Halloween in the Attic

Now that the furnace and air conditioner and new ducts are in, it's time to retrofit the attic. Today this is the scene at our house with lots of dust flying. Now I see where more of the cobwebs are hanging.....

Cleaning Out

One of the parts of the energy retrofit of our house required making the air intake larger. We chose to do that in a place under our stairs where we store cleaning supplies. Because of its awkward location, we rarely look back there, and we usually just grab a rag or the Windex or a new vacuum bag. 

So that the guys could work back there uninhibited, we removed all the stuff and were amazed (we probably shouldn't have been) at the amount of stuff back there (insecticide we almost never use), several bottles of glass cleaner, things to clean stuff I don't think I've ever used. From the days when we used to have carpet in most rooms, we have nearly two gallons of carpet shampoo. After posting on Facebook about this, I have a taker for the shampoo, and the rest of the stuff will have to wait for a hazardous waste round-up. 

If we haven't used it in the past, um, 5-10 years, will we really need it?

October Thoughts

I am posting this in hopes that I will remember to look back at it at the beginning of October next year (or even in September) to remind myself of a few things so I can make better choices for myself.

First of all, I should remember that our little bedside radio/alarm clock is programmed to be helpful and change the time for the daylight savings switches. However, it was programmed before the dates were moved to one week later in the fall and three weeks earlier in the spring. Yesterday morning, I crawled out of bed only to discover that it was already 8:00. Good thing it was Sunday, and I wasn't late for anything, but that was still very surprising since the bedside clock said 7:00. Oh, yeah. That preprogrammed thing.

More importantly, I should remember that during October when all my school-year activities are in full swing, I should learn to say no to some commitments, or at least put them off until January. Even if each activity only requires a few hours a week, I feel as though I am scrambling for what I am supposed to do and I am not fully prepared for whatever it is I am about to do. I look at my lesson plans just before I head off to school and realize that there was something I was supposed to do - a visual to prepare, a song to put on my iPod, something that I would normally have taken care of early.

I know that some people are great at this "just in time" preparedness, but the older I get, the more it unsettles me.

Also, October is one of the long months in the school year. It has 31 days and no special days off. March is the other long month. In November I can look forward to Veteran's Day as well as a week off at Thanksgiving, so soon I will have a chance to feel caught up.

Thanks for allowing me to indulge in a little self-reflection for this post. Tomorrow I should get back to regularly scheduled life.

Village Venture

I do not know when I last went to Village Venture, the huge arts and crafts street fair in downtown Claremont at the end of every October. Any blog about Claremont should include something about this long-standing tradition. Often I have a music workshop on that Saturday, and other years I have not felt inspired to walk in the heat. Today was yet another sunny, warm day for the Venture (while we watch the news of the impending Hurricane Sandy up the eastern seaboard). 

Playing with the Village Pipers led me to the festivities today as we played in the booth for the Claremont Community School of Music.

The line was very long at Rosa's tacos. I waited in line, talking to a nice woman to pass the time until I reached the front and bought two tacos.

Lovely scarves for sale

Copper whirligigs

Unique clocks

Some of the pottery available

Blown glass

I like this sign advertising a place to rest at CUCC for weary Venturers.

The Barbarian Nurseries

I believe I heard about this book because it was the choice for the freshman read at Pomona College this year. I should have read it this summer along with the first-years and then gone to hear Hector Tobar on Sept. 2. Oh, well.

This might be my favorite read of 2012, or, at least, in my top 3. It is a rare book that marries good plot with good writing, and this one does just that. It also sets the place very well, and Orange County and Los Angeles can be considered characters in this novel.

None of the three main characters hide their flaws, from themselves or each other, and yet they seem sympathetic because their circumstances in life seem to have created them. I appreciated that there was growth for each of them by the end of the book.

I think I will choose this book for one of my book clubs because there will be plenty to discuss.

Fridays in Minnesota on the Web (and a photo)

This morning I saw on Facebook that I could stream the convocation live, and since I was home, I thought I would do so. Every Friday during the academic year, Carleton shortens classes by 10 minutes each so that everyone has an open hour to hear the speaker. When I was a student I heard Richard Leakey and various other speakers at this Friday ritual. However, I know that I did not take advantage of the richness of these opportunities as a student since I would frequently use that extra hour to prep for my next class, or something else. Now, I know better, and I think I might try to make up for lost time and check in with these free Friday talks. They start at 10:50 a.m. in Northfield, so that makes live streaming start here at 8:50 a.m.

