Last night a friend Terry and I went to the drum circle downtown at Crystal Fantasy, it was fun, there weren't as many people, maybe 15 or so, but that way it seemed a bit less intimidating and the wall of sound wasn't as high. After a while we shrank the circle so we were nearer together and that felt good.
There was also the spunkiest little girl, I dont' think she was more than 5 or so, and she was picking up the drums and just playing away, she was fearless, and also had a great sense of rhythm. So darling to watch, and she also played the tambourine, and a small percussion egg that Scott has.
It seemed as if there were more women than last time. Again we played for a solid 2 hours, does the spirit good to pound away on the drum. I also took a high ceramic flute that I played, but only did one piece. Seemed pretty good, but kind of high, a small D flute.
There was also quite a creative young woman with a hula hoop, and in all that cacophony she danced with her hula hoop, just outside the drum circle, it was very interesting. Another young woman arrived at the end of the evening with her pit bull, he seemed friendly enough, seems that all comers are welcomed there. You just come in the door, grab some kind of instrument and start drumming with the others. Some even just observe and enjoy the sounds.
The art on the walls is so attractive, it makes it a very pretty performing space if you have to be indoors. There are some lovely interesting items for sale in the store, I was admiring a djembe drum that Scott has, and he has some percussion things, some rainsticks, thunder makers, tambourines, and a few other neat music items. The metaphysical area of things in the store doesn't pull me so much, but it's interesting to look at, and some of those things are very pretty as well.
After that we went to Desert Hot Springs, to the first spa up high on Palm Drive. They hold karaoke evenings, Thursday to Sunday each week, and Terry likes to sing there. We met her friends Donna and Dave, who also sing. Til 11 children are allowed in the bar which seemed weird to me, as there is food from the restaurant for sale, then they have to leave, and it's adults only.
The DJ is Scotty, he is very friendly, and all the people singing seemed to really enjoy themselves, he creates a safe atmosphere where again everybody is welcome, and applauded, too. Good bad and even ugly can all get in on the fun, and there is no charge, though we left a wee tip for the DJ.
Fun night, but now this morning it is hitting me that we need to move our stuff and get organized for the move to the new house, and maybe for renters in our current unit. Yoicks.
And it is getting very warm outside too, which fogs up my thinking a bit and makes me think of migrating like the birds toward the north. Thank heaven for air conditioning, our new unit has a swamp cooler on the roof, which we will have to find out about.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
boo hoo, our last flute lesson of this season
We had our last flute lesson with Annie today this morning, and we practiced for an event that we will be playing at soon. It was fun, and nice to have Annie all to ourselves. We gave her a new microphone stand, as the ones she has are a bit worn out.
After that we raced home so I could help with the weekly poker gathering here at the park, it's mostly but not exclusively men, and today even though many folks are leaving or thinking of leaving soon and packing up, there were 38 players.
We helped as usual though none of us plays poker, it was still enjoyable to be of help, and at half time we served free birthday cake left over from one of our park's owners birthday party, and ice cream, for which everybody pays $1. The afternoon flew by until they finished, they play from about 1 - 4 Thursday afternoons. It was kind of the end of their year, a few will still play the next week or so, but most will now head off to their other home, likely more north than here.
Poker players come from other parks, and then go to other parks in turn to play, it seems sad that they prefer to play cards inside than be outside on a lovely afternoon in the sunshine, but oh well.
After that we went over to our vendor's home to sign papers and arrange to do the transfer of the title etc. We'll have to arrange to get insurance on the new place, too, and do a bit of running about in the next wee while, as we don't have much time left after that. We have to visit the management company and arrange to pay the quarterly home owner association fees, too. We'll be busy for sure.
Lary made stew for dinner, but he complained that it was tough, even after cooking for 3 hours or more. It was flavourful though, which was nice, and he had added a sweet potato or yam, that was delicious.
I think I forgot to say that his blue jay carved bird is starting to look a lot more realistic, they put in the eyes yesterday, and they are woodburning in the details on the feathers, both on top of the body and underneath on the body and tail feathers. Very intricate, and I can tell that it is an interesting if very labour intensive process. As the jay is more or less lifesize that is a lot of work. When the woodburning is done the work seems to just pop out into a much more realistic animal. Lary wants to try doing a Kokopelli figure next, to carve it into a kind of low relief plaque of his own design, which should be very interesting and challenging.
Lary's previous carving instructor Vern had a dreadful and very serious accident recently, his car was smashed into on the I-10 freeway, and it was rolled several times. His wife is hospitalized, her spleen was damaged in the accident, what a pity for them, it sounded very scary indeed.
After that we raced home so I could help with the weekly poker gathering here at the park, it's mostly but not exclusively men, and today even though many folks are leaving or thinking of leaving soon and packing up, there were 38 players.
We helped as usual though none of us plays poker, it was still enjoyable to be of help, and at half time we served free birthday cake left over from one of our park's owners birthday party, and ice cream, for which everybody pays $1. The afternoon flew by until they finished, they play from about 1 - 4 Thursday afternoons. It was kind of the end of their year, a few will still play the next week or so, but most will now head off to their other home, likely more north than here.
Poker players come from other parks, and then go to other parks in turn to play, it seems sad that they prefer to play cards inside than be outside on a lovely afternoon in the sunshine, but oh well.
After that we went over to our vendor's home to sign papers and arrange to do the transfer of the title etc. We'll have to arrange to get insurance on the new place, too, and do a bit of running about in the next wee while, as we don't have much time left after that. We have to visit the management company and arrange to pay the quarterly home owner association fees, too. We'll be busy for sure.
Lary made stew for dinner, but he complained that it was tough, even after cooking for 3 hours or more. It was flavourful though, which was nice, and he had added a sweet potato or yam, that was delicious.
I think I forgot to say that his blue jay carved bird is starting to look a lot more realistic, they put in the eyes yesterday, and they are woodburning in the details on the feathers, both on top of the body and underneath on the body and tail feathers. Very intricate, and I can tell that it is an interesting if very labour intensive process. As the jay is more or less lifesize that is a lot of work. When the woodburning is done the work seems to just pop out into a much more realistic animal. Lary wants to try doing a Kokopelli figure next, to carve it into a kind of low relief plaque of his own design, which should be very interesting and challenging.
Lary's previous carving instructor Vern had a dreadful and very serious accident recently, his car was smashed into on the I-10 freeway, and it was rolled several times. His wife is hospitalized, her spleen was damaged in the accident, what a pity for them, it sounded very scary indeed.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Wonderful music evening tonight
We had a nice day today, Lary carved on his bird with the group, he and Dave put in the eyes in their blue jays, and together with the woodburning he has done recently, the bird is coming to life. Wendy and I spent the afternoon together, and we came over and looked at our new house. That was super, I see new things each time we visit over there.
This evening we went over to our neighbouring park, Catalina Spa and saw Sheila and Freddie Pelletier's concert, they are a very talented pair of Canadian entertainers who sing and play guitars. Freddie has played in some very good bands, and his playing is excellent, he is an incredible guitar picker and player overall.
Their enjoyment of each other comes across very clearly too, as does Freddie's nearly insuppressable sense of humour. When they return home after their winter tour entertaining through Texas, Arizona and California they hold a summer music camp in their small town in Saskatchewan. I think it is Duck Lake, and the camp focuses on guitar playing, with both children and adult students.
They have great energy, and send off such friendly positive vibes, it's the end of the snowbird season here in the valley, and over 60 people were there to listen to the 2 hour concert tonight. Their CDs are available, they have recorded quite a number of them. He often plays in a Chet Atkins style, but as we saw tonight, they can play music and songs from nearly any era, they did a number of spontaneous requests tonight, in a ton of different styles. My favourite was the guitar song, Apache. Sheila sang a pretty Karen Carpenter song which I loved. The audience gave them a standing ovation at the end of the high energy concert.
I forgot to add that he clogs or plays beats with his feet while he plays the guitar, he has a piece of thick plywood that he has under his feet, and he taps loudly, it really enhances his sound. So fun. Sheila can yodel, it's very pretty.
Tomorrow we have our last flute lesson with Annie, then I will help with the poker afternoon here in our park. They play weekly, this might be the last session for this season.
This evening we went over to our neighbouring park, Catalina Spa and saw Sheila and Freddie Pelletier's concert, they are a very talented pair of Canadian entertainers who sing and play guitars. Freddie has played in some very good bands, and his playing is excellent, he is an incredible guitar picker and player overall.
Their enjoyment of each other comes across very clearly too, as does Freddie's nearly insuppressable sense of humour. When they return home after their winter tour entertaining through Texas, Arizona and California they hold a summer music camp in their small town in Saskatchewan. I think it is Duck Lake, and the camp focuses on guitar playing, with both children and adult students.
They have great energy, and send off such friendly positive vibes, it's the end of the snowbird season here in the valley, and over 60 people were there to listen to the 2 hour concert tonight. Their CDs are available, they have recorded quite a number of them. He often plays in a Chet Atkins style, but as we saw tonight, they can play music and songs from nearly any era, they did a number of spontaneous requests tonight, in a ton of different styles. My favourite was the guitar song, Apache. Sheila sang a pretty Karen Carpenter song which I loved. The audience gave them a standing ovation at the end of the high energy concert.
I forgot to add that he clogs or plays beats with his feet while he plays the guitar, he has a piece of thick plywood that he has under his feet, and he taps loudly, it really enhances his sound. So fun. Sheila can yodel, it's very pretty.
Tomorrow we have our last flute lesson with Annie, then I will help with the poker afternoon here in our park. They play weekly, this might be the last session for this season.
We bought a new house right here in the south
O M goodness, lost almost another week, how did that happen again? We have some very exciting news, we heard about a house here in the complex that was newly for sale last night, Monday night. So off we toodled, saw it, came home and decided it was for us, it was the first day it had been for sale.
