In memory of Dianne Seidlitz, 15 July 1934 to 25 Feb 2025

In loving memory of my mother, Dianne Seidlitz. 

Over 70 years of marriage

Dianne with her parents, Maude and Harvey Parker

A week in Palm Springs!

Wendy and Eric headed for a week in Palm Springs California during Eric's university reading week. Adam had won two return flights anywhere Porter Airlines flies, so he gave them to us and we selected Palm Springs as our destination. This one will be a long post - sorry!

We were lucky to get out of Toronto, as a major storm was brewing and started just as we were getting ready to fly out. De-icing was necessary. It was a good time to exit - Adam was stuck using the snowblower several times while we were away.

We arrived on time Saturday just after lunch and it was over 25C and very sunny! Much of the Palm Springs airport is outdoors. Seems strange to see grass and palm trees inside an airport!

We headed over to the AirBnB we rented (a casita - mini house - with the main back yard shared with the owners). Their place was spectacular!  The hot tub was used every single day we were there! Lots of shade and many places to lounge. We also had our own small enclosed patio outside our patio door.

Our first event was the Woozy Boozy Brunch, a famous drag show at the PSAir bar. The setting is the inside of a classic airliner (seats and all). Lots of fun, and lots of Canadians there.

We wandered the downtown area and found the 40ft tall statue called "Marilyn Forever".

The back yard of the AirBnB had oranges and lemons!  Wendy enjoyed picking her first orange, and it tasted great! 

The fully enclosed back yard itself was clothing optional, so Eric took advantage of that feature every single day! One of the hosts picked an orange and a lemon and made Eric a very strong margarita.

Eric took a trip on his own to the Palm Springs Air Museum and enjoyed the displays.

Later that day we walked over to the Moorten Botanical Gardens and took in their extensive cactus display. It was pushing 30C, so we got an Uber back and did more hot tub time. 

The next day was a strenuous hike at the Tahquitz Canyon. They would not let you in if you didn't have 16 oz of water each, and that was for good reason. Some shade in the canyon, but very hot most of the time. 

We rented a car on the Wednesday and drove out of town to visit the Shields Date Garden. This famous store and botanical gardens was beautiful, with lots of citrous fruits and date palms everywhere. The date milkshakes are famous (invented here in the Coachella Valley) and the restaurant for lunch was spectacular. 

Date shake

On the way back to town we went to the Cabot's Pueblo Museum. It was hot, we were tired, but we walked around for a few minutes.

Another trip outside of the city was the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.  This gondola ride up 8500 feet was excellent and the gondola itself rotated slowly on the way - so you could see everything. The temperature was closer to 2C in the shade and there was snow up there. The views of the city were spectacular! 

We later went to some outlet malls in Cabazon (three of them close together) for some shopping. Thursday night is the weekly Palm Springs Village Fest and Market. It was also the one night each week that the Palm Springs Art Museum is free, so we took a walk through the museum then wandered in the market. It was nearly 20C and we saw people wearing parkas! As this was our last night in the city, we stopped in at a nice restaurant and had a great meal. On the way home, we just happened to walk by a sports bar and caught the final goal of the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament where Canada beat the USA. The two people who were outside on the patio started cheering (they were Canadian) so we cheered along with them!

Friday morning we got up early and Eric picked a few oranges to go. After checking out, we headed out to Joshua Tree National Park, named after the famous trees that are plentiful in the park. This huge park was about an hour away, but the traffic was very bad trying to get out of the city. 

We entered the park from the south (Cottonwood) entrance and drove through to the north. It takes about 3 hr to drive through the park, but we stopped at all sorts of interesting spots. 

Teddy Bear Cholla cactus

Joshua Tree

Keys View - very cold and windy on the top of a mountain

After we exited the park at the north side into the town of Joshua tree, we stopped and did some shopping at a quaint store. Later, we headed to the next town over (Yucca Valley) and checked into a theme hotel for our last night. This turned out to be more on the tacky side of interesting, but it was an experience!

Jungle themed room

Back to the airport we went to return the rental car. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed by several hours, so we waited from about 10:30 am to after 4pm before boarding. The outdoor airport allowed us to walk around periodically in the heat, then sit in the air-conditioned gate area.  We landed close to midnight in Toronto and Adam picked us up.

Likely near the Mojave National Preserve on our climb out from Palm Springs

Toronto at night

It has been a busy fall!

 I guess it has been many months since the last post - this one will be a big catch up post before we head into the Christmas season.

Ruby continued to adjust to her new family, and learning new things.  She chases her tail, loves the back (patio) room, and absolutely adores going out in the back yard. She also has quite a side-eye/sassy attitude at times.

Ruby loves to be outside in the yard!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8QRN8aXJxmCHe6ii8 

In October, Wendy and Eric visited Manitoba and were able to be part of the Thanksgiving celebration. While in Portage, Wendy got her hair coloured – all pink this time. Adam was up in Attawapiskat (west side of James Bay, about 1100km north of home) for work, and Ruby was with Parker and Jaclyn at their place. During our week of vacations, we also went to a hockey game, toured the Western Canada Aviation Museum, visited Camp Hughes (1.5 hr west of Portage, where Eric’s grandfather trained prior to heading to France during WW1), and did some hiking at the Spirit Sands in Spruce Woods Provincial Park.

Arriving in Winnipeg for a week long visit!

The Thanksgiving crowd

We all fit around the table!

Fully pink!

Spirit Sands - there was nobody there!

Spirit Sands rope ladder

Sand was in whatever direction you looked

On returning home, Ruby started Level 1 puppy training class at McCanns (15 minutes from Dundas). Adam took part in some November 11th activities and we actually got a photo of him in uniform! Jaclyn had a big birthday celebration in November and we went out to dinner with Jaclyn and Parker plus her father and brother before going to do some (dark) bowling. Adam travelled to Wainwright AB for a Canadian Armed Forces training course and graduated around the same time that Eric’s parents celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.

Comfy and happy

Jaclyn's birthday party

Captain Seidlitz

She is a happy girl!

At puppy class

In December, Eric’s classes ended, and Wendy’s office moved within the hospital. Ruby learned all about snow (she was originally from San Antonio TX) – she seemed to enjoy it. 

We also began our most recent renovation project to change the look of our living room fireplace and mantel. It was too formal for us and hadn’t been updated since 1964… so a refresh was in order. We will show more details in a later post, once it has been completed. 

This week, Ruby graduated from her Level 1 puppy class this week to move on to Level 2. 

Getting ready to be evaluated

She passed!

Next post will after our fireplace renovation is completed... and, in all likelihood, it will be after Christmas as well.