Happy Easter 2019!

It has been an unusual day ... I say that in all seriousness because I started by going to the Easter Sunrise Service at 6 a.m. Yes. Me. The NOT a morning person. Obviously, I had to set my alarm, which meant that I woke at 4 a.m. instead of at the alarm at 5 a.m. That's o.k. because I ended up watching a Canadian mystery on TV.

It had actually stopped raining (it has been pouring) so we were able to have the service outside. Since it was 53 degrees, I had a thick sweater over my blouse under my faux leather jacket. Then the sun sort of rose; since it was an overcast day, there was no sunshine. But it was enough light to wake up the black flies ...

About the time I am yet again wondering why we insist on singing every verse to a hymn, I notice something which panicked me. My skirt was slipping down. I didn't wear a slip because this skirt is fully lined but I did need a camisole. Trying to be inconspicuous in front of a dozen people in a circle, I tugged on the skirt to hike it up. Shortly thereafter, I was able to scamper to my car forgoing the church breakfast.

Breathing a sigh of relief as I closed the garage door at home, I grabbed my key to get into the house. I used both hands because I have my keys hooked onto my purse. My skirt promptly fell down and hit the step as the outside garage door closed the last two inches. Phew!

My tulips need some sun.

The azalea too. These are by the front door.

The poor daffs have been beaten down by the rain. They don't seem to mind and they might perk up when the sun comes out. It got really warm yesterday (77 F. with LOTS of humidity) so I don't mind the clouds!

I made some breakfast and got to use my new re-fillable K cups for the first time. I wasn't too thrilled with the grounds on the bottom of my cup, but I'll get used to it. I decided that I had better do the last minute stuff before my nap. I didn't have to put the chicken in to roast until 10 a.m. or so.

Since I'm a Yankee and parsimonious, (that means cheap) I hadn't run the dishwasher. But then I thought, 'That's when I will need those dishes when my guest arrives.' So I reached for the dishwasher detergent and -- there was none. Nothing. Oh, phooey. Remembering that I had forgotten to buy aluminum foil, I decided to whip over to Walmart. They are around the corner from where I live.

Walmart only had pods, not the powder in a box. The little door that holds the pod in has been broken for years on my dishwasher, but necessity is the mother of invention and I figured there must be some way to use those things. So I get home and wedge the soap pod in and turn on the dishwasher. Nothing. That's not true. The dishwasher said, "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" I turned the wheel back to start and it said, "RRRRRRRRRR" and I could hear water running -- barely. Finally, I decided that it wasn't going to work and I opened the dishwasher. Good thing because at that moment a small plume of smoke trickled out. I guess the motor burned up.

Yes, I have just finished hand washing a load of dishes. The chicken is in the oven and it's too early to make spaghetti squash mac and cheese. And the sun is coming out (11:30 a.m.)!

As I mentioned before, it has been raining. I live one street away from a golf course. At this time of year, they play SCUBA Golf. You think I'm kidding? I took pictures for you.

I'm standing at the very edge of the two lane road. When the trees leaf out and the underbrush fills in, you can only see the golfers in the far green area. (Yes, the grass really is this green!) I do not believe this course has any (planned) water hazards. But what do I know? I don't golf.

I think the sand trap is supposed to be a bit bigger ...

I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and more! Cheers!

Home, Home Again

It was after Midnight by the time I got home, so technically it was today (Wednesday). I was delighted to see fresh cut tulips on my table (thank you, Farah!) and daffodils in the front yard. 

Mom says I should get rid of the empty pot, but I'm going to put pansies in there. I spent much of today being cold. The cars across the street had frost on them at 7 a.m. and it got up to about 60 sunny degrees. It's supposed to rain tomorrow.

One thing I noticed: gas is at least a dollar cheaper here than in Palm Springs (even at Costco).

Then it was off to get my car inspected, which should have been done in March ... I had to wait almost an hour. I guess everybody else was late too.

As I waited at Jiffy Lube for my inspection, I saw this woman approaching the waiting room from the parking lot. She had a white cane that the blind use and a very heavy-looking shopping bag in the other hand, so I opened the door for her. She thanked me. I told her the desk attendant should be right back because he had just gone onto the service floor. She said, "I've waited hours in this place before." No, she wasn't dropped off by anyone.

