Folk Music Center Open Mike Night

I have lived in Claremont for almost 25 years, and I have never been to the Open Mike Night at the Folk Music Center, until last night. On the last Sunday night of the month, this Claremont treasure opens its doors at 6:00 to all comers and charges a dollar a head. The people signed up to play are given 5 minutes for each act. Most people had a guitar, but we also saw a kazoo, a harmonica and a ukelele.

The performers range in age from young to old, male and female, with a wide range of abilities. The small store was overflowing - about 90-100 people in attendance.

Euro Cafe

Sometimes it's hard to eat healthy with fresh vegetables when you go out to eat. While pondering lunch options today, I thought about soup and salad at the Euro Cafe in the Vons shopping center on Baseline and Mills.

I chose the Euro Mixed Green Salad which was pretty tasty with the feta cheese. But I particularly liked the Tudo soup which means everything. (I think it's like the Spanish "todo" or Italian "tutti".) It did have a a little of everything in it, and it was quite tasty.

After our meals came, our server said that because we waited so long, she was going to give us a dessert on the house, and that we could have it to go, if we wanted. So I chose the bread pudding which is highly touted on yelp, and it is waiting for me to have dinner to try it out.

Orff Workshop Day

Up for fun this morning - an Orff workshop at the University of Redlands. As usual, I came away from the time with some ideas that I can use right away in my music classroom. Those of you who know me from church might recognize one of the workshop participants in this photo....

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Time for some nonfiction reading. I heard about this book by Rebecca Skloot from my daughter, a biologist, and then from a fellow violist in the orchestra. In the 1950s, a young black, pregnant woman in Baltimore went to Johns Hopkins Hospital and was found to have cervical cancer. The tumor was so invasive that the doctor found it interesting and took some of the cells to study. Henrietta had no idea he had done this.

These cells, called HeLa (for HEnrietta LAcks) not only survived in culture, but were so amazing that they reproduced easily and ended up being used in hundreds of thousands of experiments - even to this day.

Skloot took ten years researching and writing this book which is part biology, part biography, part ethics, all rolled into one quite interesting story.

Naughty Kitty Cat?

As I walked a student and her mom to the door today, we noted this cat on the porch. Um, kitty, what bird did you eat, and do you plan on cleaning up after yourself?

Upon closer reflection....the "feathers" look more like patches of fur, so it looks as though kitty was in a fight, which I didn't even hear.

Lusty Monk

Jane from my book club told our group about Lusty Monk Mustard, and I just had to try it. I ordered two varieties - Original Sin and Burn in Hell Chipotle Mustard. With names like those, how can you resist?

When they arrive in the mail, you must put them in the fridge right away to maintain their flavor. I have yet to try the Chipotle one yet, but the Original Sin is mighty flavorful!

Magic of 50

Two joys of turning 50: an invitation to join AARP (although I think mine was lost in the mail) and a screening colonoscopy. Yesterday I found that the prep is inconvenient, but really, it wasn't that bad. I came away with a party favor - 4 pictures of procedure, all clear and healthy. (Sorry if this is TMI.)

Girl With Glass Feet

I heard about this book, The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw, in the New York Times. I am always interested in magical realism and fables, and this story with a nod to the myth of Midas and the golden touch, piqued my interest.

The setting of the book is flavored of Old World, but the boy (Midas) is a photographer and he uses a digial camera, so it's in modern times. The girl, Ida, is hiding the fact that her feet have turned to glass, and is trying to find a cure before the condition takes over her body. Throughout the course of the book, we learn more about the people and their complicated relationships on this small island which has a monochrome patina.

Parts of the book I found intriguing, but then the descriptions would bog down the flow. It's a first novel, so perhaps Ali Shaw will fine tune his craft with the next book.

Renewal

Many years ago when my children were young, I went on a retreat with women from the church to a convent in Orange County. I cherish those memories of a time away to rejuvenate and relax.

This weekend I went with some of those same women and a number of different ones on a church retreat at the Glen Ivy Center near Corona.

Our theme was spiritual friendships, and 34 of us enjoyed a tremendous amount of energy and laughter together. The Glen Ivy Center is a lovely venue with plenty of orchards, a cactus garden, a labyrinth with herbs, a stream, and plenty of places to just be. We all thought it would be great to make this a yearly tradition.

Old Courier Building

The old Courier Building on South College Ave. is slowly being dismantled to make way for affordable housing...

Dirty Old Coins

Yesterday Hal got some coins in the mail that he ordered from dirtyoldcoins.com. His junior and senior chem majors will analyze the metal content in them.

These coins are Balkan-region Late Roman bronze coins that date from about 250 through the early 400's.

These coins are high-grade Roman coins recovered from France, but they have not been cleaned.
These ancient coins have pieces missing or holes through them that don't quite make the cut. The total cost for this bunch of 10 coins was $5.

