Happy Birthday to Little Lulu!!!

Can't believe our "baby", Lauren, is 19 today!!!  Happy bithday . . .

Happy 27th Birthday to Matt!

The McCallum Theater -- A Night at Basin Street East

On Tuesday night, Bob and I went to a performance at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert.

From the McCallum website:

A Night at Basin Street East

Featuring a Tribute to the Benny Goodman Sextet

Vocalist Amia Dane and Special Guests

Basin Street East, the hottest club in New York in the 1960s, where Goodman, Kenton, Ellington, Ella, and Peggy Lee made nightclub history. Relive the era of Basin Street East with Terry Gibbs and an all-star sextet playing the music of Benny Goodman, Amia Dane singing the music of Ella Fitzgerald, and other surprises

We have Amia Dane's debut album "Have Mercy" and she is a terrific jazz vocalist, so we were excited to see her perform.  SHE WAS WONDERFUL!!! Here is the link to her MySpace page where you can hear some of her songs. 

 Amia Dane on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

My two favorites songs are "Where Does the Time Go" and "Emotional Girl". 

The surprise guest was Terry Gibbs.  Neither Bob nor I had ever heard of him, but he was quite the entertainer -- a spry 84 year old legendary jazz vibraphonist who has been around the block a few times and has stories to tell!  He had performed with Benny Goodman in his youth and had numerous very funny stories to tell about him.  He played the vibes and it was very entertaining!

And as he mentioned proudly, he has a 59 year old wife to whom he has been married for 31 years.  Here is his web site:  www.terrygibbs.com

The McCallum is an interesting venue.  It is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year and "For the opening night at the McCallum

Theatre, former U.S. presidents and Hollywood luminaries converged in Palm Desert, CA for one of the most important events in the regions history.  The affair, held in January 1988, aired on NBC and introduced the nation to the Coachella Valley's crown jewel.  The gala represented the culmination of more than a decade of hard work for a theater that took three years and $22 million to build.  As it celebrates it's 20th anniversary, McCallum Theatre has fulfilled its original promise: to provide desert residents a world-class performing arts venue diverse in its programming, patrons, and educational opportunities."

The Weather Isn't Normal, But We Are Having Fun Anyway!

After the first few great, above normal temperature days (February averages are highs of 76 degrees and lows of 47 degrees) we have had below average temps -- highs in the 60's and lows around 41 and some rain.  Not bad weather, but when you want to bake your midwestern bones it's not quite warm enough!  The plus to the rainy weather is the great "sky show" of clouds moving over the mountains.  I took these pictures from our back yard -- the view is of the Santa Rosa Mountains to the west.

Last Saturday, we were pleasantly surprised to have the UPS truck stop at our house with a delivery.  We thought it was a mistake at first since we hadn't ordered anything to be sent to this address, but it turned out that Matt & Sarah had arranged for their Christmas gift to us to be sent here while we are in California (THANK YOU!).  Their gift was a membership in the Wine of the Month Club.  We receive 2 bottles of wine every other month for a year.  December was a champagne (very good) and a dessert wine (we didn't drink yet).  Our Saturday delivery was a California 2007 Chambers and Reed Chenin Blanc which was also very good (light straw in color, pippin apple and slight honey notes with a slight citrus finish) and our favorite of all so far (we will be ordering more of this) was an Argentinian 2007 Don Sivestre Tempranillo (ruby red in color, notes of cherries, blackberries, dark chocolate and spice).  Yum!  Yes, both bottles have already disappeared.

First few days in La Quinta, CA

Well we have really settled in to our "new home".  The weather had been fabulous Sunday through Wednesday.  Temperatures were above normal -- 80's and, of course, sunny.

We take the dogs for a long 2-3 mile walk each morning right after breakfast.  They are in heaven.

We bought bikes at WalMart on Monday and went for bike rides Monday and Tuesday.  We golfed at nearby Trilogy on Wednesday.  Bob did great.  I shot a 55 on the front nine.  Won't talk about the back.

Yesterday we went to Old Town La Quinta.  It is a little shopping and dining area relatively close to our house.  We will be going to the Farmer's Market there on Sunday morning.

I saw this building in Old town that houses the offices for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classis -- guess how I knew?

Late in the afternoon yesterday, a storm rolled in.  It was fun seeing the clouds come in over the mountains.  It rained for all of 15 minutes, but I missed it since I was on Skype with Janet.  Anyone else want to Skype?

Today was below normal temps -- high of 67 degrees.  It rained for about 3 minutes this morning.  The weathermen act as though these "rainy days" are the end of the world, but they are actually pretty nice.

After our doggie walk this morning, Bailey accidently fell into our backyard pool.  There is a grassy area beyond the pool and when she decided to come back in the house, she jumped up on the ledge of the pool and cut the corner too sharply and . . . wet puppy.  She was so shocked -- but she started doing the doggie paddle before I was able to fish her out!

I'll take pictures of the house and yard tomorrow and post them so you can see "our house".

The Drive Continues . . .

Since we went to bed at 7 pm, guess what?  We woke up at 2:30 am!  Anxious to get to our new "home", we figured we may as well continue on our way.  The dogs were a bit baffled but followed our lead.  We were dressed, had the car reloaded and were on the road by 3:30 am.  Bob drove first and I watched more episodes of the first season of Friday Night Lights on Bob's ipod in order to catch up with Bob (he had already watched the first season).  We'll watch season 2 while in California.  It is really good -- high school football is the "starting point" but it is really about the characters and their interrelationships.  Our next stop was breakfast at McDonald's in Flagstaff, Arizona.  Yes, Janet.  I only had a fruit and yogurt parfait and an apple walnut salad and coffee -- no McBad sandwiches for me!

Flagstaff was pretty cool.

Your Wikipedia trivia:  The city is named after a Ponderosa Pine flagpole made by a scouting party from Boston (known as the "Flagstaff Tea Party") to celebrate the United States Centennial on July 4, 1876.Flagstaff lies near the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau, along the western side of the largest contiguous Ponderosa Pine forest in the continental United States.  At 7,000 feet (2,121 m) elevation, located adjacent to the largest contiguous Ponderosa Pine forest in North America, the area around Flagstaff is considered a high altitude semi-desert.  However, ecosystems ranging from pinon-juniper studded plateaus, high desert, green alpine forest and barren tundra can all be found within a short drive of Flagstaff.

Next I drove for a while and Bob napped.  Then it was Bob's turn again.  We arrived in La Quinta about 12:30 pm Sunday.  We ran to the house, quicklu unpacked, and headed to CostCo and Ralph's to do our shopping.  We got back to the house just in time for kick-off of the Super Bowl!

Here are "the girls" enjoying the warm air as we drove into town: