I’m not going to complain about the weather that’s for sure but when it get’s up into the 90’s that’s territory that we don’t see very often on Vancouver Island. It started to heat up on Monday and then really got cooking on Tuesday and Wednesday when the relentless sun here in Palm Springs pushed the temperature up into the 90’s.
Enjoying a beautiful 80F evening in Palm Springs last night
Last night, it was just too hot to even think about making dinner or even BBQ’ing outside. Instead, we joined Mel and Deb, Don and Kim for pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen in downtown Palm Springs. It was still in the 80’s when we sat down at our outside table and quickly ordered bottomless glasses of ice cold lemonade. Man, was that ever good! The pizza was terrific and the company was even better as we had some great laughs over dinner.
These were the pizzas shared by Don, Mel and Me last night!
Earlier Wednesday afternoon, 4pm to be exact, Mel and I teed off on what could only be called a suicide mission – 9 holes of golf here at the Sands under the blistering hot sun. We made it around the course, barely, but were exhausted from the heat by the time we putted out a little over an hour later. I could hardly wait to get back to our rig for a nice, long, cold shower!
Quite a crowd for the big “Wash Party” on Tuesday afternoon
I’m sure you’ve all heard of neighbourhood “Block Parties” but here at the Sands we call them “Wash Parties”. We attended a really big one here on Tuesday afternoon. This particular pot-luck party was organized by Kim and Don along with another couple who live on the same wash. I’m not sure how many folks attended but it had to be between 40 and 50.
The biggest thing in demand at this Wash Party wasn’t food or cold drinks but shade! Some really smart folks brought umbrellas to sit under for protection from the broiling hot sun. The rest of us poor yokels just did the best we could before we had to give up and head home for the comfort of our air conditioned rigs. Our A/C has definitely had a workout this week and it looks like the heat wave is going to continue for a while yet.
Paulette and I left the Wash Party around 5pm Wednesday but later that evening we took Molly and Rylie for a walk before bed. It was beautiful out as it had cooled down into the 70’s and when we walked by the Party Wash we saw and heard that it was still going strong. There were still a dozen or so folks gathered in a circle around a propane campfire having fun!
“HABEMUS PAPAM” – “We have a Pope” - Pope Francis I
Yesterday morning, while sitting at my computer in the A/C coolness or our 5’er, I saw a flash on Twitter that “smoke was expected to rise from the Sistine Chapel chimney any minute”. Curious, to see if was going to be “white smoke” or “black smoke”, I turned on CNN just in time to catch the first white puffy wisps of smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel signifying Habemus Papum – We have a Pope!
Here’s hoping the ‘smoke tradition’ never goes away!
My first reaction, and the only one I’m going to share in this blog, was “how great is this”! In an age of iPhones, Twitter, Facebook, satellite phones and computers, the election of the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics is announced to the entire world by a simple smoke signal - the same as it’s been for centuries. This is one tradition that I hope continues for as long as Pope’s are chosen. It’s simple, effective and it works without recounts!!
Have a great Thursday, and thanks again for visiting!
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