The Flower Fields of Carlsbad

 I can't believe this trip was way back on March 31st! Yes, it was a very chilly and windy day with partial sunlight. So while we weren't roasting in the sun -- it was darn chilly on the wagon-driven -by -tractor tour!

These are the flower fields in Carlsbad that are primarily known for ranunculus. The huge American flag honoring military is made up of petunias.

"The fields today are a direct result of nearly 85 years of floral cultivation that began with Luther Gage, an early settler and horticulturist that settled in the area in the early 1920’s. Mr. Gage brought Ranunculus seeds to the area and began growing them in his fields next to Frank Frazee’s small vegetable farm in South Oceanside.   In 1933 Frank Frazee also started growing ranunculus and introduced his son Edwin to the art of seeding, cultivating and irrigating the pretty but not yet popular flower. At the age of 16, Edwin Frazee quit high school to work full time on his father’s burgeoning flower operation." ~ Wikipedia

This family is also known for developing pointsettias and making them associated with Christmas. 

I am just not a big fan of white pointsettias. I like deep red.

The pointsettias were on display in their own green house with their names and year of development posted.

These pointsettuas on the left are my favorite because it looks like someone painted their white highlights.

This is a stranger wearing the same color as Mom.

You can see how huge the flag is from this wagon shot.

And that's our tour of the Flower Fields at Carlsbad!

Happy Passover, Happy Easter, Happy Spring!

Some bunny loves you ... 

Thanks, Mom!

 

Today, Easter Sunday, we went to the Street Bar in Palm Springs to see the many Easter bonnets. We missed the actual competition waitng for an Uber, but it was still plenty crowded when we got there. Paul is one of the bartenders there and we were happy to see J and J who are also neighbors. They kindly gave us a ride home. I got permission from all bonnet wearers to take and post their pictures.

Jeff and Jack our neighbors

He had a lovely full length frock.

Paul decorated the chandelier. He is facing the camera with the BIG bonnet.

Well, ya, the pink cheeks may have been a function of the vodka tom collins. I still feel naked without my glasses. I'm going to get a prescription for reading glasses which I will wear all of the time. It was really fun at the Street Bar -- everyone was so nice to us and they were all having a great time, 

Thank you, Tomi, for showing me that Spring is at my house!

Meanwhile, Eric and Bernie the Dog slipped away to Idyllwild because it was 90 F. in Palm Springs and 70s there. (It started in the 50s in PS in the morning, so it was colder up lin the mountains in the morning. Hence the heavy clothing.)

I finally finished the pillow for Eric and Paul. It's raw edge applique and the pattern is called Retro Flash (I forget the pattern company.)

Can you see Bernie on the chair?

Speaking of canines: Deb and Paul's dog, Pork Chop, really loves sleep overs with his buddy, Sam. Sam, however, told PC he had to sleep in his own crate. (Pork Chop is on the left.)

Yesterday's full moon was brilliant!

Also yesterday (Saturday), we went to Ruth Hardy Park to see the Desert Flaggers. There was a lovely breeze and we had a lovely picnic with Eric, Paul, Ron, and Paul's family.

                                        Eric is on the left, Paul is on the right.

You know me -- always seeing weird patterns. Here is a tree trunk (2 different sides) of the tree shading us as we watched the Flaggers. The tree was fully leafed out and seemed healthy.

A week ago, on April 10th, we went to hear the Gay Men's Chorus. It's always impressive to see 100 men onstage and their sound is fabulous. The performance was very moving because in between songs, they played recordings of members of the Chorus telling some of their story. Often they talked of discrimination and how they coped with being different. But it was all hopeful and joyous.

On Sunday, April 3, our friend Carole made this wonderful almond cake for us. She also made a wonderful dinner too, but this cake was so gorgeous. That's a large serving knife, by the way. The cake is actually an 8 inch cake.

After we ate, we played Mexican Train Dominos.

I have more than 20 pictures from the flower gardens at Carlsbad. But it's already 1 a.m. so I'm thinking those pictures will have to be in another post. That was a really fun bus trip on March 31. I'm sorry I'm such a bad correspondent. I'll try to do better in the future!

 

Super Bowl Sunday Rooting for the Rams

 Well, of course I'm rooting for the rams. I have actually seen the real rams on the side of a mountain at the Living Desert, so how could I root for the Tigers? Although this is the year of the Tiger and according to the Chinese placemats at lunch yesterday, I am a Tiger. I have to beware of  the Monkey. I don't know why but, luckily, I don't come across them often.

It was 89 F. two days ago but it had cooled down a bit today and it's only 83 F. at 11:30 a.m. It might go to 86.

Geranium down the street.

We can see these roses from the kitchen window. The blooms are a bit 'gone bye' but they are still colorful and fragrant.

On Thursday, February 3rd, Mom and I went to the Palm Springs Museum to see the Helen Frankenthaler exhibit. Mom said the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston had one of her pieces and she wanted to see more. I only took a picture of my favorite one because I'm not that big on 'modern art.' 

Of course, we went through the current Afro American exhibit. Here is my favorite from Deborah McDuff.

I was so excited to meet the artist. She said she painted this when her daughter was born (she's an adult now) using fabric inspired by what she saw on a trip to Ghana. Deborah also said she is not painting much any more because she has been making chairs. They are gorgeous! I don't know if she makes the chair or just recovers them. The last picture she showed me was many colors of leather. In the exhibit, her other pieces were a collage of fabrics depicting masks, and a collection of sticks with words and phrases. I would have liked to have seen more of her work in person but at least I got to see it from the photo gallery of her phone.

