This is the Rueben from our favorite Sherman’s Deli in Palm Springs.
For Father’s Day, I wanted to treat my husband to a nice breakfast or lunch. We heard about a Jewish Deli that we hadn’t tried yet. We were told it was pretty good.
Well, what a disappointment. It was nothing like what we’re used to. My husband had a breakfast burrito that he took two bites of and left it. I had a Rueben and potato salad. The sandwich was okay. But they didn’t grill the bread and the corned beef was tough. I took it home and doctored it up. The potato salad was inedible.
There’s always a line at Sherman’s. But not for us. We’d be spotted and whisked to a table by the manager. That was the advantage of being a local in a tourist town.
We haven’t found fabulous food in Arizona, which is why we hardly ever go out. It’s always a let down. I should take that back and say there are a few places I like, but they are a trek from our house.
The good news is we’re visiting a friend in New York and I can probably get my fill of fabulous food. I’m also hoping to meet LA from Waking Up On the Wrong Side of 50 in person.
I wrote this post on April 7, 2020. We were living in Palm Springs and on shutdown. It was such an odd time. I’m not sure I really managed to get over it. I have more anxiety now than I did prior to COVID. I need more time to myself and less engagement with people outside our family. Those are just few things that linger.
One of my favorite streets on my morning walk.
21 Days. Isn’t that something? My daughter came home a few days before we got the order. I’m so glad she made it here. She’s been a joy to have around along with her fur baby Waffles. We have plenty of room to have my husband, me and my daughter all working from home — together — yet apart.
Here’s a few thoughts I have about these strange days:
ONE I go from super calm and productive to anxiety ridden from day to day.
TWO I’m losing track of the days and the time. Twice I have woken up thinking it’s 6 a.m. and started the coffee only to look at the clock in the kitchen that reads 11:40 p.m.
THREE My routine of daily three pages of writing, my three mile walk and Bible readings to start my day are more important than ever. All three help me stay grounded.
FOUR I’m reading lots of good books. Sitting in my back yard in the sun reading is one of my favorite things to do.
FIVE 10,000 people have died in our country. My heart goes out to all the people suffering and losing loved ones.
SIX We are now told to wear masks when we leave the house. I’m using a make-shift one from my quilting supplies. It’s hard to breathe during my morning walks, though, and my glasses fog up.
SEVEN My writing jobs are completed and turned in and now I’m in uncharted territory without every minute of my day focused on meeting deadlines.
EIGHT My daughter and I cleaned and organized the food cupboards and the laundry room. It feels good to have clean spaces.
NINE I’m reaching out to family via phone and email. It’s important to stay in touch with your loved ones.
My new morning walk look.
What are your thoughts about sheltering in place during the pandemic?
What things have lingered into your life now from four years ago?
I noticed a helicopter circling our backyard after our guests left Friday night. That was odd. When we moved here a little over three years ago, I felt so safe. We went to bed without locking our doors. Our doors were unlocked when we went shopping or on walks.
Now I make sure the doors are locked even while we’re home in the daytime.
That’s because there’s an organized crime ring, using high tech gadgets to scramble WiFi and cameras, breaking into homes.
From the AZ Central:
Thieves responsible for a series of dinnertime burglaries in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley have targeted homes when residents were away and under the cloak of darkness. Jewelry, cash and precious metals stolen from homes have been sold on the black market.
Scottsdale police said a total of 33 burglaries were confirmed in the city; 131 cases have been throughout the Valley since the first trend of burglaries started in 2019.
Lt. Jeffery Hawkins, Scottsdale’s expert on the topic, worked on recent surveillance operations that saw the burglars in action. He said crime tourists were believed to be exploiting a visa-less entry into the U.S. through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization program. The waives a visa for tourists and businesspeople like bankers who are entering the country for a short time.
“We don’t know who they are. We don’t know their family. We don’t know where and if they’ve done any criminal activity in their native country like Chile, we don’t have access to that information.” said Hawkins. “It’s a blank slate that we have to start putting together,” added Hawkins.
Hawkins said the crime tourists often ship stolen items to South America or to be sold in larger black-market rings on the West and East coasts.