So we marched right back and made a full price offer which they accepted gleefully, so as it now stands, we have 2 houses, we made the down payment today, and took a few photos.
The sellers are hot to go, they have an offer on another bigger house somewhere else in Desert Hot Springs, so we will be able to put some of our clothing in the new house before we leave. Here it is below:
As you can see, it has a lovely private back enclosed area, and we should be able to sit outside back there most of the time we are down here. Now I'll show you the back part, it even has a cook top outside.
So we marched right back and made a full price offer which they accepted gleefully, so as it now stands, we have 2 houses, we made the down payment today, and took a few photos.
The sellers are hot to go, they have an offer on another bigger house somewhere else in Desert Hot Springs, so we will be able to put some of our clothing in the new house before we leave. Here it is below:
You can kind of see that there is one part that is covered with a canopy, and another part that is open. There is also an electrically driven sun screen that drops down at the side of the covered part, in case it's windy, or too sunny.
So we should get a lot of use out of our new place. The trailer is about 8 years younger than our current one, which we may either sell or rent.
So we should get a lot of use out of our new place. The trailer is about 8 years younger than our current one, which we may either sell or rent.
The outside of the new trailer is wood, not aluminum, so that is a bit nicer than our current one, though it takes a bit more upkeep, caulking and painting it about every 5 years or so.
Now here's the cooktop part: behind the deck chair are cupboards, on the left side there is a cooktop that is covered, so you just lift the top and voila, you can cook outside. The house has propane heat, and a swamp cooler which we know very little about, but it cools much more cheaply than air conditioning. We may not even use it, due to the time of year that we are normally down here. We'll see.
So you can imagine we are very, very excited. We will be able to put our clothes and personal stuff inside it just before we leave for home, so that is very, very neat and exciting.
It is one road over from our current street, so the middle street, and a bit nearer the clubhouse and the pool, so that is great. In the above photo the dart board is on the back (inside) of the large shed door, when the shed door is closed, you can leave out the entry door to the front of the house. Our street address will be the same, just the lot number will be different. New lot number is 104.
The stairway that you see on the extreme left leads into the bedroom, out front is the door access to the living room/ dining room/ kitchen combination front room.
I haven't got a good photo of the living room, the one I took was too dark. I'll retake it and post it later.
Back to our week, on Thursday after coffee and our weekly business meeting the Entertainment Committee cleaned out all the kitchen cupboards in the clubhouse, which was a big job, but we were about 1/2 dozen folks, so it went pretty quickly.
In the afternoon I helped with poker, there were 35 players, I think.
The next day I attended a very interesting day long conference called a Call to Care, put on by the Catholic Church, but held at an Episcopalian church on Hwy 74, in Palm Desert, on the road that eventually goes up to Idyllwild. It was fascinating, the first main speaker was Father Bill Faiella, who basically talked about how to live using your heart, how to forgive yourself and live in the NOW, not worrying about the past, nor fearing the future. All very positive information. with very interesting references cited for further reading. It was kind of addressed to caregivers, but all were welcome.
Then our flute teacher Annie was the other speaker, and of course she spoke about playing music as a healing modality, about playing from the heart, playing your own songs, and using music to heal, unite people, and bring joy and peace.
She played her flute withher friend Adolph for a kind of opening prayer, then she fluted with our friend Chip, it was just lovely. During Father Bill's talk he asked her to play "discord" and up she got, and did that. Then he asked her to play another emotion, a strong one, and she responded marvellously to that request, too.
The two speakers complemented each other very well, and smoothly, too.
In the afternoon we did a bit of drawing, chatted a bit about what we had drawn using the theme of peace, and then we had a drum circle, with every one of the forty or so attendees joining in with drum tops, cymbals, rattles, chimes, it was lovely energy and a nice finish to a very interesting and informative day.
The best part of it was there was no pressure, it was kind of peaceful and uplifting, and it was completely free, with both breakfast and lunch provided.
Saturday we went out to lunch at the Jackalope Restaurant on Hwy 111, Lary and myself, Chip and Annie. Kind of a wrap up for our season together, the restaurant is lovely at this time of the year, they have beautiful gardens where you can sit outside in the warm sunshine, and eat your meal. We had a relaxed time together, sat around after lunch just chatting, and it was lovely and warm in the sunshine. In fact we were seated under a sun shade umbrella. Temps likely in the high 70s or low 80s, the desert is warming up steadily now.
This is a picture of a lovely sculpture in the garden of the restaurant where we ate lunch with Annie and Chip, it's so sweet. The theme of children is often repeated in civic art down here in the Coachella Valley, it's wonderful to see.
After lunch we went to La Quinta Art under the Umbrellas art show, and it was the last hour of that show, we met Dave and Wendy and chatted for a while, and about an hour later joined them for Jazz in the Gardens at El Paseo, the swanky area of shops over in Palm Desert. The Gardens also has bronze sculptures of children playing, they are just wonderful, I adore them all.
The parking lot for The Gardens shopping center was very full, it's Fashion Week and all the fashionistas were nearby in tents, attending the rollout of the latest and greatest in the world of high fashion. Not us.
For the first time ever we attended a Jazz music event that we didn't enjoy, in fact about 1/2 the audience left part way through the musicians show, it was 2 men playing guitars, another on a synthesizer, and the fourth playing the drums. I'm not sure who they were but the audience showed extreme displeasure with the music.
We had a couple of glasses of wine and appies, and we stayed for the whole hour, but it was kind of painful. They were loud and got louder, it wasn't typical for the type of entertainment that is normally featured on Saturday evenings Jazz, outdoors on the lawn of the Gardens. Oh well, it cost us $12 each, and we got drink, food and yucky music not to our taste. Win some, lose some.
Sunday Lary went down to College of the Desert street fair and bought a dark pair of sunglasses, bifocals for reading. Then he carved on his blue jay, he is trying valiantly to get it finished, but it's a big project, he just bought a wonderful new carving 'how to do it' book, with both very detailed carving and painting instructions, so that is very helpful to him.
He found it online at Abe Books, and it took 4 days to arrive, and was 1/2 the cover price. It's a large hardback book, very helpful indeed. It arrived by US Postal Service, wow, we are pretty impressed by the speed of the service, and they even deliver here on Saturdays.
Not sure what else we did but that leads us to Monday and the late afternoon when we first saw the house we then went back to, and bought, leading to more activity for the last 2 weeks of our stay here. Lots of sorting out and packing up to be done now, though we only have to go 1 block or so with our possessions to move them, and we have the offer of a neighbour's golf cart in addition to ours, so that might be very handy indeed.
Today we got all sorts of congratulations on our new purchase, news travels like brushfire around here, we only paid the deposit on the house this morning when we went over to talk with the vendors. They are very nice indeed. They are from Washington State.
More soon, we are expecting to be in a flurry of activity from now on til our departure. Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Fun discovery in Borrego Springs area
Lary's hunt for a base for his bird carving led us to Borrego Springs, CA, a journey of 2 hours south toward the Mexican border.
Borrego Springs is in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, a huge park that runs from Palm Desert near Palm Springs, almost down to the border with Mexico. Its 630,000 acres, quite mountainous in places, is described as a valuable plant, animal, geologic and cultural resource. One of the largest herds of endangered Bighorn Sheep in the US make it home, and in eras gone past it had a rich animal life too. In prehistoric times it was a lake in some areas.
Then off to discover more things, as we had seen huge iron sculptures all along the highway on our route Hwy 78 into town, wondering about them, who had done them, and why they were there.
Turns out that the sculptor who created them is Ricardo Breceda of Perris, California, and the land they are situated on is called Galleta Meadows, owned by Dennis Avery, a benefactor who has allowed the huge oversized iron sculptures to be situated on his land. Avery has several pieces of land, not all joined together, and the massive works of art and whimsy are there on his various acreages. Most of them can be found using a very good brochure that the town of 3,000 or so produces to guide you. Most of them are easily accessible from Borrego Springs Road, north and south, and there are places to park nearby, wander around and explore the free standing sculptures.
Ricardo has three different themes in his work, many of them are based on fossils from prehistoric eras when creatures roamed the valley millions of years ago, then there are some historical figures like Juan Bautista de Anza, the Mexican explorer who led an expedition through this area to San Francisco in the late 1700s, and there is a third more contemporary theme of the field workers who picked grapes in this area, and who were involved in the historic United Farm Workers boycott in the late 1960s.
Most of my photos were of the prehistoric animals, as I ran out of battery on my camera after that, very frustrating. I luckily caught the one of the explorer de Anza which is located at the Chamber of Commerce, but I ran out of battery for the last ones, those of huge prehistoric tortoises, camels, tapirs and peccories, and then the Willys Jeep from the 1950s.
Borrego Springs is in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, a huge park that runs from Palm Desert near Palm Springs, almost down to the border with Mexico. Its 630,000 acres, quite mountainous in places, is described as a valuable plant, animal, geologic and cultural resource. One of the largest herds of endangered Bighorn Sheep in the US make it home, and in eras gone past it had a rich animal life too. In prehistoric times it was a lake in some areas.
Borrego Springs view - and the explorer Juan Bautista de Anza
Lary's previous carving teacher Vern had steered Lary to a man down there, Rich at Manzanita Burlwoods, who uses manzanita roots and wood to make bases for many decorative items, so off we headed to stay overnight, meet him and get a base for the bluejay carving. That was mission 1, and we found him immediately, and waded through his shop looking for the perfect base. We found a lovely one, he varnishes the wood, it's very hard already, and we bought it.
