Random Friday Photo

I saw this cute Audi TT at the Tioga Gas Mart in June. I've never had an obsession for a sports car, but this one appeals to me, just on looks alone. That does not mean that I actually want one. I think I would have a hard time getting up out of the car since it is so low to the ground. However, I look for them when I'm out and delight in their cuteness.

Botched Fresco Restoration

While watching the noon news earlier this week, we saw the story of this fresco in a church in Spain which had been badly water-damaged. An octogenarian woman, tired of waiting for the painting to be restored, took it upon herself to finish the task. Here is the new version of Ecce Homo. Of course, now this church has become a tourist destination, and people have been parodying the work as you can see by the photos below.

First Day of School Photos

Today is the first day of school for CUSD. I could feel it as I saw parents walking their children to their classrooms. I continue to see it in Facebook all day as people post their first-day-of-school photos.

This is now such a tradition that people take multiple photos. In one morning. As far as I can tell, this photo is the only one of me on my first day as a student. It was 6th grade in Wichita, Kansas, taken in front of the garage door. Note the culottes, the lack of backpack (just a notebook), and Mom's shadow as she snaps the pic.

Dog Days of Summer

CUSD starts tomorrow - summer is coming to a close. So soon.

However, I don't start teaching for a little bit, so this is my week to get things organized before classes and lessons begin. Thus, a quiet time at home with little of interest to blog about.

However, I have written a bit about the project I've been working on for the past two days in my music blog, which you can read here.

Succulent Crazy

We've taken to wandering through Pitzer College on our evening walks lately. We've wandered through parts of the campus we've never ventured through before, marveled at the new dorms which are just opening, along with the vast outdoor spaces. Mostly, though, we have been taken with the enormous amounts of cactus and succulents that abound. Last night as we strolled, H took about 30 photos of plants and arrangements he liked so that we could have ideas for our own yard. He's already made several of his own succulent gardens in a pot (see here) and has taken over a section of the garden which seemed to grow nothing else. He has designs on other parts of the yard, as well, and has now taken a little succulent pot to his office. This appears to be an ongoing hobby which I actually encourage.

Charlie Weaver and the Monkey

A few nights ago we were watching Pawn Stars, and it made me think about two old toys we have in the cellar.  (Yes, we have a real cellar here in So. Cal, although you have to access it from outside.) H's grandfather had given them to him, and we were keeping them safe in a box.

While watching people bring in their stuff on the show, many said that they were wanting to sell because the items were just taking up storage space. It got me thinking about these little guys - Charlie Weaver and The Monkey. 

Of course, we thought it would be fun to see what they might be worth, and after a gander through eBay, it was pretty clear that the condition of these antiques rendered them sentimentally valuable. They have seen better days, and they don't have their original boxes.

I believe that the purpose of having these guys is for our own enjoyment, and we can hardly enjoy them when they are hiding in a box, so yesterday morning I pulled them out of hiding and placed them in H's newly decorated study (replacing all of L's Breyer Horses) where we can look at them all we want.

Breakfast Plans Diverted

Last night I had a brilliant idea. Trying out the new Crepes place in the Packing House sounded like the perfect breakfast plan. After all, their menu boasts breakfast crepes, and even without the descriptions, several of them sounded intriguing.

After walking through the sleepy, sleepy Village (a little activity at Walter's, Starbucks and Le Pain Quotidian), we came to a very closed Crepes de Paris. We thought breakfast might be good to eat at 8:40, but apparently, even the people running this new endeavor are not sure when breakfast will be. Except on Sundays. We "made do" with breakfast as the very busy Some Crust which is ALWAYS open for breakfast.

Random Friday Photo

This week we received an Orel Hershiser bobblehead from friends of ours. My husband bears a resemblance to the 1988 Cy Young winner, or at least he did back then. Occasionally, during that year, people would do a double-take and look at H to see if he was that pitcher.

Freshening Up for a New Year

I am going to dedicate the next week to getting ready for the New Year. Those of us in education (teachers and students) know that the real new year begins in August or September. Today I finished up Summer String Camp (you can read about it here) and now I think I am ready to prepare for the start of school.