Today's convocation featured Sherry Turkle from MIT. She spoke about the human relationships we have with technology, and how technology shapes our relationships with other humans. This talk will be archived in the near future, so if that seems interesting to you, check back in a few days to see if you can watch it, too.

Cherp!

This week the guys from Home Performance Matters started retrofitting our house for energy efficiency. It's a good thing that it isn't too hot or cold right now since the old furnace and air conditioner are disconnected.

This ought to take 5-10 days, so it will be just in time for those really chilly mornings coming soon!

Cactus Blossoms

These are the blooms I saw this morning in my yard. Such big flowers for such a small cactus.

Sound Drop

Here's a little video of a free iPad app called Sound Drop. If you amuse easily, this one is for you!

Remembering and Finding Out - Skip Meury

I never cease to be amazed at the community of Claremont. We have been attending CUCC for over 26 years now, and have come to know many of the golden members over these years. Golden signifying perhaps their ages, but really, golden signifying their quality of spirit. Recently I wrote about the lives of Joe Platt and Gray Bell and their amazing lives within the HMC and CUCC communities as well as in the world.

This afternoon we said our final good-byes to Skip Meury in the Kingman Chapel at CUCC. I've known Skip since we've been in Claremont, mostly as someone very involved in the life of the church in many ways, as well as the grandmother to my daughters' good friends. You can read about Skip from one of her granddaughter's blogs here.

As memorials are times to come together to share stories, I always learn special things about the people who have gone on before us, and I wonder why I didn't know these things before. I never seem to think to ask people about their lives, except for what is going on in the present. I should, perhaps, remedy this.

Anyway, the things I learned about Skip today were quite colorful. When Myrlie Evers moved to Claremont after her husband, Medgar Evers, was gunned down by a sniper in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, Skip immediately befriended her, helping her and her children settle into life in Claremont. 

On a completely different fact, when Skip was working in New York as a fashion illustrator, she was approached by Norman Rockwell and asked to be a model for a painting. Although that painting never did make it to the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, it does hang in a private gallery in Princeton, NJ. 

I know that this just barely touches on the stories about Skip, and many people spoke of her caring, dedicated friendship at the service today and her tireless work in social rights all her life. 

The Story of Charlotte's Web

The childhood classic book, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White just turned 60. You can hear about it on this NPR story. Here is a photo of Michael Sims' book about the creation of the story along with my own childhood copy of the book. I got this book at a Scholastic book fair at my elementary school when it cost 75 cents. You can see how much I have loved this book over the years. When my mom finished reading the book to me the first time, I remember crying.

Of course I would want to read a book about the creation of such a powerful piece of literature. I liked and didn't like this The Story of Charlotte's Web. It takes about 100 or so pages to get going, and if you want to read a biography of the young life of E. B. White, then this is your book. I didn't really care about all of the minutia in the early part of the book (girls he had crushes on, etc.), but I did enjoy the core of the book when it got to the actual creation of this work.

If I were the editor of this book, I would have drastically condensed the first part of the book and had Sims expand upon the creation of Stuart Little even more and then also, The Trumpet of the Swan which is a mere side thought at the end.

Truly Random Friday Photo

Do you know these people? I don't. But this slide ended up in one of my purchases from the Riches and Rummage sale last Saturday. The date on the slide is from 1984. If you know them, let me know so that I can email them this image.

When I tried to scan the slide this morning, I could not find the scanner driver on my computer. I have no idea where it is, so after about 20 minutes on the internet, I found a site where I could download a driver called VueScan which works with a variety of older model scanners, and within minutes, I had my scanner up and running again with an even better driver than the one that I was using from Epson.

Sister Visit

My sister came to Claremont for a visit this week. She was looking at a program offered by Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, so it was natural for her to stay with us.

Among the various things we enjoyed (warm weather, dinner at The Press to celebrate her birthday with Yogurtland for dessert, working out at the gym) perhaps her favorite part happened when she was visiting me at Vista. One of our third graders saw her and immediately knew that we were related and asked, "Is she your daughter?"

Taylor Swift in Claremont

Photo courtesy of Pomona College

I often tell people that I should have named this blog "My Life in Claremont" since my original intent was to write about my little life, and since I live in Claremont, that popped into the title. Sometimes, though, I branch out to talk about things that pertain to the city, and not necessarily to me. This is one such post.