Turns out that the sculptor who created them is Ricardo Breceda of Perris, California, and the land they are situated on is called Galleta Meadows, owned by Dennis Avery, a benefactor who has allowed the huge oversized iron sculptures to be situated on his land. Avery has several pieces of land, not all joined together, and the massive works of art and whimsy are there on his various acreages. Most of them can be found using a very good brochure that the town of 3,000 or so produces to guide you. Most of them are easily accessible from Borrego Springs Road, north and south, and there are places to park nearby, wander around and explore the free standing sculptures.
Ricardo has three different themes in his work, many of them are based on fossils from prehistoric eras when creatures roamed the valley millions of years ago, then there are some historical figures like Juan Bautista de Anza, the Mexican explorer who led an expedition through this area to San Francisco in the late 1700s, and there is a third more contemporary theme of the field workers who picked grapes in this area, and who were involved in the historic United Farm Workers boycott in the late 1960s.
Most of my photos were of the prehistoric animals, as I ran out of battery on my camera after that, very frustrating. I luckily caught the one of the explorer de Anza which is located at the Chamber of Commerce, but I ran out of battery for the last ones, those of huge prehistoric tortoises, camels, tapirs and peccories, and then the Willys Jeep from the 1950s.
It was a lovely overnight expedition for us, a pretty scenic desert mountainous area, which we enjoyed thoroughly and would love to visit again, perhaps next year once Lary has his next carving project ready to mount.
Borrego Springs, a very small town, swells during the winter, snowbirds love its clear mountain air, its artistic feel, and the many winter events largely oriented toward a very artistic leaning community of people. There are RV parks in and around the town, a few nice hotels, and there are pretty galleries, stores and events planned throughout the winter season, and of course there is lots of hiking and outdoor activity in the nearby Anza Borrego State Park for nature lovers of all kinds.
Lary and I visited the informative visitors center there in the park, it was well laid out with a lot of good material for purchase, and several movies of the park and its differing interests and charms.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
From summer to winter in one weekend
How did I misplace a week I wonder? Hmmm. Well here it is Sunday evening and we have been rocking and rolling along, but I must say, l am in serious denial about leaving here soon, even though the weather at the moment totally sucks and the temps have plunged temporarily for this weekend, as chilly weather has moved in.
We were enjoying the lovely temps in the 80s when along blows a storm on Friday, sending the temps plummeting, and the rain chucking it down, with wind shaking our trailer now as I write this. We even had hail today!!! Just pulled up the kitchen blind, it's 10 PM more or less, and I looked at the outside temp, seems as if it's just above 40 fahrenheit, brrr, and here the wind seems to make a booming sound when it blows strongly like tonight.
Today we went down to Frances Stevens Park in Palm Springs for the Desert Art Center Art Show performance, and as we arrived around 11:30 it was raining so hard that the artists displaying their work around the grassy yard in the outdoor show were hurriedly packing up all their pictures and wares, folding up their 'easyup' shelters, all back into their cars. It had got very cold, and one lady told me that it was a repeat of Saturday's weather and hasty pack up then, too. What a pity for them all, nearly a total bust in their two day show.
Annie, Al, Brian, Gary, Lesley and Jim had planned to play flutes etc. for an hour first, then hold a drum circle. Lary and I were the only ones plus Chip who turned up for that drum event, and we had a flute concert almost alone, nobody else wanted to be outdoors as the wind swirled around, and the raindrops pelted them.
Of course the flutes don't play well when it's chilly outside, your warm breath condenses so fast when you play in cool weather that the flutes all quickly water out, and start to squawk and squeak, which is very frustrating indeed.
We were under a concrete canopy on a kind of patio, but with dreadful weather right outside us. I think they played valiantly to nobody for more than an hour - but when the wind shifted and the amps and flutes started to get soaked, they all surrendered, called it a day, and packed up to go home.
I should add that Lesley's voice while she played her guitar and sang was just lovely, clear, sweet and so pure, I loved her Hawaiian song most of all, she is so very talented, and her hubbie Jim works so well with her, as does the rest of the group of flute friends.
No drum circle happened, our poor drums would have been soaked with the tops sagging, not good for them at all.
Hard to think back to Thursday evening when we were downtown at Village Fest street fair in Scott's drum circle, nice and warm in short sleeve shirts, even in the evening from 7 - 9 PM, drumming away and attracting quite a big crowd of street fair viewers, and drum players too, from the viewers.
Scott from Crystal Fantasy sets out extra drums inside the circle of drummers, and the public is encouraged to come in, choose a drum, and join the drumming. There was a young boy drumming with his dad in our circle, he can't have been more than 6 or 7, both of them were just wonderful, energetically playing their drums. Several young children started drumming too, they were encouraged to do that, it was so sweet to see them with their faces lit up in wonder as they played along with the group.
Other drummers were Price, a very nice man, Gary, Dan, Scott- it was a smallish turnout, and our pal Terry drove us there, and played too. We drummed for about 2 hours, but this time I didn't smack my fingers so hard, the edges of my drum are pretty hard, so I am learning to be much more careful. I had sore hands last time after 2 hours drumming.
There is another drum circle at the Ace Hotel, it's at the full moon, outside on their patio, with lots of hotel guests and visitors watching, we'd love to attend that one too, but it may have to be another season that we do that.
After the drumming we carried our drums and walked through the vendors right to the very opposite end of Village Fest and back, my arm and shoulder were tired as my djembe drum from Africa weighs quite a lot.
Okay, to get back to our week, Monday there was a board meeting here, an edgy and contentious decision was made by a hair's breadth to keep the front entry gates open from November 1 til end of March during the daylight hours, it was a squeakingly close vote with the head of the board casting the deciding vote in favour of opening the gates.
Whew, the opponents are equally sure their point of view is correct, but what a chore to have to let the friends and visitors in all day every day by somehow opening the gates each time someone arrives there. There is no communication system with the gate here, no entry system aside from the clickers in our cars, and a touchpad at both gates, often very poor cell reception too, and many folks just plain don't have cell phones, so getting entry to our park with the gates locked can be so very frustrating.
Also the wear and tear on the gate is quite high when it has to open and shut constantly all day long.
Additionally it projects a fortress type of mentality in my opinion, and is very aggravating for the couriers, mail delivery people, and trades people entering the park on a pretty frequent basis. Very little has sold over the winter season, and I think that is one of the main reasons that is so. OK, I'll get off the soapbox now. (Smiling)
After the board meeting Wendy and I attended a bathing suit fashion show over at Catalina Spa where they are currently camping, nice fashions from the local business Glossy, who sells suits at $29.99 for all bathing suits, and there are some truly stunning fashions that she carries.
In particular the fabric is gorgeous down here, a huge choice of styles and colors. In this climate you certainly wear a bathing suit often.
Tuesday I had my hair cut, and later taught our friend Terry the basics of playing the flute, lending her one of mine, with a 'learn to flute' book that I have. We also had some plumbing repairs on our leaky sink drainpipe done on Monday, I hate water leaks, they are so frustrating to deal with. Plumbing work had been done almost a year ago to the day, and it was in that same area, but still we had to pay $75 for the service call, and the plumbers fixed the leak in a twinkle.
Lary and Dave carved on their birds on Weds. and Wendy and I went over to a bead dealer in Palm Desert, he comes to the desert and emails his clients, he rents a conference room in a biggish hotel, and stays for about a week selling beads. He is out of Kennewick, WA but is super well organized, it is so easy to deal with him.
He's also very amusing, he told me on my second visit this week, Welcome Back, and gave me a further discount for being a frequent 'sinner'. Made me laugh, he is so friendly and nice.
Lary and Dave are carving like mad, as they want to finish their birds, not have a UFO, (unfinished object), but it looks pretty iffy to me, they have no feathers burned in as yet, nor is there any paint on the bluejays.
Lary was just explaining all the steps to making, shaping and texturizing the feathers, there is lots still to be done, the jays are life size, good for working on, but lots more work than a smaller bird which they have done previously.
Lary is currently on the hunt for a suitable base for his project, there ia a man down in Borrego Springs who sells manzanita branches and roots, as well as lots of other things for lamps and other decorative uses, we would love to go down and get a base for the bird. We need to make contact with him before heading down as it's a 2 hour trip one way, and we don't want to find him gone when we arrive there.
We 4 had happy hour here Weds., then went out to a Mexican restaurant in Desert Hot Springs for dinner, with 2 for 1 coupons from Dave. Yum yum. I had fajitas which arrive on a sizzling pan brought right to the table.
Thursday we had coffee, donuts and a meeting at 9, then a flute lesson over at Annie's with all 5 of us, for 3 hours, then we kind of raced home and got ready to go to the Village Fest street fair to drum with the Crystal Fantasy group, which I already told you about earlier in the blog.
Friday I shopped with another lady in the morning for the park ice cream social to be held on Sunday, then in the afternoon we took Annie a red canvas foldable wagon that we had bought her for transporting her music equipment from her car to the performance locations, we hope it will be quite handy and helpful for her.
Saturday morning we helped set up the clubhouse hall for the corn beef and cabbage St Paddy's dinner which we attended that night. There were about 115 people attending, so lots of setup to do.
We ended up staying til the end of the dance at 10 PM, and doing a bit of a clean up, with a visitor Jeff, a son of one of the residents, he was very helpful.
I've been making pretty beaded bookmarks, they are on stretchy round elastic thread, the beads sit on the front cover of the paperback book, while the elastic thread is inside the book holding your place. Finding the right beads so that the elastic goes through can be challenging, and I used Wendy's model, one that she gave me a while back, which is lovely, for a pattern.
At the bead man's place I found what is called beach glass, like pieces of glass that you would find on a beach, kind of dulled by the sand and waves, they are very pretty combined with bead findings of silver or copper, and other treasures like wee turtles, penguins and small keepsakes for eye appeal.
