Palm Springs Eternal

A bit of everything in Palm Springs - retro modern architecture, palm trees, and mountains.

Cantabloggia has returned from holidays but has been way too busy with work to report on the experience. Running and hiking and drinking coffee were among the highlights of the trip. Just to the left of the above photo, which was taken right outside our hotel, was the best coffee shop in Palm Springs, known as Koffi. It was hard to keep myself down to my 6 shot per day limit.




Some of our hiking photos are here. The oasis depicted above was a real treat - we hiked for 7 or 8 miles through totally dry desert to get there, and it just appeared out of nowhere as we turned a corner. If it was a mirage, it was one of the best.

Running was also surprisingly good. On my first day I decided to try out a trail in the mountains, which resulted in my climbing about 1,000 feet in a mile of running. Followed that with a bit of more undulating trail, and then ultimately a steep descent the way I had come. Quite the quadruceps workout, and a good test of the solidity of my ever-improving knee ligaments.

For probably the first time since leaving Australia in 1985 I was able to go swimming on Christmas Day - something that not many residents of Melbourne did this year, as global climate change - or random weather fluctuations, if you are a scientist - presented my home town with a high temperature of 57 Farenheit, the coldest on record.

Speaking of records, my sister presented me with a great CD for Christmas, a collection of Australian underground music from the late 70s and 80s. This is the era of Nick Cave's Birthday Party among others. Of particular interest to me was a track from The Triffids. One of my contemporaries at Trinity College, Melbourne in the early 80s had written songs for them, and in a remarkable development he is now the Warden (think college president) of that same institution. I wonder how many colleges can claim a former punk rock songwriter as Warden.

Here is the Triffids' track - Raining Pleasure


One final running note: 3 days after my return from P.S., I hopped into my first indoor track race in 52 weeks - the last one having been shortly prior to the much-blogged meniscus tear. In a surprising and pleasing result, I ran 4:42 for the mile, just 1 second slower than the pre-injury race.