After that I headed to Greenfield to renew my license and to make it a "real i.d." It will be necessary to have a real i.d. to fly after October 2020 (I think). I was very proud of me thinking I had all of the documentation (passport, social security card, etc.) needed until they said, '... and the second proof of address is ...' I had brought a letter from my bank but it was over 60 days old. Luckily, the woman told me I could use my car registration because everything else listed my PO Box, except for the gun license. I trotted out to the car to retrieve it.

While I was waiting for 45 minutes or so at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, I got to do a lot of people watching since there were a lot of people there. One older couple was finally called up to the window. She was very with it and helped him with his oxygen tank when he seemed to keep forgetting that he had tubing which limited him in how far he could walk away from the tank. The woman seemed to be in her late 70s and he in his 80s. Imagine my surprise when he took the eye test for a driver's license! I hope when he's driving that he doesn't get a kink in his oxygen ...

I was a bit surprised that I passed the eye test again without my glasses. I started wearing my glasses full time when I started on my master's degree. I felt I needed a boost to read street signs. Prior to that, I only used them for reading even though I've known since high school that I'm slightly near sighted. Oh, yes, and of course it was a bad hair day so my license picture is even worse than usual.

Then it was on to Aldi's to buy some food since all I had was eggs. Although I did find some peanut butter cookies and ham that I had frozen. I may go to Stop and Shop wearing my union jacket to support the picketers tomorrow. 

I made an appointment to have the furnace cleaned. They said I hadn't done it since 2015. I find that hard to believe but I guess they are right. I have enough trouble cleaning the upstairs without worrying about the stupid oil furnace.

I pulled up the driveway reflectors, one of which was smashed to bits by the plow. And, yes, the grass was plowed up in several places. Next year I will get taller reflectors and put American flags on the top. We will see how that goes.

It's hard to believe that a couple of days ago I was sitting by the pool sipping mojitos!

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Before I left (needless to say), Lee Anne and I went to Cardenas, the Mexican grocery store. I picked up ciccarrones to go with my mojitos. She called it "surf sized." I broke them up before the pool so that the others with us wouldn't have to do it.

Cheers!

Trip to Cabot Museum

Last week, Lee Anne and I went to the Cabot Pueblo Museum. We got to walk around the grounds waiting for the next tour. The sign below was just a tad off-putting.

Cabot built the whole thing by himself, scrounging lots of the building materials. When he arrived at Desert Hot Springs, there were a total of 9 homesteaders. When they decided they couldn't make it in the desert, he would buy their house and salvage the timbers. He never wanted to 'waste' any wood so he never cut the length of a timber. That's how the size of a room was determined.

The 'adobe' has lasted much longer than usual because Cabot added a handful of cement to each brick.

I really like the turtle in the (dry) fountain. Cabot had to go 7 miles one way to fetch water from the trading post until he befriended an Indian who gave him a map of an ancient Indian well. That turned out to be alkaline (not potable) and hot water. Later on, he dug another well and found cold, potable, water.

Needless to say, Cabot employed every means to conserve water, actively reclaiming grey water which he used to water his plants. At times, he would put water on a back patio creating a desert-style swamp cooler. He also used very small windows strategically placed to draw in breezes. He claimed that it never went above 85 F. in the house even when it was 120 F. outside in the desert. I am skeptical.

It's hard to see in these pictures, but the windows are pieced together from some shards as small as 4 inches by 6 inches. I don't remember seeing lead, as in stained glass windows; I believe he used wood in between pieces of glass.

Pictures were not allowed inside the Museum. They are tiny rooms and the first bedroom he made for himself looked like a coffin with an open door. The bed was raised and it's the only section that still has a dirt floor. It's very claustrophobic. In later years, he made a sweet apartment upstairs for his second wife, but it seems he kept to his old bedroom downstairs. If she got cold upstairs, she would bang on the floor and he would stoke the fire in the fireplace near his bedroom. If she was warm enough, she would close the damper.

