LEAVING TOMMOROW MORNING FOR HOME

The foothills look surreal, like they are a painting not a photo!

A couple more shots of the gorgeous desert that surrounds us here, the Ocotillos which I love are all blooming their red tips right now!

We will go to Bakersfield the first night and then to an RV park called the Lakes RV and Golf Resort in Chowchilla for two nights and a game of golf at that park, then to Red Bluff for two nights. Staying at Durango RV park which we stayed at on the way down. It is brand new and beautiful like the Springs. We will visit old town Red Bluff and then will just do overnighters after that and get home fairly fast from there.

Five months at the Springs and it did seem to go by pretty fast at the end!

We will be back here next year to camphost again, probably starting at the end of December and staying until mid April.

We again did so many fun social events this year and I regretfully did not record so much on my camera this year. But one thing I did that I really enjoyed was getting more involved in the art community here. Next year I look forward to taking classes with Ginger, the mosaic, clay and pottery instructor here. I did make one ceramic tile with her and it was very enjoyable to paint some fruit on it and see it after it was fired. Ginger did a demo and talk at one of the Art Guild luncheons and I won a gorgeous mosaic tiled mirror as the door prize. That is how I met her and I immediately knew I wanted to do some mosaic work, I love the colour and possibilities. I hope to try it at home this summer, I wonder who I can talk into doing some with me??

One More Update Long Overdue!!

The wildfowers are out!

The Ocotillo are blooming red on their tips now!

Just a car that drove through on a weekend, there are a few of these old babies turning up here now and then!

It is far to hectic here to do this blog in actuality, I barely have time to sit and seldom do! But one of those times I took this shot that I see from the front windshield of the motorhome, this evening the sky was not solid blue as usual!

We have had some visitors, Donalie and Dave and their friends from Point Roberts. They just came for the day as they were staying in the Palm Springs area for a week.

We showed them some of the desert sculptures. There are tons of these prehistoric sculptures in the Borrego Desert all within 10 minutes of where we are.

This link has a few more shots but hardly covers what is out there, there are many more! http://www.alanhaynes.com/gallery/Anza_Borrego_2-2009/

These are two shots that I took one day but I need to go out and shoot all of the sculptures one day!

Bruce and Audrey also came for a day of golf as they too were staying in the Palm Springs area.

And Judy and Johnny also got down here and spent a few days in Barrie's motorhome in our RV park, we filled every minute with seeing the best of what this area offers!! This church was on our drive around town, it is the most photographed and painted church here

Judy and Johhny posing at the pool

We had lunch at the Red Ocotillo in its new setting at the Palms at Indian Head hotel, still the best breakfast and lunch on the planet and view is of the desert and the pool while you eat on the dog friendly patio.

Here is another shot of my art group having lunch there. I have joined a painting group that meets Friday mornings and have had a lot of fun doing that when I can!

The next batch are from our 5 day trip to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. We drove our motorhomes down there. Barrie and Brenda and us and Bill and Lorrie were already there. We camped on the beach at the Reef Rv resort and the Reef Restaurant was there as well. We celebrated Barrie's birthday there, great shrimp and nicely presented.

We had lunch at a cute place one day, beer 2 for 2.50 and the same with some entrees so it was pretty cheap! Larry and I and the dogs walked the beach every morning to a hotel down the way for breakfast, nice walk for some exercise and the dogs loved the freedom and the sand!There is a pic of a Suguaro cactus with its inhabitants, the woodpeckers!

I HAVE BEEN DELINQUENT AT BLOGGING!!

So I will try to catch up some of the goings on here at the Springs!

We are having the same storm that is happening in BC except it is California style, our daytime temperature is in the high 50's or low 60's right now, perfect to golf in! The storm that brought all that rain and snow to Canada brought some here too, we did have a fair bit of rain and so hopefully this will mean the flower show will be spectacular again this year.

The shots below were taken 2 days ago first thing in the morning after the higher elevations got some snow through the night, the sight was beautiful and the snow is sticking a bit still!

Christmas Tree Shots next!

We had a tree decorating party this month and had ice cream with it! The tree turned out very pretty and got even prettier this week when I found even more decorations in the storage room!

Next are two specatular shots that were taken by a Springs guest, Vivian, who stays here every winter. She got these shots on her hike in Palm Canyon, absolutely gorgeous, amazing shots!!

The next shots are of Old Borrego, which I did not even know existed until an artist that I met told me they would be painting there and I should come and paint with them. I did stop by to meet the other painters and see Old Borrego and it was not easy to find, it is well of the road and the buildings there are small and barely can be seen from the main road.