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February 19, 2020

Probably time to finish this, huh? Last weekend, Mom and I went to Indian Wells to see an outdoor art and crafts show. It was nice. There were many styles of painting, sculpture, and jewelry. But these rocking chairs were so beautiful that I had to show you. Everything was joined with wood and pegs.

$5,500 and it's yours!

Prior to that, during the week, we hosted Mexican Train Dominoes. I gave them beef stew, crusty warm bread and salad. Pepe and Christina brought wonderful individual cheesecakes. Pepe also brought me a special gift.

Yes, you are correct. Those are crickets, a Mexican delicacy. They are sauteed with lime juice until crispy. I admit that I had to close my eyes to eat one. He brought a baggie and he wanted me to bring them home to Massachusetts but I gave them to a neighbor to amaze and delight his friends. I thought they might be stale by the time I got them home, lol.

Today (Saturday), Mom and I went to the park to watch the Flaggers.

Paul

Eric

It was a lovely day with a slight breeze in the 80s. Many were having picnics, we were lazing in our chairs. I have a lovely action video and for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to get it into this blog. Sorry folks. It really is impressive as they dance and twirl to the music.

Then it was off to see "Death on the Nile." It was your basic Agatha Christie with gorgeous Egyptian scenery. I don't know how much was CGI, but it was beautiful.

Finally we ended at Tropical (pronounced Tropicaaal) for their wonderful pupu platter. Their steak sauce had wasabi instead of horseradish. Cleared my sinuses right up! The peanut sauce for the chicken on a stick was good too. My favorite had to have been the green beans with a very light tempura batter.  Boy, was Tropical ever busy!! We were told it was a 40 minute wait so we sat at the last two spaces at the bar. They have a patio but we were inside and they had candles on the bar about every foot or so, but ... it was so dark everyone was using the flashlight on their phones to read the menu!

Tomorrow we're thinking of going to another outdoor art festival at The River in Rancho Mirage. We have to get out while the weather is good. It's supposed to get 'cold' next week. 

Oh, yes, almost forgot. I had a cataract removed from my left eye. Everything went great. I discovered that my right eye gives a yellow tinge to everything and my newly fixed left eye is showing me true colors. Who knew?

I hope you are enjoying yourself in every little way that you can. Even a cup of tea can be good. Cheers!

No Casu Marzu for You!

Yes, I know -- what the heck is casu marzu?! I will spare your looking it up, but be prepared to say, "Blecch!" in proper Charlie Brown fashion. It is a Sardinian cheese made of sheep's milk and it contains live larvae (maggots).  Ugh, ugh, ugh. It has been made illegal in the US and many places in the EU although there seems to be a black market for it. Believe it or not, the bugs can survive stomach acid and create havoc. One method for eating this soft cheese is to put it into a sealed paper bag. When the critters run out of air, they die and you can tell because the pitter patter of their jumping around in the paper bag stops.  

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On Wednesday (January 26th), we had a lovely gathering of like-minded Mexican Train Dominoes enthusiasts. I did not get permission from people to reprint the group picture, but I do want to tell you that Mom looked great in a navy blue pants suit and gold jewelry. I wore my blinged out red peacock blouse which glittered when the patio sun hit it. I was very sparkly. Pepe made us a huge roast pork shoulder. I think it must have weighed ten pounds. And Carole made scrumptious baked potatoes that were so huge, three of us split one. These were even bigger than I've seen in restaurants.

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The big excitement around here has been the opening of Raising Caine which is a fried chicken place. It has been open for a week and they still have to have someone directing traffic into the place because it's so busy. Mom stopped in on opening day and she said it was a zoo. The chicken fingers were great. She didn't get the 'regular meal' which apparently has fried chicken, fries, a hunk of Texas toast and a drink. I guess the toast is to compete with the Colonel's biscuits. We had KFC a few weeks ago and it was not good. The Palm Springs one has gone way downhill since Leeanne and I used to sneak over every once in a while for a piece.

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When I came out of an eye doctor's visit in Palm Desert, this little guy was running around. There were actually two of them but the other was too shy to come near the cars. I suspect that was the female and this was the male.

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We're going to hear Rigoletto by the Metropolitan Opera tomorrow. It will be live screened at our favorite theatre (the Regal). I love the captions giving me the lyrics. Otherwise I would be totally lost.

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January 19 (above and below)

January 11

I had a very chilling haircut yesterday. As you all know, you don't want your hairdresser to be worried about anything -- mine was enraged. He had found out that his company who leases space at Walmart is not renewing their lease and they are closing the shop on January 31 -- and they had not notified the employees with a note or anything. So I got snip, snip, gripe!  It wasn't that bad (you know how I love hyperbole), but I did do a bit of wondering at the outcome. That's the great thing about curly hair: it can cover up any kind of a cut if necessary. 

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Mom and I did enjoy The Gilded Age on HBO Max. She gets it with her cable. It's a period piece about the 1800s. I love the bustles on the women's dresses. I am so glad I don't have to wear any of that nonsense. Christine Baranski is great as a snarky dowager who lives with her spinster sister (Cynthia Nixon). It is written by Julian Fellows who wrote Downton Abbey.

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And this color show was last Wednesday's sunset. Neat, huh?

Be well! Cheers!