back to work, and other things.....

So, I arrived home on the evening of May 6, and several hours later, suitcase unpacked, car started, groceries in, mail read, I was ready for a new season  By May 7 I was back to work, a new password but all else was the same!!!  And, of course, that evening I was back to bridge with the boys - we are creatures of habit, aren't we? - and the requisite round of lunches with colleagues and friends filled out the rest of the week.

...and, of course, dim sum at Fisherman's Terrace with Joyce and Sheila on Saturday...

I had noticed in the paper that Verdi's Don Carlo was playing at the Vancouver Opera on Saturday night, and decided to go.  I haven't been to the Vancouver Opera for a long time, for any number of reasons.  For one thing, our illustrious mayor, Gregor Robertson, what with his dedicated bike lanes and all - has made it almost impossible to park down town.  Anyway, the Vancouver Opera hasn't been all that good recently.  But Don Carlo isn't played that often, it was the last opera in the season, and it had gotten good reviews, so off I went.  Actually, it was lovely, well staged, well sung and well played by the orchestra.A lovely evening.

Sunday was Mothers Day.  Friend Robin's mother died Sunday at 93, after lingering for a number of years in a nursing home.  So, first Mothers Day without her mother.....I thought maybe a long walk on Crescent Beach near her home was in order....

(In mourning or not, she is still drop-dead gorgeous, isn't she?)

On Wednesday, I headed down to Seattle after work, met friend Arlene for dinner at a favourite Thai place, and went to the opera.  Seattle, at least, has rush seats for seniors, and for $40 I scored a $200 ticket, orchestra, 7th row, center aisle!  Yeah for old age!  They were doing Tales of Hoffman.  Although it has been having somewhat of a revival in local opera houses in recent seasons, this is another one that they don't perform very often, and it is a new favourite (I freely acknowledge that it is a particularly silly opera, but the music is pretty glorious.).  Anyway, it was lovely - again, staging, costumes, singing were all well done, and aside from having had my car towed from a perfectly legal parking space (found a cab, found a cop to tell me where the car had been towed, found the car and liberated, all in a half hour, which I anyway had saved by the cab expeditiously getting me out of the opera traffic jam), had an uneventful ride home. (And yes, I am fighting the ticket and the tow!!) And I wonder why I am tired by the end of the week!!!

Friday evening, Tom and I had our first theater night, going to Jericho Beach to see one of our favourite theater companies - Fighting Chance Productions (don't you just love the name?) do the musical Spring Awakening.

(That's Tom in front, with friend Arthur and his wife, who we ran into at the theater...)

 It is a pretty silly play, and in any event meant for people a lot younger than we are, but the actors were young, and beautiful, with lovely voices, and I do love a musical.....  (on the other hand, it does make me cranky to see that many young and pretty things all together....)

And Sunday, another dim sum, same place, this time with (Canadian, as opposed to formerly mentioned American) Arlene...

Okay, that's enough dim sum for the moment (we really pigged out, I tell you!!).

And Thursday, I was back to bridge at Duplicate Lite, the ACBL sanctioned game in White Rock where Robin and I play whenever we can.  It was great to see all the folks again - it really is a good group of people - and, all in all, Robin and I played reasonably well, which is always a bonus!  I also found a few people to play with in the bridge sectional in Burnaby next weekend, so there is more bridge in my (and therefore your) future.

So that brings you up to date.  We're at the weekend again, and after doing my (admittedly few) Dottie Domestic chores, I will be back in the office (hey, it's raining anyway!!), and will catch up with you again soon.

I will leave you with some Steveston pictures.  I haven't sorted out a new gym opportunity, so have contented myself with walking around Gerry Point every evening.

Not too shabby, eh?

Two bookstores in Richmond are closing, so I had a shopping opportunity this week, and a new pile of reading on my nightstand.  More on that next week.

Once again, the rumours of her death have been greatly exaggerated...

Yes, I know, it has been way too long, so, without further ado....

An update on the passport saga.  The American passport is in hand.  The Canadian passport is in hand.  Sort of.  It is a temporary (2 year) passport, to be upgraded to a permanent passport when I have replaced my citizenship card, a potentially 6 month saga through Citizenship and Immigration Canada.  However, I feel oodles better having passports.  Really, I wouldn't have thought it would make that much difference to me, but it certainly does.

