Slice of Life 19 – The ABC’s of a Day in Palm Springs #sol24

19 March 2024 TwoWritingTeachers.org
  • Amanda Gorman mural

  • Best Bookstore in Palm Springs
  • Costco for my annual eye exam
  • Double Dactyl poem before we left
  • Eye cream by Bruno. He was standing outside a skin care shop and gave me a sample of cream. Then he asked about my routine for eye care (nothing), so invited me in to treat me to a sample. It still feels stiff around my eyes. He tried to sell me a bottle for $400. After a couple other offers that sounded like QVC, he got it down to $149, before he finally gave up on me buying it. He was fascinating and funny and a really good salesman, I could tell, but I just wouldn’t buy something like that.
  • Friendly husband who makes friends wherever we go
  • Grape Nuts at Smart & Final (A 4-pound box costs $8-something, which is why I go there to buy it.)
  • Historical Society where we picked up brochures and looked at an antique postcard exhibit
  • Ice Cream for Keith–chocolate chip cookie dough. (I’m not sure why it didn’t sound good to me today, but maybe because I had just finished an extra sweet tea.)
  • Joke on the sidewalk – “I don’t want to end the year on bad terms with anyone. APOLOGIZE TO ME.”

  • Marilyn Monroe at the Palm Springs Art Museum

  • Nostalgia walking around Palm Springs – Do people even know who all these old celebrities were?
  • Oofos recovery sandals that Keith tried on at the Birkenstock store. Added to his wish list.
  • Perfume at Sephora – After nearly three months of enjoying my samples, I finally committed to choosing Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana.

  • Quart of water at lunch, at least – three glasses full
  • Restaurant called Los Arcos for a burrito
  • Sam’s Club for Strawberries for Milo

  • Toffee sample outside a shop I’ve never looked twice at. But after the sales tactic of handing out free samples, we went inside and almost bought some. It was so delicious.
  • Unity of the human community – “We’re all made from the same 11 elements. We have more in common than we do differences.”

  • Very multi-seated pedal-powered party bike driven by Gavin, who was a very friendly and interesting person that we talked to for a while. That’s Keith with the umbrella, catching the rain that had just started.

  • Windmills on the way home, as usual.

  • Xeriscape everywhere we looked

  • Young and old crowding the streets – Spring break is in full swing in our neck of the desert
  • Zone of welcomed graffiti

 

March 28 – A Day in Palm Springs

March 28, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Today we took a trip to Palm Springs, which is almost an hour away; it’s a trip we take about once a month. Palm Springs is a spring break tourist attraction, so I’m sure a lot of people we saw today were on vacation. We weren’t, of course; we were there because we save up our appointments and errands and do them all on the same day when we go there. We did enjoy the 75-degree spring break weather, though.

First, we went to Costco and bought gasoline for our car, sitting in the line for 10 minutes to save 25 cents a gallon. Then I went to my eye appointment, where they took fancy eye photos and scans of my eyeballs. He said I don’t have glaucoma or macular degeneration, so that was good news. I got a new prescription so I can buy new glasses on Zenni.

After the eye check, I joined my husband to finish our shopping list–produce, eggs, yogurt, and salmon. They didn’t have bird seed or a bird feeder, though.

After Costco, we went to Maracas Cantina. Here are pictures–the only ones I took today. (Why does that not surprise me?)

That was one big bowl of chips. When I took the photo, it was already half gone.
I ordered potato tacos, which I found a bit boring, so I added a lot of salsa to them.

Chips and salsa are one of my favorite things in the world. My husband is different; you can count on one hand the number of chips he’ll eat. I, on the other hand, would need his and my fingers and toes, as well as those of everyone else in the restaurant to count how many chips I ate. I feel compelled to finish the whole basket of chips when I go to Mexican restaurants. Today, I actually could not quite do it, but I did eat a lot. After lunch, we both felt like we were going into a food coma.

We went to Staples to laminate something and buy a 3-hole punch. We then walked down to Revival’s, a favorite thrift shop. We sat down on a beige leather sectional sofa and wondered if it would fit into our living room. It was very comfy, and we sat for a while and wished we could envision it in our living room. We decided against it, but I found a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup, which I’ve been wanting.

Then we got back in the car and headed toward Trader Joe’s. Keith saw a Dick’s Sporting Goods and wanted to stop.  I chose to walk off some of those chips, so I walked around the mall while he looked at sporting goods. I saw a See’s Candy store! (Do you know See’s? Yummy!) Keith and I grew up eating See’s candy and getting Easter eggs in our Easter baskets. So, I bought three chocolate eggs for Easter. (I also ate the sample they offered me, for I have no self-control.)

Next we went to Trader Joe’s and found a lot of fun things–Crunchy Chili Onion, root beer and ice cream for floats, tahina, Umami seasoning, some boxed soups, tempeh, soy chorizo (another meat alternative that I love) and a bottle of kombucha.

I then drove us home. On the way, I wished I could take a photo of the beautiful yellow carpet of wildflowers on the desert floor, but my husband had fallen asleep, so there is no such photo.

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!