Cabot was not only an entrepreneur, having made his fortune many times, beginning when he was 16 years old, but he was also an accomplished painter. He sold hand painted post cards to tourists at the trading post/train station. One tourist asked him how much for the painted leather vest he was wearing and Cabot took it off his back and sold it to him for $5. He added vests to his goods for sale. He also rented out rooms at his Pueblo to artists.

Below is the fantastic view from the Cabot Pueblo Museum. It was a lovely sunny and breezy day. We could have sat on a bench for hours under one of the trees in the garden.

More from the same outing below.

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Sunday, April 7th

Above, Mom and I are donning hard hats to see the club house at the new Del Webb estates. Basically, the club house is only framed. There were pictures of what will go where, but it wasn't worth the walk through. We were told that there will be a grand opening in December. (We had hoped for cookies. There were none.) 

When finished, there will be 1,029 free standing houses. There are about 5 basic models, beginning at about $400,000 with many possible upgrades. (White kitchen cabinets, instead of brown is $1,000. The landscaping package is $8,000 ...) 

The club house will sport two outdoor pools, one is covered. The other one allows you to enter as if it is a beach. 

Below is another upgrade -- the extra patio space. I liked the view. I think this was the higher priced model. We looked at the most expensive and the least. The most expensive was about 2200 square feet, the other 1400 square feet. I liked the smaller one better.

More view.

Outside of the sales office.

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Monday, April 8

Today is the first time this year that Palm Springs reached 100 F. I heard that on the TV weather so it must be true. I only saw up to 98 F. on my phone, but what do I know?

I did stay inside and finished the baby quilt and potholders. 

Before I finished the corners on the potholders

Then it was pool time! The pool was very refreshing. It is supposed to be cooler tomorrow, but I'll still go to the pool. Soon I'll be home and it will be hot with no pool.  

Have a great week! Ciao!

Spring Is Here

The birds are singing and the air is perfumed with fruit tree flowers.

Obviously, you have figured out that none of the plants above are fruit trees. But I have to say, the fragrance is not only intoxicating, but also allergy-inducing. I am at my snarfly best lately. At one point, I looked in the mirror to see that I looked like I was crying -- wet eyes are right up their with my list of favorite things. Not. 

(No, I don't usually take allergy pills unless I'm going to fly.)

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Do they have jalapeno M & M's in Massachusetts?

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From the California Today Newsletter, written by Jill Cowan:

March Fong Eu was a barrier-busting California public servant who just broke one more. California State Archives

She once took a sledgehammer to a toilet wrapped in chains on the steps of the Capitol to protest the fact that women had pay-to-use toilets in public buildings when men’s urinals were free.

And that’s not even the coolest thing about March Fong Eu.

She was a trailblazing lawmaker whose election in 1966 made her one of the first two women of color to serve in the State Legislature. When she was later elected California secretary of state, she was the first woman in that role — not to mention the first person of Chinese ancestry elected to statewide office.

Over the course of her long career in public service, she bulked up the state’s archives, expanded voter registration and championed women in politics so that men wouldn’t be the only ones making decisions about things like reproductive health and equal pay.

“Men will listen only if we speak clearly,” she said in a 1973 talk, according to a digital exhibit compiled by the secretary of state’s office.

This week, a little more than a year after her death at age 95, she became the first Asian-American woman (and almost the first woman) to have a state building named after her — the March Fong Eu Secretary of State building, at 11th and O Streets, in Sacramento.

“For years, March Fong Eu sought to unify the operations of the secretary of state’s office under one roof,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a news release. “It is only fitting that the office complex March Fong Eu fought so hard to build bears her name.” ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yes, I remember having to pay to use public toilets. I don't know about the men's rooms of that era. But it gave us a sense that they would be clean. I don't know if that was silly or not. There was usually one free stall. At any rate, we were taught to never sit on a public toilet seat. (I later found out in the South, they had paper covers for the seats.) Yes, my daughters informed me that you cannot get VD from a toilet seat. I already knew that. What they have not taken into account is open sores ... enough of that, you get the idea.  This whole thing came up one day when I discovered that my daughters regularly use their foot to flush in a public rest room. I'm just wondering if when they are 64, and tippy, if they will still use that method. ###################################### And I have finally finished Grey Day. There is some more quilting, but it's too early to go outside and take another picture. So you will have to imagine it! Cheers! Tina