“This crew is fast, elusive and professional,” said Hawkins, who described the burglars as “ghosts.”
Hawkins also added that police have found the group using Wi-Fi and cellular signal jammers, which can disable the signal to a home’s security system. The device, which consists of a green plastic brick with dozens of black antennae exiting the top, can invade a signal from 30 to 50 feet away.
When we lived downtown Palm Springs, we had a homeless guy living in our yard. I had my bicycle stolen and we had two break-ins. One of the things I liked best moving to Arizona was the sense of safety. I’m so disappointed that I feel afraid in my own home, have my doors locked and watch helicopters circling overhead.
Have you heard about dinnertime burglaries or crime tourists?
During our weekend in Palm Springs, I was shocked several times at prices. I know California is an expensive place to live and that is one of the reasons why we moved. For example, gas is at least a dollar more than in Arizona.
Take the beautiful photo above. Our friends have a sailboat in the marina and when they bought their boat, they had to pay for the slip, too. Then there was city tax to pay and a monthly slip fee. They don’t actually own the slip. They own the right to rent the slip. Often, that right costs more than the boat itself.
So back to our weekend. My husband was hungry on the drive and there aren’t many places to stop once you leave Phoenix. There are a couple little towns like Tonopah (population 23) and Quartzite (population 2,143). We stopped at a Jack in the Box, ordered two breakfast sandwiches and hash browns. The price was more than $20! This was still in Arizona, so it’s not California’s fault. But shocking all the same.
While we were in Palm Springs, we stopped at our favorite pizza place, Bill’s pizza. We ordered a large pizza and one small salad to share. We ordered the large, so we could take home pizza we love and can’t get in our new city. The tab came to almost $70 with tax and tip.
I was at a neighborhood coffee yesterday morning and a woman complained that she went to the dentist. She had her teeth cleaned, x-rays and one small filling. Total? More than $900.
Our biggest shocker was the gas bill. Yes, we’ve used the heat because we had some cold weather for Scottsdale. It was triple any bill we’ve had before. We turned off the heat and are wearing extra layers on cold days. Fortunately, the weather has gotten warmer.
This reminded me of a politician who used to be in the news:
Jimmy McMillan
New York City political activist
James McMillan III is an American political activist and Vietnam War veteran. He was a perennial candidate in New York City. McMillan is best known as the founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party, a New York-based political party. McMillan ran for office at least six times since 1993, most notably in the 2010 New York gubernatorial election. Wikipedia
We took a morning walk down a street called Frank Sinatra this weekend while we were in the Palm Springs area. This is the view from Palm Desert of Mt. San Jacinto. The mountain is a few blocks from the backyard of our old home. Many of the streets are named after celebrities including Bob Hope, Gerald Ford, Dinah Shore, Gene Autry and Fred Waring. My kids didn’t know that Fred Waring was a person. But they heard of Dinah Shore when Leonardo DiCaprio moved into Dinah Shore’s old house — next door to one of their school mates.
Frank Sinatra’s compound is on Frank Sinatra Drive, which might be the reason for the street’s name. I once interviewed to be Sinatra’s assistant’s assistant and entered his property for an interview. One of my ballet friends had the job and she was asked to refer people for the position because she was moving to LA. It turned out the job paid about 25% less than what I was making in PR for a local developer, so working with the Sinatras was not enough of a pull for me to change jobs.
We had a busy weekend with my dad’s 92nd birthday, visiting clients and attending a friend’s funeral. That’s why we drove about five hours Saturday and five hours on Sunday.
View of Desert Willow golf course from a sidewalk along Frank Sinatra.
The view of Mt. San Jacinto from my morning walks when I lived in Palm Springs. This was a park a few blocks from our house.
What did you do this past weekend that you enjoyed?
One thing I noticed about living in Arizona is the weather. We have more of it than in Palm Springs, where I used to live. How can you have MORE weather you might ask? There’s more variety. Look at yesterday. We woke up to rain while it was sunny and warm in Palm Springs. Then in the afternoon we had wind. The past few days we had lows of 28 degrees. Never had that in Palm Springs. We even get an occasional snow day. We had that once out of 30 years in Palm Springs. Plus, at our new home, there are monsoons and haboobs to mix it up.
