Curb Appeal in the Desert

(the back porch)

It is good to be home and settled in.  After a day of yard work, which barely scratches the surface, I am ready to wrap up a few projects that I started before our trip.  Until then, I thought you might like to see a few ton of pictures.

One thing I love about La Quinta is the climate.  The days are hot and the nights are cool.  The air is always dry so the heat never seems as bad as the humid and hot summers we have here in the south.  In the evenings we open all of the doors and let the fresh air flow.  The homes all share a similar floor plan which includes a central courtyard.  Most of the homes look like this one below and are all tucked into the foot of a mountain.  The thing that sets each apart from the others is the door to the courtyard.

One night after dinner, we took a walk and I snapped a few pictures.  Enjoy.

Below is the gate to my in-law's home from the inside (sorry I don't have a view from the street).  The boys are busy making water balloons - a favorite past time.  Several years ago, one of them raised an umbrella at the pool and out fell a water balloon.  We heard giggles off in the distance.  Instant friendships were formed that day.  Our boys made friends with two other boys who spend their spring break in La Quinta and the four of them reconnect every year.

This is the view from the courtyard through the house - doors open.  Love.