Getting a jump on the process, we had our lovely daughter paint H's new study. We worked around the brown in the room and chose a cherry yellow to brighten things up. We took the opportunity to also wash the windows. I took the opportunity to take photos while it is still clean...

I am definitely happy to have the bed and other things out of the hallway and dining room.

One room down, more to go! However, the other rooms will only get a good cleaning, not a new wall color.

Timeline!

Oh, the awfulness! Oh, how dare they? So many of my Facebook friends are complaining loud and clear, "Don't make me get Timeline!" Well, I am here to tell you that I went over to the dark side a little while ago, and I am still alive, and I still spend too much time social networking. I'm just not sure exactly what all the fuss is about. 

Frankly, I think the visual appeal of Timeline is better than the old wall. Yes, the two columns are a little confusing - items can change sides. I think I can handle it.

Since all I hear are moans about changing, I wondered what all the reasoning is behind this heel-dragging. Of course, I Googled "why people hate timeline" and came up with a few items. 

You can *gasp* see past posts more easily. Don't want people to see those embarrassing photos and posts? Don't put them up in the first place, or take them down. Yes, I know that once on the internet, always on the internet, but I guess I don't believe that people are really going to try to dig up all kinds of dirt on me. I feel as though I am a pinprick in a galaxy. 

Old Wall

Timeline - visually more appealing

I read some complaints about how it is arranged by decade, and how it has a "born" entry. I am sure that you have a reason to dislike this change foisted upon you, but really, is it worth all that effort to be so vehement? It's another change that one day you will undoubtedly long for when those sneaky folks at Facebook make another drastic "improvement". Remember, you probably complained about the wall you have now when it first came out.

I'm guessing that people are just resistant to change in general. I, for one, enjoy new things (mostly!).

In the end you probably won't be able to fight it, and once you're in, why not make the most of it? You can Google "great timeline covers" and get some inspiration to be creative with your cover photo and profile pic.

Claremont Craft Ales

The local craft beer selections just expanded with the opening of Claremont Craft Ales, located next to the Courier. Running out of one of the garages in the industrial park, the tasting room is open only on Friday and Saturday afternoons and early evenings.  On tap - 6 ales from light to dark. 

While there we ran into friends, which is always fun, and we enjoyed the incredibly laid-back nature of the place. We also enjoyed our favorite beerista, Sarah, who is working there very part-time to make money to take a trip to Paris. So, you should go help her in her goal!

Sarah

Here is the one wall that is decorated. My favorite saying (next to the Cheers sign) - In dog beers, I've only had one. Think about it.

I found that I liked the lightest beer - the Pomegranate. It was the least hoppy and very light and refreshing. 

Vacation Bookstores

As I was saying, I still prefer the dead trees variety of books. It is no wonder that many vacations include bookstore browsing. How can shopping online for an e-book version ever compete with losing yourself in stacks, especially in used-book land?  It can't. This time around we did not make it to the granddaddy of bookstores, Powell's, in Portland, although it has been a go-to destination of ours on previous visits. 

In Vancouver, our little guesthouse was just about 2 blocks from the amazing McLeod's Books. We kept walking by it just after it closed, but one evening we were picking up food at Gorilla Food next door, and while we were waiting for our order, we wandered into the bookstore and just started to get our feet wet. We knew we would be back. While there I saw a hardback copy of William Saroyan's My Name is Aram. I know it is out of print, but I wasn't sure I wanted to pay $15 for it. 

We never made it back, though, because that was when we had to make our quick getaway out of Vancouver. 

While in Eugene, though, we remembered the equally great Smith Family Bookstore and had a prowl through there (on the morning of the wedding, no less). This is one of those TARDIS-like places (for you Dr. Who fans) where the inside is much bigger than it looks on the outside. I thought I might luck out and find the Saroyan that I missed in Vancouver. I found Saroyan, but only his The Human Comedy. For $3 I could not resist, and H said that he still needed to get me an anniversary present (I thought the whole vacation was an anniversary present), so I came home with this paperback.

