PS: I love you – 6 great Palm Springs experiences

 

I had the pleasure of visiting Palm Springs several weeks ago, stealing a week away from my crazy schedule to try and re-charge and rest a bit. It was well worth it!

1. Wellness: I spent the first five days with a girlfriend at her father’s place. We had both been working very hard lately and agreed it would be a peaceful, restful wellness trip. We had no expectations, no agenda, no real plans or goals. We took it easy, read by the pool, soaked up the sun and cooked healthy (and yummy) meals.
2. Shopping: The design district, on the northern section of North Palm Canyon Drive is a wonderful design mecca. I targeted vintage clothing shops as I had a specific need for a 60’s outfit for a formal gala. I found many options and settled on a unique pant-suit of sorts: a sheer swing jacket and silver lame pants – apparently part of a performer’s complete wardrobe that the shop, Retro Etcetera, had acquired. We were wowed by other gorgeous stores such as Pelago (where I saw the cool orange ottoman with the amazing buttons) and Just Modern, for classic home-wares, books, gifts, jewelry.
3. Hollywood History: as well as enjoying watching the Academy Awards on TV, I toured through the gorgeous neighbourhoods of Las Palmas and the Movie Colony and read about the celebrities who used to rent and own the houses in those areas.  It must have been an amazing playground in the heyday of 40’s – 50’s – 60’s Hollywood.
4. Architecture: Three words: Mid Century Modern. It was so amazing to see examples of these homes in plentitude. Stunning, spare, simple, elegant. Beautiful design that is not ostentatious, but elemental, clean. And landscape architecture too, such a change of scenery for this Vancouverite – loved the cacti, the xeriscaping.
5. Art: Several people had recommended visiting the Palm Springs Art Museum. We had one rainy day and the timing was right! We spent the afternoon going through their collections: Native American art and baskets, glass art, old Hollywood photographs – both of celebrities and also of some of old movie sets. The outdoor sculpture garden was gorgeous even in the rain. The current exhibit was of Women Abstract Expressionists and the docents who hosted the tours were charming and so passionate about the art.
6. The Good Life. I said goodbye to my long weekend buddy at the airport and for a few additional days hung out with some friends who are retired and winter in Palm Springs. I joined the fold, ran about their complex in a golf cart, picked incredibly sweet tangerines off the tree, joined their happy hour conversations, sat in the sun, swam in the pool, and had time to chat and get to know them much better. What a wonderful example of a relaxing life in the sun, after a long career of hard work. A lovely example of living the golden years. They return to the same location each year, as do many of their neighbours, and there was so much camaraderie among them.

What a great break, a breath of sunny fresh air, and a peek into one gorgeous corner of the Golden State. I’ll be back: to see my friends again, to explore the architecture more, to get a good dose of sunshine in the middle of the next Pacific Northwest winter…no question.

The Original Non-Stick

I love my cast iron cookware. I have frying pans in small, regular and super large sizes. The biggest and smallest are newer, 5-10 years old, but the regular sized one is probably around 75 years old, belonging to my son’s great grandmother. I love that it has history.

Once the pans are “seasoned” they are easy to maintain. It takes a bit of time to build up a good baked-on oil coating but then it is effortless. I can cook anything in it and then just soak it in water for a bit or scrub with a brush and hot water and it comes out clean.

It’s smooth as silk and nothing sticks to it. I love the heaviness; I love how it can tolerate very high heat and also retains heat well. I love that I can brown meat in it on the stove top and then put the whole thing in the oven, or bake a great crispy crust cornbread by pouring the batter into an already sizzling greased pan waiting in a hot oven. The super large one holds a Paella that can serve 8 and just, just fits in my little oven.

Apparently the iron that leaches from the pan, when cooking more acidic type foods, is good for you. A bit of related iron trivia: “Lucky Iron Fish” are small iron ingots (in the shape of fish) that have been developed in recent years for those in south Asian countries living in poverty and suffering from anemia (iron deficiency). They can supplement their diets by putting the “fish” into cooking water, soups, stews and rice. The Lucky Iron Fish was developed by a graduate student in Biomedical Science at the University of Guelph (Ontario). Check it out at www.luckyironfish.com

Sew Happy

I grew up in a small town….but that didn’t stop me from wearing Vogue Paris Original designs to my school dances…because I could sew.

In the 1970’s, most young ladies and women sewed; at least the ones around me did. Yes, I took “Home Economics” in junior high – but I didn’t like the exacting methods and skills that were required. I branched out on my own, and stayed up till the wee hours sewing creations I would then wear to school. It was very satisfying to be able to do that! I didn’t care that the seams weren’t finished nicely inside…that came years later.

And where did the patterns and fabrics come from? First they came from a quiet, elegant fabric store on our town’s main street. I remember it having a solemn ambiance. We would quietly flip through the pages of the pattern catalogues, whispering and consulting with a friend or sister, and finally decide on “the one”, then find some fabric that was suitable, and take our treasure-to-be home with us and get busy.

