Montclair Golden Girls

When our oldest daughter was in high school, she played softball for a few years with the Montclair Golden Girls. Over three summers we bonded with this group of sports fans, going to tournaments from Glendora to Big Bear to Norco. This organization ran like clockwork due to the hard work and love from a core group of parents. Some of the girls in the league had started there when they were just wee ones and grew up surrounded by lots of laughter and love. We were happy to have found them, if only for a few years.

Because of social media, I found out that one of the coaches had died from cancer a few weeks ago and that there would be a memorial service held on the softball field. I had not seen most of these people in about 9 years, and I knew I had to go. I was not the only one. I'm guessing there were about 300 people there with many more who would have come if they could. What a tribute to a man who really gave of himself to countless girls.

I was so glad that I went and reconnected with many of our Golden Girls friends. 

Here are just some of the girls that Rick coached over the years.

Here is a photo of two of the All-Star teams from 2005. Coach Rick is the man in the middle with his baseball hat on sideways.

Karma?

In conversation recently, I heard the adage, "It happened for a reason." I have said that before. You know, when something bad happens, but something good comes along that might not have happened if that bad thing had not occurred. 

This implies that some force (God, karma, etc.) controls destiny. I know that many people believe that. It is hard for me to believe that the Divinity controls events on earth. Why would God allow all these terrible things to happen, or worse yet, make them happen? Even for a reason?

The idea that works for my mind is this: events happen, and if we seek whatever internal/external guidance that is available to us (e.g. listening to that voice, channeling the Divine, whatever way you want to think of it) we can move forward in whatever direction works.

That made me think of a quote. A quote from me. I have never written a quote before. Here it is:

"I don’t think that things happen for a reason. I think that we make reason out of things that happen."

Memorial Day Weekend with the Folks

Last year on Memorial Day weekend, I was with my family of origin (my folks and my sister) on our pilgrimage to Pawnee Rock, Kansas. This year my parents came to Claremont from Colorado for the holiday weekend. 

We enjoyed a variety of activities from touring the new building at HMC, eating some of C and B's excellent food, wandering the Farmer's Market, as well as the folks seeing some of their friends who live here.

We had thought about going to the LA County Arboretum on Monday, but with temps in the 90s, we opted for the air-conditioning of the Laemmle. We chose the movie Chef, and I thought it was a great movie for just fun. It's the story of Roy Choi, the guy who owns the Kogi BBQ trucks (of which I have blogged on numerous occasions). So, for me, it had lots to recommend it. I like stories which feature something I know about firsthand. I like movies with good music. And the food looked great and made me hungry.

So after the movie we had to go out to eat. Of course. We tried to go to Cafe Allegro in La Verne, but it was closed, so we called Pasta Cucina Rustica on Foothill and they were open. Not only were they open, we were the only people there for a long time. Perhaps we were the only people who did not grill out on Memorial Day.

I had some penne pasta from the Over 60 menu. That meant a smaller portion. I thought the sauce was very good. H thought his eggplant not as good as the Thai eggplant from Saturday's lunch at Thai Family. We may or may not go back sometime. 

Week Round-Up in Photos

As I was out and about last week, I took photos for the blog, but didn't come up with any posts for them, so now I clump them all together. 

Book club members now live in the hills above San Bernardino. Here is the view from their 4 acres.

A walk through the Pomona farm showed us this statue. Presumably the goddess Pomona.

Streamers have been up at CMC since Alumni weekend. I like the reflection in the water.

The new arts building going up at Pomona College

Thai Family

On my friend Kevin's recommendation, we tried out the Thai Family restaurant in Upland for lunch today. It's in the strip mall just north of the Home Depot on Mountain. It's next to Fresh & Easy and the Dollar Tree. We took our food to go and even out of the styrofoam containers, it was delicious. I had the vegetable curry. H had the spicy eggplant. The lunch special includes a little (very small) salad, two fried wontons plus your choice of entrees, including rice.       We will be back.

Vista Track Meet

I stopped by Vista's Track Meet this morning (I don't remember it ever being at the end of May before), and I took some photos in sports mode. I was flipping through the pictures on the back of my camera to show one of the 2nd graders who was watching the meet and she told me that it reminded her of a flip book. She didn't know the term flip book, but she told me that in the olden days people would draw very slowly on paper and then flip the pages to make it go fast. Yup. 

City Banners

Now that the college students have gone home for the summer, can the 4th of July be far behind? The city banners for the mid-summer holiday are up, here in May.

