Be yourself; everyone else is taken. (Oscar Wilde)

Thanksgiving dinner was lovely.  I adore turkey, and as a single person, don't ever make it.  A group (15, to be precise) of us went to The Four Seasons (no, not the hotel, but the  golf  resort community here in Palm Springs) for Thanksgiving.  (Canadians, eat your hearts out - all you could eat, in lovely surroundings and great service, for $25.00, taxes and tip included, bring your own booze). 

The chef, above, used to be the chef at the Clinton White House (and yes, I asked him  to confirm the rumour).  The bone in ham, with gran marnier  sauce, was to die for.

And a good time was had by all, followed by a party at another friend's place for dessert, as if we could eat anothr thing.

So, aside from  eating, how do I spend my time.  Well, there is the pool.  As some of you know, the first retirement skill that I developed was reading on the float without getting the newspaper or magazine wet, and, well, practice makes perfect.

Driving.....

....to the street fairs, of which there are many...

and, as always, bridge...

(Art, with man-bag, encourages me...)

One way or another, the days whiz by.

Last Wednesday, I drove to LA (about a 2 hour drive) to catch a one hour flight to Oakland for - yes, of course, a Bruce Springsteen concert. 

Laura, above, a friend of Hank's, was coming to her first Springsteen concert.  In spite of the look on her face (it is somewhat comforting to know that even beautiful young things can be rendered plain by the camera), she loved it!

I also managed to squeeze in an Opera in San Francisco, although just barely.  Tosca is one of my favourites, and apparently everyone else's too - there were no seats, rush or otherwise, to be had.  I did manage to get into standing room  though - hell, if I can stand for Bruce I can stand for Tosca - and did score a seat for the last act.  It was a traditional production - the kind I like best, of course, and the voices were lovely, as is just about always the case in San Francisco.  

People sometimes ask how I can go from  Bruce Springsteen to opera and back again.  I don't find it so surprising.  David used to say that every genre of music has good musicians and bad ones, good pieces and bad ones.  The trick is just to find the good ones.  Or, you could just blame it on the breadth of my interests......

Anyway, on getting back to Palm Springs, I found myself sick sick sick, headachey, ache all over, stuffy nose sniffling coughing sneezing kind of sick (hence the delay in writing), and, really, should not have driven to Phoenix yesterday to meet Hank for yet another Springsteen concert - the last of this tour, I promise - but I did.  As I sit here by the pool witing for Hank to arrive for the days activities (we are trying for the pit, don't you know), I am  feeling better, and glad I made the effort.

News at 11 for more details....