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This past weekend was Chuck's farewell for the summer. He is leaving to be a camp host in Sequoia Park in central California. He will be hosting 10 Mile Campground just south of Hume Lake. We will miss him very much.

I told him that he has spoiled us so much we will probably have to hire a Butler to fill in. Who will make our drinks and help carry in our clothes from the car??

Chuck hosted a farewell for the summer party at the house. He had 25 friends, some of whom had entertained him during the year, for a luscious dinner on Sunday night.

Sunday during the day we acted as support staff for him for a change. I swept the sidwalks and driveway and Steve mopped the floors throughout the house. We did what we could and then helped Chuck whenever he needed it, like making napkin rings from construction paper and glue stick, or making signs for the tables. He cooked virtually all day.

Chuck had set up a bar on the patio since our bar is not yet complete. He had brought in round tables and one rectangular table and covered them all in lime green cloths. Chairs were white. The centerpieces were a clay pot with a giant artichoke that filled them up. Simple and fabulous.

The Starters table needed a sign to let people know not to fill up because that was not the dinner. There was so much food on this table - exotic cheeses, meatballs, chips and salsa, jalapeno poppers, chicken fried steak with gravy for dipping, etc. LOTS.

Then we cleared that table and he filled it up again with two entrees. One side had short ribs with roasted potatoes and a wonderful salad. The other side had a spicy Thai chicken with rice and peanuts and fruit. Yow! It was all so good.

Dessert was a carrot cake from either Sam's Club or Costco. None of that group was having anything to do with coffee.

Hildy was there with friends Roxy and Barbara. Martin (of the contessa fame) came with his new friend. Bobby and Joey attended looking wonderful as usual. Ken and Orlando were there as was Mac and Jim. A new friend of ours, Tom showed up and really mixed well with the rest of the group. Luther and Van were there too with their neighbor and Chuck's good friend Robb.

Many more were there and I just can't remember them all. It was a fun time with great food, so I would say it was a very successful party. Yay Chuck!

I just can't tell you how much we will miss him. What a guy.

I keep thinking that I will have some time to write and the time just flies by. Work and life just happen so fast these days.

Palm Springs is just too wonderful. As you know we love the house and are looking to do the projects that loom large for us - the sliding doors in the bar and the cabinets in the guest room. But another item that needed to be done is getting done this week.

The pool had been emptied and the plaster repair to the bottom has begun. In fact today they should be replacing the water so that tomorrow everything should be back to normal. Gads I hope so. Much is at stake this weekend.

Sunday Chuck is hosting a party at the house as his farewell as his summer camphosting job in Sequoia is starting May 2nd. The pool just has to be back to normal. I haven't received any frantic or calm warning calls so I hope that means all is well.

Yesterday we spent most of the day at my mother's house, with Steve staining her patio decking and planter boxes, and I painted the cabinet in her bathroom. (Steve got the worst of it, but we both were taken to lunch.)

Last night we weren't too hungry so we went back to BITE in Hillcrest for a some knoshes. Man is that place good. But by now we have had just about all the selections. They need to create some new stuff. The gnocci's, half made with carrots and the other half with celery root and mixed with a few green veggies and rock shrimp in a lovely white sauce was a hit. The potato pancakes topped with smoked trout and a bit of dilled creme fraiche were as excellent as ever.

The one complaint we had was the cut of Ahi they used was not as red or tender as usual. It had a tendon through it that made it a bit chewey, but the flavor was super.

Desert for me was cream cheese bread pudding with a blackberry buttermilk sorbet on top. YUMMMM!

Tonight is "Dine Out For Life", a fundraiser for AIDS in which participating restaurants donate 25% of the entire day's take to the charity. We are going to Cafe 11 for our dinner.

In fact we are due there soon, and Steve is napping. Guess I had better go.

Shout outs to Canada and Austin, and Beth. Love you all and hope all is wonderful and good in your life.
Bye for now.

We're back in San Diego after a wonderful, sunny weekend in Palm Springs. We could hardly wait to get there after last week in Cabo. We missed a weekend in the desert and seeing the new floors completed. Chuck had almost entirely put the house back in order, no small job, so it would look nice for us. It meant moving furniture and rugs and lots of heavy stuff. Thank you so much Chuck.

The tile floors are beautiful. They are just as I thought they would be and really dress the place up. I didn't realize that the different finishes on the concrete floors made the place look like a construction zone. Now there is a cohesive flow from room to room through the entire house.

Of course that opened the door to other projects, like getting a new sink and vanity for Chuck's bathroom. So we accomplished that this week and hired Fidel to install them.

Now the baseboard area needs some attention. We are trying to not have any baseboards, so the base of the walls need a skim coat of drywall mud to make them meet the floor in suitable fashion and finish. Then of course, painting too.

