Contra Dancing

Every five to eight years we decide that we ought to do some contra dancing. It had been awhile (who knows how long), so it was high time we went. The Carleton alumni association in So. Cal. decided to crash the annual Halloween Contra Dance at the San Dimas Community Church last night. Carleton alum, Tom Moore, calls these dances every year and suggested that we choose it for an alumni event. Our alumni group of 9 (including Tom) met before the dance for dinner at the Lucky Elephant for Thai cuisine. All agreed that it was a highly successful event.

Next alum event is when the Carleton Women's Basketball team comes to Claremont to play CMS and Pomona/Pitzer next month.

Canvas Prints

Today we picked up a canvas print at Costco that we had ordered. I particularly liked this shot of the Bean in Chicago, so we had them make and mount this print. It's an 11x14, and I would like to have had a bigger one, but the digital size of the prints made the cropping all strange.

The photo now hangs in the hallway.

CHS Homecoming - 2010

Here are some scenes from today's Homecoming Parade. The theme was Bright Lights and Broadway Nights. The seniors' float was Grease, the juniors' was Wicked, the sophomores' was (well I think it was 42nd St), and the freshmen float was Phantom of the Opera.

I watched the parade at the end of my street with three neighbor children - Samantha, Owen and Elliott. They were happy to get a piece of candy thrown at them (one for each). After the parade, Elliott asked me if I was going to decorate my house. I told him, no. He said, "Not even a pumpkin that isn't carved?" Nope. But I did tell him I was going to a Halloween party instead. He was sure that it wouldn't be cake, because I would be sad if everyone else at the party had bags of candy and I didn't.

The boys had each gotten a UNICEF box and were busy asking anyone they could see for contributions for children who need help and medicine. They didn't know just exactly where these children are, but they were sure that UNICEF knows. They also didn't know just where UNICEF is, but they know that their school does.

Bees

Our block has been dealing with bees for a number of years now. They started at one end of the block and were living in the trees until the holes in the trees were completely filled with foam. Then they moved into the house next door. Bee guys came and ridded that house of the insects, but then the apartments on the other side of our house became infested. That took over 8 treatments to completely close off their entrance into the walls. That was last year.

Now, this morning, the house sported the bee guy truck in front. The bees are back.

Makes me wonder why we haven't had bees at our house since I know we have openings all over the place. Or, maybe we have had bees, but we don't know it......

Gardener / Leaf - Blower

While we were on sabbatical in Chicago, our beloved gardener, Arturo, developed health problems and cut way back on his clientele. That meant us. He had some people he knew take over our property, but then those people crashed into our garage door and then drove off. (The issue was resolved - they paid for the parts and we fixed the door.) We decided that we would take care of the yard ourselves. That has lasted 2 1/2 years.

It takes me about 1 hour to get all the leaves raked, especially during the fall, and then I don't do a very thorough job. I started thinking that I would love to hire someone to blow and rake leaves for us, especially from November - December.

Today that someone showed up. I am so thankful that he can clear all the leaves in less than 30 minutes and leave me with clean sidewalks, and I'm sure he's glad for the extra work. If all continues to go well, I will have him come twice a month during the rest of the year. We will manage to take care of trimming and other gardening which is less demanding.

Henry VIII

When I was in 6th grade, the BBC production The Six Wives of Henry VIII played on PBS in Kansas, and I watched all 6 episodes. Each episode focused on one wife. I prided myself on knowing the names and order of the 6 wives, who had which children and how they died. Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived. I believe that PBS ran a subsequent series on Queen Elizabeth 1, and I watched those episodes, as well.

Last night we finished watching the Showtime series, The Tudors which lasted for four seasons and obviously went into much greater detail about Henry's reign. I learned much more about the political and religious climate of that time and more about the personalities of each of the queens. The series is richly staged, at times quite violent, at times quite bawdy, and mostly interesting.

I have read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel this year (focusing on Thomas Cromwell), and am now interested in reading more about this influential and famous royal family.

Book Club

So, I didn't finish this book for book club last night. I started it and probably could have finished it if I hadn't had a very, very, very busy weekend (as well as two extremely busy weeks beforehand).

The people in the book club really liked this book, and from the 100+ pages that I did read I liked some of it, but not other parts. It's a stream-of-consciousness of a 9-year-old boy, a boy who is quite precocious and has lost his father in 9/11.

I won't be able to finish it as it is due at the library tomorrow, so I'll have to take the word of my friends in book club.

Further Adventures in Ethnic Cuisine

It's been a very busy weekend, but we had time to try out a Phở restaurant in Pomona for lunch today. Phở is the signature Vietnamese beef noodle soup which we have been meaning to try for a while now. (The wiki site will play the correct pronunciation of this soup which isn't foe.)

Phở Ha, in the 600 block of S. Indian Hill, was very busy when we arrived, but we had quick service and chose the fresh spring rolls for appetizers. This was followed by the Phở Ga - or the chicken noodle soup. It reminded me a bit of Gramma's chicken noodle soup, although the noodles were much thinner and longer, and then I added the cabbage with cilantro and squirted some lime juice on it which gave it a different twist. The "regular" size is HUGE, and I took half of it home for lunch tomorrow.

We decided that the taste of Kogi BBQ is much better, but we will come back to this restaurant to try out the sandwiches sometime.

Conserving Energy

Woke up this morning to a 64 degree house. I have not yet turned on the furnace for the year. I play a game every October with myself to see if I can make it to Nov. 1 before heating the place up. As long as I keep on a jacket or sweatshirt, I seem to be fine in the coolness of the house so far.

Because of Hal's interest in sustainable energy, especially solar energy, he started looking at our electrical records for the past several years to see what our usage is. Perhaps we might consider solar panels for the house. Turns out, we already use much less electricity than the average American and Californian, although I'm not sure why. We have computers and a 37" tv plugged in (not always turned on) all day. After running the numbers, the payoff of solar panels would take about 20 years, and we use most of our electricity when the sun is down, so we'll just keep trying to conserve in the usual way.

Great California ShakeOut

Across the state of fault-riddled California, schools, hospitals and other places participated in the Great California ShakeOut - the third annual statewide earthquake drill. Fortunately for the music schedule at school, the kindergarteners were right on time for music class, walking right to the music room as students returned to their classes at the end of the drill.

This year the students and teachers had to stand in the steady, light mist that has been hanging around So. Cal. all week, and you can imagine all the grass that was stuck to wet tennis shoes.

A Surprise Photo in the Email

One of my childhood friends in Chicago who I saw last month just sent me this photo of her sister and our first grade teacher, Mrs. Dawson. They obviously just saw each other in the grocery store, and someone had a camera. I often carry my camera around just in case I need it.

What I remember about Mrs. Dawson is that she was on maternity leave for the first part of the school year, so we had two long-term subs (whose names totally escape me) before Mrs. Dawson came back.

Fall Planting

Yesterday we took advantage of the colleges' fall break to do a little yard work. Here are the things we planted:

Mexican Lime Tree (to complement our "produce aisle" along the driveway)

Red Leaf Lettuce and Spinach (good-bye tomatoes until next year...)

Heuchera (Coral Bells)

Wildflower Mix (in the place of the former vegetable garden)

Wives of Henry Oades

With the start of the elementary instrumental string program in the Claremont schools last week, my life has taken a turn for the busier. This year I am coordinating the program instead of our usual coordinator who is out of the country on sabbatical. Hence, no books to report on since October 1. I've definitely slowed from my pace of 3 books/month. So there is nothing like a book club meeting in the near future to put reading at the top of my priority list. Good thing that yesterday was a rainy Sunday afternoon, perfect for staying in and finishing The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran for this week's meeting. Thank goodness, also, that this was an easy read whose story picked up the pace, especially at the end.

Friday's New Recipe

So, I tried out two new recipes last week. Tuesday I posted about wanting to use cilantro and finding a recipe that way.

Friday I still had cilantro which led me to this recipe - Chipotle Black Bean and Yam Stew. I put yam in the search engine, along with cilantro, and this one sounded great to me. I want to put more yams into my recipes. I've had a hard time getting my family to like yams since they hate the traditional Thanksgiving-type brown sugar and marshmallow goo yams.

This recipe has that chipotle kick along with my favorite cilantro in the cabbage topping. I put it over quinoa, like the recipe said, and it was filling and delicious. I didn't use chipotle powder, but one chile with a little of the adobo sauce (one can of those chiles goes a long way), and found that it was not too hot at all.

Happy Birthday, Erika!

Here she is, my baby sister who was born on this day when I was 3 years old. I vaguely remember going to pick her and my mom up from the hospital, but I really don't remember life before she became a part of our family.

The song my mom sang to me was:

One, two, three. One, two, three.

How many people make one, two three?

One, two, three. One, two, three.

Mother and Father and I make three.

Just one more. Just one more.

How many people make just one more?

Just one more. Just one more.

That is the baby and she makes four!

Happy Birthday, Erika!

Powering the Planet Sustainably

Last night HMC hosted the first of the Nelson Speaker Series for the fall with the theme of Powering the Planet Sustainably. Nate Lewis of CalTech spoke about the need for energy to meet the world's growing needs and outlined the problems and pros of all the various sources that we know about.

Lewis has given this talk about 500 times, and is an excellent speaker who kept us awake with jokes and lots of information. You can go to his website at Caltech and see this talk (the one on the right called Caltech Watson Lecture Series).

Quinoa and Black Bean with Cilantro Salad

So. I had this leftover cilantro in the fridge from that wonderful enchilada/burrito recipe last Friday, so I dug around on the internet for recipes that use cilantro. I came up with a Quinoa (keen-wa) with black beans and cilantro salad.

My changes to this recipe - substituting turmeric for the cumin and goat cheese for the feta cheese. Really easy, really tasty!