Smith Family Bookstore Interior

While I did enjoy this particular Saroyan, I don't think it was as compelling as My Name is Aram.

Vacation Reading

What should I take along for vacation reading? That's the eternal question. When I'm home and I start a book that I can't get into, I put it aside and pick up another, or run to the library. That's not quite as easy when traveling. I know I can download books on my iPad, but I still really enjoy my dead wood versions of novels.

This trip I lucked out and took along two excellent vacation reads. For me that means that the story is engaging and easy to read. The sentences do not need to be beautiful, but I have to be interested in the plot.

Having never read any Jodi Picoult, the recommendations of the women in my book club helped me choose Plain Truth, the one about an Amish murder mystery. It sure kept me turning pages.

I am surprised that I think I have only read one other Amy Tan book, The Joy Luck Club, but when I found The Hundred Secret Senses at the Claremont Library used book sale, I picked it up just for this trip.

Perhaps I'll put some Picoult and Tan into my next suitcase.

Columbia River Gorge

As we continued our journey south, we stopped in Portland to set out on a day trip along the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. Years ago I used to teach Woody Guthrie's song, "Roll On Columbia" to students, so as we drove along, I sang all the verses I could remember.

Here are some photos from our most pleasant day's adventure.

Here is our first vista, taken at the Vista House at Crown Point. We are facing east here, and the day gave us hazy views.

The Vista House itself. Quite lovely.

Here is the requisite photo of Multnomah Falls.

One of the surprisingly interesting stops was the Bonneville Dam and locks. The Army Corps of Engineers has a visitor center here which requires at least an hour to fully enjoy. Along with a short, informative film, you can look through the fish windows to see as various fish work their way up the fish ladder.  You can also watch as people count the various fish.  It's their job. I do not want that job. If I had looked on yelp before we went, I would have seen that this stop is ranked 4.5.

Next to the site is a fish hatchery with rainbow trout and sturgeon, among other species. Sturgeon are really big. Really. I don't know if we saw Herman the Sturgeon, but it is certainly possible.

Random Friday Photo

I took this picture in Vancouver for my friend, Lynn. We will be busking in Claremont next month....

Seattle

We had two days in Seattle after taking the Amtrak bus from Vancouver. (Customs took forever as the bus seemed to reach the station at lunch break, and only one customs officer was working. We were behind a group of what I assumer were European backpackers, and they had to give fingerprints, etc, so the line was very slow.)

We stayed at the Moore Hotel - the absolute least expensive hotel in downtown Seattle. I was a little concerned after reading some of the reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised at our accommodations. Again, the bathroom was down the hall, but it was not a problem at all. The location is great, and I would heartily recommend this place.

The Seattle Art Museum is free on Thursdays, the day we arrived, so we took advantage of that, even at the end of the long day. The special exhibit was modern Aboriginal Art which we enjoyed.

Here is a requisite photo of Pike Place Market at sunset.

Throughout the trip we heard many buskers. This one got some of my money. 

I think my favorite thing in Seattle was the Underground Tour. Here is a little explanation from the website about the circumstances of the underground: 

After the fire, which destroyed some 25 square blocks of mostly wooden buildings in the heart of Seattle, it was unanimously decided that all new construction must be of stone or brick masonry. The city also decided to rise up from the muck in which its original streets lay.

It was this decision that created the Underground: The city built retaining walls, eight feet or higher, on either side of the old streets, filled in the space between the walls, and paved over the fill to effectively raise the streets, making them one story higher than the old sidewalks that still ran alongside them. 

The tour is very corny, but also extremely informative. We actually enjoyed the corny humor and also recommend this tour.

After some sub-par sushi, we strolled to the Olympic Sculpture Park. I especially enjoyed this Calder sculpture which looks similar to his flamingo in Chicago.

With a little time on Saturday before our train to Portland, we took the little trolley to the bottom of Union Lake and strolled through the Center For Wooden Boats. We also enjoyed watching children and their families sailing these little boats on a pond (you can rent a little boat), which reminded me of Stuart Little, and also of our trip to NYC two years ago.