And then there is the issue of sliding doors or french doors out of what used to be the breakfast room, what will now be the bar. We want access to the pool from there so some doors must be installed. We have sliders on the left of that room and french doors on the right, out of Chuck's room. We could go either way.

The storage cabinets for the new bedroom can now be installed so they have to get ordered, installed and painted and top made for the expanse. Shouldn't be too difficult.

All I need is mo money!! After taxes we shall see what projects get done in what order.

Back at home today Steve got a new car stereo installed because while we were in Cabo, some lovely asshole unlocked his car witha slimjim and stole the one I just gave him in December for his birthday. They relocked the car but didn't close the door all the way so the battery wore down also. That was an easy fix with a jump from the Miata.

Theives just make me mad. GET A JOB!!

Other than that, it's a beautiful life we have. Really.

Well, I got up today an older guy. And one who just remembered that I hadn´t confirmed our shuttle pickup from the hotel to the airport. Yikes.

After much time and effort the concierge got us confirmed. Then I realized that we took Alaska Air down to Cabo and the voucher said that we are taking Aeromexico back. I had not confirmed that either. The concierge once again came through. Now we have to pack and get ready to vacate the room by 12:00, so we can go play somewhere and waste time till 3:00.

Probably The Mango Deck! Ole´.

Boy was I right. We headed to The Mango Deck and were welcomed back. We ordered a Tequila Sunrise while we perused the menu, forgetting that the drinks come two at a time, with happy hour being all day long. Oh well. Last day. We don't have to fly the plane. (But really, we think they put one shot between the two drinks. We never got too high, I don't think anyway. Maybe.)

We ordered lunch and continued to drink while the MC for the day tried to stir up some action on the beach urging folks over his microphone to moon the crowd for free shots. And of course they did. Eventually, after our 5th drink, they got us to join a Conga line, followed by the Macarena, followed by a free shot poured down our throats. That is when we decided to head back to the hotel to have a Red Bull before catching the airport shuttle.

We had three more hours to kill before the plane took off, but we managed to meander around the small airport, buy a coffee mug and not drink any more till we boarded and headed for San Diego.

We got in around 9:00, but by the time we got through Customs and Immigration and got a cab home it was nearly 10:00. Buster and Namale were excited to see us, as we were to see them. It didn't take long before we hit the bed.

A wonderful few days and a great way to hit 60. I'm a lucky guy.

Well. I woke up. That´s a start.

We are headed out to the Mango Deck again for desayunos (breakfast), and then ...?

More when I know it.

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me.......Can you tell I´m having fun?

We wandered through town after breakfast, and found the farmacia we shopped yesterday, and bought some SPF 15, something I should have purchased yestereday. I should know by now I would need it.

We wandered through the huge shopping center that surround part of the Marina, and found one of the Sergio Bustamonte galleries. Luckily there was nothing that I couldn´t live without. We really had to tell ourselves that we need nothing!!! Shopping was fun as a looker.

We stopped and had a drink at No Worries, a restaurant/bar along the Marina on the way back to the hotel. That was fun and then - opps. We bought 2 tshirts. Like we needed them. No resolve.

Steve´s leg had been doing pretty well, at least that is what he told me. He has his TENS unit ( an electrical muscle stimulator/pain regulator) on quite a bit, but he didn´t complain. Till now. He still tries to be positive and not spoil the trip, but now I´m even more worried. I guess all the climbing up from our room and up the hill to the hotel was just oo much. I hate to see him in this much pain. It´s not a bad as it was before we came, but I don´t want him to lose any ground with it either. Cabs tonight and tomorrow.

We went to the pool to see if we could get sun on our other side, without burning. We used a higher sunscreen with 15 on the places that were already cooked. We stayed all of 30 minutes and 2 cocktails and headed back to the room.

We decided to go to dinner at 7:30 so we got ready and headed for Lorenzillo´s Lobster House. It,s a beautiful restaurant with a fine menu. We couldn´´t get a table outside because I didn´t make a reservation, but inside was fine.

We started with an order of Crab Cakes, with a warm cranberry sauce. Wow! I need to figure out how to do that one. Steve decided to have the Coconut Shrimp with a Kiwi Sauce, and I decided to have the Lobster Tail Cajun Style. Man, what good choices. They both came with a Spinach puree that was done with butter, cream, flour, almonds, and other things all pureed and then baked. Really great. We topped everything of with ice cream. Haagen Das. I had mango and Steve had chocolate, of course.

Dinner was a sensation. Then we waddled out to get a cab back to the hotel.

It was a great last dinner in Cabo. A great birthday dinner and super end to a great trip. Tomorrow we head home. We have the day in Cabo, but have to pack and leave the room by noon.

We will find some mischief to get onto. Probably lunch at the Mango Deck!!!