Another gorgeous weekend

It has been a lovely weekend here in Palm Springs with the weather forecast today to reach 96f. We have, yet again, welcomed back some old friends ...the Two Bobs from Renton, WA, TJ and the little pigs (!) from San Diego, Steve and Greg from Dallas TX, and welcome new friends, Dan from Long Beach, Mark from Mission Viejo CA, Nick from Cleveland OH, Pete from Oakland CA,  Roger from Seattle Mmm .. wonder if he knows the Two Bob's?  Sadly we say goodbye to Kevin from NSW Australia who has stayed with us on and off since February.  Oh well, as my mum says, if you don't leave, you can't come back!! If that makes any sense. See you in November, Kevin!!

We are in bloom .. see attatched pictures. The orange Canna Lily is from my cousin Barrie's garden in Toronto. When he died, his husband Gordon sent me a few rhizones which we planted in our garden in North Hollywood and when we moved, we brought some with us.

We are expecting Dennis and AJ over this afternoon. No doubt some flogging will ensue!! Just another regular Sunday afternoon at Chaps!

Re blog April 2nd

In the April 2nd blog I mentioned the invasive noise from The Riviera. I had written to the General Manager and copied that letter to all the City Council members and the Palm Springs City Manager. You'll never guess but ... the City Manager called and apologised!!!!! He said they will certainly make steps to ensure the noise ordinance is enforced  and that this year, the police dropped the ball!!!!!!  Lets hope they received lots of complaints.

PS The City Manager is the person who married Stuart and me.

Summer has arrived!!!!!

Yes folks, summer has arrived here in Palm Springs. Yesterday, (Friday) the temperature reached 94f. Today we're up to 96f even with the misters going flat out. It must be 100 at least. Needless to say now we are getting some heat, one of our airconditioners wasn't working, oh course!!! Good job we're millionaires, right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????

 Going from our parking lot through the gate is like entering a really cool courtyard. Loving it!!!

We have had an  incredibly busy month so far welcoming returning guests and new ones so welcome back Stuart, Jeff, Richard and Lee from San Diego, Jose from Columbus, Ohio. The two Bob's back again from Seattle. Kevin from NSW, Australia has returned after a brief visit to Hawaii. We had the pleasure of Dick from San Francisco staying with us for a week, glad to say living up to his well earned reputation!!! See you at Dore Alley, Dick!!!

There's nawt so queer as folk!!!!

We've had a very busy fortnight, what with Dinah Shore and White Party .. none of our guests were in for either, by the way!!!

I've written to the General Manager of the Riviera to complain about the noise (Dinah Shore weekend), and copied it to all members of the Palm Springs City Council in the hope that they might give some thought next year to limiting the noise and think about the rest of us. We pay taxes too, y'know!!!! No doubt we won't hear anything. I'll letcha know. It was deplorable.

However, the quote at the top of this post is an old north of England expression which, roughly translated, means 'arn't people strange?"! Yes, that's where "Queer As Folk" comes from. Good olde England!! Some body called yesterday to enquire about rooms for next weekend. We have one available, I gave him the details, price etc only for him to ask, 'what kind of hotel are you'!. Astounded as I was I asked him whether he had checked out our website. No, a friend had recommended us. Now, why would you call a gay hotel anywhere in the world without checking out the website first? I believe they have (limited) access even in prison these days. He didn't take the room! As I said, There's nawt ..........
Oh well.

And I did!! See previous post!

I took our guest, Don (from Toronto),  up to Whitewater as promised. Forgetting it was spring break, the whole place was crawling with screaming brats and their long suffering parents. Anyhow, we managed to have a great walk through the mountains and Don waded into the water which, by the by, is freezing cold coming from the snow melt off the mountains.

We had taken a small picnic, (Ina, of course), her lobster roll substituting shrimp for lobster and a bag of chips. It was rather warm but we found a table in the shade and ate our sandwiches. On the way back we  arrived at the railway crossing as a 2,000 car container train was going by.  Two hours later (actually no more than 10 minutes) we set off and I decided Don needed to go up to the tram. We didn't intend to ride the tram but we drove up to the first parking station, turned around and drove down .. always astounding ... there is no way anyone can tell how high the climb is until you start the decent. The whole valley is laid out in front of you and is breathtaking. We could pick out the hospital knowing Chaps Inn is right there hopefully.

Sorry Jim, it really was lovely and we missed you. Next year, first week OK?

I almost forgot...

I'm taking Don to Whitewater tomorrow, packing up a sandwich and heading out around 11am. for a couple of hours.

What a week!

To continue .... so sorry to see Jim leave, Les left today for Montana, the first person we've had stay with us from Montana. We still have 'the boys' from Salt Lake City and the contingent from New York. Patrick left yesterday to spend a few days in a trailer (!)..... Hopefully we'll see you all again in 2013. Of course we won't because the world is ending December 21st 2012 ... remember? Party here December 20th 2012 and another one December 21st "It didn't happen" party!!!!!

What a weekend!!!!

This weekend saw the girls in town for the Dinah Shore so called golf tournament although I doubt if many of them saw a golf course unless they went to Escena for brunch. The main event was held at the Riviera Hotel and it was NOISY. The music started at 9am Saturday and Sunday mornings and went on constantly until 5pm. It was so loud we could hear the announcements from the pool party. I called the hotel twice on Saturday and once on Sunday to complain about the noise .. guess what? Couldn't care less. I called the local police .. guess what? Couldn't care less. At least I found out they had a special permit for music up until 6pm which thankfully someone pulled the plug at 5. I know, I know, it brings in revenue for the city but puleeze people, there is a limit to what we can endure. Next year I'll be at the council meeting to object to the permit ...it won't make any difference but I'll be there. It was so loud I turned our music off!!!! I hope we wern't the only people to complain. I can't imagine what it must've been like staying at the Desert Sun opposite the Riviera!!!!!!!