Later, my good friend’s family bought a fabric store in the mall, (still a new-ish concept in 1974, in our town), and I worked with my friend at the store after school on Thursday and Friday nights. What fun we had, operating the store together. My pay cheques always went to fabric purchases. Many projects were always hovering in a queue, as I had the time to mull over all the options in the store when it was quiet. We also modeled our creations in occasional mall fashion shows. It was such an exciting time for a 16 year old….and it stoked the fire of my growing creative spirit.

It still comes in handy, this skill….mending and patching and altering clothes for myself and my son, extending their life with a little tweak here or there. It also partners nicely with vintage and thrift shop finds that are wonderful, but maybe not quite the right size or fit.  I’m lucky to have a little station set up in the basement at the ready, which makes it much easier to tackle these tasks.

I had a gala to go to the other weekend. The day before, I decided I didn’t feel comfortable in the gown I planned to wear. I went down to my favorite consignment store, found a fabulous gown for $25.00 and the morning of the gala I hemmed it up (it was a couple inches too long but otherwise perfect).

Very handy.

Long Live the Kingsway

Kingsway is one of the longest roads in Greater Vancouver. It stretches across and into three cities. In a region mainly comprised of a north/south – east/west grid, it is a unique diagonal slash through the lower mainland. An as-the-crow-flies line that’s drawn basically from my home in New Westminster almost all the way to my client’s office near Granville Island, just south of the downtown core of Vancouver.

And the reason I’m driving it, is because I’ve been spending a lot of time at my client’s office and I’ve been doing what typically resembles…..commuting.

This is a strange thing for a gal who’s had a home office for 23 years. For 23 years I’ve said “I don’t do rush hour!” meaning I usually schedule my meetings between 10am to 2pm, when I have the choice, which is usually always. But, the lure of a fabulous collaboration on a couple high profile projects, otherwise beyond my reach as a small firm, meant….commuting.

Since there is an accident/hold up/obstruction/catastrophe almost every day on the freeway, and another round-about route involves bridges (scary commuter wild cards), I asked for some advice from my friend who also lives in New Westminster and commutes to an office just down the road from my client. She said “Take Kingsway. It’s always moving fairly well, steady and reliable.” She was right, it’s been decent. But this….commuting thing isn’t the focus of my story. Kingsway is!

Kingsway follows an old wagon road that was built by the Royal Engineers in the mid-late 1800’s, to connect troops from Gastown with the former capital of B.C., New Westminster. Later it became Vancouver Road, and in 1913, improved and paved, it became Kingsway. It was part of the Trans Canada Highway, until our current freeway was opened in 1964.

Because of its length, it’s difficult to characterize; it’s like one of those ‘round-the-world menus where you sample many dishes from different countries. It’s lined with diverse family operated shops, restaurants, beauty salons, cafes. Ethnic communities and districts range from Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Japanese, South Asian and Filipino, to Caribbean and Russian.

There are enchanting and fascinating signs: a coffee shop called Room for Cream, another – Milk and Sugar Café. Another quaint coffee shop, Our Town has a vintage signage font straight out of 1940. You and Me Coffee in a Tim Burton-esque font, sadly, looks like it just closed.

Heartbreaker Salon is such a cool name, as is East Vanity Parlour, but I don’t get Hercules Hair and Beauty. Secret Beauty Supply has a huge awning – I find that funny (it would be difficult to keep that secret!)…

Sal y Limon, (Salt & Lime) looks like a Mexican restaurant I’d like to try – its sign and logo so upbeat and modern. Pink Peppercorn Seafood House has a perky name. Easy Spy Surveillance equipment is pretty self-explanatory – as are the numerous Medical Marijuana stores that have recently opened.

There are dollar stores, bridal salons, hardware and appliance stores, paint stores, furniture stores….even a balloon studio. I could shop for everything I ever needed on one long drive in, stopping here and there all the way. And if you’re a size 9, then the Work Boot Store has samples at clearance prices!

Classic landmarks include Famous Foods, that had organic and natural health foods for sale before anyone knew what the word organic meant; Purdy’s chocolate factory, a local institution; and the 2400 Motel bungalows, built in 1946 in the burgeoning heyday of the automobile, a relatively untouched and classic piece of history and a visual reminder of the critical shifts in transportation that have occurred in the last 50 some odd years. It’s a 15 kilometer ribbon of ever changing periods and eras, styles and characters, and ethnic offerings: some rough and tumble, some refined.

It’s an amusing, interesting ride.

(photo: 1910 Kingsway near Fraser, Photographer: Stuart Thomson, VPL # 18240)

Ravishing

Had the pleasure of catching a fabulous exhibit at the Museum of Vancouver the other weekend. It was called “From Rationing to Ravishing” and exhibited women’s fashions from the 1930’s onward, through war time, and the impact that the war had on clothing styles and designs (think scarcity of materials as well as a paradigm shift regarding luxury and extravagance).  There were many lovely examples by haute couture designers from both North America and Europe.

   

It was sublime….and more so because I went with a lovely friend who works in costume design for television. We were throwing around terms about sewing and fabrics that may have had others scratching their heads, but we understood each other beautifully and had a blast reveling in the gorgeous examples, fabrics, colours.

What a wonderful day!

(one of my fav’s, a Balenciaga coat…)