The Season Winds Down

As our winter escape winds down, we have been busy with many season ending activities, and final rides of the season.  Over the last couple of years, we have been able to put together two cycling groups.  On Monday mornings, our Ladies’ Ride group meets for an easy ride that may involve pedaling up La Quinta Cove hill, finding a Geocache, going on a short mid-ride hike, or checking out the produce fields, but always involves coffee and a muffin. We also ride with Ed, BC Jim, and Electric Jim, once or twice a week, for rides of longer distances and harder efforts, but also usually finding a coffee shop. This Monday morning was our final ride of the season and we look forward to riding with our groups again in the fall.

Bike babes

Our last hike of the season was up at the San Bernadino National Park, 6000 feet above sea level compared to our below sea level altitude at Trilogy.  It was a perfect day to hike the Ernie Maxwell Trail on the mountain as it was only 65F there compared to 95F in La Quinta. It was good to be out of the desert heat and in amongst pine trees again.  

The view along the trail

Sandy and Kate on the trail

Sandy keeps the trail clear

The hike was along a very well travelled path, with lots of other hikers enjoying its views. Because of that, other than birds and a few squirrels, we didn’t see too much wild life.  As one can see from the photo, there had been some pretty busy woodpeckers about.

A well drilled tree

In addition to the beautiful views, we finally found some wildlife when this creature crossed our path.

Snake, about two feet long

Rockie has been very busy patrolling our yard for the creatures on her watch list. She accidentally dug another hole in the backyard while in pursuit of one of them. I am not sure if it was a gecko or a bug she was after, but you could have almost parked our van in her excavation by the time I caught her in the act! Fortunately, our gardener came the next day and he repaired the damage. We are much happier when she just keeps watching the fence for activity.

Rockie lizard hunting

Spider Rockie found on an evening walk

With all the season ending get togethers, I have been busy baking up a storm. I have managed to get through the last of our lemons. We gave some to our neighbours, Ron and Joanne, have a few to bring home, and the last made their way into another lemon pound cake.

Lemon pound cake

For one event, I took a batch of my special Rice Krispie squares, a recipe I have modified over the years by adding all sorts of things, including raisins, rolled oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, and cocoa Rice Krispies. Pretty good, if I say so myself. I don’t make them often cuz if I don’t have anyone to share them with, I can make the whole pan disappear in an embarrassingly short period of time!

Kate’s deluxe Rice Krispie squares

Sandy feels she has been pretty much neglected this winter, as I seemed to have made almost everything except the scones she loves so much. When I finally got around to it, I forgot to add in the raisins we both like, so I quickly made a second batch … that had a short, but much appreciated life.

Cream scones, with raisins

But truth be known, as much as I like cake, muffins, scones, and the other things I bake, the real reason I love to bake so much?  Cleaning the bowl and licking the spatula afterwards!

Why I bake!

When Linda was here, our friend, Holly (also one of our cyclists) took Linda, me, and Pat (another cycle buddy) bird watching at Whitewater Preserve.  

 Serious birders

Another birder gave us info on how to find a screech owl sleeping in a hollowed out section of a tree. After some searching and intense gazing through branches, we were delighted to spot the owl in question.That was our best find of the day, along with a California thrasher. Pat took some excellent photos; here are two she shared with us. 

Screech owl

One strange bird!

On one of the bird watching trips I was on, spotting a burrowing owl was a main objective. When taking Rockie for a short walk before one of her classes at Dream Dogs, we spotted this burrowing owl by the parking lot. These little owls look so serious with their long legs, the best equipment with which to dig their burrows, I guess.

Burrowing owl at Rockie's school

You may recall that we went on a trip to the coast in January where it rained for two days. While we were away, it only rained half a day in La Quinta. In March, it rained quite heavily in the west part of the valley, from Palm Springs to Palm Desert; again we were dry in La Quinta. When I walked the dogs that day, however, we saw a beautiful rainbow arching over the street. 

Rainbow:  a rare sight in the desert

With that, I’ll sign off and start putting some thoughts together for our next post.

Catching Up

Well, I guess it’s about time I got back to business now that the Olympics are long over. So let’s get up to date, shall we?

The weekend the Olympics started, we checked the dogs into camp and headed into Palm Springs. Friday evening, we went to our first opera, La Traviata, put on by a regional opera company and starring a woman Sandy knows from golf. Wow, we were so impressed with Jamie’s performance!  Her singing was amazing and she played the role so convincingly that I was mesmerized throughout the performance. This won’t be our last opera.

Jamie (Violettta) with the black gloves

We stayed overnight in Palm Springs as we had an 08:00 roll out for the 50 mile route in the Tour of Palm Springs the next morning. This is a huge charity ride, with over 7000 participants. This year it raised over 3 millions dollars for local charities.  It was a perfect day, weather wise, but we weren’t too pleased with the route, and some dangerous riding by some of the participants so we won’t do this event again.

February 10, 08:00 start. Pretty nice weather already!

