway road quite badly. It's a big project, and should be interesting to watch.
The huge acreage beside the park to the east seems to be unoccupied/ undeveloped, but our park has permission from the owners to get this clearing done. The trees have a bad reputation according to an article we read in the newspaper for being water hogs, and sucking areas dry of water near them.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Lovely New Year's party
We really enjoyed ourselves at Annie's New Year's party, there were a lot of very interesting people there, among them Linda and Rick who run Yosemite Flute Festival in September at Oakhurst, CA.
We took chicken lasagna, it was yummy, a Stouffers brand product. There was tons of food, and lots of liquid refreshment, though Annie makes it alcohol and drug free. We knew most folks, and it was interesting to hear Al sing his throat singing, playing a brass bowl, and Annie played Didge as did Al at times.
I got a chance to play my new buffalo horn flute, and Chip and Lary did a lovely duet, the best I think I have ever heard them do, on their Jon Sherman A flutes. A couple that we had met in Gibson's, BC was there, JJ and Marie Paul. He played a transverse wooden flute, and also accompanied other folks when they played. It was another lovely event at Annie's place, more magic musical moments.
We left about 11 PM and took Chip with us, to his home, he has trouble seeing in the dark nights.
Next day Jan 1st it was toasty warm, about 80 or so, so we vegged by the pool at our place, and swam in the warm water, what a treat for Jan 1st, 2012.
Since New Year's Day fell on a Sunday the Rose Bowl parade wasn't held til Monday, and Chip invited us over to his house for brunch of ham and eggs. We sat outside and baked in the hot sun, finally he put on the water mister on his eaves, and we basked in cool misty spray. Another day in the low 80s very unusual for this time of year here. After watching bits and pieces of the Rose Bowl Parade from Pasadena, and having brunch outside we played our flutes and had a ton of fun. Lucy, Chip's dog is scared of the bison horn flute which is the key of D.
Today was another warm day, I exercised in the clubhouse first thing today then stayed afterwards to take down the Xmas decorations up there. After that I don't know what happened but the day just evaporated.
Several of our friends are either staying in the Coachella Valley for the season, or else only here for a month, but the month nearly everybody has chosen is January when we'll be away in Kona Hawaii for 2 weeks. So we may be visiting furiously for the early part of the month.
Forecast says that the temps will stay like this over this coming weekend, it is weird. Looking forward to a flute lesson at Annie's this Thursday, and we're meeting friends for lunch on Friday.
We took chicken lasagna, it was yummy, a Stouffers brand product. There was tons of food, and lots of liquid refreshment, though Annie makes it alcohol and drug free. We knew most folks, and it was interesting to hear Al sing his throat singing, playing a brass bowl, and Annie played Didge as did Al at times.
I got a chance to play my new buffalo horn flute, and Chip and Lary did a lovely duet, the best I think I have ever heard them do, on their Jon Sherman A flutes. A couple that we had met in Gibson's, BC was there, JJ and Marie Paul. He played a transverse wooden flute, and also accompanied other folks when they played. It was another lovely event at Annie's place, more magic musical moments.
We left about 11 PM and took Chip with us, to his home, he has trouble seeing in the dark nights.
Next day Jan 1st it was toasty warm, about 80 or so, so we vegged by the pool at our place, and swam in the warm water, what a treat for Jan 1st, 2012.
Since New Year's Day fell on a Sunday the Rose Bowl parade wasn't held til Monday, and Chip invited us over to his house for brunch of ham and eggs. We sat outside and baked in the hot sun, finally he put on the water mister on his eaves, and we basked in cool misty spray. Another day in the low 80s very unusual for this time of year here. After watching bits and pieces of the Rose Bowl Parade from Pasadena, and having brunch outside we played our flutes and had a ton of fun. Lucy, Chip's dog is scared of the bison horn flute which is the key of D.
Today was another warm day, I exercised in the clubhouse first thing today then stayed afterwards to take down the Xmas decorations up there. After that I don't know what happened but the day just evaporated.
Several of our friends are either staying in the Coachella Valley for the season, or else only here for a month, but the month nearly everybody has chosen is January when we'll be away in Kona Hawaii for 2 weeks. So we may be visiting furiously for the early part of the month.
Forecast says that the temps will stay like this over this coming weekend, it is weird. Looking forward to a flute lesson at Annie's this Thursday, and we're meeting friends for lunch on Friday.
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