Dates?

I didn't mention in my previous blog, we went out for dinner Saturday night into Palm Springs (date?).  Although it's hot during the day, when the sun is behind the mountains, it's absolutely gorgeous to be outside.

Here we are on a sidewalk patio.  Gerard and his giant Margarita (who believes that).

And here I am with Sonny Bono.  Sorry Sonny's a little dark.  It was night time.  Remember he was the mayor of Palm Springs at one time before his tragic ski accident.

We had a terrific dinner out.  We haven't done that much lately, since John & Judy left.

So yesterday, we just hung out and didn't do much of anything at all.  It was too hot.  Having said that, I did make up a batch of lasagna, split it up, and froze it to be eaten on 3 other nights as well.

In the evening we went to the pools and hot tubs.  A lot of people enjoy them during the day, but I find when the water is warm, and the air is warm, it's not so refreshing.  My personal opinion.

So today we thought we should get out and DO something.  So we went to the Shields Date Farm in Indio (just a few minutes down the road).  I've kind of avoided going there because I am not a fan of dates.  Or at least I wasn't.

They have been established here since the 1920s.  It takes a long time to cultivate a date tree to the point of bearing fruit.  This is a male tree.  They take the pods filled with pollen and shake them on the female pods so they produce fruit.  A real trick to the business, I guess.

They have a garden area to walk through.  Very nice.

Here are some dates ripening and hanging.

Moi in the garden area.

So you can eat at their restaurant which is supposed to be rather nice.  We didn't.  But Gerard got a date shake to take along.  I have to say, I was skeptical, but it was really good.  Kinda wish I had ordered one myself.  I even ate a date they had out for tasting and thought it wasn't too bad.  Hmmm.  I might have to rethink my childhood distaste for dates.

On the way home, this is what our vehicle thermometer showed.

And for you Celsius people.

Yeah, kinda warm.  Here's an example of another flower blooming in the desert.  All the flowers are in full bloom, and the cactus flowers are in the process of starting to bloom.

The hummingbird nest is starting to get a little crowded.

Heard from Heather this morning.  She and Sam flew into San Francisco to celebrate their 40th birthdays.  Great way to do it in a beautiful city.  Enjoy!

And David is now back in Ontario today after his 4-5 month stint in Australia and short visits to New Zealand and Hawaii on the way home.  They must have met each other in the air!