Great history of this old area can be read here; http://www.borregospringschamber.com/BorregoHistory/Old%20Borrego.html

And next is a shot taken by Sharon of Larry doing his Camp Host duties!

And more shots Sharon took when I had no idea she was hanging out at the 9th hole and snapping us!!

This photo was taken by Lynn, we were at the Arches at the Borrego Resort for tacos and margaritas on their 2 buck Tuesdays! They have this neat old truck out front! There are 27 holes of golf course there and a lovely patio area, real desert feel to it!

And yet another golf shot taken this time by Lynn when we were all out golfing!

The next shots are of our trip to get Dolly. We found her on a rescue site online and she was in Chino Hills, California. About 3 hours drive from here, we drove up Montezuma to get there. The drive up is beautiful and we got a couple of nice shots on the drive.

Karl is now sharing the "Outlook Perch" every morning with Dolly as they scan all the dogs heading to the desert for their morning walks.

Dolly is a gem, she is quiet, cuddly, playful and so easy to have around. She just does what you ask of her and she is loving being in this family. She is about 4 or so, has had many litters and had spent the better part of this year in foster homes. She and Karl are really happy together, they are either playing on the bed or chesterfield or sleeping in a pile together. There are far too many dogs here in the rescues and shelters, I wish I could have adopted more.

This is Dolly at the dog park, she is the one trotting towards me. She looks like Eewok, she is a Pug Tzu, a cross of pug and shih tzu. She is tough as nails and does not back down from any size of dog at the park and loves to play there! But with so many dogs there she is either being picked on by two or more dogs OR she is one of the two dogs picking on one other dog!

Three is a crowd and in this shot it is Karl and Dolly being the tag team working cute little Willie!! And the Scottie is thinking about joining in on it!

Well that is my update for now! I hope that all of you back in BC are not too envious of us down here in Paradise......gotta go, we are golfing in an hour!

Larry Turned 62 on Monday, December 1!!

We are so fortunate here to have met so many and so we had a big gathering outside our motorhome that evening to celebrate. Again, these RVer's know how to cook.

Thanks for coming by and wishing Larry a happy birthday and thanks for the amazing appies that you all brought, there could not have been a hungry person leaving the party that night!!

And Now there are Taco Tuesdays!

The Arches, which is not too far from here, has a Beer, Margarita and Taco night on Tuesdays.
2 bucks, 2 bucks, 2 bucks!!
Quite a few of us are now going for the deal and our waitress, Lilly, is a cutie. She comes around at the end and asks what we have had as it is all too hectic to keep track with so many tacos and drinks coming so fast!

THANKSGIVING AT THE SPRINGS

Thanksgiving, this past Thursday, was truly a great day here. The Springs had 23 turkey breasts, quarts of gravy and the cranberry sauce too!




The Carvers, Larry and Barry, doing a great job and enjoying themselves to boot!



The lineup... and it was worth lining up for, it was a potluck! Some of the best food I have ever tasted was brought by everyone that came...... and it could not have been better even with a 5 star catering company!

The first ones to get seated!

I ate last and there was still a lot of food to choose from, whoever made that dressing, they can bring it again next year, it was delicious!

I enjoyed hostessing this event very much, we do have the nicest people staying here and many helped with the cleanup, which I thank you all so much for!

Molly is with Teddy, Czar and Oscar Now

AUGUST 1, 1994 - NOVEMBER 23, 2008

Our girl will never be forgotten by anyone who met her. She had the best life of any dog, that is for certain, but she gave even more than the best to us like all dogs do.

I AM BACK HOSTING THE DOG PARK AT THE SPRINGS

I love it here and I just wish that my girlfriend Cali could be here with me.

But I do have a new Shih Tzu in my life down here, meet Willie.







Nice stretch Willie, your hip flexors will thank you later!







Hey Sadie, there is a tennis ball right there for you, let Noah keep his ball!

Did I hear Noah say something about dog breath when he trotted by?

Hey, she is new isn't she, I don't remember her from last winter! Cocoa and Willie would you please check her out!

Hey, where is Cocoa? I think we have her sandwiched!

Karl, is your Mom putting me on her blog?

Let's give her a good action shot, she likes them!

I wish these two-legged's would go back to the wall and give us room, it is our park!

Well it is nearly time for those two-legged's to have their happy hour, I think that leash is coming out for me. I used to take off last year and refuse to be caught but I was afraid they would not bring me back anymore if I did it this year, so I just let them leash me up now! They still cannot believe how nice I am being this year! They are so easy to please those two!