La Quinta, California: When I last left you, we were ready to fly back to California... which we did, arriving to our house around one o'clock the next morning. It didn't take us long to do loads of laundry, restock the fridge and get back to our normal life. Winter in the Coachella Valley is a very busy time. So many events. So many activities. So many visitors. It is a very fun season for us.
The week after returning it was time to "harvest" our "orchard" - though our "crops" are from only two lemon trees and one orange tree.
This is the third year to harvest oranges from this scrawny tree. The first year we had 48 oranges (counted and named by Lucile). Last year we only harvested eight! This year we had 24. The fruit is sweet and juicy, but they have a few seeds... or a lot of seeds. By far, this was the best-tasting crop.
Our lemons are beginning to ripen as well. They have their own schedule, luckily giving us fresh lemons for months and months. In the courtyard, our garden pots are keeping us in fresh herbs. There are many (many) tomatoes and a few have started to turn pink. Fresh vine-ripened tomatoes in February!
Speaking of oranges things... I have started my "winter" needlepoint project. Usually a larger canvas is chosen to stitch in the long cold (ha ha ha) evenings. As I am right-handed, the canvas is stitched from the right corner. A metallic gold fiber is used on the "dots" and the other fibers are silk. This project will take months. And months. It will one day be a pillow - for our home.
As you may (or may not) know (or care), but the Oregon Ducks were in the semi-finals for the national college football championship, but lost to Indiana. (Always a bridesmaid... never a bride.) Before the loss, Dave had volunteered our house to host the "tailgate" party for the National Championship game - hoping the Ducks would be playing - and invited the fellas to golf prior. Roomies & wives. Cousin Jim and Nancy.
Back: Red, Bruce, Dave - Front: Lisa, Marcia, Nancy & Cousin Jim
We served a veggie tray and snack mix when the guys came off the course, then had BBQ meatball sliders, Buffalo wings, Garlic Bread Pizza and walnut brownies for dessert. I was happy the team that beat the Ducks won the national championship.
Nevermind the game - the main excitement happened around 6p when our phones all sounded an alarm (think AMBER ALERT) telling us we were having an earthquake! And the earthquake was immediately felt - a big one, long and rolling - not jolting. Over the next 36 hours, the area continued to have SO MANY earthquakes. One was around one o'clock in the morning - again, the earthquake alert app waking us from our dreams, and after that adrenaline rush, it seemed to take forever to get back to sleep.
An example of my phone screen of the QuakeFeed app within a few minutes of the first quake:
If you live in earthquake-prone places (Hello, Taiwan! Hello, Philippines!), you need earthquake apps.
Sorry for the long delay between updates, but we have been so busy doing not so much. Lots of golfing though - and our weather has been so lovely. In the 80s last week.
Until my next update, I remain, your normal correspondent.