Early Morning Musings

 Good morning! What do you do at 4:30 a.m. when your body thinks it's done sleeping? You write a blog post!

It has been a whirlwind of a week with Emily, Deb and Paul here for a week. They left yesterday morning and all made it safely back to Boston. Whew! Travel has been a bit chaotic lately, as you may know, but they didn't have any problems. Emily bunked in with me and it's kind of fun having a roommate.

Yesterday, after they left, I continued on to the Sew What sale (for the Coachella Valley Quilt Guild, hosted by The Lunch Bunch). Wow, there were a lot of donations of fabric and notions! The lobby area, separate from the big sale room was a zillion balls of yarn for sale. The colors were enticing but, luckily, I am such a lousy knitter that I was not tempted.

Speaking of quilts ... This is my latest Philanthropy donation.

You may have seen this quilt before while in progress. It is my first bigger quilt that I machine quilted. I have been sending them out to be long armed quilted, but that is too expensive for me to give away. I bought another machine last year ($35) and the ladies here helped me put on a walking foot and I was finally able to quilt it in Amherst! I hand sewed the binding here. Orange still is not my favorite, but it was donated fabric as was the mostly black backing. I had the greys and peach fabric. The Lunch Bunch donated the batting. They buy a huge roll of batting and as long as you're donating the quilt to Philanthropy, it's free. 

{The yellow quilt in the background is my mother's quilt that I made for her in 2002, when she was still snowbirding it. When she was back in Quincy, she had the citrus colors of Palm Springs with her. There are all kinds of citrus trees planted by original condo owners here. The back is covered with family pictures over the years, so she had us with her when she was in Palm Springs. That quilt was longarmed by Timna Tarr who is quite a quilting celebrity. She has designed fabric, written a book, and won many quilting awards, including being the main star at the Houston Quilt Show.}

Thanksgiving was a lovely, mostly quiet, affair with our friend Elaine. I say mostly quiet because as we were still sitting at the dinner table chatting, we suddenly heard, "BOOM!" My first thought was that a car had hit the building. It soon dawned on me that it had been an earthquake. As Mom was saying, "It's all right, it's over now ..." the silent aftershock appeared as if we were sitting on rolling waves. It was over quickly, but I was definitely scared. Apparently there were 3 earthquakes, the largest being 3.8 on the Richter scale. The locals barely notice such activity. I had no idea that there are many different sounds associated with earthquakes because I had only experienced silent tremors. Some people told me they have heard a moving train sound.

Sunsets can be spectacular in the desert. This photo was taken as we entered Trilusa in Cathedral City for an amazingly delicious dinner of Italian cuisine.

Friday night we went to the Palm Springs tree lighting ceremony. The hot chocolate was better than ever with whipped cream, marshmallows (which I declined), and shaved chocolate (which I will always gladly accept!). The cookies were festive and divine as always. I limited myself to one madeleine with sprinkles. Sorry, no cookie pictures. 

I asked Mom to show off her red blouse. The 63 degree temperature was chilly for her so we were glad she wore her parkah!

Emily and Deb had a good time with us at the Frances Stevens Park in PS for the tree lighting. Paul was camera shy,  but he was there with us. Afterward we had a delicious dinner at the Gastropub.

Speaking of sweet things, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this dessert at Willy's restaurant. At this point, we had eaten so many wonderful meals that we shared two desserts for the five of us. After the tree lighting, Mom and I shared a sandwich -- restaurants give you too much food! At every meal, we ended up bringing half home as left overs. It did make it easy for lunch, but I felt as if all I did was eat! 

Consequently, last night we had mini won tons in chicken broth. No frills, no leftovers! (Insert laughing emoji here.)

The girls completed a thousand piece puzzle! It's by Sandra Boynton.

Did I mention that we went to the Cabazon Indian Powwow last Sunday? It was at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. I got a couple of short videos of the Grand Entrance but I'll be darned if I can figure out how to download them here. Sorry. Below is some of the beading I saw.

And some regalia. I was too timid (believe it or not) to ask if I could take pictures of individuals wearing their amazing dresses and regalia. They were splendid!

Since it was my first time, we had to go to the Fantasy Springs Casino. I won $87.61! And, yes, I did bring the money home.

This afternoon we will be going to the 7th Day Adventist Church to hear Handel's Messiah. It has become a tradition for us to enjoy with Lorne and Elaine. It's an amazing performance with musicians and singers and they invite the audience to sing along. 

Now it's only a half hour until CBS Sunday Morning -- one of my all time favorite shows. It is aired at 7 a.m. here. Maybe I'll make coffee.

Now that I'm finally over my 10 day cold, this will be my first time at Bloom in the Desert (UCC church). I'm trying to not be a 'Christmas and Easter only' Christian. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and beyond. Please know that I am sending good thoughts your way. This is just my way of having a conversation with you. Cheers!