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Saturday, May 17, 2014

Palm Springs Musings

Twelve years ago, I met my husband. Just a few months later, we traveled to Palm Springs together to see his elderly mom. She was being cared for by his stepsister and her husband. I was happy to see that she was in such good, loving hands in her own home.... even though she was in a hospital bed. This made a good impression on me, that he hadn't put her in a nursing home. I had experienced caring for my relatives and thought it was an humane thing to do, (even though, admittedly, it could be difficult at times.)

We visited his Mom at the mobile home park where she had lived with her husband as "snowbirds". They traveled there from Washington state for the warm winter in Palm Springs for 23 years. Her brother visited at the same time with his wife, and he was teary-eyed to see his sister in what seemed to be a failing state. He spoke a little Dutch in her ear, as she lay there with her eyes closed.

Doug's family of 5 kids have many fond memories of traveling during the holidays to visit Grandma and Grandpa for a nice warm Christmas. They stayed with them at their mobile home, swimming in the pool and enjoying a great Christmas dinner. Their grandparents were popular, involved, making friends at happy hour with the Canadian "Snowbirds", and played in tournament shuffleboard.

After holding his Mom's hand and in a spiritual sense, bonding with her and meeting her, we went out for awhile. Doug said later, "I just love that trailer park! That's where I'd like to retire some day!" 
"Hmm", I said, "I don't think so.... at least I wouldn't."
Doug seemed very hurt.

The next part of the story is 11-1/2 years later.
We got married 10 years ago. I retired from my job a while ago, and then we worked together to close his store in Berkeley and he retired a year later.
Standing in the closed store.
One of the trips we took was to Palm Springs, for a week, but it was too cold....not at all the experience we had hoped for.  I said,"It doesn't even feel like we've been to Palm Springs!"
Doug had the idea to see what was going on at the mobile park. We went to visit his sister, but she was very busy. There was a shuffleboard tournament going on, and she was taking in the money for the bbq burgers, pie, etc that were being sold. There were lots of happy people mingling around.
We visited with some of them, and Doug said, "I wonder if there's a place we could rent for a week or so. There's supposed to be a warming trend."
When asked, folks said, "Nope, there's nothing for rent."

Those were fighting words to Doug. He pulled a map off the bulletin board of the park, and to prove them wrong, we drove up and down each street, looking for a "for rent" sign. The only sign was a faded "for sale" sign, and it had a phone number. A friendly neighbor came up to our car and said, "Call the number! Maybe they'll let you rent it!"
We did. The owner said he would come meet us the next morning. He was driving from San Diego and was late. We opened the gate and sat in the yard, waiting, and imagining what it would be like to stay there. Folks started coming in the open gate, since it hadn't been open for so long and was for sale! Luckily, everyone was gone when the owners came, and we signed a week-to-week lease for 2 weeks. 
Just then, a man came in and said he wanted to buy the place! Within a few minutes, our lease was turned over, and we had a new landlord. We could still stay the two weeks.
This was a great time. We got to know the community, and I figured out that they had a library, an exercise room, and  we joined the aqua-size class in the huge, warm pool. It was filled daily with friendly Canadian couples and their families, seniors who had lived there for years, and also friendly Gay men. Everyone seemed to get along famously.

The location is also fabulous. The Palm Springs Senior Center and the public library are right across the street, and all the stores, cafes, that you could ever need, including a frozen yogurt shop. There's even a thrift shop within walking distance, plus many, many more within the city. (It's amazing how excited I get about a thrift store. Doug calls me a "cheap date"). Plus, the weather, six months a year is lovely, encouraging folks to dress as if they're on a tropical island. The spectacular view of the close-by San Jacinto Peak is fascinating to look at as the sun sets behind it early every night at around 4 pm, providing a very long twilight.

Doug's sister, also a resident, "had her ear to the ground", and found out that someone in her neighborhood was looking to sell soon. She thought that Doug would be too tall for this darling place, but he wasn't. 
When we first saw this '55 Columbia Trailer with a long room with vaulted ceilings added on each side, I first thought of my Grandma Diddo's "Greenhouse" in Capitola. It looked like a beach house to me, and was artistically decorated from many garage sales. I told the owner, "I feel like I've gone to a thrift shop, I like everything, and I can have it ALL!'

We made a quick decision to buy it, at what we think is a very reasonable price. Many new cars cost less! We had looked around at other places that might be coming on to the market soon, but I kept holding on to the idea of the "beach house". It didn't look like any of the others to me, and Doug soon knew that this was the one for us. (Especially since I had had such an aversion to trailers before.....he thought he'd better go with what I liked!)
We drove back up to the Bay Area to tend to business, and couple of weeks later we were moved in. Participating in the Park's rummage sale, we sold all we didn't need that the owner left. We went to a dance (and danced!), and we swam again in the aqua-size class with fun people we've come to call friends. Within 2 weeks, we both bought bicycles and were practicing on the nice flat terrain.
Pat with our colorfully painted wall.
This little cottage has been anointed as "ours", since we painted the cinder block wall surrounding our patio in desert colors of olive, rust, bamboo, and marigold. We named the huge palm tree on our patio, "Connie", since the previous owner planted it. (She cried when I told her, saying, "You guys are so sweet!)

Doug with the newly painted door at our "cottage".
We are not snowbirds, but rainbirds, we say, since we only escape the rain of the East Bay, in Northern California, rather than the iced over lakes and deep snow of Canada. Alas, there are only 5 or 6 months that you can appreciate the nice warm climate of Palm Springs. Snowbirds are heading north now, telling us tales of how to "close down" our winter home. 120 degree temps have been known to melt plastic salt and pepper shakers and weather and dry up bicycle tires. After interviewing several folks at the pool, we followed instructions and put two big garbage cans full of water in each side of the cottage. They say when we return in October, the water will be almost gone! This keeps up the humidity during the hottest temps. We also had to put mineral oil in the toilet, and then cover the tank and the seat with plastic wrap, so that the water doesn't evaporate too quickly, allowing animals to find their way in....!
The previous owner left covers for all the windows to put on the inside, with the foil facing outward to deflect the sun. A good neighbor will be coming around to water my "test" plants, succulents, lantana, feather grasses, and bougainvilia. A lot of those are planted all over Palm Springs, so I opted to be safe. We'll see if anything's left when we come back.
"Connie" our palm tree with view from the patio.
 God Bless you little cottage. We'll miss you. Be safe.