Spotlight on Excellence

Once a year the Claremont Unified School District awards a certificated or a classified employee the award called Spotlight on Excellence. It's kept a secret from the recipient, and last week I found out that the El Roble Instrumental Music Teacher, Brandon Johnson, would be receiving the award tonight. He was told he needed to be at the board meeting to hand a certificate to the booster president, and he really was surprised to be recognized.

Brandon also teaches wind instruments in the Elementary Instrumental Music Program, so he is one of my colleagues, and I have to say that this award is so very well deserved.

His wife and four children snuck in, unbeknownst to him, to complete the surprise.

Peter In Paris

A few years ago I decided that I wanted to own some of my favorite childhood books, so I scoured eBay and bought quite a few. I haven't been looking lately, but a few weeks ago I came across these books on eBay and decided that I would bid on them.

Although there are six books in the set, I only had one of them - #3 - "A Home Away From Home," and I hadn't known about the other five. These stories are told in French and English and have a little 45 record in each.

This little package arrived yesterday, and now I need to find a turntable to listen to the stories.

Hunger Games

For eleven years I ran the Vista del Valle school library. I don't have library training, but I had read so many children's books and could help children choose books that they would enjoy. I kept current with the popular and new books.

Three and a half years ago I relinquished the library so I could focus on teaching music. Since then, I have read very few children's and YA (young adult) books. The buzz around The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is pretty big, so when I saw a copy in the staff room, I grabbed it.

Set in a future, grimmer world, The Hunger Games imagines a Survivor-type reality show in which the contestants don't vote each other off the show, but make sure their opponents die. Readers who enjoyed The Giver by Lois Lowry, The White Mountains by John Christopher and Running Out of Time by Margaret Haddix and other dystopian novels will also enjoy this one (or all three of the trilogy).

Yelp

I have used yelp so much lately, that I decided that I ought to join so I could write reviews for other people, too. So far I have only written three reviews, and I probably won't write one for Tijuana's Tacos since there were already many reviews there that just echo my sentiments.

Tijuana's Tacos

Last night recommendations from yelp took us to Tijuana's Tacos in Pomona. We really enjoy hole-in-the-wall ethnic places, and even the B rating didn't scare us away. (One yelper said, "Don't be fooled by the QSC rating of "B" because that only means more flavor.")

I chose the carne asada burrito, Hal the al pastor burrito. That means, I think, mostly the meat, which was pretty tender and juicy. The condiment bar includes free pinto beans for which one is given a styrofoam cup and lid. Also included was a side of chilis (too hot for me) with fried cactus and onions.

We chose to take out since there were many, many people there and few places to sit (even though it was certainly warm enough to sit outside).

I will not compare this place to Patty's since it is so different. I think there is room in this world for more Mexican food!

Yard Day

After a cooler than normal start to January, we've had some deliciously warm weather the past few days - perfect for getting back into the yard. On tap for today:

• pruning back the rose bush and trying to cut way back on the asparagus fern that someone long ago thought would be a good idea to entwine with the roses (darn you, whoever you were!)
• pruning the peach trees
• digging up the old lettuce and the pepper plants that lasted this long
• planting snap peas, broccoli and more lettuce
• planting more drought tolerant plants from RSABG to replace stuff that wasn't thriving

The green waste dumpster is overflowing!

Clearing Out My Inbox

No New Year's Resolutions for me, but I am slowly getting rid of digital clutter in this New Year. Since I do a fair bit of online shopping, with every new place I order from, I get on an email list. Every morning I would open up my email inbox to 10-15 emails, most of which I deleted without reading. Now, when I get one of those emails, I go directly down to the bottom and click on the unsubscribe link. Some places take you off their list immediately, some say it can take up to 10 days (I wonder why?). A few have taken several requests to unsubscribe, but I am beginning to see less unwanted traffic.

A Little Excitement

It might be kind of hard to see from this photo, but see the tall blue and red play structure? Underneath it are three EMTs and a 2nd grade girl. Apparently she was hanging off the outside of the structure and fell during lunch today. We think that perhaps she hurt her leg, but by the time I left school we had not heard word from her mom. She was conscious and talking, so she probably had the wind knocked out of her.

- - Friday update: little girl has a broken leg

Major Pettigrew

On tap for Sunday's co-ed book club is Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. A retired British major, a widower, falls in love with Mrs. Ali, a Pakistani widow, in a small English town. Of course, prejudices from the friends, neighbors and family don't make it easy for them.

While the plot feels like it follows a rather standard trajectory, the characters are lovingly drawn, and the Major's relationships with his frustrating family feel real, and his does his charming friendship with Jasmina Ali.

Oh, Well....

I was hoping to make a post about the winning Oregon Ducks. But I can't. It was a nail-biter, though.