We had a busy go of it during the two weeks of the Olympics; out cycling in the mornings then binge watching the Games in the afternoons and evenings. So many events, so little time; lots of it spent on cross country skiing, biathlon, and speed skating, but I am pretty sure we saw something of everything. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any Canada specific coverage as we were at the mercy of NBC, but they did a pretty good job of providing coverage of most of the events.  Our sports viewing didn’t end with the Olympics, as when they were done, there were World Cup finals and World Championships in many of the winter sports so we just kept on going in fan mode through most of February. I think our eyes are finally starting to blink normally after spending so much time in front of the TV! 

The world fell in love with Virtue and Moir, but what a season for figure skater Kaetlyn Osmond, who trains at the Ice Palace in West Edmonton Mall. Olympic gold in the team event and bronze in the women’s event, followed up with gold in the women’s competition at the World Championships! I stumbled on the live broadcast of the women’s event and was glued to the set as none of her competitors, including the Olympic champion, could match her stunning performance.

Kaetlyn Osmond, Black Swan long programme routine

March was busy with visits from both my friend, Linda, and my sister, Patti. The day Linda arrived, I had us signed up for a sushi making class at our clubhouse. The chef-instructor was very impressed with how well we assembled our rolls, “the best,” he claimed. Linda says it was because we have been cycling team mates for many years that we work so well  together… at least when we aren’t trying to one up one another in everything else we do!

Kate rolling sushi

Linda and Kate's "best in class" sushi rolls

The next day, Sandy drove us to Algadones, Mexico, just across the border from Yuma.  Sandy and I had been craving the best tacos we ever had at a little restaurant we found there last year. When we finally located it, however, it was closed, but the place next door was almost as good. While checking out the shops, we discovered a new food to add to our training regimens … not that we are looking for any short cuts!

Could this be the next new training supplement?

And never under estimate what you can get in Mexico, if only you pay attention!

We did a little Geocaching while there, which is a good way to get off the beaten track and discover places and things that one would otherwise miss by sticking to the usual tourist trails. While exploring a side street in search of a Geocache, we heard Sandy call to us.  She says now there is no denying what an angel she is!

We continue to venture out with our hiking club and have a new favourite hike at Borrego Springs, about a 45 minute drive south of our place. The hike is only about 3 miles return, but the scenery is beautiful the whole way. At a few points along the hike, we could hear the sound of trickling water, which is not very common in the desert. Sure enough, there were a couple of small streams making their way through the rocks, and creating lush little greenbelts all along their courses.  

Starting off on our Borrego Springs hike

A little desert wildlife along the way

 A stream in the desert

The objective of the hike is a natural palm oasis. How stunning to come across such a spectacular, contrasting display of nature in the desert. 

Following the stream towards the palm oasis

Amongst the tall palms in the oasis

I continue to do some baking, usually trying something new when we have guests over for game night. With two lemon trees in our yard, we have lots of lemons to use up, so I am always on the look out for recipes that employ them. A new recipe I found was for lemon cake with lemon cream cheese icing. This was my first attempt at a layer cake, and construction wise, let’s just say I think I learned some lessons for next time; flavour wise, this one was a hit! 

The icing recipe was very generous, so I saved some in the freezer. When my sister was here, we had another game night, so I needed to bake something for dessert following the game. Sandy requested carrot cake. I figured this was a great suggestion as this would be a good time to use the left over lemon cream cheese icing. Although Sandy made a comment about me “messing with her cake” this was an excellent combination and received lots of complements.

Lemon cake with lemon cream cheese icing

My sister, Patti, was here for a week. Mostly, we just hung out together enjoying sister time. She whipped me but good at just about every game we played.  I think she may have been cheating when I wasn’t looking, either that or the big sister was doing her bit to make sure the baby sister stays humble!

Before I wrap up this edition, I guess a doggie update is in order. Rockie has completed all her nose work classes for the season, finishing off with the advanced class. She absolutely loved it.  Next up for her is her exam for the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen certificate. Here’s hoping her handler (that would be me) doesn’t screw up on exam day. In the meantime, the geckos, lizards, and snakes are out of hibernation. So far no snake sightings, but Rockie is on constant look out for geckos and lizards in our yard. 

First gecko catch of 2018!

Benny had a good winter, but is less than thrilled with the rising daytime temperatures that are now happening. When it is too hot for him to go for a walk, which is anything about about 21C, Sandy takes him for a ride in the golf cart. He practically flies to the door with grand enthusiasm when she asks if he wants to go for a ride.

Benny with his chauffeur

Easter has come and gone. We had a wonderful Easter dinner and evening with friends, which we were able to enjoy outside. What a contrast to Alberta, where it was the coldest Easter in Edmonton since 1940.  I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been eating outdoors there!  Our chocolate Easter bunnies succumbed to the classic demise for their type ...

... consumption from the ears down!

Hopefully, the next update won’t be so long in coming, however, we are getting busy with season ending wind-up activities, so who knows when I will get back to the keyboard. 😊