The sunrises and sunsets here in Arizona are just spectacular. They remind me of all the beautiful sunsets and sunrises I’ve photographed at home and around the world.
Sunset in Phoenix Arizona
Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. – Richie Norton
Sunset in Key West Florida.
Sunsets are viewed with wonder because they are fleeting. – Richard Paul Evans
Sunrise in Tanzania
Every sunrise is a blessing. Use it wisely before sunset.- Euginia Herlihy
Sunrise in Zanzibar
Every sunrise is an invitation for us to get up and brighten someone’s day.- Jhiess Krieg
Sunset in Fiji
A sunset is the sun’s fiery kiss to the night. – Crystal Woods
Sunset in Costa Rica
Sunsets are a reminder that no matter what happens during the day it can still end beautifully. -Kristen Butler
Sunrise in Praia da Luz Portugal
Every day, a million miracles begin at sunrise.- Eric Jerome Dickey
Sunrise on a Bedouin Camp in Israel
Night never had the last word. The dawn is always invincible.- Hugh B. Brown
Sunrise in Winnipeg
The sun coming up every day is the start of a story. – Terry Pratchett
Sunset in Winnipeg
Nature paints pictures of infinite beauty for us every day if only we have eyes to see them.- John Ruskin
During the pandemic when we were all living in almost complete isolation in our homes someone on social media suggested people publish the last photo they had taken where they were getting together with friends or family before we went into lockdown. A social occasion when they weren’t worried about physicaldistancing.
I published this photo of my husband Dave and me in Chandler Arizona having breakfast at Mimi’s Cafe just before we got into our car to high tail it back to Canada. We had cancelled the rest of our holiday plans, thanks to the pandemic. Larry and Jo, our Winnipeg friends, would leave Arizona shortly after we did.
Once we got home we had to be quarantined for weeks and saw no one. For many months after that, most of our interactions were outdoors and socially distanced.
Yesterday we recreated that last ‘normal’ scene again when we joined Larry and Jo for breakfast at the same restaurant Mimi’s in Chandler.
We talked about our previous breakfast date at Mimi’s and how we hoped if there wereanother pandemic governments and people would have learned from their experience with COVID and would handle thingsmore efficientlyand effectively.
Hopefully, this will not be our last ‘normal’ meal in Arizona since we hope to spend several more days here visiting with friends before heading to our next warm-weather destination.
My granddaughter’s Sunday School teacher approached me when I was visiting her church to ask if I knew that Vancouver lecturer Adrienne Gear the author of six books about reading and literacy had named Sixties Girl one of her Top Ten picks for middle-grade novels in 2023.
I didn’t know and was excited when I checked out Adrienne’s blog to indeed seeSixties Girl listed there along with books by two other Manitoba authors, Colleen Nelson and David Alexander Robertson.
I‘m on holiday now in Palm Springs where we were invited over for dinner by a couple we know. The woman had just read Sixties Girl and we had an interesting discussion about which things in the novel were based on my own family’s life and which things were purely fictional.
I love having talks with my readers. It’s the best part of writing a book. That’s why I am really excited about upcoming speaking engagements for a seniors’ group that meets at the St. James Community Centre to talk about Sixties Girl and another visit to a class at Sergeant Park Junior High to talk about Lost on the Prairie.
Thanks to Kimiko Fraser who took this great photo of books from my publisher Heritage House. Check out Sixties Girl at the top of the pile.
Did you know that a preview of Sixties Girl is now available on Google Books? If you are debating about whether to buy a copy you can get a sneak peek there.
Some recent comments from people about Sixties Girl.…….
Will’s struggle to admit the terrible extent of the bullying he has experienced to everyone who cares about him is wrenching and eye-opening. I enjoyed the peeks back into Grandma’s 1960s years – her stories are really good.- Cindy Mitchell- School Librarian- Salt Lake City Utah
Excellent story about a young girl growing up in the sixties in Winnipeg told in alternating timelines. Includes a lot of historical events including the Cuban Missile Crisis, Expo 67, Beatlemania and miniskirts. I loved this book for many reasons: strong writing; intergenerational storytelling; age-appropriate approach to heavy subject matter and excellent characters who face their problems in realistic ways. Would make an excellent read-aloud in an upper-intermediate class.- Adrienne Gear- Author and Literacy Instructor- Vancouver
Driedger’s self-contained chapters – inspired by her own childhood – are well crafted and effective. The highly evocative vignettes will appeal to young readers with a taste for the past (history buffs will also appreciate the endnotes that cast extra light on each chapter). And on the final page, a last-minute twist provides a welcome surprise. – Trilby Kent- Quill and Quire Magazine
I read Sixties Girl in the airport and on the flight to Abbotsford, then handed it over to my granddaughter Hazel. Hazel and I both enjoyed the book and it gives us topics to discuss and compare–how things were and how they are now. A “generation spanner.”- Mitch Toews author of Pinching Zwieback
I bought this book not realizing it was written for pre-teens or teens, but as with most really good young-adult fiction, a young age was no prerequisite for enjoyment! This is one of the good ones!– Judy Dykstra Brown
My brother-in-law had read the book The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown so when we were staying with him and my sister in Palm Springs they suggested we go and see the movie of the same name at the Mary Pickford Theatre.