But Enough About You

This book was the outer Russian Nesting Doll of my May book reading. Huh? I started Christopher Buckley's essay collection in early May, then interrupted it to read the book club book which I interrupted to read the Swiss Life book. Back to the book club book, and finally, back to finishing But Enough About You. I'm sure you don't care how I read my books, but usually it's one at a time, so that was enough for me to at least mention it.

So, this book has some very interesting essays (a few that pop to mind are some of his travel essays - to Machu Picchu and France, his introduction to Moby Dick and reflections on Catch-22), a few that I just skipped after the first paragraph (none pop to mind here), and some in-between that I enjoyed reading at the time, but don't specifically remember now. 

I'm still on the lookout for a good novel.

Zurich - 1980

During my junior year in college, I spent fall term in Graz, Austria studying German. I kept a diary of my adventure, and a few years ago I transcribed it into a Word doc. Yesterday I thought I would read what I had written about Zurich. Along with 3 other women on the same program, I flew from Chicago to Amsterdam and then we traveled around a bit (London, Brussels, Strasbourg, and Zurich) before chugging into Graz.

I took no pictures in Zurich (why not? I ask myself), but I wrote these two paragraphs about the day and a half we were there.

Thursday Sept. 25 (Strasbourg - Zurich)

     We got up and ate our own breakfast - much better than the hostel stuff.  By 10:00 we check out and caught a bus.  Unfortunately it didn't go to the Bahnhof, so we went to the end of the line and took the same bus back to where we could transfer.  It only took about 1 1/2 hours.  Then I bought a ticket from Basel-Zurich.  Then we left and transfered trains in Basel.  Switzerland is not on Daylight Savings, so we gained an hour.  It was somewhat comforting to see German - not French, but it is a Swiss-German - and it's virtually non-understandable for me.  We found the youth hostel with another couple - from Washington D.C., and then went to buy some food.  We've been talking to people in our room from Ireland, Canada and New Zealand.  My eyes are being opened wider every day.  This hostel is by far the cleanest, but most strict.  For the first time since London, I had a shower.  The water is hot here!

Friday Sept. 26 (Zurich)

     Got up early for breakfast.  First time to have hot chocolate (shockolade).  We left the hostel and got to the train station and checked our luggage.  Then we got my train ticket from Zurich - Graz at a travel agency.  To the Zurich Zoo which was wonderful, and wonderful animals.  Back to station to get food for lunch.  Wandered around.  Window shopped, saw several cathedrals (one closed for renovation).  From the other (with the Chagal stained glass), there was some sort of West Point-like graduation service.  What chaos - what fun!  Then we wandered down to the Zurich See and just relaxed.  Swans, fishing, sailboats, ahhh.  Back to the station for the rest of our good - and collecting our luggage.  We caught an 8:11 train for Graz.  Some 12 hr. ride!  Switzerland is beautiful and classy and expensive.  Want to go back sometime.

I guess I can look forward to hot water, beautiful scenery, being classy and spending lots of money. Apparently I got my wish and I am going back!

Temecula

In April we renewed our friendship with Lynne and Dick who live in Carlsbad. The easiest way to get together with them is to find a middle-ground place to meet, and food is in the picture.  Last time we met in a Dim Sum restaurant.  Because they know their food, we took them up on their Indian restaurant recommendation in  Temecula. Before we headed to the restaurant, though, we had to stop at the Temecula Olive Oil Company where we had a 15-minute olive oil and vinegars tasting. 

All these years here, and driving up and down the 15 on numerous occasions, and I'd never stopped in Temecula. We enjoyed walking up and down the cute street with shops and restaurants, and lots of loud people before we headed to Mantra Indian Cuisine. I ordered the vegetarian meal which comes with two curries, a samosa, rice, naan. All for $13. That was enough food for me to enjoy the next day for lunch, and I have to say that is some of the very best Indian food I've eaten. The best palak paneer. 

Looking on the website, I see that there is a location in Corona, so we may have to try that one out.

Deconstruction?

I had interrupted the reading of this book club book, I Love Dick by Chris Kraus, to read the Swiss Life book. Then I went back to the assigned reading. 

I know we will have plenty to discuss about this book, which is not so much a novel as it is "something between cultural criticism and fiction." Reading the afterword was helpful to me in trying to figure out exactly what was happening in the book. Or, not really what was happening, but what the author was trying to say. Which I still don't understand. Exactly.

