On Wednesday, I flew to Palm Springs. God, I love it here. I had been talking about selling this place to pump up the $$$ in my travel kitty (which the aforementioned Russian trip has seriously depleted). What was I thinking?
Friend and neighbor Michael picked me up from the airport, and took me back to a clean and fully functional house. (The car was fully functional too, albeit a bit dusty; nothing that a quick car wash - car washes are thicker on the ground here than in Vancouver - wouldn't fix.) And people you know are everywhere - at Stadler Brothers, the grocery store, at Sherman's deli, where I went for dinner before the opera (yes, I went to the Met opera - Fanciulla del West - at the movies the day I arrived.....), at the movies - there were people I knew everywhere.
And people go out of their way to help - baggers (hey, Canadians, do you remember them?), people walking you where you need to go in the hardware store (what was she doing in a hardware store, my friends might wonder - hey, even a princess like me needs light bulbs every once in a while), waitresses (who actually seem to like their jobs) remembering you from one season to the next.
Yesterday, the trend continued. I was greeted at zumba class like a long lost friend, met yet another person I knew at Trader Joe's, and met fellow-classmates I know at the first class of the season yesterday (on oracles, of all things - more will be revealed about that in the fullness of time). Even at the theater (and yes, I went to the theater the day after I arrived.....), who should walk in but someone I know.
In case it is of interest, the play was very good, a Pulitzer prize winner called How I Learned to Drive. (By the way, this wasn't the originally scheduled play. That play''s author had just been credibly accused by 9 women of sexual assault, apparently, and the theater director thought it the better part of valor to cancel the performance.....)
Not all of my neighbors have returned from summer abodes, but there are enough people about to create a buzz. And, of course, it is sunny (eat your heart out, Vancouver), so everyone is out and about. My tree has tons of grapefruits. And, for a gay mecca, there are an awful lot of flirty men.
All in all, a.good start to the desert season.
Coming up today, coffee with a friend (the one I met in Trader Joe's yesterday, in fact), lunch with friend Robin (who came to the desert from Vancouver a few days before I did) and Debbie, our first visitor, arriving today. Next week is fully booked with the gym, more zumba, more classes, and, of course, multiple games of bridge.
But, yes, I promise, I will finish blogging the Russian saga in the next few days, before it gets lost in current events.
I am a happy camper....
Friend and neighbor Michael picked me up from the airport, and took me back to a clean and fully functional house. (The car was fully functional too, albeit a bit dusty; nothing that a quick car wash - car washes are thicker on the ground here than in Vancouver - wouldn't fix.) And people you know are everywhere - at Stadler Brothers, the grocery store, at Sherman's deli, where I went for dinner before the opera (yes, I went to the Met opera - Fanciulla del West - at the movies the day I arrived.....), at the movies - there were people I knew everywhere.
And people go out of their way to help - baggers (hey, Canadians, do you remember them?), people walking you where you need to go in the hardware store (what was she doing in a hardware store, my friends might wonder - hey, even a princess like me needs light bulbs every once in a while), waitresses (who actually seem to like their jobs) remembering you from one season to the next.
Yesterday, the trend continued. I was greeted at zumba class like a long lost friend, met yet another person I knew at Trader Joe's, and met fellow-classmates I know at the first class of the season yesterday (on oracles, of all things - more will be revealed about that in the fullness of time). Even at the theater (and yes, I went to the theater the day after I arrived.....), who should walk in but someone I know.
In case it is of interest, the play was very good, a Pulitzer prize winner called How I Learned to Drive. (By the way, this wasn't the originally scheduled play. That play''s author had just been credibly accused by 9 women of sexual assault, apparently, and the theater director thought it the better part of valor to cancel the performance.....)
Not all of my neighbors have returned from summer abodes, but there are enough people about to create a buzz. And, of course, it is sunny (eat your heart out, Vancouver), so everyone is out and about. My tree has tons of grapefruits. And, for a gay mecca, there are an awful lot of flirty men.
All in all, a.good start to the desert season.
Coming up today, coffee with a friend (the one I met in Trader Joe's yesterday, in fact), lunch with friend Robin (who came to the desert from Vancouver a few days before I did) and Debbie, our first visitor, arriving today. Next week is fully booked with the gym, more zumba, more classes, and, of course, multiple games of bridge.
But, yes, I promise, I will finish blogging the Russian saga in the next few days, before it gets lost in current events.
I am a happy camper....
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