Christmas Bark and Storks

When Christine closed up the cafe there was a lot of left over food stuff. When helping her to do inventory of it I bought some home, including 2 large ziplock bags of white chocolate flakes (one for me and one for Nicola). Brainstorming what to do with them we came up with the idea of making chocolate bark for Christmas gifts.

Last weekend, with recipes off the internet

and lots of goodies from Bulk Barn (mini rolos, crushed candy canes, candied fruit peel, cranberries, diced apricots) and some from my cupboard (peanuts, almonds, a square of dark chocolate, cocoa, sea salt),

we melted the white chocolate

and made lots of delicious chocolate bark.

Nicola and I then went in search of Christmas Storks. Last year, driving away from the Christmas festivities on Long Port, Nicola's family saw these huge birds in the fields and dubbed them "Christmas Storks".

Well the Sandhill Cranes are back in the fields just north of Long Point.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of them, eating the corn dropped from the harvester

sometimes leaping and fluttering their wings and making their strange trilling calls.

California, Palm Springs - on my own.

The last 3 days I have no company so I set my own routine; awake at about 7:30, couple of cups of coffee and check e-mails, put on a load of laundry (I need to set the house up for Rick and Eve's next guests), yoga by the pool, swim, dry in the sun, drink smoothie, hang out laundry (it dries very quickly here), read, have lunch, paint, walk around the neighbourhood in the late afternoon when the road is mostly shaded, supper, read or watch TV.

Completed painting from Friday's class. The instructor said to never show anyone the original photo so they never know the mistakes you made.

This house is having new landscaping put in and Chris, Teri and I watched a huge crane placing the new palm trees.

Next day, another painting.

This time I didn't have a photo so I kept popping outside and looking at this cluster of lemons, not yet ripe on the tree

and this one that fell off the tree yesterday.

Today I painted from a photo in a book on hummingbirds that Eve has on the coffee table.

On my last evening walk (I fly home tomorrow) I saw the progress being made on creating a desert landscape, at the house just down the road. This kind of landscaping saves water and is encouraged here.

At the first little park I could see that the sky was starting to glow.

Halloween decorations looked a little out of place here but Christmas ones look even stranger.

The sky really

put on a show

for my last night here.

California, Palm Springs - Teri and Jessie

After a couple of days on our, own Chris and I were joined by her friend Teri and her son, Jessie (aged 5 months).

Teri was just here for a few days but had to bring a ton of stuff! - snugglie, car seat, stroller, diapers, baby food and of course a pool floaty.

Jessie is a very easy going little guy and tolerated the pool

though not overly enthusiastic.

We went to Old La Quinta but found that it was a relatively new shopping area made to look Spanish. We walked around but there wasn't much to see. On the way home we found a Trader Joe's.

Teri had lots of friends mention that she should go there so she texted them, asking what was good. These were their recommendations. The cookie butter was delicious and tasted like ginger cookies with the consistency of peanut butter. Don't read the ingredient list though - basically oil, sugar and spices (no ginger though?).

Thursday we went for a hike. This one we didn't pay for but did leave a donation.

We started at an oasis with huge palms.

along a boardwalk over brackish water.

This was all we saw in the way of wildlife

though there was the mandatory rattlesnake sign just to worry Christine.

We hiked through desert

towards the next oasis

which was blocked off as they are trying to reintroduce a native fish that was decimated by the introduction of crayfish to the pool, years ago. It was a flat and leisurely 2 mile hike.

Thursday night we went to downtown Palm Springs for Villagefest and walked the whole pedestrian street, in and out of some shops and booths and had a bit to eat.

 

Friday afternoon they flew back home and we stopped at Del Taco on the way to the airport just to give it a try.

Friday afternoon I took another watercolour class and this is what I got done in a 3 1/2hour class. It flew by.

That evening I had a watercolour sky. I have not been getting any colour at sunset as the sky is always clear.

California, Palm Springs - Tahquitz Canyon

Mike, Aimee and the kids left at 4am on Saturday and were home, in Edmonton, by 8:30pm on Sunday. They were greeted by snow and freezing temperatures. Chris and I relaxed, swam and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a day.

Then we went out for a pedicure and to get lunch. Beside the Mexican restaurant we spied this Roadrunner.

The restaurant owner confessed that he fed it "occasionally" but it obviously lived in the scrubby, empty lot next door.

The next day we felt in need of some exercise, outside of our daily 1.6km walk around the neighbourhood.

We drove out to Tahquitz Canyon

an area owned and operated by the Agua Caliente Band, which meant we had to pay to walk the trail. Smart business people they manage their resources well.

From the visitors centre you can see across the valley. We watched a short video on the Legend of the canyon. Tahquitz was given healing powers by the Creator but abused them and was banished to live in the canyon and prey on peoples souls.

The canyon has steep sides

and the running water keeps

flora at its base green with the occasional hit of colour. There were a surprising number of hummingbirds.

We had started our hike at about noon. Not smart in this climate but we took it slow and drank lots of water. That dark speck on the left is Chris.

We passed a woman who said she had seen 3 Big Horned sheep ahead, so we kept scouring the sides of the canyon. We knew from seeing them at the Living Desert that they blend very well with the rocks. Even in their enclosure they were difficult to see.

We were able to spot some, way up on the cliff face, because of their white bums.

If it hadn't been for that splash of white they would have been impossible to see.

We watched them for a while, 6 to 8 of them, clambering and grazing. So far away that my photos are blurry.

A mile in was the waterfall

and Chris took off her socks and shoes and waded. It was numbingly cold.

We walked back down with the canyon in cool shadow now.

It took way less time to walk back; downhill and much cooler, looking forward to a swim when we got back to the house.