It’s a good old- fashioned film that tells a true story about how hard work, motivation, camaraderie and heart can bring success.
The real rowers whose story inspired the film- photo from the University of Washington
In 1936 nine rowers from lower class families who have struggled through the depression and attend The University of Washington go up against basically rich kids from Ivy League schools and win a number of races in their own country so they qualify for the Berlin Olympics.
With Adolf Hitler watching they defeat the German rowers and win the gold medal.
One of the young American men, whose story takes centre stage in the film, has been abandoned by his own father. It is heart warming to watch how the craftsman who builds the boat the team will race in during the Olympics, takes the lad under his wing and offers sage advice and affirmation at crucial times.
Hadley Robinson plays Joyce Simdars a love interest for rower Joe Rantz played by Callum Turner
There’s a bit of a love story included which I always like and it is definitely a feel good movie with a happy ending.
The movie directed by George Clooney is a realistic period piece with such authenticity in costuming and sets.
The rowing scenes are especially beautiful to watch- the rowers performing a kind of synchronized ballet with their bodies and oars as they glide through the water at an astounding pace.
I loved how at a crucial moment a piece of music inspires one of the rowers to give it his all. Music can be a powerful inspiration.
Critics have given the film a luke-warm reception finding it too traditional and labeling it ‘old fashioned’, but audiences have received Boys in the Boat with enthusiasm.
I really enjoyed the film and am looking forward to reading the book as well.
We are in Phoenix Arizona now for about a week staying at the home of friends. Our second day here we went to The Handlebar Pub and Grill. It has been a favourite place to eat on visits to Arizona.
Here is Dave outside The Handlebar in 2013.
Dave and I were at the establishment again in 2015 enjoying their fabulous food which is all grilled over a pecan wood fire. My favourite is their grilled brussel sprouts.
In 2015 we were there with…….
our friends Rudy and Sue
and our friends John and Chris to hear a guitar, mandolin, banjo and bassensemble called String Em Up.
In 2017 we were back at The Handlebar this time with my sister-in-law Shirley and my brother-in-law Paul who were staying at a resort here in Phoenix and generously shared their spacious apartment with us.
In March of 2020 we enjoyed a delightful evening at The Handlebar with a great gang of friends. Little did we know that in just a short while we would all be hightailing it back to Canada because of COVID.
Then a couple of nights ago we were back at The Handlebar againwith a group of friendsafter some of us had been to see the excellent movie American Fiction.
I wonder if there will be another Handlebar visit in future years? Let’s hope so.
When my sister and I holiday together we like to do jigsaw puzzles.
I had brought along a number for us to work on in Palm Springs and we started off with a fairly easy one I’d found at the Thrift Store where I volunteer. It was a southwest landscape and since we were holidaying in the southwest it seemed appropriate.
It was the perfect level of difficulty to allow for lots of conversation and a minimum of frustration while we puzzled. We had it done in a couple of days.
Next we tackled a puzzle of the famous painting The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. It was HARD! Many of the puzzling techniques my sister and I have developed over the years didn’t work. The pieces were fairly small. There were some big areas with relatively the same colour scheme and all the pieces had the same basic shape.
We almost gave up once, had some limited success, and then tried again, and by the time we were down to the last hundred pieces we just couldn’t give up.
It took us several days to finish.
We called in reinforcements and my husband Dave was able to find spots for a few pieces whose homes had alluded us.
Finally on my last day in Palm Springs we finished it.We had a feeling of accomplishment at having completed it togetherbut often when we were working on it we were so focused and obsessed with figuring it out that the fun and visiting part of puzzling which is it’s main purpose for us, wasn’t optimum.
I did not take the puzzle with me and my sister will leave it in the house they are renting when she goes home.Perhaps someone else will find it easier to complete than we did.
Dave and I are sitting on a bench that was shared by President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping just over ten years ago.
The country’s two leaders had come to Sunnylands, a kind of west coast Camp David for an informal meeting. We visited Sunnylands on a not so sunny afternoon in Palm Springs and saw the bench where Barack Obama and Xi Jinping engaged in a cordial discussion about future relations between their two countries.
Eight American presidents beginning with Eisenhower have visited Sunnylands often holding high level meetings there. President Obama especially enjoyed being there because he loved the Sunnylands golf course.
