We 'get down' in the Low-Country.

      The trip home from Palm Springs to the Virgin Islands is a long flight. So why not break it up with a visit to our favorite next-door neighbors? Here we are arriving in Charleston, SC to visit Joanne and Dave Rogers!

      Fresh off the plane. Jim is still sporting his nose covering! Bob is still sporting extra weight. Hey, isn't there a limit on 'carry-on baggage'?
      Whatever.




       Jo and Dave take us for a lovely drive around their neighborhood. Daniel Island, a wonderful planned community just minutes from downtown Charleston. All the homes are of a similar theme and beautifully executed.
      Below is the park in front of the Roger's house, 3rd from the right. Lots of open space and room for kids to play.

     




     
      Here's a close-up of the house. Notice Mr. Jim pacing on the phone. Doesn't he ever stop talking? Well, his knitting  business is now up and running so he has a lot to think about!
     

      While Jim 'works' the rest of us go for a tour of the area.

      Check out the approaching sunset! Gorgeous! We stop by a local fishing creek to buy some shrimp for dinner. Yum. We even see several dolphins swimming around the boats. As the fishermen clean their catch, and dump the leftovers in the creek, the birds and dolphins go crazy!

      Oh yea, dinner. Jo and Dave cook up a feast and we all clean our plates. Surprise!

  

     

      We celebrated Jim's birthday with a lovely dinner in Charleston proper. Several of Jim's old friends joined us. It was a great group with great food and great conversation. A blast!

     

 

      Our trip to the low country was over too soon. We did get to go out for a sail on Cloudy Bay, the Rogers fantastic sailboat. But Bob missed out trying 'shrimp & grits'.

Well, maybe next time.

Is that Djokovic in Palm Springs?

      OK, so we are all packed and ready to leave Palm Springs for the year. And we have already reserved the same house for three months next year. We've had a great time.
      Just today we spotted a major celebrity at the Plaza Racket Club where Jim plays. Is that Novac Djokovic warming up with the club pro? Maybe?
      Wait! I recognize those chicken legs! Do you?

      Look at the grace.
      Notice the complete concentration.
      What form.
      What an outfit!
      Must be Armani?












      Yes fans, it's Bob on the court. He has been secretly taking lessons for seven weeks now.
      According to the pro he is actually picking up the sport. Imagine..... you can teach an old dog new tricks!

      Just look:

      Notice the fabulous forehand. And he didn't trip over himself. He connected with the ball.

       And a two handed backhand. Again hitting the ball. No falling down even! Is this possible?

       Well, pure grace and beauty? NOT. But I'm having fun.

      So, we say farewell to Palm Springs for a while, but not to tennis. Bob is hooked, and will continue with lessons back in de islands.

                         Watch out Jim!

Party like a pirate. A desert pirate.

        Our visit to Palm Springs is nearing an end. But, there's always time for one more party!

      So we invited a group of friends over for a real Caribbean-style celebration. Starting out with a few Painkillers just like they make on Jost Van Dyke. Pussers rum of course. Also, there was coconut shrimp with dipping sauce, grilled jerk chicken and mango salsa with plantain chips. For something sweet we had grilled pineapple with chocolate sauce. All was yummy!
      Here are a few pictures of the festivities-

     


      Doug White and Bob mix up the Painkillers. "Let's try a few before the guests come to make sure that we have the recipe right!"

      OK, the drinks are ready. And even all the food is prepared ahead of time. Aren't we organized?

      Here we see Jim working the room. Ignore the band-aid on his nose. No, he didn't get a nose-job. At least not yet.

      Rex Liu and Richard Weiss. Something must be wrong with their thumbs? Maybe they need a ride home? They sure look happy though.

      Here we see Doug White again. This time with Randy McCarthy. Randy is Bob's friend from high school. Bob and Randy haven't seen each other since 1975. Let's hope they don't wait that long for another visit.

      Jim Cox (not the twin brother of JimBob Cox, wait, this is really confusing...OK, they just share the same name. Strange!) Anyway, here is the photographer Jim Cox with Tom Aubrey and Elliot Miller. Elliot, are you camera shy? Turn around dude!

   

     Randy brought along a photo of Bob and himself with their dates at The Coconut Grove in L.A. on Prom night 1967. Yikes! At least we both still have our hair. Most of it anyway!







      This table may look nice now, but by the end of the night there was nothing left. At least no one ate the flowers. Suffice to say a great time was had by all. We all agreed to meet again next year!