When I first moved to the Palm Springs area, every morning I’d watch the weather forecast before getting dressed. My husband asked me what I was doing.
“Checking the weather,” I explained. In Seattle, I did that to know what to wear.
“Let me give you a hint,” he said. “Sunny and warm or sunny and hot.”
As a former Seattle-ite, I hated rain. After living in the desert for more than 30 years, I love every bit of rain we get.
There’s an area nearby us that doesn’t have water. The water pipes don’t make it there. Scottsdale was trucking in water to that unincorporated residential area. Can you imagine buying a home and running out of water within a few years? There was a big controversy when Scottsdale cut off supplying water. Residents were drilling wells, but instead of a few dozen yards deep, they were going down hundreds of feet with nothing. I read one horse rancher has a well 800 feet deep, and the water is only 100 feet above the bottom of his well.
Eventually Scottsdale settled with the area and they are supplying water again.
I wondered when we bought our home, why the address was Scottsdale, because it’s a little cutout north of Scottsdale and technically could be in another town. I don’t question it anymore, because I’m happy to have the water and city services Scottsdale provides. We did look at a few homes in unincorporated areas. I’m so glad we didn’t buy outside of city limits.
Palm Springs and the surrounding area is on an aquifer with supposedly unlimited water. Or at least a few-hundred years supply. They also have a number of settling ponds that capture rainfall which allows it to settle back into the aquifer.
I think one of the issues with water in the Phoenix area are the tech companies who have built facilities here.
Here’s a snippet I found about tech companies in the greater Phoenix area and water:
Water, one of the most important elements in the semiconductor manufacturing process, has always been a precious resource in Arizona. Its conservation and management have been a priority for generations, even predating statehood. More than any other state, Arizona understands the importance of long-term planning — it was the first to project its water supply 100 years into the future and remains one of the only states in the nation to do so. This proactive approach to water management ensures that any new developments have access to water for generations to come.
This commitment to transparency and resiliency in water management is vital for semiconductor manufacturers. Companies like Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company chose to grow in Greater Phoenix because it provides a strategic location, stable energy grid and skilled workforce, but these location decisions also rely on the availability and reliability of water. Arizona’s commitment to resilient water management and transparency in long-term planning gives companies confidence in the region’s future.
I’m frustrated because I planned to post beautiful sunsets for this post. I clicked on the block called “image” and got this message: “This block has encountered an error and cannot be previewed.” It’s not previewing I’m concerned about — it’s posting a photo!
I’ve tried everything suggested after I clicked on help. Live chat is now down. I’ve emailed help and got a response that somebody will get back to me. In the meantime, if you want to see my sunset photos, look at https://www.instagram.com/e.a.wickham/.
According to one of my friends who moved from Palm Springs to Arizona 10 years before us, it’s Sunset Season.
I didn’t know there was a season for sunsets, did you?
Before we moved, we’d visit a friend here who introduced me to my husband almost 40 years ago. The friend and I were from Seattle. My husband came up to visit said friend in Seattle and we were introduced. The rest is history.
Our friend moved to Scottsdale five or six years ago and invited us to visit. We’d stay in his casita and really liked it out here. I couldn’t believe the sunsets for one thing. I wonder if it was sunset season?
The plan was to move here after my husband retired. But then COVID hit and my husband was working remotely. Real estate prices in Palm Springs were going through the roof and hubby felt it was time to make our move — because if he could work from home in Palm Springs, he could work from home in Scottsdale.
At first I was against the move. I loved my old Spanish Colonial home downtown Palm Springs. We were two blocks from restaurants and shopping. We had raised our kids in that home and lived there for 28 years. Our kids promised to never talk to us again if we sold the house. The realtor gave us a price to sell and I (not wanting to sell) insisted on raising the sale price by 40% and told my kids NOBODY would pay that much for our 1930s house that needed work.
To my surprise, we had four offers in four hours — two over asking — and one of those with “no inspections.”
So here we are in Arizona, three years later, enjoying the Winter Sunset Season. Oh yes, the kids got over it. They are speaking to us.
Is anyone else experiencing glitches with WP?
Have you thought about moving your home or blog from WP? If so where would you go?
