Bears up North

Here we play in the sunshine and don't worry about the weather back home. We got this email from Amanda from Kitimat, Ron's home town and were simply amazed. Apparently a pilot was flying over Kodiak Island in Alaska, where a whale had washed up on the beach and the many local bears were having a feast. If you double click the picture and look very closely, you'll see the white carcass by the shore where the bears are eating.

A Day of Thanksgiving

Today is American Thanksgiving and indeed we have much to be thankful for. We celebrated with Don, Lila and family and friends. Jo and Willy did a salt brined turkey on the BBQ which simply holds the fuild in to make it very tender but doesn't taste salty and Don did the ham. We all brought our favourite recipes which was too much food but very delicious. After a wonderful meal, Willy played his harmonica for us and he's very good.

Sunset Hour in Desert Pools

Lots of people are starting to pull in now, arriving for the winter.
We're at Desert Pools for 13 days and had the old gang over tonight to visit and watch the sunset. It was a bit of a dull day but was the timing ever right - at 4:30 the sun started to light up the sky, a pretty sight and by 5:10 it was totally dark. Once again, we had our 360 degree view and we'd put the chairs right out by the road so we all had a front row seat.

Desert Sunsets

I wouldn't know about the sunrises but the sunsets are a nightly show of magnificence. As we are facing due west, we look through the valley pass at the right, shown here made by San Jacinto Mtn and Big Bear, I sit here and just love the changing sky. Today at 5 p.m., the moon was out as well, right above the tram station up the mountain. I can't figure it out, but then the whole sky lights up 360 degrees around you. We've often walked into the road looking all around to see it best. I think of Mom so much and her love of the sunsets we watched sitting on the boardwalk at Crescent Beach as kids, with the smell of salt air surrounding us.
Busy week this. We went to Barry and Joan's over at Outdoor Resorts Monday with 8 of us, then we moved to Desert Pools Tues. Wed. we went down to Thousand Palms for a lovely visit and dinner with Margo and Jim, old friends since Crescent Beach in 1963.
Thursday was the bathing suit fashion show in which I modeled and managed to buy a new suit, shirt, sweater and flip flops at fabulous prices, ($55.00for the lot). It was a lot of fun, changing in the back kitchen with 7 other women, then dashing out to walk sedately up to the stage, show off the suit and back for 3 more changes.

Ron's D.E.W. Line

This is Ron's Distant Early Warning System. If you trespass on our patio, he'll hear you kick the cans when you trip over them. He's compacting and recycling here with Mike in the background inviting people to our upcoming happy hour .

Angel of the Desert

Today we went down to the COD - College of the Desert - a massive swap meet of new items held every Sat and Sun by the Alumni to fund many things for the College. I found a new watch like the one I've had 3 years but I wrecked when I fell on the stairs this spring (princely sum if $15.00). On the way we passed the 'Angel of the Desert', a figure formed by the shadow on the canyon walls which looks like an angel with hands praying, with halo and wings on her back.
Next stop was Trader Joe's, the home of the famous 2 buck Chuck, several varieties of wines sold for $1.99, surprisingly all quite decent. Vicki and I were devastated to find Joannes, our favourite fabric store was no longer there.
Final stop was at Shields, where we enjoyed our date shake and watched their famous movie "Romance and Sex Life of the Date". It's a very interesting film of the early history and development of this industry, where all the date blossoms have to be pollinated by hand, here in the Coachella valley. Delicious shakes.

More friends and golf

Vicki's sister, Lorraine and Jack are here for a visit, so off to the Miniature golf tournament today after our pool time. Ron and Ella were first and a good time was had by all, amidst the laughter. Ella and I had been first last week and won the hamburgers then. We retired to our place to rest after all the strenuous activity.

visiting

Here's what the guys seem to do best - talking. But then, because we're right on the corner, everyone stops by.

Poppies in Fanders Field

It seems so funny sitting here in the sun on this day. We watched Canadian ceremonies and had our 2 minutes of silence on this 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the 'great war'. There were celebrations down here as well but it's not a national holiday like at home.

Haircut time

Joanie and I went up to Burkes today, a discount store, where I found 2 new bathing suits for $34.79. Got to love it. I wear out about 4 a year swimming my lengths.
We finally saw Barry and Joan today who were caught in snow coming down through the mountains. Here's Joyce in her outdoor hair salon giving Joan a cut while her next customer waits. Then we gathered at Debbie and Peters.

Yard Sales and Friends

We enjoyed a visit over at Don and Lila's on their deck last night. He's added a sun shade roof and his moving aquarium is on the wall.
Today I picked Lila up and I drove their golf cart all around Desert Crest and then over to Dillon Estates for the giant yard sale. I found a red hat which I need as I had sunstroke a long time ago, jean dress, pool cover up for $1.25 and Lila got a new futon cover for $3.00. Can't go wrong and we had a lot of fun and saw all the neighbours as we tooled along.

Sunshine, Water volleyball and Golf

We are loving the sun, friends and fun. We had happy hour at our house last night, Vicki and Pete's today. Here they are in the pool for the volleyball game.
We went in the Miniature Golf Tournament where Ella and I came 1st and Ron and Peter, second. More hamburgers and soft ice cream for prizes.

A Day in History

We headed east to Bakersfield, fueled at the Flying J, $2.95 and had a gusty windy drive over the Tehachapi Pass. We stopped at Kramers Junction for lunch then really hit more wind at 215 going into I 10. We went down to Little Sisters to wash the rig and settled in to site 234 in Cat Spa. Mike's here and Peter and Debbie as well. It was a good trip but good to be here and off the road.
Tonight we watched the national election results and the win of Barrack Obama,who is the first black man who will run for President of the United States. This is a once in a lifetime event. It's very interesting being here and hearing all the comments and peoples hopes for a better America. Unfortunately I missed the picture of their second daughter.

down to Lost Hills Calif

Nice driving day today. We are seeing the first groves of almond and citrus trees. We saw the first palm tree today and are enjoying the white egrets standing out in the fields. We started with Diesel at $3.09 in Ferndale and it's down to $2.99 now. We stopped at Santa Nella for lunch, the Travellers Special at Pea Soup Andersons. You follow the California aqueduct part of the way so necessary for the farmers and fields of crops. We stayed overnight at Lost Hills, sat out for a visit but it's colder than last year.

to Coburg

It poured rain overnight but we were off in clear cloudy weather. The hills were yellow and red, plus those green moss covered trees, a trademark of Oregon. We fueled in Phoenix Peartree truck center, and then were shocked going past Lake Shasta which was beginning to look like a creek. The stunning blue aquamarine water used to be up at the tree line so you can see what a problem the water shortage is becoming. We sailed through the Siskiyou Mountains with rain on the passes and pulled into Rolling Hills Casino to boondock overnight.

On the Road Again

Here we go, heading south. Can't wait to see all our winter friends. We brought the motorhome down yesterday and parked on Chuck and Barb's curb so woke up to a pretty sunrise and off we went. We had a pleasant drive through Washington with colored fall leaves and pulled into the Eugene KOA RV park to overnight when Pete and Vicki pulled in 5 minutes behind us and parked beside us.