      Somehow Bobby Schwarzenbach avoided the camera at the party. So here's a picture of Bobby with us at lunch the next day. I don't look a bit hung-over. That's why they call them 'painkillers'.

All quiet on the Western front. Not.

      Least you think that JimBob have been lounging around the pool with nothing to do, the truth has been far from that. The social scene here in "The Desert' has been active.

      A case in point: the Phillips families visit:  the Nor-Cal and So-Cal families arrived for the
weekend recently. Here we see JimBob with Allison Phillips (Mrs. So-Cal Phillips). We are at a late night hot spot partaking of after dinner drinks with the local hipsters.
      The interesting part was that the local hipsters were well into their seventies! Many 'cougars' were to be found stalking unsuspecting younger gentlemen. Hold on to your wallets and dentures fellows!
  
   
       We were ensconced at a table to the side of the action. We had a great time watching. A DJ played all the hits of the day, the day being 1968. Whatever. JimBob are pictured here with Mrs. Bree Phillips (Nor-Cal) and Bob's nephews John (far left) and James. Allison must have been surveying the action in the main party room. Brave girl.

     

 


      Looks like all the Phillips made it out of the club and safely home that night. Great looking couples I'd say.
      JimBob left early. Something about needing their beauty sleep.
Seriously?





  

       The next day it was party time at our house in Palm Springs. The Phillips' brought the kids over for a little pool party, complete with design-your-own-pizza lunch and ice cream sundae dessert.

   

      This photo at the left is of the girls. Where's Jack? Probably in the pool. Anyway, here we have (left to right) Madison, Paige, Kendall and Janey. We were celebrating birthdays for both Kendall and Paige, Eight years old and eleven.

      Wow, here is Kendall demonstrating her aquatic prowess. And Jack doing the same. Jack, being the youngest and only boy in the family gets major kudos. Go Jack, you rock!

       Pizza time! We set out all the ingredients and the kids went crazy.
Actually the adults did too. Jim was the oven-master and performed the baking honors. After lunch the kids introduced us to the Whip/Nae, nae. Bet you don't know what that is. Suffice to say it is a dance that came from the hottest video on the internet right now. We got lessons.


      Want to see our moves? Seriously? In your dreams.


      So the Phillips family visit was exciting. Palm Springs will never be the same. JimBob are recovering on the chaise lounges by the pool enjoying the quiet. Not for long though. There is a guys only party scheduled for next weekend! We are calling it 'Caribbean Night in da Desert'.
      And you thought nothing was going on out here in the West.
      Seriously?
     

Welcome to 1958! Bring your hula-hoop?

      As Yogi Berra used to say, "I'm having deja vu all over again!"
We have arrived at our rental house in Palm Springs where we will camp out for the next two months. The house is fantastic! It's a mid-century modern place that makes us feel like Frank Sinatra, or Lucy & Desi might be closer to it. This house reminds me of trips to Palm Springs when I was 9. My mothers cousin had a vacation home here and our family came down to 'the desert' often from LA.

      Doesn't this house look cool, Daddy-O? I can see the Jetson's influence. The best part is the privacy. While we are right in the middle of Palm Springs, the yard is completely insulated from any neighbors. And we're on a very quiet street. Sometimes we wonder if anyone else is around. Well. it is the HOT season. But so far it's been hovering around 90 degrees. Not too bad!

     

      Here's Lucy in the kitchen. Even though it looks like 1958, the house is very up to date. i-phone docks, multiple flat screen televisions, gas fireplace, etc. The kitchen has every conceivable appliance and tons of cookware and such. Jim is right at home already cooking up a storm.
Yum!




       Bob has been hard at work too. Exhausting.
      We are starting to plan for the arrival of guests. Jim's niece Zahra came down over Labor Day weekend. And we had a visit from Max and Elliot, Jim's friends from earlier travels. When Jim's photographer friend returns from a shoot we will invite him and partner over. And, of course, Jim's sister Joyce is scheduled to arrive for a weekend soon. So the social like thing is in full swing. Never a dull moment for us!
      Speaking of guests, Bob's high school buddy Jack Anthony stopped in yesterday. See photo below. Much time was spend re-living the old days in SoCal. We look just like we did in 1965 don't you think, haven't changed a bit! OK, maybe the hair style is different. But Bob and Jack picked up right where they left off forty years earlier. Wonderful!

        Stay tuned for more adventures from 'the rat pack era'. We haven't hit the golf course yet, but plan to. Heaven help anyone standing nearby when Bob tees off. He is a wild man on the links!