That has been fun, likely as with most crafts you can't really make much money, but doing the crafts gives me a lot of satisfaction producing the works themselves.
St. Paddy's dinner and dance was fun, we sat with Mel and Ruth, Lynne and Roger, and Sharon, and the dance music was provided by the Van Horns, he is a local man who sings quite well, imitating many singers nicely, she is from the Los Angeles area, a long way to come to perform music at night.
Our park is very active and many folks dance when they enjoy the music from the live bands we hire for our dinner dances. You can tell if the band is a success by the crowd on the dance floor.
We were enjoying the lovely temps in the 80s when along blows a storm on Friday, sending the temps plummeting, and the rain chucking it down, with wind shaking our trailer now as I write this. We even had hail today!!! Just pulled up the kitchen blind, it's 10 PM more or less, and I looked at the outside temp, seems as if it's just above 40 fahrenheit, brrr, and here the wind seems to make a booming sound when it blows strongly like tonight.
Today we went down to Frances Stevens Park in Palm Springs for the Desert Art Center Art Show performance, and as we arrived around 11:30 it was raining so hard that the artists displaying their work around the grassy yard in the outdoor show were hurriedly packing up all their pictures and wares, folding up their 'easyup' shelters, all back into their cars. It had got very cold, and one lady told me that it was a repeat of Saturday's weather and hasty pack up then, too. What a pity for them all, nearly a total bust in their two day show.
Annie, Al, Brian, Gary, Lesley and Jim had planned to play flutes etc. for an hour first, then hold a drum circle. Lary and I were the only ones plus Chip who turned up for that drum event, and we had a flute concert almost alone, nobody else wanted to be outdoors as the wind swirled around, and the raindrops pelted them.
Of course the flutes don't play well when it's chilly outside, your warm breath condenses so fast when you play in cool weather that the flutes all quickly water out, and start to squawk and squeak, which is very frustrating indeed.
We were under a concrete canopy on a kind of patio, but with dreadful weather right outside us. I think they played valiantly to nobody for more than an hour - but when the wind shifted and the amps and flutes started to get soaked, they all surrendered, called it a day, and packed up to go home.
I should add that Lesley's voice while she played her guitar and sang was just lovely, clear, sweet and so pure, I loved her Hawaiian song most of all, she is so very talented, and her hubbie Jim works so well with her, as does the rest of the group of flute friends.
No drum circle happened, our poor drums would have been soaked with the tops sagging, not good for them at all.
Hard to think back to Thursday evening when we were downtown at Village Fest street fair in Scott's drum circle, nice and warm in short sleeve shirts, even in the evening from 7 - 9 PM, drumming away and attracting quite a big crowd of street fair viewers, and drum players too, from the viewers.
Scott from Crystal Fantasy sets out extra drums inside the circle of drummers, and the public is encouraged to come in, choose a drum, and join the drumming. There was a young boy drumming with his dad in our circle, he can't have been more than 6 or 7, both of them were just wonderful, energetically playing their drums. Several young children started drumming too, they were encouraged to do that, it was so sweet to see them with their faces lit up in wonder as they played along with the group.
Other drummers were Price, a very nice man, Gary, Dan, Scott- it was a smallish turnout, and our pal Terry drove us there, and played too. We drummed for about 2 hours, but this time I didn't smack my fingers so hard, the edges of my drum are pretty hard, so I am learning to be much more careful. I had sore hands last time after 2 hours drumming.
There is another drum circle at the Ace Hotel, it's at the full moon, outside on their patio, with lots of hotel guests and visitors watching, we'd love to attend that one too, but it may have to be another season that we do that.
After the drumming we carried our drums and walked through the vendors right to the very opposite end of Village Fest and back, my arm and shoulder were tired as my djembe drum from Africa weighs quite a lot.
Okay, to get back to our week, Monday there was a board meeting here, an edgy and contentious decision was made by a hair's breadth to keep the front entry gates open from November 1 til end of March during the daylight hours, it was a squeakingly close vote with the head of the board casting the deciding vote in favour of opening the gates.
Whew, the opponents are equally sure their point of view is correct, but what a chore to have to let the friends and visitors in all day every day by somehow opening the gates each time someone arrives there. There is no communication system with the gate here, no entry system aside from the clickers in our cars, and a touchpad at both gates, often very poor cell reception too, and many folks just plain don't have cell phones, so getting entry to our park with the gates locked can be so very frustrating.
Also the wear and tear on the gate is quite high when it has to open and shut constantly all day long.
Additionally it projects a fortress type of mentality in my opinion, and is very aggravating for the couriers, mail delivery people, and trades people entering the park on a pretty frequent basis. Very little has sold over the winter season, and I think that is one of the main reasons that is so. OK, I'll get off the soapbox now. (Smiling)
After the board meeting Wendy and I attended a bathing suit fashion show over at Catalina Spa where they are currently camping, nice fashions from the local business Glossy, who sells suits at $29.99 for all bathing suits, and there are some truly stunning fashions that she carries.
In particular the fabric is gorgeous down here, a huge choice of styles and colors. In this climate you certainly wear a bathing suit often.
Tuesday I had my hair cut, and later taught our friend Terry the basics of playing the flute, lending her one of mine, with a 'learn to flute' book that I have. We also had some plumbing repairs on our leaky sink drainpipe done on Monday, I hate water leaks, they are so frustrating to deal with. Plumbing work had been done almost a year ago to the day, and it was in that same area, but still we had to pay $75 for the service call, and the plumbers fixed the leak in a twinkle.
Lary and Dave carved on their birds on Weds. and Wendy and I went over to a bead dealer in Palm Desert, he comes to the desert and emails his clients, he rents a conference room in a biggish hotel, and stays for about a week selling beads. He is out of Kennewick, WA but is super well organized, it is so easy to deal with him.
He's also very amusing, he told me on my second visit this week, Welcome Back, and gave me a further discount for being a frequent 'sinner'. Made me laugh, he is so friendly and nice.
Lary and Dave are carving like mad, as they want to finish their birds, not have a UFO, (unfinished object), but it looks pretty iffy to me, they have no feathers burned in as yet, nor is there any paint on the bluejays.
Lary was just explaining all the steps to making, shaping and texturizing the feathers, there is lots still to be done, the jays are life size, good for working on, but lots more work than a smaller bird which they have done previously.
Lary is currently on the hunt for a suitable base for his project, there ia a man down in Borrego Springs who sells manzanita branches and roots, as well as lots of other things for lamps and other decorative uses, we would love to go down and get a base for the bird. We need to make contact with him before heading down as it's a 2 hour trip one way, and we don't want to find him gone when we arrive there.
We 4 had happy hour here Weds., then went out to a Mexican restaurant in Desert Hot Springs for dinner, with 2 for 1 coupons from Dave. Yum yum. I had fajitas which arrive on a sizzling pan brought right to the table.
Thursday we had coffee, donuts and a meeting at 9, then a flute lesson over at Annie's with all 5 of us, for 3 hours, then we kind of raced home and got ready to go to the Village Fest street fair to drum with the Crystal Fantasy group, which I already told you about earlier in the blog.
Friday I shopped with another lady in the morning for the park ice cream social to be held on Sunday, then in the afternoon we took Annie a red canvas foldable wagon that we had bought her for transporting her music equipment from her car to the performance locations, we hope it will be quite handy and helpful for her.
Saturday morning we helped set up the clubhouse hall for the corn beef and cabbage St Paddy's dinner which we attended that night. There were about 115 people attending, so lots of setup to do.
We ended up staying til the end of the dance at 10 PM, and doing a bit of a clean up, with a visitor Jeff, a son of one of the residents, he was very helpful.
I've been making pretty beaded bookmarks, they are on stretchy round elastic thread, the beads sit on the front cover of the paperback book, while the elastic thread is inside the book holding your place. Finding the right beads so that the elastic goes through can be challenging, and I used Wendy's model, one that she gave me a while back, which is lovely, for a pattern.
At the bead man's place I found what is called beach glass, like pieces of glass that you would find on a beach, kind of dulled by the sand and waves, they are very pretty combined with bead findings of silver or copper, and other treasures like wee turtles, penguins and small keepsakes for eye appeal.
That has been fun, likely as with most crafts you can't really make much money, but doing the crafts gives me a lot of satisfaction producing the works themselves.
St. Paddy's dinner and dance was fun, we sat with Mel and Ruth, Lynne and Roger, and Sharon, and the dance music was provided by the Van Horns, he is a local man who sings quite well, imitating many singers nicely, she is from the Los Angeles area, a long way to come to perform music at night.
Monday, March 12, 2012
A wow night of drums and flutes in the desert
Sunday night we had a wonderful night of drumming and fluting out in the desert at a friend's place about 20 km from us here, he is Al a flute maker, and a maker of drums and didgeridoos, as well as clay ceremonial pipes.
He has 2 big pieces of property, one is his house, and the second one near the first is a studio, workshop and a lovely space for performing that he has built for himself. Both lots are 10 acres in size, they are fenced, and they are outside Desert Hot Springs off Dillon Road in the desert.
We arrived about 6:30 PM Sunday and were invited into his workshop, the flute inventory there is stupendous, and he has lots of "didges in waiting", yucca stems being dried for didges. We could try out his new flutes if we wanted to. He is a flutemaker who does wood burned artistry on his flutes and didges, I have 4 of his flutes, and Lary has one, we both adore his flutes, their sweet sound is lovely, and they even smell good as they are made of fragrant woods like redwood and cedar.
He has a circular fenced area that is a sweat lodge area, and he had built a big bonfire in a firepit, we all sat around surrounded by wonderfully varied cacti and desert plants, as the sun set in the west, and we played our drums, didges and flutes.