King Kong Sushi

In our continuing quest for great sushi, we just had to try out King Kong Sushi which has opened up on Bonita and Indian Hill in the former Kinya Sushi place. It had great reviews on yelp, so we gave it a go. The place is lively and welcoming. Whenever someone walks through the door the whole staff gives out a loud hello. The service is quick, the presentation attractive. Business was brisk.

If I had not been to Awesome Sushi in Long Beach and Hayato Sushi on Foothill, I might not have known that this sushi is not the very best. It was good. The Bora Bora roll (no rice!) was very good, but the spider roll (my standard) was just okay. It was large, but the rice was packed so loosely that I couldn't handle it very well, and the inside stuffing of tempura crab was pretty skimpy.

I also had the steamed vegetables which were fine. I am beginning to think that when the sushi chef takes time to prepare your roll (here ours was delivered within 5 minutes - pretty fast), it tastes better.

Paperback Swap

As long as I am blogging about things online, I should write about Paperback Swap. I stumbled upon this site about a year ago, but didn't do anything about it until yesterday when I joined.

This is the online version of getting all your friends and relatives and neighbors and coworkers and their friends, etc. into one room with a bunch of books to trade. Someone takes one of your books, you get to take someone else's book, that person gets a book of their choice, etc. (It reminds me of the babysitting co-op I used to be in.)

These are the basics. Sign up (it's free). You post 10 books (or more) that you are willing to send to someone (media mail - cheapest way to send a book). You instantly get 2 credits to get you started.

After I signed up, I ordered two books, and within the next two hours, I had two requests for two of my books. I printed out the shipping form, packed up the books and am headed to the p.o. this morning. As soon as the recipients get their books and mark them received, then I get two more credits.

Unwanted Gift Cards

Have a gift card you don't really want? Try cardpool.com. I heard about this on some tv show recently and had a Best Buy card that we didn't really have a need for. You can sell them a card of yours and get 90-some percent back on it either in cash or in an Amazon gift card. You click on the card you want to sell and then they send you something to print out with free postage to send them the card. I sent in the card on Monday, and today I got the coupon code for Amazon and just put in an order. So, it appears to work!

You can also buy other people's gift cards for a little savings, but I haven't done that yet.

Cutting for Stone

Next week my women's book club will be discussing Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. We chose January to discuss it since we take December off and this book is about 650 pages long.

I like to read epic novels which span either one person's lifetime or several generations, and continents. This novel follows the life of Marion Praise Stone from just before his birth until late adulthood, starting in Ethiopia with a cast of characters from India and other places, the story of love and loss, betrayal and compassion fills all the requirements of story.

There are parts of medical procedures which I had to skim, but it turns out that Verghese himself is a physician, so he must have felt those parts important. It also took a little patience for me to get through the first 100 pages or so, but by the end I was reading larger and larger chunks.

A New Year for Yoga

I haven't been to yoga for the past two weeks. And now it's a new year. Our teacher, Tracy, has decided that we are going to reach out into more challenging poses. Here is the triangle pose that we have been working on. I don't remember starting it, but I was probably not very good at it when I first started a few months ago.

Today we started the twisted triangle pose. I felt completely out of my realm! I'm sure that as we work on this one little by little, it will become easier, and then maybe I won't stumble. . . . It certainly makes the regular triangle pose seem "easy."

King's Speech

It's been awhile since I've been carded, but when I went to the Laemmle yesterday, the young man selling me a ticket asked if I was getting a senior citizen discount. Humpf. Maybe I should have taken it and saved a buck or two.

Nevertheless, I was happy to pay to see The King's Speech which has gotten rave reviews and Oscar buzz. This review is for Mom and Dad whose Christmas cash went to my Laemmle card.

I enjoy learning history through movies, and this one has great acting, good dialogue with some pretty funny lines, with just some solid filmmaking. The characters are believable and human.

Now we've seen three potential Oscar winners before they are announced (this one, True Grit and The Social Network), and I'm glad I don't have to make the choices.

Google Street View Car

The other day we were out driving and saw a Google Street View car. If it is trying to go incognito, it doesn't succeed!

True Grit

Thanks to Claire for a Laemmle gift certificate, we enjoyed the latest Coen Brothers' movie yesterday - True Grit. She requested a movie review, and here it is.

If you like Coen Brothers flicks, westerns, comedy, good acting, great dialogue, or a movie that doesn't drag in any spots, you just might really like this one. I have not read the book, nor have I seen the John Wayne version, so I cannot make any comparisons. Jeff Bridges should definitely get a nomination for an Oscar, and I loved the soundtrack which features the hymn Leaning on the Everlasting Arms for at least 25% of the movie. The actress who plays Maddie (Hailee Steinfeld) does a fabulous job with her character's dialogue.

I think I still like Fargo as my favorite Coen Brothers movie, but I believe this one comes in at a close second (even if Netflix predicted only 3 out of 5 stars for me).