But all that happened in the last 10 days or so.  Backing up a bit, all the way back to Palm Springs.......the week after I last wrote, all the classes I was taking finished up for the season.  I really quite enjoyed them, and will try to time my arrival back in Palm Springs for the start of the fall semester in late October.  The down side of taking classes with a bunch of old people is that most of them like to hear the sound of their own voices.  The up side was that most of them are smart, well read, and well traveled, and actually have some things interesting to say!!!  (Would you believe I couldn't get a word in edgewise?  No, I didn't think you would believe it, but it was true!)

Oh, and I was meant to give you a list of my bedside reading.  Well, it is still on my bedside table in Palm Springs, and I am not.  So, the new updated list (on the Vancouver bedside) includes something called The Red Fortress,History and Illusion in the Kremlin.  I've had it for a while without getting around to reading it, but seems apros pos now.  To be followed by a translation of the Ring, and a book about Bayreuth, in preparation for this summer's trip to Bayreuth.  More of those in another post.

Meanwhile, back in Palm Springs....

Admittedly, I have only developed one retirement skill.  I have learned how to read on a float in the pool ,without getting the reading materials wet.  That's me, above, practicing.

We had another one of our periodic "do's" at the clubhouse, this time a pancake breakfast.  The atmosphere is a bit thick at our complex now, nothing frightful, just the usual vicissitudes of communal living (who is parking where, who is minding whose business, you know the sort of thing), so I was a bit concerned, but all was put aside in the interests of having a good time.

Wally and Art arranged dinner at Spencer's for a night when they were donating 75% of their proceeds to the Aids Foundation.  Spencer's is a Palm Springs tradition, and I had never been, so I was very excited.

 Art and Mariah

 ...and Wally, good looking as ever

 you know how I like a good piano bar....

....not to mention just a good bar.....

Anyway, Spencer's lived up to its reputation.  Both food and service were terrific and the location - nestled right up against the mountains in the old movie colony, well....five stars, for sure.

Staying with the movie colony theme. Lisa, an acquaintance from the gym, has a house in that neighborhood (I think it is formally known as Las Palmas).  I had never been in a house in the neighborhood before, and was thrilled when she invited me to one of her infamous parties....

Lisa, the hostess with the mostest....

the party came with, what else?, a lounge singer doing all of the Rat Pack stuff....

A quarter of an acre of Spanish villa in the heart of down town Palm Springs!!  Pretty hard to beat that!!  Truth of the matter is, though, I am pretty happy in my trailer park, which I share, as those of you who have visited know, with a variety of fauna...

(and friends too - see Arlene above).

So, the last week in Palm Springs for the season flew by in a flurry of  good bye dinners...

At John Henry's (another Palm Springs classic, previously discussed in these pages) with Lois and Alf and Mariah...

(Look at the size of the martini - eat your heart out, Canadians, they don't measure here, they just pour - not to mention the size of dessert!)

And Miro's, my go-to Middle European restaurant, with Arlene....

...and finally, a new Palm Springs phenomena, Mexican sushi.  There are at least three places now which combine Mexican on one side and sushi on the other.  The sushi, of course, is dreadful, but the idea is so....American.

(note the sushi plate and the margarita!!  Now that's what I call fusion.

And, just because dinner didn't provide enough dining opportunities, there were brunches as well.

At Escena Golf Club, previously seen in these pages and still as lovely as ever...

....and I even managed to make a goodbye brunch in my own, new kitchen....

And by then, it was May 6, 2014, and time to head for the Palm Springs Airport....

...and back to Vancouver,  The truth of the matter is, I was ready to go.  All in all, a more difficult season than most that I've had, what with the renovations (which seemed to go on endlessly but did come out well) and the purse being stolen and all the anxiety that entailed, and, well, it was getting hot. So, I threw some things at a suitcase, unplugged everything I could, emptied the refrigerator, made sure the garden would be taken care of (thank you again, Michael, as always), and headed back to Vancouver feeling satisfied that all was well with the world.

The trip back to Vancouver was uneventful, and the transition smooth.  I had a house key, the car started as it should, the cleaning lady had just been through to make sure everything was spic and span for my arrival - and it wasn't even raining!  And the next day, I was back at work, welcomed with open arms.

It is sort of neat, I think, to be able to transition so smoothly from one life to another.  It makes me feel, oh, I don't know, sophisticated....

Anyway, I will leave it there, and catch you up on things in Vancouver next time.  Thanks for sticking with me.  And remember, now it is time to visit the Pacific North West - the desert will have to wait til next season!!