Al had a 'mike' set up for flutes, and he and Annie played their didges, several people from our own flute circle were there, and some we didn't really know, but had seen at the Crystal Fantasy flute circle a couple weeks previously.
To our right were the lower hills of the Indio area, the Little San Bernardino Mtns, and ahead of us, far in the distance was the Palm Springs area with the magestic Mt San Jacinto behind it. The sun set slowly over Mt San Jacinto to the sounds of flutes, drums and didges, and the night was a bit windy but not with the chilly teeth it often has, and Al lit the bonfire and the desert sage smudges, it was just lovely.
Of course one by one the stars came out, with a nearly full moon, Al did a bit of throat singing, Annie chanted, then we 3 ladies Annie, Terry and me started to chant, Lary dubbed us the 3 Graces, it was such fun under the dark black sky full of twinkling stars.
4 of us played flutes one by one at the mike, Annie and Al played their didges, and there were perhaps 10-16 drum players at a time around the circle, playing a variety of drums in our big circle with the fire inside it, warming us up as the desert night crept in.
The energy but serenity too was magic, just incredible, calm but stimulating, peaceful and energizing at the same time. It became chilly but not cold, the enchantment quotient was way, way up there for this island girl.
I hadn't taken my flutes as the last time we played at an indoor drum circle we were pretty well drowned out by the drums, but this time the balance of flutes and drums was very different, and I found myself longing to play my flute and express myself to the night sky, so I borrowed Lary's special ceramic flute made by John Kulias, I think he is Meadowlark Flutes, it is an E flat flute, and is a lovely piece of ceramic art, as well as a very functional instrument. Its clear true sounds really spoke to me joyfully.
How it played out longingly to the stars and the night sky, it felt enchanted to me. I had a blast and felt so happy to reconnect with a flute, I had kind of tapered off my playing recently, but this was the kicker I needed, that longing to play had seized me, and wouldn't be satisfied til I played once more.
We took a friend Terry with us from our park here, she lives almost beside us, and enjoys the same things as we do, so we 3 had a very nice mellow time together, and with the larger group. Another Annie evening of enchantment. And it's not over yet, because we have several more flute functions to attend before we leave.
Hooray, there is an Art show this coming Sunday that Annie has been asked to play at, so she has asked her friends and students to join her midday downtown at Frances Stevens park at the Palm Springs Art Center annual show.
And this coming Thursday is VillageFest downtown, the usual Thursday evening downtown street fair, but this week it is also a drum event there, we can take our drums and play, the organizer Scott of Crystal Fantasy hinted that some Cirque performers may also be there in attendance. My oh my, the fun is just breaking out all over.
Friday March 30th there is another indoor drumming circle at Crystal Fantasy, the metaphysical store downtown, and April 3rd up at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto monument, high up above Palm Desert in the higher desert along Highway 74 there is an art show on Saturday. A friend of Annie's and now ours up there at the monument, Judy, a ranger, will be leaving her employment there, so we will gather to play for her, and play for the art show at the same time.
That will likely be our last time playing unless we have a final lesson with Annie, to hold us through the long northern summer without her kind and creative company and inspiration. She will be dearly missed until we meet again in November once more down here.
He has 2 big pieces of property, one is his house, and the second one near the first is a studio, workshop and a lovely space for performing that he has built for himself. Both lots are 10 acres in size, they are fenced, and they are outside Desert Hot Springs off Dillon Road in the desert.
We arrived about 6:30 PM Sunday and were invited into his workshop, the flute inventory there is stupendous, and he has lots of "didges in waiting", yucca stems being dried for didges. We could try out his new flutes if we wanted to. He is a flutemaker who does wood burned artistry on his flutes and didges, I have 4 of his flutes, and Lary has one, we both adore his flutes, their sweet sound is lovely, and they even smell good as they are made of fragrant woods like redwood and cedar.
He has a circular fenced area that is a sweat lodge area, and he had built a big bonfire in a firepit, we all sat around surrounded by wonderfully varied cacti and desert plants, as the sun set in the west, and we played our drums, didges and flutes.
Al had a 'mike' set up for flutes, and he and Annie played their didges, several people from our own flute circle were there, and some we didn't really know, but had seen at the Crystal Fantasy flute circle a couple weeks previously.
To our right were the lower hills of the Indio area, the Little San Bernardino Mtns, and ahead of us, far in the distance was the Palm Springs area with the magestic Mt San Jacinto behind it. The sun set slowly over Mt San Jacinto to the sounds of flutes, drums and didges, and the night was a bit windy but not with the chilly teeth it often has, and Al lit the bonfire and the desert sage smudges, it was just lovely.
Of course one by one the stars came out, with a nearly full moon, Al did a bit of throat singing, Annie chanted, then we 3 ladies Annie, Terry and me started to chant, Lary dubbed us the 3 Graces, it was such fun under the dark black sky full of twinkling stars.
4 of us played flutes one by one at the mike, Annie and Al played their didges, and there were perhaps 10-16 drum players at a time around the circle, playing a variety of drums in our big circle with the fire inside it, warming us up as the desert night crept in.
The energy but serenity too was magic, just incredible, calm but stimulating, peaceful and energizing at the same time. It became chilly but not cold, the enchantment quotient was way, way up there for this island girl.
I hadn't taken my flutes as the last time we played at an indoor drum circle we were pretty well drowned out by the drums, but this time the balance of flutes and drums was very different, and I found myself longing to play my flute and express myself to the night sky, so I borrowed Lary's special ceramic flute made by John Kulias, I think he is Meadowlark Flutes, it is an E flat flute, and is a lovely piece of ceramic art, as well as a very functional instrument. Its clear true sounds really spoke to me joyfully.
How it played out longingly to the stars and the night sky, it felt enchanted to me. I had a blast and felt so happy to reconnect with a flute, I had kind of tapered off my playing recently, but this was the kicker I needed, that longing to play had seized me, and wouldn't be satisfied til I played once more.
We took a friend Terry with us from our park here, she lives almost beside us, and enjoys the same things as we do, so we 3 had a very nice mellow time together, and with the larger group. Another Annie evening of enchantment. And it's not over yet, because we have several more flute functions to attend before we leave.
Hooray, there is an Art show this coming Sunday that Annie has been asked to play at, so she has asked her friends and students to join her midday downtown at Frances Stevens park at the Palm Springs Art Center annual show.
And this coming Thursday is VillageFest downtown, the usual Thursday evening downtown street fair, but this week it is also a drum event there, we can take our drums and play, the organizer Scott of Crystal Fantasy hinted that some Cirque performers may also be there in attendance. My oh my, the fun is just breaking out all over.
Friday March 30th there is another indoor drumming circle at Crystal Fantasy, the metaphysical store downtown, and April 3rd up at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto monument, high up above Palm Desert in the higher desert along Highway 74 there is an art show on Saturday. A friend of Annie's and now ours up there at the monument, Judy, a ranger, will be leaving her employment there, so we will gather to play for her, and play for the art show at the same time.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Fun at Casino night
Yesterday we went over to the College of the Desert to their massive street fair that is held every weekend, both days, from 7 AM to 2 PM. It was a lovely clear hot day, and we didn't get there til about noon, it was nearly impossible to find a parking spot on the campus grounds, but finally we found one and made our way over via their shuttle service to the sale area.
It is rows and rows of stuff, all new, and quite interesting - though by now we are pretty familiar with most of it. We bought some circle of fifths mousepads for our friends, one of the ladies there runs a stand that is mostly music themed merchandise, as well as selling Udder Balm for hands and skin. She had very kindly ordered the mousepads for us, so we picked them up. Then we strolled around in the hot sunshine enjoying the busy atmosphere, I guess by now people are thinking of returning to their more northerly homes, so making their last minute purchases.
I also bought a bunch of white ankle socks, you can buy them in packs of 5 pairs, for a great price. $5 for 5 pairs, what is not to like about that!!! My feet were pretty sensitive in the new orthotics, and I was wearing a new pair of running shoes as well, double jeopardy.
We sat and listened to the Inkakings, a musical group of South American musicians who play there every weekend, near the food court, they add such a wonderful ambiance to the street fair. All dressed in black with their trademark black felt hats, it's pretty hard not to swing and sway to their evocative sounds. My favourite musician has a double guitar, that is his guitar has 2 necks with different strings on each one, and the sound is incredible, the second neck must give him a whole new range of sounds. Yesterday there were 2 guitarists, and another one doing percussion. They had a massive set of pan flutes there, though we didn't see them being played while we watched them.
As they are located under a tree right in the food court area, you sit under big umbrellas (with any luck) and listen while you eat. Of course there are tons and tons of booths offering all sorts of food, both snack and beverage food, and lunch delights from many different areas of the world. Healthy, or not, there's a big choice.
The musicians have a tip jar out, which we always donate to, and sell their CDs. At least now they have a person who sells their CDs for them while they play.
We also bought some squaw bread, their term, not ours, it's a dark bread with molasses in it, kind of slightly sweet, and we both love it. There is one long row that is mostly fruit, vegetable and candy vendors, it's right over against the fence on the Monterey Road side of the sales lot. During the week the lot is used as a parking lot, so it's free for the market on the weekends.
We got shuttled out to our car when we were finished, and went to Costco hoping to pick up some dessert type of bars that I had volunteered to take to Casino night, but there was nothing of the sort there, so Walmart across the road had what we wanted, rice crispie type bars, brownies, and sweets that are finger food to snack on.
We had supper and then went to Casino night, at 6 PM we were among the first to arrive, and we bought some poker chips to use to buy our Bingo cards. Bob and Jo Ann joined us, another nice couple called Irma and Wally, and then Donna and Ruth, and Sharon near us. Not sure how many people were playing bingo but quite a few, and the caller moved right along, you really had to pay attention to hear what he was calling out, as the poker players were chatting across the room, and we were all having liquid refreshment, so the chat and comments got louder and louder, and the tension built up. Each strip you bought had 3 separate bingo cards on it, I played easily with 2 strips, a bit more of a challenge with 3 strips, and my final move playing 4 strips of cards was impossible, I couldn't keep up at all.
