After living in Ontario for 35 years, sometimes I find it difficult to adjust to the desert area climate. (I’m not sure that “difficult” is the right word either, it’s really more like “different” and in a good way!) As you could see by yesterday’s entry, it is cold in Ontario right now (and has been for awhile) while here we are enjoying hot daytime temperatures. In Mission, where we spent our summer, Karley has been raking leaves in preparation for their winter and lately she too is experiencing freezing temperatures overnight.

Here in the Coachella Valley, folks are planting flowers and trees! During the hot summer months, much of the vegetation dries up and dies so now that the daytime and overnight temperatures are cooler (and far from freezing), it is safe to plant things once again. Here at Catalina Spa and RV Park, the gardening staff is trimming bushes and palm trees, planting annual flowers and seeding lawns. In Ontario (with the exception of the palm trees) that type of activity doesn’t take place until mid-May.

Two weeks ago, we bought a couple of tangerine trees to plant at the back of our site along with three hibiscus plants. The trees are doing very well and now that we have put some barriers around the hibiscus they too are flourishing. (There are little, wild bunnies around the park that find the young hibiscus to be quite delicious!) So though there is some adjusting to be done to live here, it is an adjustment we are enjoying immensely.