Palm Springs

We are off to Palm Springs , California tomorrow - where the weather for the next few days will be in the mid 70's (23 Celcius) I'm judging Thursday & Friday and then we will enjoy the other shows on Saturday & Sunday as spectators. It will be pleasant enjoying the fine sunny weather.

No news

Its been very quiet here, with mainly doing laundry and catching up on email and paying bills. The snow has all gone and we are back to mild temperatures.

How do you eat this?

While we were in Australia, David saw a fresh Pomegranate and wanted to try one - as he had read of the great health benefits of them. Well we bought one, and then I read online how to prepare it - however it was messy (read stained fingers) and the end result was very bitter. So David thought that he would go back to juice - however they all have too much sugar in them, so he passed. Then today while I was in Costco replenishing the larder I saw this
and so I bought them and you know what, the seeds are pretty nice - in fact we had them, instead of cranberries to go with our belated Christmas dinner. And someone at Costco had done all the hard work.
Driving around today was a bit of a challenge - we had to return our rental car and getting out of the street was the hardest part of all, as a plogh had come through yesterday and scooped a whole lot of snow onto the side of the main road and as only a couple of people live on our road, there was not much of a path out. However we made it and all the rest of the roads were fine, as the traffic had made them clear. It then gently rained all day, melting a lot more of the snow - and with temperatures in the 40's predicted for the next week, all the snow should soon be gone.

Pictures from the trip

Saw these signs on our travels - a speed hump, a pedestrian crossing and not sure about the 3rd one?
David saw this jacket and wondered about it for showing at the Top 20!

This is the photo of the Crown Plaza bathroom in Singapore - taken from the bedroom!

Memories of the weather we left behind in Australia (the view from my parents apartment)
And the reality of the weather we returned home to....

Christmas Day

Its been a very long Christmas day - by the time it is all done, we will have had about 40 hours of Christmas day! (Thats what happens when you fly east) Our day started at 5am in Singapore and then we travelled to Tokyo, San Francisco and then finally home to Portland airport. The reindeer must have been smiling on us, as the airport was working, flights were all on time and despite the large amount of snow on the ground, and heavy snow falling as we drove home, we made it. The dogs were thrilled to see us and everything was in good shape - except for one smoke alarm which wont stop "cheeping" - its now disconnected pending a permanent fix.

Timing is everything

Readers of my blog over the past few weeks will remember we went on the Singapore Flyer (a huge ferris wheel, here in Singapore) well the big news this morning is the rescue of many people from the Flyer yesterday afternoon (see photo above)
A power disruption left more than 100 passengers stranded above ground in the world's biggest observation wheel for about six hours, forcing some to abseil down to safety.
A few lowered themselves in a sling-like device on a rope from one of the observation capsules before the Singapore Flyer eventually began turning again to allow other trapped passengers to get out.

I guess we had a good experience...

Now we are trying to see if the weather in the US will allow us to get home without problems - off to United to get the latest update on plane schedules. Would prefer to spend Christmas here, rather than in the airport somewhere!

Ah...the words you like to hear

While we were waiting for our 7 hour flight on Singapore Air this morning, our names were called to the desk and we were told the flight was overbooked and so we had been upgraded to Business Class!! Yeah! (The benefits of being a top level flyer, when they need someone to upgrade, your name is at the top of the list) Now we were about to experience the world renowned service of Singapore Air (which has won just about every top airline award - for service, food, wine and general hospitality over the years) I have to say that we had flown down to Australia in economy, and their economy product does not differ from any other economy service.
However I can report their business product is magnificent. From the little things like hot towel service (4 times) to real towels in the toilets, very attentive service and wonderful food and drinks. You could get any of 8 different teas or 4 different sorts of coffee at any time, or cappuccino. Then as it was a day time flight, leaving at 10am, our meal was Brunch and we decided to sample Singapore Carrot Cake which was absolutely delicious - a fried rice and radish cake, with shrimp and egg accompanied by a sweet chili dipping sauce. Our final meal was a delicious curried duck, so we are now very well fed. One of the few times I can actually say, the airline food was excellent
Our hotel the Crown Plaza at the airport is just 7 months old and is also very nice - it must have been designed by someone who must actually stay in hotels! It has 2 sitting chairs (its amazing how many hotels only have 1) and it also has room for 2 people to put their suitcases on a rack, instead as so often happens, there is only one rack and the other person has to use the floor. However the bathroom is interesting - with a bit of a lack of privacy - as there is a glass wall between bedroom and bathroom (the wall does have some painting on the glass, but you can still see the person in the tub!)
So now we will spend 36 hours in Singapore where its a humid 95, before returning home.