The Hills Are Alivefew

... with desert flowers.

I think this might be my favorite shot.

Aren't these white blooms cute?

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Recently, Mom and I finished watching the 80 zillion episodes of West Wing (2001) on Netflix.  We enjoyed it immensely and didn't miss shootings, explosions, graphic sex, or bad language one bit.

But what we did enjoy was the almost Girl Scout wide-eyed commitment to the ideals of truth, justice, and the American way. (Seems to me I have heard that somewhere else ... ) The writing is excellent, including page after page of witty dialogue. Consequently, the actors are great at delivering compound sentences with many polysyllabic words. 

And how can you go wrong with Martin Sheen portraying President Bartlett? He is written as a Kennedy type but much more intellectual. No, no touch football here -- he would be reading up on his Bible, mentally formulating ripostes utilizing chapter and Bible verse. 

Obviously, I really liked the series. After watching it nightly for a few weeks, when we came to the end, I was bereft. But no more! I have discovered Boston Legal on Amazon Prime. Wahoo!

The series began in 2008 -- when James Shrader still had hair and William Shatner was considerably slimmer -- when George W. Bush was President. In the second (or maybe third) episode, they made reference to trying to take environmental protections off a river with wild salmon. "The Administration" wanted to count farmed salmon the same as wild salmon to increase the numbers, thereby justifying removing the wild salmon endangered species status. I thought that was a pretty direct slam at George W., but I have no idea if that was a true issue. It does sound eerily current.

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We just got a video phone call from Emily while she brushed J's hair. He has not had a hair cut in over 6 months; needless to say, he has a BIG afro. Emily was using de-tangler (who knows if there's a hyphen there, it just seemed right) and he was very patient. Besides his evening half bottle of milk, we were his distractions. I love seeing his nightly routine. The next step is he gets to pick a book or two. Emily says she sings to him, but we have not been privy to that. Then it's off to bed for the little tyke. He's a happy kid even when he's tired and he brings us lots of smiles.

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It's up to 85 degrees (4:35 p.m.) and, naturally, we cannot use the pool. Bah, humbug! Today through Thursday, they are painting the deck surrounding the pool. Sheesh, why couldn't they do that when it was 60 degrees? We had some unusually cool weather for a couple of days when it was only about 40 F. in the a.m. You should have seen the landscapers! I looked out and thought it was some kind of burglar. Big hoodie, face mask (against the 'cold'), gloves, another jacket ... 

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Happy hour at Bernie's yesterday was great. Boy, do they make a good hamburger! Most everyone else ordered the prime rib sliders, which looked good. They brought 4 different sauces, including au juice to dip, for those people. They bring complimentary homemade potato chips with very spicy dipping sauce for the table. I didn't mind the heat, but they went very heavy on the taco seasoning which I thought was overdone. I ordered club soda with a lime wedge because I would rather eat my calories than drink them. Can you believe they charged $4.50 for that? If it's not happy hour, I assume it would be $12.

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21 days until I return to Massachusetts. I am told there are no daffodils yet. My friend in Connecticut posted a picture of crocus in bloom, so spring is coming, Friends! Cheers!