January 5 to 11, 2020

Sunday ; Sunny and warm.

Joanne was very marginally improved today. She achieved our goal of being healthy enough to attend our first Palm Springs International Film Festival movie today. Although … it took a lot of drugs to do it ! Both in her body, and in her purse. HA HA HA !

Right after lunch we left home heading across the freeway into Palm Springs. We ran a few errands, then headed to Palm Springs High School to see the movie. WOW ! What a large campus ! Much more like a university than a high school. 

I think it is the local “performing arts” high school. The venue for the viewing of the film festival movie was the auditorium. < blink blink > WOW ! Like a movie theatre or performance stage with many hundreds of seats !

The movie was excellent ! It was from Argentina, entitled “Heroic Losers”. It was a convoluted “good triumphs over evil” comedy / drama. By the end of the movie Joanne felt worn out and eager to return home.

Monday ; Sunny and warm.

Joanne is finally beginning to improve ! Thank goodness !

But … < sigh > … now Emma seems to have an upper respiratory infection / kitty cat cold !

This afternoon I continued a cosmetic repair on the car. And changed two burned out light bulbs ; a backup light and a taillight. Why are there so many light bulbs burning out on this car ? Late in the afternoon we went to the swimming pool. Both of us ! I did an exercise session. Joanne just floated and rested in the warm mineral water swimming pool. Then we soaked in the mineral water hot tub for awhile.

Joanne did laundry. I summarized our 2019 medical expenses. Which were much higher last year than usual ! More prescription expenses for me. More travel medical insurance expenses. A total of five pairs of eyeglasses last year ! ! ! Lots of physiotherapy expenses for Joanne.

Dinner was the last of Dancing Baba’s varenykiys, served with Crema CentroAmericana. What a great combination !

Tuesday ; Sunny and warm. But that is going to change soon.

Around noon we left for a day of running errands. First time in a week that Joanne has felt healthy enough to want to go out. First stop was Best Buy. I took my laptop for service. But … I was not aware that their Geek Squad service department is so busy that one needs an appointment to discuss service requirements. So … I will have to return on Thursday afternoon. At 3 PM ! 

< rolling eyes >

Joanne has compiled a list of things she wants to see / do / eat in Palm Springs. On that list was a restaurant called Lala’s, specializing in waffles, crepes, and milk shakes. We had an excellent ( and expensive ) lunch of crepes and milk shakes.

Today we did our grocery shopping at Cardenas, a Mexican supermarket. We liked it ! We like most Mexican supermarkets we’ve shopped at. More shopping for groceries and supplies at the 99 Cent Only Store, and … Wal-Mart, of course. We arrived back home at 6 PM.

Wednesday ; Sunny and warm, becoming cool and windy late in the afternoon.

Today I finished a cosmetic repair on the car, using a two part, black coloured epoxy to “rebuild” the top corner that was broken off the passenger’s door. The previous owner had repaired the damage with Polyfilla, suitable for household interior repairs, but not a suitable material for this kind of automotive exterior repair.

Joanne was feeling so improved today that she went shopping by herself for a few grocery items at Stater Bros in Desert Hot Springs. We went to the swimming pool together at dusk, and did half an exercise session, followed by hot tub soaking. And time in the sauna for Joanne. She likes the sauna. < shrug > I’m indifferent.

Thursday ; Extremely windy, cool.

We left home at 11 AM heading for Palm Springs High School, and our second Palm Springs International Film Festival movie at 12:15 PM. It was a very quirky film from Belgium entitled “Patrick”. It was a very dark comedy about grief, set in a nudist campground in southern France. A great deal of nudity, but non-sexual. HEY … it’s a nudist campground ! The main character was a 38 year old extremely introverted man, perhaps autistic, the handyman in the campground owned by his parents.

After the film we went to the shoe repair shop to pick up Joanne’s SAS sandals which were to be ready last Friday. Today … they weren’t yet ready !  I was just about to pitch a hissy fit when the owner / cobbler offered to deliver them this evening to Desert Hot Springs. Fine ! HMPH !

We drove to Best Buy where I had a 3 PM appointment for service at their Geek Squad service department. I had a brief “consultation” with a service technician, just to find out that their diagnostic service would require a one year service contract purchase. For TWO HUNDRED BUCKS ! Yeah … I don’t ****ing think so ! Goodbye ! ! !

We went for an extremely late lunch ( or extremely early dinner ) to a restaurant that Joanne has wanted for many years to try. Souplantation is an “all you can eat” buffet restaurant, serving primarily salads and soups. Their main feature is a fifty-five foot long salad bar. Their soup bar features eight different soups, and a chili. They also offer some pastas, pizzas, baked potatoes and fixings, and small fruit muffins. Almost everything is “vegetarian”. It was a very good meal, and worth a return visit in the future.

We were home around 5:30 PM and an hour later drove into Desert Hot Springs to meet the cobbler with Joanne’s repaired sandals. His work was expensive, but … extremely well done !

Friday ; Sunny and warm.

Today around noon our Kofa Ko-op neighbours / Canadian friends Shauna and David, and their dog Zona, arrived here at Sky Valley Resort for a one week visit to the Palm Springs area. After lunch Joanne and I took Shauna bathing suit shopping at Glossy, Joanne’s favourite bathing suit store. While the women shopped for bathing suits I went to nearby AutoZone to buy some automotive supplies I needed. When I returned to Glossy, not surprisingly, the women were not yet finished. I went next door and browsed for awhile at Habitat For Humanity Re-Store.

After the bathing suit shopping we went to Albertsons so that Shauna could replenish a few grocery items. We were back home around 5:30 PM, just as it became dark. We sat around on the patio with Shauna and David for about an hour until it became too cold to remain outdoors.

I spent the evening trying to solve some computer problems. After spending all evening working on the problems, all I accomplished was … to make the problems much worse. < sigh >

Saturday ; Sunny and warm.

Our friends David and Shauna spent the day on their own, running errands.

We left at noon to head to Camelot Theater to see our third and final movie in the Palm Springs International Film Festival, starting at 1 PM. The movie was made in France and Tunisia, and was entitled Arab Blues. It was a very good comedy about a young French / Tunisian psychoanalyst who sets up a psychoanalysis practice in Tunisia.

We returned home and I did a simple repair on the minivan before we went to the swimming pool for an exercise and hot tub soak session. As we returned from the swimming pool at dusk I found a fence that I used to aim the replaced headlight on the minivan. After supper we went next door to visit with David and Shauna.

DSK