Lary won a few games, startling his neighbours by shouting out excitedly, and we all had lots of fun, and munched away on bowls of popcorn, and of course kibbutzed about.
A lovely evening, at the end of it we had the famous bars that had been brought by a few people, and they had cash door prizes, and cash prizes for the tickets you won when the games were played.
It was run by George and his wife Jean, and they did a great job. Very well organized, everything well in hand and well prepared in advance. It was just a pity that more folks in the park didn't participate, there were 3 or 4 big huge poker tables, I think they played Texas Hold'em, and quite a few of us playing bingo, but our hall can hold a lot more people, and it was a ton of fun. Our hall holds about 150 people seated, I believe, and there were nowhere near that number present last night. Apparently George has been organizing these Casino nights for some years now.
We whizzed home on the golf cart, with our empty plates from the snacks we had taken, and decided that it was lots of fun and we'd definitely do it again next year.
The full moon was shining brightly low on the horizon, the stars twinkling in the black night sky - and all seemed well with the world.
It is rows and rows of stuff, all new, and quite interesting - though by now we are pretty familiar with most of it. We bought some circle of fifths mousepads for our friends, one of the ladies there runs a stand that is mostly music themed merchandise, as well as selling Udder Balm for hands and skin. She had very kindly ordered the mousepads for us, so we picked them up. Then we strolled around in the hot sunshine enjoying the busy atmosphere, I guess by now people are thinking of returning to their more northerly homes, so making their last minute purchases.
I also bought a bunch of white ankle socks, you can buy them in packs of 5 pairs, for a great price. $5 for 5 pairs, what is not to like about that!!! My feet were pretty sensitive in the new orthotics, and I was wearing a new pair of running shoes as well, double jeopardy.
We sat and listened to the Inkakings, a musical group of South American musicians who play there every weekend, near the food court, they add such a wonderful ambiance to the street fair. All dressed in black with their trademark black felt hats, it's pretty hard not to swing and sway to their evocative sounds. My favourite musician has a double guitar, that is his guitar has 2 necks with different strings on each one, and the sound is incredible, the second neck must give him a whole new range of sounds. Yesterday there were 2 guitarists, and another one doing percussion. They had a massive set of pan flutes there, though we didn't see them being played while we watched them.
As they are located under a tree right in the food court area, you sit under big umbrellas (with any luck) and listen while you eat. Of course there are tons and tons of booths offering all sorts of food, both snack and beverage food, and lunch delights from many different areas of the world. Healthy, or not, there's a big choice.
The musicians have a tip jar out, which we always donate to, and sell their CDs. At least now they have a person who sells their CDs for them while they play.
We also bought some squaw bread, their term, not ours, it's a dark bread with molasses in it, kind of slightly sweet, and we both love it. There is one long row that is mostly fruit, vegetable and candy vendors, it's right over against the fence on the Monterey Road side of the sales lot. During the week the lot is used as a parking lot, so it's free for the market on the weekends.
We got shuttled out to our car when we were finished, and went to Costco hoping to pick up some dessert type of bars that I had volunteered to take to Casino night, but there was nothing of the sort there, so Walmart across the road had what we wanted, rice crispie type bars, brownies, and sweets that are finger food to snack on.
We had supper and then went to Casino night, at 6 PM we were among the first to arrive, and we bought some poker chips to use to buy our Bingo cards. Bob and Jo Ann joined us, another nice couple called Irma and Wally, and then Donna and Ruth, and Sharon near us. Not sure how many people were playing bingo but quite a few, and the caller moved right along, you really had to pay attention to hear what he was calling out, as the poker players were chatting across the room, and we were all having liquid refreshment, so the chat and comments got louder and louder, and the tension built up. Each strip you bought had 3 separate bingo cards on it, I played easily with 2 strips, a bit more of a challenge with 3 strips, and my final move playing 4 strips of cards was impossible, I couldn't keep up at all.
Lary won a few games, startling his neighbours by shouting out excitedly, and we all had lots of fun, and munched away on bowls of popcorn, and of course kibbutzed about.
A lovely evening, at the end of it we had the famous bars that had been brought by a few people, and they had cash door prizes, and cash prizes for the tickets you won when the games were played.
It was run by George and his wife Jean, and they did a great job. Very well organized, everything well in hand and well prepared in advance. It was just a pity that more folks in the park didn't participate, there were 3 or 4 big huge poker tables, I think they played Texas Hold'em, and quite a few of us playing bingo, but our hall can hold a lot more people, and it was a ton of fun. Our hall holds about 150 people seated, I believe, and there were nowhere near that number present last night. Apparently George has been organizing these Casino nights for some years now.
We whizzed home on the golf cart, with our empty plates from the snacks we had taken, and decided that it was lots of fun and we'd definitely do it again next year.
The full moon was shining brightly low on the horizon, the stars twinkling in the black night sky - and all seemed well with the world.
Friday, March 9, 2012
La Quinta Arts Festival today
Well Friday finally arrived, and with it warmer weather once more. Hooray, it was a lovely warm sunny day today, and I got new orthotics made by a podiatrist down here, then we headed off to the La Quinta Art Festival. They warned me not to wear the orthotics more than 4 hours, and that was totally true, by 3 PM my feet were sore.
But first- before the art show we returned a defective item to a music store and then, craving a cup of coffee, we stopped at a nearby Mexican restaurant, and had coffee then early lunch, it was the Rodeo Cafe and we ate delicious food. It's on San Pablo near Hwy 111, just north of 111.
La Quinta is south of Highway 111, maybe about 3/4 hour from home, or a bit more, and it's a pretty site for the festival, it's held at La Quinta Civic Center Campus, which is a lovely art filled park area with a big pool in the center, and the art is all around there throughout the park, it was their 30th anniversary.
As you might remember from our previous years, we really enjoy this festival, it's very high quality art, clay, glass work that is incredible, jewelry, painting, furniture, lovely wood working, tons of sculpture, high end clothing and scarves, it is very broad in scope, and all contained inside this lovely art filled park with the lake in the middle. It is sensory overload, and we lasted about 3 hours. Actually it was a perfect day for the event, it was about 80 degrees with a hint of a breeze, and being Friday perhaps not as busy as it will be over the weekend. We didn't buy a thing, a bit uncommon for us, but it's nearly time to leave for home, and we have purchased enough already for our small trailer home here.
Back tracking a bit, on Thursday we had our regular coffee and donuts, but almost directly afterwards we did an earthquake drill throughout the park. We may have said that our park is almost on the San Andreas Fault, so a big earthquake is a distinct possibility for us here. There is an emergency plan in place for earthquakes or other disaster events here in the park, so we had our first run through yesterday.
Lary and I were block captains, which meant that as soon as we heard the sirens go off we set the plan into motion.
First we dropped, covered and held, then when the shaking stopped, (it never really started!) we hopped in our golf cart which luckily hadn't been damaged, and started to make our rounds of the 18 or so units near us here in the park that we had to check on.
One of our neighbours was critically injured, in fact the card on her body said she had no pulse, so we had to make the tough and very uncomfortable decision to leave her and go on to check the rest of the units for damages and casualties. No more emergency scenarios luckily, which we then tried to radio in to command central, but our radio didn't work. drat it, so we had to zip up there and report in, and get another walkie talkie to use.
A few of our units were unoccupied, or empty, but the others were fine, with their green "WE'RE OK" sign up in the window, and that was kind of the end of the first emergency drill here in the park. Weird how exhausted I was after that time, and how awful it felt to leave our neighbour on her floor, nearly dead (according to the scenario written out for us) and go on to see what else there was of concern for us.
As a result of that exercise we think we will take the CERT weekend course held here in November when we come back next winter, which teaches you how to respond and take responsibility and action in an emergency situation which might arise. CERT is certified emergency response training.
After that I helped set up for the poker afternoon here, it takes about 1/2 hour or so to set it up in the clubhouse. Then the poker afternoon started at 1 PM, there were 41 players, and I helped take the money, count it, prepare the cash prizes, serve the ice cream at break, and otherwise help as needed til the poker afternoon finished at 3:30 PM or so.
Prizes were given out to 4th place, and also a high hand prize, all in cash. Getting the tables set up, the chips and cards ready, chairs out, and then the same in reverse, it is quite an operation, and I am enjoying helping every second Thursday when we don't have flute lessons.
After that we had Happy Hour at the Emergency preparedness coordinator's house, and talked about the exercise, and how it went, reviewing what was good, and not so good, and giving input about the next one. It was very interesting to hear everybody's different experiences.
Wednesday I had gone with Wendy over to Ivey Ranch, they had a fashion show and ladies luncheon, and we both enjoyed ourselves, and girl time together. Sat with 3 American ladies, and we were 4 Canadians, 3 from BC and one from Toronto. Nice fashions but very very pricey, and also with sequins on every piece, which isn't my style at all really. The owner of the clothing shop was a bit of a strange person, at times she even criticized the models who were all volunteers, which I thought was in very bad taste. Oh well, it was fun and interesting.
But lunch was yummy, green salad and chicken salad, chicken sate to start, and dessert. And wine. And female company. Our husbands were busy carving over at Catalina, trying desperately to get their blue jay bird carvings finished by the end of this month, which may not happen, in fact doesn't look likely to me at all.
They are making life size blue jays, and that is a lot of carving and detail work, not to mention painting it all. Lary has been working on it a bit at home here, too, when he is not in his carving class.
After the ladies lunch and show, we went and poked around a bit in Revivals, a second hand shop over on Hwy 111, but didn't buy much at all.
