Semi private

 

We were the only guests here last night. As my sister said, "that's kind of nice and kind of creepy." I made steak on the grill and we sat outside watching the sun go down. When it got dark I went swimming again. No one would even notice or care if a person decided to go skinny dipping.  Not that I would ever do such a thing.

The manager has a room next to ours. This is where the not-so-peaceful part comes in. She's from Florida, one of those people who likes to talk, and everyone hears her entire life story. So it was an interesting stay, as a trip to Desert Hot Springs always is. You never know what you're going to find here. The water this morning was chilly, I guess they turned it off for just 2 guests, so that was the only disappointment.

Anyway, on to Palm Springs tonight.

 

We took a nice 2 mile hike yesterday at the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve. It was mid-day, so we didn't see any birds, but there are several hundred species here.  The Alkali Goldenbush was pretty and buzzing with bees.

Just relaxing

 

We were up at 3am yesterday for our early flight to Palm Springs. Ugh. But the plane left on time on a dark October morning with the sun just coming up over Mt. Rainier. Clear skies all the way to California. Of course that put us down many hours before check-in time in Desert Hot Springs. 

Well, there are worse places to kill time than downtown Palm Srpings. John stocked up again on his favorite baseball caps at the hat store. One of the few places to find hats without writing on the front.

Then early lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant Los Consuelos.  The old 5-page menu a victim of the pandemic, down to a one-sided sheet of popular items. A big Mexican chop salad and tacos. Honestly, it is hard to get a bad meal in Palm Springs.

Still only noon by then, so we headed over to the Palm Springs Art Museum. They have a great collection of modern and western art, much of it donated by rich denizens of the area. It's a perfect size museum with 3 levels of galleries and plenty (but not too much) to see in one visit.  Everything sparkling clean and the few visitors spread out. A few highlights below.

An "oracle bonnet" made with 35,000 corsage pins. Ouch.

And this stunning, lighted optical illusion piece you could stare into forever.

Then a quick stop at the trading post at Cabot's Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs, and a long stop at the grocery store getting everything we needed for the night and next morning. By then it was time to check into the spa motel.

A small place with only 7 rooms, the main attraction a hot mineral water pool. Dinner fried chicken and salad from the deli. The we listened to the party sounds all around us in town, and were glad we didn't have to go anywhere except bed. Kind of like the wild west up here in DHS, when the God-fearing folks stayed home on Saturday night. Ha!

October 1

 

International Coffee Day

International Day for the Elderly

National Homemade Cookies Day

World Smile Day

World Vegetarian Day

Take your pick of special holidays on October 1. They all sound good. 

Speaking of coffee days, we have an early flight to Palm Springs tomorrow. I made those reservations back in March when people were clamoring for vaccinations and everyone thought the pandemic would be a distant memory by October. Ha. Now we're lining up again for boosters. I've had 4 shots already this year (2 Covid, DTAP and pneumonia) and soon it will be 6.  The Flu and yet another nasty Covid. Good grief.  

After such a hectic summer (good but honestly pretty exhausting) a few days in happy, warm Palm Springs will be great. Going to all our favorite, familiar places. We're also spending two nights at an adult spa motel in Desert Hot Springs called Sagewater.

It gets good reviews, for whatever that's worth. DHS is a strange town (make that scary) and you don't want to stray far from your motel. Lido Palms, where we've often stayed in the past, was booked for the weekend by a large family party of Armenians. They said they could squeeze us in, but it didn't sound like a quiet escape. No offense to the Armenian people. 

Well, better dig out the old bathing suits, which we haven't used for a couple of years. The weather looks desert perfect, with highs about 90 and pleasant 70's at night. 

Fig

We can thank the scorching summer and climate change for a couple of ripe figs. I found them yesterday, a first. No one believes it when they see that big tree covered with green figs, but they never fully ripen. Not in 40 years. Only the starlings eat them, and in fact a noisy flock was fighting over the best ones yesterday. 

There is nothing so tasty as a good fig. Or so bad as a bad one. Anyway, that's it for another year. The weather has turned cold and dark just in time for October. In a few weeks this mass of vegetation and green figs will fall to the ground in a big soggy mess.

 

Careful what you wish for

 

 

In western Washington, early fall is like a second spring. The rain finally soaks the parched ground while the temperature stays fairly warm. All the plants, including the weeds, spring to life and everything looks fresh again. It's incredible how fast the brown landscape turns green, and now stays green for the winter. The opposite of most parts of the country.

I don't clean up the garden all at once anymore, I physically can't do it. I used to obsessively cut everything back to the ground in October, and then haul cart loads of leaves to build up a thick mulch on the beds.The worms and birds loved it.

It was never a fun job, and now worse with construction across the street, not to mention the poor old Silver Maple (the source of leaves) is slowly dying. The dead twigs and small branches on the ground make raking too hard. I have such affection for that tree, the perch of countless bird flocks and shading our house from the afternoon sun for over 40 years. Nothing can ever replace it, at least not in my lifetime.

Anyway, I'll see if Mr. Nguyen will deliver a load of compost for mulch. That should do the trick. We need bring in the big expensive boys this winter for tree pruning. The Leyland Cypress, quite an impressive hedge, the holly tree and palm tree fronds need trimming, those about 30 feet above the ground.  What happened? Not long ago, I did it with a step ladder.

Sometimes I walk by dark houses that are completely encased by out-of-control trees and vegetation. Easy to see how that happens and tempting. 

Considering this view from the kitchen window, let the Cypress grow another 10 feet up and they would be happy to oblige. Then they would be going through the power lines-- a new kind of city problem. 

How pointless it is, complaining about things you have no control over. But whenever I glance out the window (about 100 times a day) there's sometime offensive about this roof looming over our private space. This is a "backyard cottage" in progressive Seattle.  I suspect the neighbors on either side feel the same way. 

 

Reading weather

 

 

The early mornings are suddenly so dark and chilly, there's not much reason anymore to jump out of bed. I woke up too early today, turned up the furnace and listened to the Ezra Klein Show podcast, a long and interesting interview with the author Richard Powers. 

His new book is called "Bewilderment." His last novel, "The Overstory" won the Pulitzer Prize. Many readers described it as life changing, in particular, a completely new way to view trees and the natural world.

Two other excellent authors also have books just coming out:  Jonathan Franzen's "Crossroads," and the long-anticipated third novel by Amor Towles called "The Lincoln Highway." Lots to look forward to in the reading department this fall.