One final note:  While Amtrak was great about changing our reservations on the spot with NO issues, and the Moore Hotel was great about adding a night to our stay at short notice, we do NOT have warm fuzzies about Chase Bank. On our way out of Canada, the owners of our guesthouse gave us $25 Canadian to buy a bottle of wine for our graciously understanding about their overbooking problem. In Seattle I thought we could change the money since we were close to the border and went into a Chase bank. They were all friendly to us until they found out that we don't have a checking account with them. I told them we had our mortgage with them, but that, apparently, was not nearly good enough. 

Really, Chase? You couldn't change over some dollars, charge us a commission and make a little money for yourselves and help us out? I have some unkind thoughts in my head about you.

Vancouver Tidbits

Some observations of our time in Vancouver:

The drivers are great about letting pedestrians have the right-of-way (just like they are supposed to in California).

The bus drivers are the most helpful and friendly of any bus drivers we've had anywhere. Hands down.

Many people in Vancouver (as well as Seattle and Portland) are well-tattooed and smoke.

Downtown Vancouver has a hidden Costco. We took an elevator from street level to go down to find it. The food court does not have churros, but it does have french fries with gravy and lattes. Guess which one we got...

Sushi here is excellent.

A little more about our guesthouse.  This place is a little European (one owner is Finnish, the other grew up in Switzerland). Most of the other guests we saw were German. They do not make your bed. The bathroom is down the hall (never a wait). The tv only works to watch dvds. There is a huge dvd library to use. You get to use this cute kitchen and breakfast food is provided. There were supposed to be bikes to borrow, but they had been stolen a few days before we got there.

The only snafu was that I had emailed before we went to ask if we could stay an extra day, and they said, sure. We arrived and paid for that extra day, but when that day arrived, they were a little confused and did not have a room for us. So, in a hurry, we called our Seattle hotel and asked if they had a room for that night (they did), we called Amtrak and asked if we could change our ticket to that day (they could), we threw our stuff into our suitcases, called a taxi, and were out of there to catch our Amtrak bus which left about 45 minutes later. They did refund that extra day's charge.

Vancouver

Before we went to Eugene to celebrate the wedding, we started out our vacation by going to Vancouver. We'd heard that it is a great place to visit, and I wanted to add another Canadian Province to my list (which includes Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia). We spent 4 days in the city. Here are some pics of the highlights.

Downtown Vancouver does not have a highway (they took it out about a decade ago), and it is extremely walkable. We were carless, so we enjoyed walking, biking, bussing, and even the cute little water taxi. 

We rented bikes and rode through Stanley Park, going around the perimeter seawall, but also cutting inland to see Beaver Lake. These totem poles are a popular destination in Stanley Park.

We also rode our bikes to the little aqua bus to cross over to Granville Island to have lunch. There is a huge market there with lots of fresh produce as well as other food items.

The Vancouver Art Museum is nearly free on Tuesday evenings (donation), and the big exhibit right now is part of the Cone Sisters collection. I had briefly heard about these two sisters from Baltimore who were friends with Matisse and Picasso and others, and who collected their works. This exhibit was excellent.

This colosseum is actually the public library in downtown Vancouver, just blocks from our guesthouse. It's open often and is lovely inside. Apparently, this is just a branch. 

We stayed at the Urban Hideaway Guesthouse which I found on the Lonely Planet website. It is the 4th oldest building in downtown, and the only house. It really IS hidden away behind that Stamp Works store. Our room was the little window to the right of that bay window.

We took the bus out to UBC (University of British Columbia) and toured the Museum of Anthropology, the Nitobe Memorial Garden (Japanese), and the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research.

Another bus adventure took us to Lynn Canyon Park on the north side of town where we walked across this suspension bridge a few times as well as wandered through a few other trails.

On our last night, we sat at this beach and watched Brazil compete in the Honda Celebration of Light - a fireworks competition. Throngs of people came along to watch the show which started after dark (10:00 p.m.) and lasted for 30 minutes. This photo not only shows our vantage site, but also how cloudy it was for part of our visit. We appreciated the cool weather.