A bobcat in our backyard. I’ve seen this one lately, but haven’t gotten a new photo.
When I was first married and moved to the Palm Springs area, I worked for a Public Relations agency.
We were housed in a small building named for Bob Hope on a hospital campus that has President Eisenhower’s name. A number of rich and famous were associated with the hospital including Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope.
One of the accounts we worked on was the Bob Hope Classic, a golf tournament that raised millions for local charities.
The first year I was working the Classic, I answered the phone and got a request from Rick Dee’s secretary that he’d like to play in the tournament. At the time, Rick Dees was a local Los Angeles DJ. It was before he went national. I had moved from Washington state and never heard of him. I told the woman on the other end of the phone, “No.”
We were well into organizing the tournament and I didn’t think we could allow more players.
Next, I got a call from Rick Dees himself. I told him no. He called back two more times and I hung up on him!
One of my co-workers overheard and asked, “Who were you talking to?”
“Some guy named Rick Dees. He wants to play in the Classic and he called me three times!”
“You hung up on Rick Dees?”
The boss immediately found Rick Dees number and called him back and apologized. Guess what? He was allowed to play in the tournament.
Fast forward six or seven years, and I was at the Classic with my husband, who had our one- year-old son on his shoulders. We walked along the golf course and I spotted Rick Dees.
I walked up to him and said “I’m the woman who hung up on you years ago.”
He laughed and said he remembered. My husband asked for his autograph. Rick Dees was friendly and signed my son’s baseball cap.
What are some of your funny memories during your early working years?
We had many beautiful walks this weekend. Mainly because it warmed up. I was able to walk without being bundled up in a ski parka and wool cap. I wore a sweatshirt instead.
My dishwasher quit a week ago Friday right before guests came over for appetizers. Saturday we had friends over for Oxtail soup complete with salad, vegetables and a rice dish. That meant a ton of dishes. Lucky me, we have dishwasher in our casita. I had to traipse back and forth with dishes on a tray for the past week.
Finally, this past Friday (a week after it broke down) the repairman came. He did diagnostics and said it would cost $1,000 to fix the dishwasher. I looked at the paperwork the prior owners left us. The dishwasher is around nine years old. Easy decision.
We went shopping Saturday for a new dishwasher. The one I wanted could be delivered in 25 weeks! I thought we were over supply chain issues. I’m not schlepping dishes to and from the casita for half a year. I looked at other brands and they had one dishwasher in stock! Imagine that! I feel like we lucked out.
Sunday I went with a girlfriend to a driving range to hit balls for the first time in years. I couldn’t believe how nervous and shaky I was. Eventually I settled down and hit a few good shots. We chipped and putted. It felt marvelous to be outside having fun on a bright sunny day. My new golf friend also hasn’t golfed for years and we seem to be a good match as far as our golfing skills go.
Sunday morning I got this video of Canadian geese:
A neighbor asked me to go to a driving range. We set a date to go yesterday. When I woke up it was 33 degrees.
And look at this:
The weather on my first day back to golf.
I haven’t golfed in years. I think it was my ski accident and knee surgery that put golf off my radar. That was 2018. Of course the day I make plans to golf again we get snow?
I grew up in a golf family. At least my dad was an avid golfer, my mom wasn’t as serious. He started playing when he was a kid and still plays. He’ll be 91 this week.
My first golf tournament I was five or six years old. I’d stare at the beautiful first place trophy in the clubhouse after Dad signed me up. I just had to win.
It was a three-hole match. I tied for first place with another girl my age. We went on to sudden death. The fourth hole I scored 13 to her 12. The match was over and she took home the trophy.
I had one friend growing up who also golfed. Her older brother was friends with mine and they were on the high school golf team. They’d take us out on weekends to golf (not with them, but following them one hole behind.) At least they’d give us a ride to the golf course.
In high school, my friend and I asked to join the boys’ golf team. They didn’t have one for girls. They let us go to daily practice, but we never got to play in a tournament or match. I think we were as good as a few of the boys.
My friend and her brother got jobs at a local golf course. Once the patrons were gone, we’d grab the golf carts and joyride. Our brothers and a few other employees made a race track in the woods. My friend and I were stationed up high on a hill next to the woods. If we spotted the owner’s car coming, it was our job to yell to the golf cart racers.
One day it happened. The owner’s station wagon was driving up the long gravel drive. We yelled, then floored it back to the clubhouse. We got there before the station wagon was parked and tried to act nonchalant.
The owner said, “What’s up?” He pointed at the golf cart we were in.
We looked down at the engine and it was smoking. Oops.
Then we wondered what happened to our brothers. They didn’t make it out of the woods in time. I think they either flipped a golf cart, or got one stuck in the mud. I can’t quite remember.
In the end, my friend and her brother kept their jobs at the golf course, but that was the end of our joyrides.
What sports or activities did you do when you were young that you enjoy today? Or look back at with great memories?
This past weekend I went to Lake Tahoe, Nevada for the first time. We have friends who lived near us in Palm Springs who also have a house in Tahoe. They sold their California home like we did this past year and we discovered our new Arizona homes are less than a mile from each other. We got together as new neighbors before they headed for the cool Lake Tahoe weather — and they insisted we come visit them.
View from our friend’s kitchen.