Growing up in the midwest in 60s and 70s, I had no idea what cilantro was. Now I absolutely love it. It's hard to grow in that one would need to plant lots and lots of it, so I am happy to buy it at Sprouts.

I have also just recently learned about quinoa - a seed that is not only full of fiber, but also protein, so it's great for vegetarians.

Music Rug Update

Hooray! The music rug has arrived! Doesn't it make the room much more colorful? Our wonderful principal said that when we raised half of the funds, we could order it. Well, folks, we are a little over 1/2 of the $750. We are so glad that we didn't have to wait until 100% of the money was raised.

When Room 12 came in for music today, they loved the rug and then said that they would collect loose change and pledge to put $25 towards the rug. With their pledge, that means that I need 11 friends to donate $25 each to complete the purchase.

Perhaps we'll have Room 12 challenge other rooms to match their funds. Anyone out there in blogland willing to take on Room 12's challenge?

Nelson Speaker Series

If you are in or near Claremont this month and next, come hear some great lectures for the Harvey Mudd College Nelson Speaker Series called Powering the Planet Sustainably. This Thursday Nathan Lewis will be the first speaker. It starts at 7:30 p.m. in Galileo Hall. This series is free and open to the public.

Nathan Lewis George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology Chair of the Editorial Board for Energy & Environmental Science, Nate Lewis is a great effector of change and a leading researcher in solar energy solutions. He will discuss the technical, political and economic hurdles that must be overcome before the widespread adoption of renewable energy.

Harvey Mudd College in Kenya

This summer a group of four Harvey Mudd students (Mudders) went to Kenya with physics professor to install a pump in a well, along with the solar panels to run the pump and provide electricity to a school. It was not all smooth going, but in the end, mission was accomplished.

See a video here.

Vegetarian Burritos - Yum

Since I don't teach on Fridays (that doesn't mean I don't have plenty of work to do, but it can be done at home on my own time), I have decided that I want to try out new recipes at week's end. I decided this when I found an intriguing recipe that I just had to try out yesterday. I googled vegetarian burritos and came up with this recipe. (It's called enchiladas, but I used whole wheat and corn tortillas, so they were more like burritos). They were most delicious.

Around the World - What Day Is It?

Thanks to the wonders of technology, I had two great video chats today with friends who are living in a different day than me. First I chatted with my friend in New Zealand where they were just getting ready to start their Saturday morning, and then I talked to my friend in Qatar where it was just after midnight there - 2:00 p.m. here. I'm amazed that we could find the time to talk when we are all awake at the same time!

Electronic Death

On Tuesday when I plugged in my trusty Logitec speakers for my iPod, they refused to turn on. I hoped that my trusty husband could find out what was wrong and fix it. I have been using these speakers for at least five years in my music classes, and they are a necessary tool.

Unfortunately, the speakers were pronounced dead as a doornail. A quick check online lead me to find some Altec Lansing inmotion speakers purchased that night so music teaching could go on. Now to find a way to recycle these old ones....

Yoga

I have added one new thing to my schedule this year - yoga! On Tuesday mornings Lynn drops off her cello at my house, and then we make our way down to Claremont Yoga in the Claremont Village for an hour and fifteen minutes of fun. Our particular class is called Iyengar Yoga which involves using props for support - blankets, bolsters, straps, etc. Last week I was pretty sore on Wednesday. Today, not quite as much as last week!

After class we come back to my house to play some Celtic duets, something we've been doing for fun for two years.

The Vista Garden

Vista is lucky to have a great garden area. Part of it is reserved especially for the 3rd graders who read the picture book Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran and then get to create their own Roxaboxen in the garden. I love the fact that kids are given the time and space to create mud pies, plant vegetables, arrange rocks, and have a rich imaginative life. That is missing from so many childhoods these days.

The other day as I strolled through the plantings, I was shown this amazing gourd that is about the size of a big watermelon. There is also another cool gourd growing on the fence.

Fiesta de la Luna

Although the moon was waning and not visible in the early evening on Saturday night, Claremont United Church of Christ held our annual fundraiser called Fiesta de la Luna. The food was catered by Homegirl Cafe, and it was excellent Mexican food. I think I'll have to make a trip downtown to the restaurant. The all-woman mariachi band, Mariachi Luna, was fabulous. The silent auction and live auction were great hits.

Art Show Closing

Turns out, Friday night is a happenin' time in Claremont. Our friend, artist Steve Comba, had a show in the Packing House at Loft 204. After strolling downtown and enjoying the closing reception for his show (seeing friends, munching munchies, imbibing in a little white wine and discussing art), we wandered over to Yogurtland and out into the courtyard which was filled with people and music. The weather was perfect (after a strange and wonderful day of cumulus clouds, rocking thunder and spritzes of sprinkles) and it felt a perfect ending to a work week.

Solar

On the recommendation of two friends, I read Ian McEwan's newest book, Solar. The NY Times did not give it a particularly good review, nor did other sources, and I have to say I agree with the reviewers over my friends this time. The book started out very funny, darkly funny, but then it seemed to slug along, much like the protagonist.