Nora's Ongoing Excellent Adventure: Last Hurrah for Vancouver, New Beginnings in the Desert!!!

Last views from Vancouver for the season! The view of (and from) my living room.....

....... and last bit of my fall walks....

......and even some pumpkins....

Lots of good-bye outings, as always when I am about to head south....

Wine and sunset on Lou's boat (alas, no pictures - didn't seem appropriate somehow)...

.....dim sum with friend Mickey....

....Indian lunch with colleagues and friends Bea and Eric.... (stay with me here; there will be more pictures coming...)

.....and a final theater outing with friend Jack...

...first dinner at Nuba, a Middle Eastern restaurant which is one of our "go-to's" when we are heading to this neighborhood. (Formerly Orestes, a favourite hang-out from law school days - a few minutes ago...)

.....and the play, The Dance Lesson....

...a charming thing, about two neighbors in an apartment building, a recovering dancer, and an Aspergers man willing to pay her for a dance lesson. It really was charming. It met the most important test - I cared what happened to both of them....

Farewell dinner with the girls at Flamingo, my neighborhood Chinese eatery...

(from the left, your Intrepid Reporter, Deirdre, Susan and Joanne)

......and the annual (bi-annual, really, once on his birthday and once on mine) dim sum lunch at Kirin with Richard.(my friend since law school. As noted above, a few minutes ago...)

And, finally, Japanese with colleague and friend Randy, our last lunch of the season.

You might have noticed a theme here; Chinese, Indian, Japanese.....I do this every year before I go south, stoke up on Asian food, something I won't be eating in the Desert, the Desert being the place for what I call "white man's food" (with the exception of Mexican, of course).

Of course, some of us - of a certain vintage - remember when "white man's food" was all there was; I introduced my parents, good Eastern Europeans that they were, to pizza and Chinese food when I was sixteen years old...

So, as some of you know, I had been begging for work all summer, but there was very little to be had. Then, in my last week, two files miraculously showed up. I am not complaining, mind you, money is money and I need every bit of it. But it did cause some fretting. All the support staff were very, well, supportive, though, and all managed to get done and out the door.

Even had time for a bridge tournament, although I don't know why I bothered; I did abysmally. Though, as John is fond of reminding me, I love the game..... (some days more than others...).

And then I was on my way...

Departure date was October 26, and it did not exactly go smoothly. I signed up for the puddle jumper - two stops - because it was cheap, and because I can read and/or knit anywhere. John picked me up and took me to the airport in good time - I love the man, he is so reliable (among his other sterling traits) - but the first thing that happened was that the Portland leg was delayed. No problem - I had plenty of time between legs. Then the flight was cancelled. Big problem, as I had already checked my baggage. (Yes, I know, I am not meant to check luggage, but hey, I am going for six months and it was only one bag...). Anyway, Alaska Airlines is great! After some to-ing and fro-ing (I am getting too old for the airport sprint, I tell you), they got us all on other flights, and, lo and behold, when I got to the lovely Palm Springs airport at 8 P.M. (40 minutes earlier than originally anticipated), my luggage was there too!

As were friends John and Tom to pick me up. The air was balmy, and I was back!!!

Of course, my car didn't start the next morning, but waiting for AAA in my driveway with a cup of coffee wasn't so bad, and the guy gave me a hug when he was done. Trust me, that doesn't happen in Vancouver.

And all is well here.

Howard, our fearless leader, is still leading at the gym.....

...... and there were lots more hugs and "welcome home" all around.

I've already played bridge three times, with - finally - some success (thanks Desert John!!!). Yet more hugs.....

Classes have started.

-Thought I would share a shot of one of my favourite instructors, Dr. Michael McDonald. He is a PhD in philosophy, and is so enthusiastic (and peripatetic) that he makes us all enthusiastic too. I will bore you with the details on request; for now, suffice it to say, I'm engaged!

One of my other courses is called Blood, Sweat and Fears. We are meant to see six crime films which won the Academy Award for Best Film in their year. The first film was On The Waterfront. I wouldn't exactly call it a crime film ("who killed Jimmy Doyle?" question to the contrary notwithstanding), but it is certainly a great film - Marlon Brando, Karl Madden, Eva Marie Saint, and all the rest. I had forgotten how great the film was, although National Theater Live from London had done the play a few years back.

The instructor, Butch Epps, studied film in LA, and is a (lapsed, I think) Catholic, so we often get a spiritual take on things. The conversation veered from the crosses made by the television antennas on the roof to the HUAC hearings of Elia Kazan, the director, and Arthur Miller's The Crucible re witch hunts. You get the idea. All great fun; we left burbling with conversation! Next week's film is The Godfather. (You can already see the moralistic bent...)

Back to zumba too, of course. .....

....we have a new instructor, who is great....

...but lots of familiar faces (including Mason, center, who must have been quite the dancer when he was young. He sure can get those dance moves on)...

...yet more hugs....

.I have already been to one Met live broadcast, Manon by Massenet. Not my favourite opera, but at least I'm back in the groove, and have the local schedule of performances. Have the schedule for the theater as well, so I am really off and running.

The rounds of socializing have already begun. Nancy and Tom (from the gym) stopped by yesterday morning to see if I needed any help getting set up (six months in Vancouver, and I don't think anyone just stopped by...)

And I was invited to see Marvin and Geoff's new home, for dinner and some Scrabble.

Their home is gorgeous, nestled under the San Jacinto mounains.......