Ten days left here in SoCal before we load up the paddy wagon and head for home.

We had breakfast with Robert and Arlene — Sue was happy to make bacon and eggs for the final meal together. It’s been fun to have them here with us for the last two days. We had a leisurely morning and saw them off at around 11. They are heading back to Phoenix where they will be hosting Robert’s siblings at the end of the month.

We skyped with Max and Alex before lunch. We hadn’t seen them for a couple of days — and it was fun to see them again. Max is such a happy boy and trying to grow up as fast as he can — with each skype call we notice a change. It will be fun to see him in person again in a couple of weeks.

After lunch (back to the prepared plates, with small sandwich and chips and a cookie now the we’re not hosting visitors) Sue sat outside in the shade and read her book. I read the news and looked over some programming tutorials online. Around happy hour time I went out and we shared some pistachios and a beer. It was a beautiful spring day — and even here, where everything is irrigated and lush and green, even here there are signs of Spring. Bare branches are suddenly sprouting green leaves and colorful flowers, and bees and hummingbirds are checking them out. So I decided to take a walk around the yard and photograph some of the flowers.

After watching the evening news Sue and I went for a walk, stopping at the Vons across the road to pick up our Redbox rental for tonight. Back at the house Sue warmed up supper while we watched our comedy shows. I didn’t really have high hopes for the movie, Anna Karenina — I’d read some of the reviews, and although it won one of the 3 Oscars it was nominated for, that was for costume design — the movie looked good but the plot got a bit muddled by the screenwriter and in the end we’d have to knock it down a star or two in the ratings.

After the movie we watched a bit of the discussion about the new Canadian Federal Budget on CBC’s At Issue panel (online). But it was hard to keep our eyes open and by 11:00pm we were in bed.