We finally did it! I was a little apprehensive because although we’ve been friends for years, we don’t have a “stay with them in their home” type of friendship. I’m close with the wife through our school parenting days, but our husbands have only met during formal school related events.
Anyway, it turned out to be a memorable, fun, amazing gorgeous weekend of hiking, boating, eating, touring and building on our friendship. I can’t get over what a perfect weekend it was.
Until I got the phone call.
The unknown number came in while we were on their gorgeous speed boat. The day so far had included a morning hike, mooring the boat for lunch — in front of their private country club’s lake house — a $10 million house that had been renovated as a restaurant and place to hang out on the lake. Access to it is through their golf membership — although it’s miles from the golf course. Next, we toured Emerald Bay and then anchored at Rubicon Bay, which had turquoise blue water, warm enough for a quick dip. I’m not sure where the next stop was going to be.
Rubicon Bay where we went swimming.
We pulled up anchor and were racing through the water to our next destination when I answered the call. It was hard to hear over the roar of the boat’s engines, I was breaking up to the person on the other end. I finally heard that my dad had pushed the button on the device I insisted he wear around his neck. They said they called him and he wasn’t answering. Then the phone went dead. After three attempts, I got the rest of the story. Dispatch was on their way to my dad’s house.
I tried calling my dad. The phone was answered but it was pure static and garbled. I tried again. No answer.
My friends told me to wait to call until they got me to a place with more bars for cell reception.
I was shaking. I felt so helpless. What could I do for my dad while racing around in an exotic boat on Lake Tahoe? How quickly could I get a flight to Palm Springs? Why had I moved away from him? Maybe my brother was right after all. My brother has been insisting that I move dad to Arizona to be closer to me. Dad is turning 90 next year and my brother said that he can’t live alone because of his age. That’s when I insisted my dad get the “help I’ve fallen button” to wear around his neck. I also hired a friend to stop by and see if he wants her to run to the store or do anything for him.
Up until that moment, I disagreed with my brother. My dad lives in a senior community near Palm Springs. He golfs three times a week, has friends (who are currently out of town), takes ukulele lessons, drives his golf cart around, and he started a new hobby of remote controlled yacht racing last year. He’s happy. He’s active. He’s engaged.
If I were to move him to Arizona, what would he do? Sit in my casita and watch TV? Or alone in an apartment with no friends? Wait for me to play golf with him at the surrounding super expensive golf courses — instead of his current situation of getting out to play a few holes at affordable rates whenever he wants? I honestly think he’s happier in his own environment. And I believe he can make a decision about where he lives. At least that’s what I thought until I got the call.
View from the country club’s lake house where we had lunch.
Back to the boat….I called my dad when we were in an area where I got better reception. Dad answered. He said it was a false call. He had been working on the misting cooling system on his golf cart and accidentally pressed the button leaning on something. He also said he called the company to tell them it was a false alarm, but they put him on hold! He said dispatch had come and was ready to haul him to the hospital, but they figured out he was fine.
I can’t tell you how relieved I was. And I don’t think it’s time to take him out of his own home and active lifestyle. Not yet.
What are your thoughts about leaving aging parents in their own homes versus moving them to live closer or with you?
I am fortunate to live in Palm Springs, California. I’m in the backyard of major golf tournaments like the Dinah Shore and the Humana Challenge — formerly known as the Bob Hope Classic. Tennis tournaments, too. (I don’t follow tennis, so I can’t elaborate much except to say they bring in crowds.
We just finished three major weekends: two consecutive weekends of Coachella followed by Stagecoach. So now what?
Here’s my top 5 locals’ list of what to do in Palm Springs.
Hike
Swim
Eat
Read
Golf
My two favorite hiking trails in Palm Springs are the South Lykken Trail off of South Palm Canyon and Murray Canyon in the Indian Canyons. The Tram is my hot-season favorite, with temperatures in the perfect 70s in the summertime when it’s 110 plus degrees in town.
The Palm Springs Swim Center boasts one of the most gorgeous public pools on the planet. Go for lap swim, or drop in on a Masters session with the Piranha Swim Team — the team my kids have swam with for 13 plus years. There’s nothing like swimming across the pool and looking up at the majestic San Jacinto Mountain view!
We have serious food! My favorite restaurants in Palm Springs include — but are not limited to — JIAO, Jake’s and Johnny Costa’s. A few miles out of town in Cathedral City you’ll find the best Mexican food at El Gallito — a locals hot spot since 1978.
Relax! Sit out by the pool with a good book. The resorts around town are gorgeous, from private luxury suites at the Ingleside Inn to larger trendy hotels like Riviera Palm Springs or Hard Rock Hotel. Soak up the sunshine, wearing suncreen of 50 SPF or better, and take a quick dip in the pool between chapters of your book.
Golf. Yes, we have lots of it! My favorites in Palm Springs are the muni courses at Tahquitz Creek. The Legends Course is an older, more traditional course with a great price. The Resort Course is a little pricier, but more challenging. The Indian Canyons Golf Resort is spectacular, too!
Enjoy our blue skies, mountain views, and wide open spaces. It’s all here in Palm Springs. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it!
And one more thing! Don’t forget to see The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies starring Darlene Love. It ends in May, so you better get there soon!