Tuesday here was soup day, the second to last one, and then in the evening we went to a Chinese auction over at Catalina Spa park, it was a fun evening of browsing through other folks' cast offs, bidding on them all, and bidding on some silent auction things.
Lary managed to get a gift certificate for a pizza, and another gift cert. for 6 hamburgers at Catalina spa. I think I brought home a bag holder for grocery bags to keep in our cupboard.
Tonight we used the gift certificate and had a yummy pizza in Desert Hot Springs.
Tomorrow Saturday we hope to go to College of the Desert, and then in the evening there is a Casino night here in our clubhouse, we will attend and play bingo as we don't play poker. Lots of things to do still, but things are winding down, and will be over at the end of March, people are starting to talk of returning to their more northerly homes, and leave here during the hot summer time.
There is only one dinner left, next week, St. Patrick's corn beef and cabbage dinner and dance, and then we will kind of shut down the clubhouse til folks come back in October or November. There may be people here during the summer, but not many, and there is no organized entertainment or the like during that time.
But first- before the art show we returned a defective item to a music store and then, craving a cup of coffee, we stopped at a nearby Mexican restaurant, and had coffee then early lunch, it was the Rodeo Cafe and we ate delicious food. It's on San Pablo near Hwy 111, just north of 111.
La Quinta is south of Highway 111, maybe about 3/4 hour from home, or a bit more, and it's a pretty site for the festival, it's held at La Quinta Civic Center Campus, which is a lovely art filled park area with a big pool in the center, and the art is all around there throughout the park, it was their 30th anniversary.
As you might remember from our previous years, we really enjoy this festival, it's very high quality art, clay, glass work that is incredible, jewelry, painting, furniture, lovely wood working, tons of sculpture, high end clothing and scarves, it is very broad in scope, and all contained inside this lovely art filled park with the lake in the middle. It is sensory overload, and we lasted about 3 hours. Actually it was a perfect day for the event, it was about 80 degrees with a hint of a breeze, and being Friday perhaps not as busy as it will be over the weekend. We didn't buy a thing, a bit uncommon for us, but it's nearly time to leave for home, and we have purchased enough already for our small trailer home here.
Back tracking a bit, on Thursday we had our regular coffee and donuts, but almost directly afterwards we did an earthquake drill throughout the park. We may have said that our park is almost on the San Andreas Fault, so a big earthquake is a distinct possibility for us here. There is an emergency plan in place for earthquakes or other disaster events here in the park, so we had our first run through yesterday.
Lary and I were block captains, which meant that as soon as we heard the sirens go off we set the plan into motion.
First we dropped, covered and held, then when the shaking stopped, (it never really started!) we hopped in our golf cart which luckily hadn't been damaged, and started to make our rounds of the 18 or so units near us here in the park that we had to check on.
One of our neighbours was critically injured, in fact the card on her body said she had no pulse, so we had to make the tough and very uncomfortable decision to leave her and go on to check the rest of the units for damages and casualties. No more emergency scenarios luckily, which we then tried to radio in to command central, but our radio didn't work. drat it, so we had to zip up there and report in, and get another walkie talkie to use.
A few of our units were unoccupied, or empty, but the others were fine, with their green "WE'RE OK" sign up in the window, and that was kind of the end of the first emergency drill here in the park. Weird how exhausted I was after that time, and how awful it felt to leave our neighbour on her floor, nearly dead (according to the scenario written out for us) and go on to see what else there was of concern for us.
As a result of that exercise we think we will take the CERT weekend course held here in November when we come back next winter, which teaches you how to respond and take responsibility and action in an emergency situation which might arise. CERT is certified emergency response training.
After that I helped set up for the poker afternoon here, it takes about 1/2 hour or so to set it up in the clubhouse. Then the poker afternoon started at 1 PM, there were 41 players, and I helped take the money, count it, prepare the cash prizes, serve the ice cream at break, and otherwise help as needed til the poker afternoon finished at 3:30 PM or so.
Prizes were given out to 4th place, and also a high hand prize, all in cash. Getting the tables set up, the chips and cards ready, chairs out, and then the same in reverse, it is quite an operation, and I am enjoying helping every second Thursday when we don't have flute lessons.
After that we had Happy Hour at the Emergency preparedness coordinator's house, and talked about the exercise, and how it went, reviewing what was good, and not so good, and giving input about the next one. It was very interesting to hear everybody's different experiences.
Wednesday I had gone with Wendy over to Ivey Ranch, they had a fashion show and ladies luncheon, and we both enjoyed ourselves, and girl time together. Sat with 3 American ladies, and we were 4 Canadians, 3 from BC and one from Toronto. Nice fashions but very very pricey, and also with sequins on every piece, which isn't my style at all really. The owner of the clothing shop was a bit of a strange person, at times she even criticized the models who were all volunteers, which I thought was in very bad taste. Oh well, it was fun and interesting.
But lunch was yummy, green salad and chicken salad, chicken sate to start, and dessert. And wine. And female company. Our husbands were busy carving over at Catalina, trying desperately to get their blue jay bird carvings finished by the end of this month, which may not happen, in fact doesn't look likely to me at all.
They are making life size blue jays, and that is a lot of carving and detail work, not to mention painting it all. Lary has been working on it a bit at home here, too, when he is not in his carving class.
After the ladies lunch and show, we went and poked around a bit in Revivals, a second hand shop over on Hwy 111, but didn't buy much at all.
Tuesday here was soup day, the second to last one, and then in the evening we went to a Chinese auction over at Catalina Spa park, it was a fun evening of browsing through other folks' cast offs, bidding on them all, and bidding on some silent auction things.
Lary managed to get a gift certificate for a pizza, and another gift cert. for 6 hamburgers at Catalina spa. I think I brought home a bag holder for grocery bags to keep in our cupboard.
Tonight we used the gift certificate and had a yummy pizza in Desert Hot Springs.
Tomorrow Saturday we hope to go to College of the Desert, and then in the evening there is a Casino night here in our clubhouse, we will attend and play bingo as we don't play poker. Lots of things to do still, but things are winding down, and will be over at the end of March, people are starting to talk of returning to their more northerly homes, and leave here during the hot summer time.
There is only one dinner left, next week, St. Patrick's corn beef and cabbage dinner and dance, and then we will kind of shut down the clubhouse til folks come back in October or November. There may be people here during the summer, but not many, and there is no organized entertainment or the like during that time.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Orange blossoms in the air everywhere
Today was overcast and not very warm in the morning, by mid afternoon most of the clouds had moved off, and it got warmer, but not sizzling as it has been lately.
The air here is full of the smell of orange blossoms, it is lovely and intoxicating, I have even heard other people talking about it.
Lary walked out into the desert across the street this morning and played his flute, and I did walking exercises in the clubhouse with other ladies. 3 miles walked at a brisk pace for me. Lary now has a following of folks who wait for him, and they chat and interact with him, which gives him a lot of positive feedback and pleasure.
Then later there was an agenda meeting to set the issues for the board meeting that will be next Monday. It's likely the last one of the season down here, so should be interesting. Maintenance issues and the like are discussed, projects done and completed, and those still to come or in the works, so today folks had to bring up the topics that they wanted discussed next Monday.
The opening hours of the main gate are a raging topic of conversation here, some want to keep them closed during the day, but others are in favour of keeping them open during daylight hours. Each side is quite adamant that their idea is the correct one, but the sales over this winter were way down, there are many lots and houses for sale, and it was pretty nearly impossible for anyone interested in our park to see inside the park, due to the daytime gate closure during November and December.
In my opinion it also projects a fortress appearance of fear, instead of an open and friendly park, at least during the daytime. On the other hand I should add that one golf cart was stolen from the park, but it was during the night, when most folks were sleeping soundly with their curtains or blinds drawn tight shut. At least the thievery was limited to just one cart, a big improvement over last year. Since then we have hardened up the pedestrian gate where the cart was stolen from, so that should help a bit more.
We went over to a travel meeting at Catalina Spa this afternoon, they have 2 trips planned for early 2013, one a 3 night one to Mesquite NV to see some Branson type shows, and it's also a casino town, there will also be a side trip to St George, Utah. All transportation is provided in a big comfy coach, and the entertainment and 3 breakfasts are included in the price. 3 night time shows and 2 matinees.
The other one is a cruise aboard a Princess ship, from L.A. to Hawaii and back to L.A., with stops on 4 Hawaiian islands. Quite a bit of time at sea, and not that many ports, it is somewhat like the cruise that Lary and I did last spring, so we aren't interested in doing it again. Our cruise visited more ports, and we got off in Honolulu and flew home to the desert from there.
Wendy and I are off to a fashion show at Ivey Ranch, her park, on Wednesday, it's a lunch and show, so should be a nice girls day together, while our husbands carve on their bluejays at the carving club.
Tomorrow night is a Chinese auction at Catalina Spa which we probably will attend, it is very amusing and fun to bid on all that stuff, one man's junque is another man's treasure, indeed.
The air here is full of the smell of orange blossoms, it is lovely and intoxicating, I have even heard other people talking about it.
Lary walked out into the desert across the street this morning and played his flute, and I did walking exercises in the clubhouse with other ladies. 3 miles walked at a brisk pace for me. Lary now has a following of folks who wait for him, and they chat and interact with him, which gives him a lot of positive feedback and pleasure.
Then later there was an agenda meeting to set the issues for the board meeting that will be next Monday. It's likely the last one of the season down here, so should be interesting. Maintenance issues and the like are discussed, projects done and completed, and those still to come or in the works, so today folks had to bring up the topics that they wanted discussed next Monday.
