Weekend Report

Just an FYI: As a rule, instituted by myself as some of you might remember, almost one year ago to the day, I do not refer to people by name anymore unless it's been cleared with them. Also I've significantly curtailed my social commentary this past year because everyone in this town seems to have discovered this blog. However...

Friday Night NYE: Our friend JAMIE (did I mention his name is JAMIE!?! Yes, JAMIE! Our host, who was adorably disappointed when I did not mention him by name here on Christmas Eve when he threw yet another wonderful dinner party. His name is JAMIE! And he throws FABULOUS parties! We love JAMIE! Smooch!) threw a NYE party that was completely over the top fabulous and fun beyond compare.

Around 8:30 when I was getting dressed, I looked out across our backyard to see Klieg lights blazing our usually starry skies. There was no doubt in my mind where those lights were coming from. I knew then that this was going to be a party for the books and indeed, it was.

We were greeted at the gate by a gaggle of drag queens flinging one liners and sending the camp-o-meter over the edge. Armed with free samba lessons from our host earlier in the day we were ready to dance the night away. Yes, I now know how to Samba - frightening and true.

The place was packed. I would guessimate there were probably over 150-200 people there. As we squeezed our way to the backyard, I immediately went for the club soda first as I knew it was going to be a long night. Small glass of club soda quickly turned into large glass filled with mostly vodka being served by beautiful women and who was I to be rude and refuse? But I behaved, for the most part.

We mingled and caught up with some folks I'd not seen in a while, enjoyed the bountiful Brazilian buffet, did a little dancing (couldn't let those samba lessons go unapplied), watched some dancing (half naked women with huge er... head dresses shaking their bon bons) and marveled at the entire affair. Everyone was dressed to the nines and the place looked like a million bucks! Over the top boys. Over. The. Top. Loved it.

Thankfully the rain held off and everyone had a fantastic time. Many thanks to our wonderful host, Jamie! It was a great way to end the year.

Saturday: First thing in the morning the missus started walking around the house stripping any semblance of Christmas down. Her tradition is that as of New Years Day, Christmas is officially over and the lights, garlands, trees, etc. should be immediately packed away, not to be opened again until next Dec. 23rd at the earliest. I, however, prefer to enjoy the lingering of the holidays and like to pretend that the vacation will never end. We agreed to a compromise and leave a few remnants up. I spent the day lounging on the couch watching the Rose Bowl (hell of a game!) with a roaring fire. Perfect.

Sunday: We took a drive out to Desert Hot Springs to look at the 5 acres of land that a friend of ours purchased a couple of years ago. Damn. I wish I had been smart enough to do that. Her investment got me to thinking. I'd love to buy a small parcel somewhere and just sit on it for a while. Our friend has already been offered considerably more than what she paid for it. It's just sand and scrub, but with all the development going on, it's worth a pretty penny now. Hmm. "give me land, lots of land under starry skies above, don't fence me in..."

Back to the story at hand. We had a hell of a time finding it, when all you see are wide open spaces, trying to pick out 5 empty acres without a plat map is a bit of a challenge. But we eventually found the road and the parcel, took a nice walk around, spotted a roadrunner, picked up some trash someone had dumped, enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine, then made our way back to PS.

We ended up back at Spindlenfür's place where we found him baking brownies in a fit of domesticity. We sat outside overlooking the valley, chatting, eating brownies and drinking coffee until the sun set. I sooo didn't want the weekend to end.

Today it's back to pouring rain and a pile of work. Sigh. But it's a new year and who knows what lies ahead!

In Other News:

There's a coyote roaming our neighborhood, a big red fella who's already killed one of the neighbors cats. Of course this has everyone a bit on edge. It's not often that they venture this far into the residential areas but it happens.

One of our neighbor's, a weekender from LA, suggested we call animal control and I immediately thought to myself, Call them and tell them what? We live in a frickin' desert for pete's sake. There are coyotes everywhere. It comes with the territory ... literally!

But I did call A.C. this morning and just exactly as I thought, they won't respond. It's a wildlife refuge here so unless it's a nuisance (i.e. eats a small child or something, I suppose) Fish and Game won't respond either.

We just have to be cautious and aware and keep the cats inside until Big Red decides to mosey on along somewhere else... Now get a-long little doggie! Meep Meep!