Live from La Quinta

  The man who dent the universe has died. From the ubiquitous tribulations flooding the news, it's clear that Steve Jobs did make a difference in people's lives. That somewhat sententious sentiment befits this man who essentially changed the way we view technology. Earlier this year, I finally bo...

Fall is clearly marked on the calender as arriving this Friday. Here in the Coachella Valley, however, summer is tenaciously holding on as September contemplates October. Ignoring the day's forecasted triple digits, my stalwart hiking companions, Sue and Mary Pat, donned poles and backpacks to jo...

Formidable views of the surrounding San Jacinto Mountains, azure skies, and golfing on the verdant fairways of Palm Spring's most beautiful course. What could mar this bucolic scene? How about scorching temps of 114° on this end-of-summer outing. But, hey, the off-season play rate was too enticin...

My mother would have turned 93 today. Like Betty Ford, who did live to celebrate her 93rd earlier this year, Melanie MacGregor spent her remaining years here in the beautiful Coachella Valley desert. My husband and I built a casita for her in our La Quinta backyard where my mother and I shared he...

The above-the-fold headline of today's Desert Sun, (April 23) acknowledges Canadian buyers' contribution to home sales this first quarter 2011 across the Coachella Valley. From my hometown of La Quinta to Palm Springs, home sales are up 7 percent this spring over last year. Canadians, with their ...

Yesterday's headline news in The Desert Sun trumpeted the home-sale figures I glean on a daily basis when perusing the MLS sales and corroborated the numbers I hear when attending my weekly Windermere La Quinta meetings. Sales in the past four weeks alone amounted to almost $18M and that's just o...

Remember Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book story of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the valient mongoose who battles cobras intent on killling the family that rescued him from drowning? I was reminded of this vivid tale while watching a similar battle unfold before our startled eyes during yesterday's visit to The...

Day two of the four-day La Quinta Arts Festival 2011 and it was 92°! The encircling mountain ranges are still swathed in snow but, with the  unexpected summer-like assault, the frosting will soon retreat under the sun's formidable gaze. The 29th annual arts festival—among the top ten in the natio...

Palm Springs Modernism Week 2011 wraps up an invigorating week-plus this Sunday, February 27, after 75 events held throughout a city epitomizing the distinctive genre. Now in its 6th year, the winter event has evolved from a 3-day show a decade ago into an 11-day international draw of lectures, a...

After 14 years as full-time residents of the Coachella Valley, Kirk and I finally checked off a long overdue item on our desert to-do list—the Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade. "Mary, come join us for this year's parade. It's fabulous and will get you into the Christmas spirit!" exhorted Lo...