The opening hours of the main gate are a raging topic of conversation here, some want to keep them closed during the day, but others are in favour of keeping them open during daylight hours. Each side is quite adamant that their idea is the correct one, but the sales over this winter were way down, there are many lots and houses for sale, and it was pretty nearly impossible for anyone interested in our park to see inside the park, due to the daytime gate closure during November and December.
In my opinion it also projects a fortress appearance of fear, instead of an open and friendly park, at least during the daytime. On the other hand I should add that one golf cart was stolen from the park, but it was during the night, when most folks were sleeping soundly with their curtains or blinds drawn tight shut. At least the thievery was limited to just one cart, a big improvement over last year. Since then we have hardened up the pedestrian gate where the cart was stolen from, so that should help a bit more.
We went over to a travel meeting at Catalina Spa this afternoon, they have 2 trips planned for early 2013, one a 3 night one to Mesquite NV to see some Branson type shows, and it's also a casino town, there will also be a side trip to St George, Utah. All transportation is provided in a big comfy coach, and the entertainment and 3 breakfasts are included in the price. 3 night time shows and 2 matinees.
The other one is a cruise aboard a Princess ship, from L.A. to Hawaii and back to L.A., with stops on 4 Hawaiian islands. Quite a bit of time at sea, and not that many ports, it is somewhat like the cruise that Lary and I did last spring, so we aren't interested in doing it again. Our cruise visited more ports, and we got off in Honolulu and flew home to the desert from there.
Wendy and I are off to a fashion show at Ivey Ranch, her park, on Wednesday, it's a lunch and show, so should be a nice girls day together, while our husbands carve on their bluejays at the carving club.
Tomorrow night is a Chinese auction at Catalina Spa which we probably will attend, it is very amusing and fun to bid on all that stuff, one man's junque is another man's treasure, indeed.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Fun dance here at the park last night
Today Sunday we had a pretty lazy morning, and then went and had lunch with our friend Yvette from Victoria. She lives in Sun City Palm Desert, a Del Webb development, she rents a room in a house from another lady. Then she showed us around the complex, it is a huge one at over 5,000 homes, and they have the most incredible facilities you can imagine.
It's kind of like a country club for mature folks, quite a high end feeling with 2 - 18 hole courses on site. Their monthly dues aren't very high, about $250 per month, and activity fees are very low. The place has 3 separate clubhouses, which we toured. A lovely development, we toured through some Open Houses, but they were way more than we would like to spend, though very appealing.
Saturday morning I took myself out to a couple of nearby garage sales in the RV parks, it's a nice way of seeing inside the parks themselves. I bought some costume jewellry earrings, and I bought 2 silver plate spoons made into medallions for your neck, they are very unique and attractive in a neckline.
After that Dave, Wendy and I went up to Cabot's Pueblo Museum here in Desert Hot Springs, once again the Mexican potters from Mata Ortiz, a village in Chihuahua are here showing their handmade and exquisitely painted pottery. The pots are totally built by hand, then fired over wood fires, inside a container. 45 minutes to fire a pot, then a bit more time for it to cool down from 1400 degrees of the fire, and the decoration is what is so incredible. The walls of the pots are also very thin. The clay comes from right there near the village.
The painting is done by hand, the brushes are made with hair from a baby's head, very fine soft bristles. As a result the detail is very beautiful and unique. One out of every 5 pots break while being fired. But now the shards are being made into jewellry set in silver too, another clever idea. The pots can be bright black, very highly burnished, or else with lovely colors, it's the intricate fine hand painting, often geometric designs, that is so captivating.
Saturday evening there was a dinner and dance here at our park, it was called a Spaghetti Western, and was lots of fun. It's our second to last dance of the year down here. There was music from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly movie playing on the CD player when we came in to the hall, to set the mood.
The theme was Western and there were lots of Clint Eastwood posters up all around the clubhouse, with ropes, boots, lassoes, etc. hanging on the wall. One of the main chefs Mel was wearing a big Mexican sombrero. Cute decorations, too. Lary was the sheriff who seated everyone, and nobody was able to reserve their seats in advance, so he was busy seating everyone as they arrived. We were seated with Phil and Rita, Joann and Bob, another Jo and Bob, us, Betty, and Raymond. Nice folks.
We had spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs on it, caesar salad to start, garlic bread, and spumoni ice cream to finish off the meal. Yummy, my favourite is the meat balls part. Not sure if I have ever said so, but our dinners here are only $8 per person, and that usually includes paid entertainment to dance to.
Then we danced to the music of Remember When, they are so good, a man and a woman, they play whatever you request, and are so nice and friendly, everybody danced a lot, the band played non stop from about 7 PM til 10 PM. Nice evening.
Friday night we went to our usual Coachella Valley flute circle. We took our neighbour Terry, and we all had a good time, and got to play quite a bit, too, as it wasn't very crowded that evening. I played my Anasazi flute, though not very well, at least it had a chance to get played. Annie and I played a duet, on 2 DeRuby flutes, which was nice. I was trying out Annie's new electronic moyo drum and Lary played his flute. It was OK. Terry hadn't ever met Annie, so it was great to introduce them to each other.
Thursday Lary and I had our flute lesson with Annie, and it was super, she helped us work on things that are challenging for us, and was teaching us to listen more to each other, and create harmonic sounds. I bought her new Moyo drum book that she has just written, but no moyo drum for me as yet. They have such a pretty soft sound, you play them with rubber mallets, or else your fingers, or soft rag mallets.
They are basically propane bottles, new of course, that have had musical keys cut into their top surface, so that they make pretty soft sounds, not unlike the steel drums of the Caribbean. They come in a variety of keys and colors, too. The electric one is brand new, only 4 in the world so far. Annie is pretty thrilled to have one of them. I find it a bit of a challenge to play them, each key is different, so I don't know which key to choose if I want to buy one for myself.
Wednesday Wendy and Dave came for chili dinner here, the men had carved together that afternoon, and Wendy and I had visited together in her trailer. They are back at Catalina Spa at the moment, til the 12th of March.
It's kind of like a country club for mature folks, quite a high end feeling with 2 - 18 hole courses on site. Their monthly dues aren't very high, about $250 per month, and activity fees are very low. The place has 3 separate clubhouses, which we toured. A lovely development, we toured through some Open Houses, but they were way more than we would like to spend, though very appealing.
Saturday morning I took myself out to a couple of nearby garage sales in the RV parks, it's a nice way of seeing inside the parks themselves. I bought some costume jewellry earrings, and I bought 2 silver plate spoons made into medallions for your neck, they are very unique and attractive in a neckline.
After that Dave, Wendy and I went up to Cabot's Pueblo Museum here in Desert Hot Springs, once again the Mexican potters from Mata Ortiz, a village in Chihuahua are here showing their handmade and exquisitely painted pottery. The pots are totally built by hand, then fired over wood fires, inside a container. 45 minutes to fire a pot, then a bit more time for it to cool down from 1400 degrees of the fire, and the decoration is what is so incredible. The walls of the pots are also very thin. The clay comes from right there near the village.
The painting is done by hand, the brushes are made with hair from a baby's head, very fine soft bristles. As a result the detail is very beautiful and unique. One out of every 5 pots break while being fired. But now the shards are being made into jewellry set in silver too, another clever idea. The pots can be bright black, very highly burnished, or else with lovely colors, it's the intricate fine hand painting, often geometric designs, that is so captivating.
Saturday evening there was a dinner and dance here at our park, it was called a Spaghetti Western, and was lots of fun. It's our second to last dance of the year down here. There was music from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly movie playing on the CD player when we came in to the hall, to set the mood.
The theme was Western and there were lots of Clint Eastwood posters up all around the clubhouse, with ropes, boots, lassoes, etc. hanging on the wall. One of the main chefs Mel was wearing a big Mexican sombrero. Cute decorations, too. Lary was the sheriff who seated everyone, and nobody was able to reserve their seats in advance, so he was busy seating everyone as they arrived. We were seated with Phil and Rita, Joann and Bob, another Jo and Bob, us, Betty, and Raymond. Nice folks.
We had spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs on it, caesar salad to start, garlic bread, and spumoni ice cream to finish off the meal. Yummy, my favourite is the meat balls part. Not sure if I have ever said so, but our dinners here are only $8 per person, and that usually includes paid entertainment to dance to.
Then we danced to the music of Remember When, they are so good, a man and a woman, they play whatever you request, and are so nice and friendly, everybody danced a lot, the band played non stop from about 7 PM til 10 PM. Nice evening.
Friday night we went to our usual Coachella Valley flute circle. We took our neighbour Terry, and we all had a good time, and got to play quite a bit, too, as it wasn't very crowded that evening. I played my Anasazi flute, though not very well, at least it had a chance to get played. Annie and I played a duet, on 2 DeRuby flutes, which was nice. I was trying out Annie's new electronic moyo drum and Lary played his flute. It was OK. Terry hadn't ever met Annie, so it was great to introduce them to each other.
Thursday Lary and I had our flute lesson with Annie, and it was super, she helped us work on things that are challenging for us, and was teaching us to listen more to each other, and create harmonic sounds. I bought her new Moyo drum book that she has just written, but no moyo drum for me as yet. They have such a pretty soft sound, you play them with rubber mallets, or else your fingers, or soft rag mallets.
They are basically propane bottles, new of course, that have had musical keys cut into their top surface, so that they make pretty soft sounds, not unlike the steel drums of the Caribbean. They come in a variety of keys and colors, too. The electric one is brand new, only 4 in the world so far. Annie is pretty thrilled to have one of them. I find it a bit of a challenge to play them, each key is different, so I don't know which key to choose if I want to buy one for myself.
Wednesday Wendy and Dave came for chili dinner here, the men had carved together that afternoon, and Wendy and I had visited together in her trailer. They are back at Catalina Spa at the moment, til the 12th of March.
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