Jim and Bob's Excellent Adventure to Palm Springs.

      Ok, so I haven't been keeping up with the blogging lately. Whatever.
So here is a quick summery of what's been going on for the last several months:
Not much. We moved into the house and have been enjoying ourselves. Surprise!
      We have made one big change. We've added a generator. (See photos below)

  The generator arrives by truck.

The generator goes into it's home.

    
      Now, moving on to our next adventure. We have left the island for a trip out West.  Two months in California beginning with a car trip to visit Jim's family. First stop, of course, is Los Angeles.

       
      Ah yes. L.A. It hasn't changed. Traffic and more traffic. It takes over an hour to get anywhere, including around the block. Anyway, we got to visit with Jim's sister Joyce. She is deep into working on another movie. This time Jungle Book for Disney. Sounds amazing.
      Next we headed out of L.A. for St. George Utah to visit Jim's youngest sister Pat and her husband Brian. They have just moved to Utah from Kansas. Here we are in Zion National Park. Not exactly flat like Kansas! There are lots of hiking trails and golf courses.

      Speaking of golf courses, we played nine holes with Pat and Brian. Well, let's say Jim played and Bob made divots everywhere. Perhaps lessons are in the future for Bob?
      After St. Goerge, we moved on to Aspen Colorado to visit Jim's oldest sister Marilyn and her husband Larry. Aspen is great in the summer! Again we went on some hikes but didn't play golf. Bob is still recovering from the last fiasco on the fairways.
      After an overnight near Santa Fe New Mexico it's off to Palm Springs and our rental house in the desert. Tennis anyone? Golf? Bob? Bob?
      Stay tuned. I promise to post more often if I don't break anything?
      Be well.

  

Donkeys, goats, and birds, oh my!

       So! It's been a while since the last posting. You're probably wondering what we've been up to? Well, maybe you haven't. But I'm going to tell you anyway. So, there!

       As you can see, some things never change. Here is Mr. Ad Executive doing what he does best....knitting of course. In between hosting guests and taking care of finishing off the house, we have actually been out on the boat a few times. This photo is in Maho Bay, our now favorite overnight spot.

    
    
       Did you know that Mr. Adman is also known for his hunting skills? Here's the story....
Our new home has UV rated windows to screen out the sun. This results in highly reflective glass.
       Well, one of the local birds found this disturbing. The bird saw another bird in the window and charged at it. A million times. It's beak started to bleed. We got worried about him. Apparently these birds are territorial and this one, seeing his own reflection, thought that his turf was being compromised.  Our friend Captain Greg loaned Jim his pellet gun:
 

      After a few misses, mission accomplished. The bird was no longer suffering. Us too!


      Fortunately none of the other birds have mimicked this behavior. Maybe they have bad eyesight!


      Now that the bird issue has been laid to rest. Pun. We have moved on to more taxing issues. Like gardening. However, we've decided that spending a fortune on plants without fencing the property is a bad idea. The donkeys came up on the deck and swallowed down one of our ferns. Then munched on some other stuff we planted for dessert. OK, time for plan B. Let's get plants donkeys and goats won't eat. Like cactus. Our friends the Taquard's are putting in a new pool and had a bunch of plants to give us for free.  So we got to work planting. Maybe the donkeys and goats won't notice? Anyway, the yellowish plants are supposedly goat proof. And the cactus is, well, cactus. Looks good for now. Fingers crossed.

      Time for golfing. Golfing? We have no golf course on St. John. Surprise, there is the Skinny Legs-Coral Bay Annual Open. We were paired up with new friends Julie and Mark. The course meanders around the restaurant Skinny Legs. So there were fairways down the main street, through the parking lot, out over the dinghy dock, and into the neighboring baseball field. Jim got a hole in one! Bob got sore hands from hitting the dirt.

    

All along the course were drink stations and food spots. So as we consumed rum punches and hot dogs the play got wilder and wilder. Think of it as miniature golf with an island twist. Or maybe a lemon twist is more accurate. Anyway, we played 'best ball' and there were prizes awarded at the end. We won nothing.


      Also, there were prizes for the best 'golfing' outfit. Bob put together a natty combination of plaid shorts and a striped shirt. With the addition of a polka dot bow tie to complete the country club look. Like the white golf shoes and straw hat?

       We have been entertaining like crazy. We assume everyone is having fun and enjoying our new place. Party, party, party! Does this man look happy?    ( At least he's out of the sun. )