The college community and town have been all abuzz about the fact that HMC won a contest in which Taylor Swift would come perform and give the music department $10,000. You can read about how this came about in this blog post written by an HMC student. 

I had one friend ask me if I had an "in" to getting tickets, and I tried to get one for a student of mine who is a huge fan, but I pull no such weight and knew of no strings to tug, so I ended up ticketless. I did hear about other people who managed to get tickets, and one of these days I will probably find out more about the concert. 

Crepes - At Last

After a failed attempt to eat at the new Crepe place in Village West, we decided to give it another try on Sunday for lunch before we went to see Argo. At least now they have real hours posted, and there were some people eating inside and out.

I was under the impression that the people working there don't particularly care if you are there or not. There are three little tables outside, but only four chairs. Three of those chairs were occupied, and when we inquired whether we could take a chair from inside to the deck, we were denied our request, even though no one was sitting in those chairs. We then decided to go inside. I'm also at a little loss for places, like this one, which take orders at the counter and then provide a place on the credit card slip for a tip before you even get served.

Nonetheless, the food came out fairly quickly. It tasted fine. Not horrible, not fabulous.

H had the spinach crepe.

I had the crepe du soliel - a breakfast crepe with eggs and bacon.

While sitting inside you can watch the movie, The Red Balloon. The upshot: We may go back sometime, but probably not often.

Sunday Matinee - Argo

I do not remember when we last went to the movie theater, but H had a hankering to see this new release, and we had the time yesterday, so off to the Laemmle we went.

Theater #5 (the big one) was pretty full, and the crowd seemed to enjoy this film. I did, too. Even at two full hours, the pacing was great, the juxtaposition between comedy and tension was well-plotted, the acting was very good. I think it's in contention for some Oscars.

However. I don't think I liked it that this is an historical film harkening waaaay back to when I was in college. Really. I have a hard time believing that I lived back in historical times.

Pomona College - 125 Years

While walking to the Claremont Library on Friday, I noticed that a carousel had somehow appeared on the quad in front of Big Bridges. After asking around, I found out that Pomona College is celebrating its 125th Anniversary (quasquicentennial) today. Here is an article with the specifics.

Riches and Rummage

Here are some photos from the CUCC Riches and Rummage Sale this morning. You can decide which are riches and which are rummage......

Almost Real Weather (Not So Random Friday Photo)

Leftover clouds from our first fall/winter weather of the year.

Proofreading

This proofreading error in yesterday's Courier gave me a good laugh...

Pantry Moth Update

I know you were waiting, just wanting to know how our battle with the pantry moths was coming along. Well, we seem to be making headway. After thoroughly cleaning out the pantry and throwing out all the dried food, I placed one of these traps in the pantry. It seems to be doing the trick. Although I still see occasional moths, the numbers are greatly reduced, and I can actually open up the pantry door and not see one most of the time now.

Downtown Dancing

One of the highlights for us during our downtown LA adventure on Saturday was the dancing. At the Music Center we ran across five dance floors where people were learning various kinds of dance. For a 20 minute lesson, you could pay $1 and join a variety of folk learning a short (quite short) routine. 

I was taken with this sweet little girl who was dancing with her dad in some kind of Ballet Folklorico. See the cute napkin in hand used as a handkerchief?

Here are some hip hoppers.

This group was learning Bomba.

We timed our visit to coincide with the beginning of the Grand Park Block Party. At 4:30 we saw the Fanfare for Grand Park which included a short musical piece with three brass players standing in the water (very shallow) of the fountain. This was followed by a dance by these blue people to several pieces of live music. We were just in time to get good seats on the ground right up front so that I could snap these shots.

Because we had been going since 8:30 a.m., we left downtown after this show and did not stay for the rest of the block party, although there seemed to be plenty of people who did stick around.

Olvera Street

It had been awhile since we had wandered Olvera Street, so it was time to go back, especially since we landed on its doorstep just out of Union Station. We noticed a sign for a free tour on the hour next door to the fire station (first fire station in Los Angeles), so we took that tour and saw new things. New to us.

You can take a walk into the firehouse - it's free.

The Avila Adobe is also free.

This is the Sepulveda House.

This statue of Antonio Aguilar is fairly new to the area. He was a singer/actor from Mexico who came to Hollywood. 

I'd never really looked at this mural which depicts scenes from the Mexican War of Independence (not to be confused with Cinco de Mayo).

The Biscailuz Building features a large mural by Leo Politi (children's book author/illustrator) that I had never seen before about the blessing of the animals.