Weekend at Jo's

We have had a lovely quiet family weekend with Jo and Ian.  It really was a relief to get away from the hustle and frenzy of Las Vegas and to sleep away from the air-conditioning!

Saturday we woke to pouring rain.  After more than two weeks of glorious sunshine it came as something of a shock, and it really turned on a display for us.  The water was racing down the road outside the house.  In the morning, Jo kindly took us to a shopping mall as I wanted a particular pair of Merrell shoes I had seen at home.  I knew they would be way cheaper over here so had waited specially.  Sadly I wasn’t able to find exactly what I wanted, but did try the right style on for size.  This paid off once we returned home as Jo directed me to one of her favourite web-based shopping sites and I found the right pair in bright red. 

We spent the afternoon watching the masters tennis live from Indian Wells in Palm Springs (except the rain did get there too so some of our viewing was replays from the previous day).  Ian’s daughter Chloe and her boyfriend Taijan came over for a roast chicken dinner that evening and we had such a lovely time sitting round the table chatting.

Sunday dawned bright and clear despite a forecast of thunderstorms.  However the reason it was so clear was because the wind was blowing a gale!  This did not stop all of us from gathering up marine glue, old rags and baling twine, donning our grubby clothes (borrowed on our part; we didn’t waste precious suitcase space on working clothes!) and heading to the marina to fix the dinghy dock.  Jo and Ian have a very cunning dock for their dinghy made of pvc piping and big plastic jars.  This floats the dinghy off the water when it is in dock so that it doesn’t get too dirty.  Unfortunately the pvc gets brittle and breaks eventually so the pipes fill with water and get too heavy to float.  So today’s job was to get this out of the water, drain it and fix the cracks.  This was fun in the high winds but we managed it fairly quickly.  The coolest thing was that the strong tides that go with this wind brought heaps of little bait fish into the marina – which in turn brought in lots of seals and pelicans.  They were such fun to watch.

Grant and Ian scored a rare table at Simmzy’s bar on Manhattan Beach Boulevard late this afternoon, so Jo and I walked the dogs then joined the boys at the bar.  We ended up staying there for an early (and delicious) dinner while Grant and Ian enjoyed some specialty beers.

Tomorrow we go to pick up a rental car for the remainder of our USA visit.  We are more than a little anxious about being in charge of a vehicle on the wrong side of the road, but I am sure we will manage just fine.