You would think that in a desert, the seasons wouldn’t change too much; at least not like they do in places with more obvious seasons with winter snow and autumn leaves. However besides the animals pairing off, I am surprised to see so many things in bloom. Last month the maintenance crew busied themselves lobbing off dozens of branches from the many trees in the park. Though at the time there were no leaves on these trees, once the crew was finished the trees looked naked and very dead. In the past few days, the trees have suddenly sprouted new branches, the cacti around the park have grown new shoots and there seem to be flowers everywhere.

Tonight we went into Palm Desert to visit the Desert Springs Marriott Resort and Spa, just to explore. When we first arrived at the resort there were pink flamingos hanging out around the pond at the entrance. It is quite the resort; complete with its own man-made 18 acre lake, an 800+ room hotel, an 18 hole golf course, time shares and private 2+ million dollar homes! We went for a guided tour of the lake in one of the resorts boats and we floated by black and white swans, Canada geese and a variety of ducks. We’re told the lake is stocked with a variety of fish and based on what we saw; all the critters have a pretty nice life.

It was a nice change of pace and always good to see what’s out there. Afterwards we went to Mimi’s for dinner and then took a stroll through the downtown street fair. It was for us another fine day in paradise.