They call it Veteran's Day here....

...and there is a parade.  I went with friends Michael....

....and Greg....

both of whom are veterans of Viet Nam.

....and then there's me, ex-Flower Child, all grown up....

It was actually a very cool parade....

Seeing as it is California, there were a lot of neat cars.....

r

r

There won't be too many more parades with veterans from Pearl Harbor or the Tuskeegee Airmen........

r

.....followed by a concert of military music (and, no, I don't think its an oxymoron, I happen to lie military music, in addition to opera and rock and roll), and fireworks, and, like everything else around here, one feels as if it all takes place on a movie set...

I am ambivalent, of course.  I don't like killing, or nationalism generally speaking.  But in spite of all the years in Canada, I am still a dyed-in-the-wool American, get choked when I hear the Star Spangled Banner, and still believe it is a noble experiment, gone perhaps temporarily awry, but a noble experiment nonetheless, and still way better than whatever-the-hell is in second place.  And I do believe that military might is necessary, as long as we are not living in paradise.,...and maybe even then.

But all this is a philosophical conversation over a glass of scotch......,

Did I mention the pool?

.....but that's later in the week.

Monday morning, friend Geoff invited me over for coffee after the gym - he lives close by.  (And yes, I am back to going to the gym each weekday for an hour and a half.  Good girl, Nora!)  Geoff is heading off for Kuala Lumpur and parts east for 3 weeks, so it was our last chance for a while.

Here's Geoff..

...and friends Nancy...

.....and Tom.

Between four games of bridge this week, also managed lunch with neighbor Michael at Don and Sweet Sue's, one of my favourites (and not just because of its name!)

...and was impressed by the usual collection of fauna....

and views from the deck...

......of which you will, no doubt, get heartily sick before too long.

On Thursday evening, I saw the National Theater of London's live in HD performance of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.  It was, as always, a wonderful production.  I had forgotten, though, how depressing that story was, and the loneliness of life without anyone "watching your back", or without someone to care about.

Saturday was the pool day, and a glorious day it was too. ( No pictures, sorry.)

Sunday, I was up early for the drive to Los Angeles.  On a Sunday, it's really quite an easy drive - one hour and forty minutes from my door to the music center.

Couldn't resist a few pictures of Disney Hall (although the opera is held in the Music Center next door)...

...and the Plaza....

....before brunch at the Brasserie...

By that time, the box office was open, and I scored a rush ticket to Bluebeard's Castle and Dido and Aeneas, a weird double bill if ever there was one.  I mean, Bartok and Purcell?  I am glad to have seen them, but - well, let me put it to you this way, I don't have to see either one of them again.  I don't think I have ever seen operas where I cared about the characters less....

However, I had an uneventful drive home, and will certainly do it again if there is an offering that interests me.

So back to (my version of) reality today, the gym, some errands (including putting gas is my car - you might be interested in knowing that gas here is $2.85 a gallon.  Even with an 88 cent Canadian dollar, that seems really good to me), bridge in the afternoon, at yet another bridge club, and drinks on the patio (theirs, next door, not mine) with Arlene....

....and Deb.

And yes, I am still reading, mostly, this week, Ken Follett's newest door stop, The Edge of Eternity, the latest in the Century Trilogy.  It was available in the library; I couldn't resist it, but I've only got two weeks to read it, and when I said doorstop, I meant it.  So, I am off to cuddle with my book....

More anon!

Life in The Desert, Part I of Many

God, I love it here.  I am sitting on my patio, the sun has just come up, the birds are chirping, the rabbits are munching (I have long ago stopped trying to take pictures of the rabbits.  They just don't show up on the grass.  And why do we have grass in the desert in the midst of a drought, you might well ask.  Ah, that is a story for another time)....

Okay, that settles it.  I have to get a better camera.

In any event, it was a very typical week in the desert.  Picked up friend Robin and her husband Grant from the airport (the happy faces when the Snowbirds look up at the sun is worth the price of admission), And before driving them home to La Quinta we stopped for our now (3rd year) traditional deli brunch at Sherman's (best deli west of New York, in my opinion, although I can't really speak for Chicago)...

And what did we eat, you might ask?  They had a pastrami Ruben and potato salad, and coconut pie; I had cold beet borscht with boiled potato and sour cream on the side - good Eastern European peasant food.

I had promised myself that this season, what with my newly renovated kitchen and all, I was only going to eat out once a week  Well, that promise was soon broken (let's see how I do next week....)  Friend Ken and I did our "rain check" dinner (see previous post) on Wednesday evening.  I did keep one promise - to entertain at home more, same reason.  I laid in some nibblies, had the martini glasses, gin and vermouth chilled, and we had cocktails at home, before heading up the street to Las Tablitas for my first bit of Mexican....

This spot has previously been seen in these pages, and it remains one of my favourite "low end" Mexican joints.  However, the troubling trend continues - when we came in, the question was "Mexican or sushi?".  This is probably the third or fourth place in town that serves both, the restaurants actually divided in half so that sushi chefs don't have to deal with salsa!  What is that about, I ask you?  (And no, I did not have the sushi.....)

Ken and I had a good time catching up, both on recent events and our pasts (martinis, followed by margaritas, are good for those kinds of confidences).  Ken is a person well worth knowing, and I hope to get to know him better this season.

And what would a week be - anywhere - without bridge?  Robin and I played at the Duncan Bridge Center on Thursday. coming in 4th overall with a 59.8% score.  (I know that doesn't count for much in law school, but it is not bad for bridge - the highest I've seen is 72%!)  We scored some points too.

I played again on Friday, this time at Mizell Seniors Center.  I didn't have a partner, and went on spec.  They are lovely people there, though (albeit a bit old, as I suppose could be expected in a senior center!), and readily found me a partner.  Although we didn't place, we came close, and, more to the point, had a great time.

What else?  The usual running around when changing locations, getting infrastructure and software functioning (although, as these things go, I have precious little of that; neighbor Michael generally makes sure that everything is tikkity boo by the time I get here), and I really don't mind running around doing errands, with the top down in the balmy air.....

Oh, and did I say I was reading?  I might have mentioned last time a book of short stories, titled Mr. Bones, by Paul Theroux.  I love short stories, although these were rather dark, considering my mood.  Then there was a Martha Grimes mystery (I didn't think there were any of those I hadn't read, but apparently I missed one....). three medieval mysteries by Ellis Peters (pieces of fluff, really, but I love them), and, finally, some serious stuff as well, Michael Lewis's Flash Boys and Thomas L. Friedman (yes, the guy who writes for the New York Times), Hot, Flat and Crowded.  Neither of the latter two are "new" anymore (the sharp ones among you might have noticed that I had started the Lewis book before I left the desert in May) but both well worth reading.  Lewis, of course, is (in my opinion) the best financial writer of all times (he can not only say the market is rigged, he can explain it so that a layman can understand), and Friedman ditto for all things political and sociological.

So, all told, I am quite content, out here on my patio on a Saturday morning.  Now, for another cup of coffee...