In June of 2013 he hosted President Xi Jinping of China at Sunnylands for what came to be known as the ‘shirtsleeves summit’. It laid the groundwork for their personal relationship and was sometimes viewed as a turning point in American- Chinese relations.
A sign near the park bench shows the two leaders sitting on it talking. Visitors are invited to sit there as well.
Coincidentally this was not the first time I had sat in the same spot where President Obama had sat. I also did that in St. Louis once. You can read about that here.
There is a gigantic statue of the famous actress Marilyn Monroe in downtown Palm Springs. It was created by sculptor Seward Johnson out of stainless steel and aluminum in 2012.
Weighing 24,000 pounds and 26 feet tall this larger than life representation of a Hollywood icon is called Forever Marilyn.
The statue copies a famous pose of Marilyn’s for a publicity photo shoot for her film Seven Year Itch in 1955. Marilyn stood over a subway grate that blew up her skirt around her.
My sister and I went out for lunch one day at a Palm Desert restaurant called Michaels that pays tribute to Marilyn Monroe. We sat in the booth that featured a large photo of Marilyn with her second husband baseball star Joe Di Maggio. She and Joe spent a great deal of time in Palm Springs and she owned a home there.
The restaurant is filled with Marilyn Monroe memorabilia.
I did some reading about Marilyn Monroe’s life and it was all rather sad. She spent much of her childhood in foster homes, was sexually abused, had three troubled marriages that all ended in divorce, had several miscarriages, struggled with her mental health and died of a drug overdose.
Despite this troubled personal life Marilyn Monroe has become a cultural icon. In her excellent essay about Marilyn Monroe Gloria Steinem talks about how Marilyn wanted to be taken seriously and not just be seen as a sex symbol. She wanted to have a happy marriage and children. Part of the reason she is famous is because she died too soon and never had a chance to live the life she really wanted.
Dave and I were visiting Sunnylands in Palm Springs. It’s sort of the Camp David of the west- a beautiful home, garden and grounds where world leaders have been coming for high level meetings since 1966.
Sunnylands is the winter estate of Walter and Leonore Annenberg. They were extraordinary philanthropists giving away billions of dollars to various causes and both served as American ambassadors.
A woman trying to position Dave to get the perfect photo of her group
After watching a movie about the history of the place I went to the front desk to get the wifi code to upload the audio tour of the Sunnylands gardens and when I rejoined Dave I found him camera in hand with a woman’s arms around his shoulders getting him in just the right position to take a picture of a group of posing women.
Turns out they were a book club from Los Angeles visiting Sunnylands and had asked Dave to take their photo. By the time I arrivedin typical Dave fashion my husband had already engaged the ten women in a lively, humorous conversation about the PGA golf tournament being held in nearby La Quinta, the books their club had read recently, and he had told the group his wife was an author.
I listened in as he joked with them while snapping a bunch of photos.
When he was finished the women noticed me and started asking me about my books. They took down my name and the titles of my novels and asked whether I’d be willing to do a zoom author visit with their book club at some point. I said I’d love to.
We chatted for a while longer about books we’d all read and then they said goodbye, but not before one of the women commented, “Your husband is so charming.”
Palm Springs did not get its name because of the many palm trees that grow in the area but rather from Spanish explorers who christened the area La Palma de la Mano de Dios -The Palm of God’s Hand.
That being said, there are certainly many different kinds of palm trees in Palm Springs.
Most of them have been brought here from other places but the one that I find the most intriguing is the only palm that is native to the area the WashingtoniaFilifera.
Dave and I had a first hand look at these unique trees when we did a gorgeous hike along the Palm Canyon Trail.
You can easily spot the palm because it has a cloak of dried leaves hanging down from its trunk. The trees almost look like they have long bushy beards.
Filifera means “thread-bearing” and Washingtonia is a nod to the first American president, George Washington.
The Washingtonia is usually found near water so the ancient Cahuilla people located their villages in large groves of the palms where the water evaporated into the palm’s leaves thus creating a moist, shady, cool space to live.
Do you see the little hut made of palm leaves to Dave’s right?
The Cahuilla used the leaves of the palm to make huts and shoes.
Their creation story is directly linked to the native palm in the area.
The first Cahuilla man, Ma-ul, was growing old and wanted to leave his people with something of lasting value before he died.
After finding a spring where water came out of the ground, he stood still and firm until slowly roots took hold and bark formed around his legs. Then, from his hair sprouted palm fronds. Ma-ul had turned himself into the first palm tree in the desert.
I loved our hike on the Palm Canyon Trail. The Washingtonia Filifera Palm is a tree I won’t easily forget. It may look a little strange but it has a unique beauty all its own.
What Next? 