Warm, Glorious Sun

Palm Springs was great. Every day was warm and sunny. The first week was in the 80’s, and the rest of the time it was in the 70’s. Imagine having a big home and swimming pool available to you in Palm Springs when the weather at home was still cold and snowy. We felt privileged. Our only firm commitment was to walk the dog. Lily, my mother’s little poodle/terrier mix was going through her own transition. Just a day before we arrived she and my mother moved from the family home into the Palm Springs house. The dog lost her yard, lost her owner when Mom left on her cruise and gained two vagabond retirees as her caretakers.

We developed a wonderful relationship with Lily. She slept with us, appreciated the walks we took her on and sat fetchingly at our feet whenever she needed to remind us of our responsibilities (feeding or walking her). She jumped to her feet every time I moved around the house on the hope that it was time for a walk, or if not that good, at least time to water the plants and bark at the hose. After a few days of handling her lunchtime walk Mike returned to the house and said that he had nicknamed this tiny little black dog with a more manly name. So, on and off for the rest of the stay we referred to her as “Spike”. When Mom checked in on our charge we sent a photo of Spike with her new collar, a tiny pink collar studded with spikes. A photo to follow.

So, what did we do during our stay? We tried to help with domestic chores to make Mom’s return to her new home go more smoothly. Her garage was stacked floor to rafters with big boxes that took about half the floor space. We had cabinets installed to hold the boxes, which required moving the boxes from the crowded side of the garage to the car side of the garage and back twice in order to measure the garage and order the cabinets then return the car (after having it tagged for parking outside our garage), then to install the cabinets. Somewhere in those moves I hurt my back, but just in time to put the boxes away in the newly installed cabinets my wonderful niece, Emily showed up for a visit. She recruited a strong friend to move the boxes and saved Mike’s aching shoulders and my hurt back. We installed software on Mom’s new computer and set up Outlook. We paid the bills and opened mail. We organized cupboards and bought and organized filing cabinets. The plants on the patio had expired so we bought and planted new ones.

Lest you think we spent all of our time working, let me tell you the flip side. We didn’t sleep in (the dog started her head-butting wake up calls at 7:30 if we were not already up and moving towards her first walk of the day) but we did have an afternoon nap most days. In order to keep the kitchen pristine we ate our meals out (good excuse, huh?). We became regulars at the wonderful neighborhood deli, Sherman’s. They started making Mike’s studio sandwich (turkey on rye with cole slaw and Russian dressing) and my oasis salad (huge salad with vegetables, chicken chunks, cut up dates and cornbread croutons) when they saw the three of us show up (yes, walking the the deli was a favorite for Spike, too, who was fond of the big basket of dog biscuits at the entrance to the outdoor patio). With a strong hint from great friend, Wendy C, we discovered Tyler’s sliders, these small, White Castle sized burgers. Served with grilled onions and catsup, these slid down just right. Then, of course, all former Californians have to visit In-N-Out when they return for a visit. It wasn’t gourmet but it sure tasted good.

One of the highlights of the stay was the Spring break visits of each of our student/hard-working sons and the loves in their life. Jonny and Megan arrived first. They visited a day then borrowed our car and headed out to Las Vegas for a few days. They returned just as Matt and Kassi arrived, so they had two days overlap with us before Jonny had to return to school. He received the news that his place of employment for the past two years, a fifties burger joint had burned to the ground while he was gone. His boss told him he is eligible for unemployment payments, so he left to figure out how all that was going to work. Matt and Kassi left when Jonny did in order to see Las Vegas. Finally Michael and Dana arrived. Unlike their younger brothers, they preferred the relaxed Palm Springs life to Las Vegas, so they stayed and visited with us. We are so proud of these three guys and enjoyed every minute we had to spend with them.

When it was time to leave Palm Springs we were sad to say goodbye to Spike. Next year we have a repeat engagement as dog sitters so Spike will see us again. In-N-Out….we will be baaack!