It reminded me of when I was in grad school in music history, and our profs thought we should try to apply the literary theory of deconstruction to the writing about music. I know we read some Derrida, and I know that I had no clue what the theorists were talking about, how it mattered to anything, especially how it mattered to music and music criticism. 

Swiss Life

I follow a page on Facebook called NewInZurich. Yesterday the page touted a newly-published book called Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I'd Known by Chantal Panozzo. She moved to Switzerland in 2006 to follow her husband's job. That made her a "trailing spouse."  I will be a trailing spouse in Switzerland in a few months, and I know there are things I will have wished that I had known. 

I bought the Kindle version of the book yesterday (ain't instant gratification great?) and finished reading it today. If you go to the Amazon page and click the "look inside" link, you can read quite a bit of the book to get a feel for what's in store for us this coming year.

I found myself thinking, "That won't really apply to me," and "Hoo boy, I will need to be prepared for THAT!" The main differences between Chantal and me are that we will only be there for a year, I won't be looking for work, and I won't be having any babies. However, I will still need to learn how to run the shared washing machines, push and shove in line, navigate a German that will sound very strange to me, and figure out how to have a conversation that contains no small talk. 

Now if we could find a renter for our house....

Art On Tap - Klimt

Another Art On Tap at Claremont Craft Ales, another favorite painter of mine - Gustav Klimt. Last night was the first time that Art on Tap got to use the newly expanded space at CCA. 

I'm not totally happy with the outcome of this reproduction, but I had a great time spreading paint over canvas, spending 3 hours doing something completely different than I usually do. I wonder if I might find a painting class in Zurich this fall. ...

Tuesday Matinee at the Laemmle

You know that Claremont is a small town when you take in a late-afternoon matinee at the Laemmle on a Tuesday and of the 7 other people in the theater, you know four of them.

The movie was Fading Gigolo. It wasn't terrible, it wasn't fabulous, but it was a nice diversion.

Annual Vista Orchestra and Recorders Concert

Last night I finished up my music year at Vista with our annual Vista Orchestra and Recorders Concert. Our principal asked if this was our second such concert, and I said no, that we had been doing this for many years.

That made me wonder, "How many years?"

I know that we've had a Vista Orchestra since 2003, and I'm not quite sure when I started teaching recorders, but I'm thinking it was 2005. That was before I started blogging. Here is a link to what I think is my first blog post about an Orchestra/Recorders concert in 2009.

What was interesting and different about this particular concert:

1) I dropped one piece and added a different one at the last minute (never done that before!)

2) The recorder students played a song they made up to go with a story

3) Recorders and Orchestra played the Vista Ostinato, a piece composed by the string students

The CUSD EIMP (Elementary Instrumental Music Program) still has another week or so of classes, so I still have a reason to stay out of trouble.....

The Ages and Stages of Mothering and Mother's Day

Back in the day when my daughters were very young, the bulk of my time was spent doing for others.  What I really wanted for Mother's Day was for someone to clean my house and for, perhaps, some time for me.

Now that my children are grown, and I spend my day doing pretty much what I want to, I have a completely different idea of the perfect Mother's Day. I just want to spend time with my children. For the past several years I have been most fortunate to have one daughter close by, and we've had some lovely times together. This year was no exception. 

She brought over breakfast and coffee, went shopping with me, and then we and our guys watched the Dodgers on tv. I had a lovely chat with my other daughter, too. Even though the Dodgers did not pull through with a win, we did enjoy this sweetness, baked by C.

 ** After I posted this, I went back to read last year's entry on Mother's Day. Seems as though I have had the same thoughts for the past several years!

Watching My Speed

Sometime this year, this traffic-calming device was installed on College Ave. at the corner of Green and College right at Oakmont Outdoor School. It's easy to pick up speed after crossing the train tracks because of the downhill slope. Every time I drive by, I try to keep it to 24 mph or so, because if you are over 25 mph, this sign says "SLOW DOWN".  That is, I try to keep it under 25 unless I'm riding my bike. I've gotten up to 16 mph on two wheels.  Now, there is a corresponding sign on the other side of College, and when I'm riding my bike, the fastest I've been clocked at was 9 mph, and that was the day I was in a real hurry. Usually I'm about 6 mph puffing up the hill.

Signs Along the Way

In celebration of orchestra rehearsals being over for the year, we went to the Kogi truck in Diamond Bar for our favorite Korean BBQ this week. Along the way I saw these two signs. The first says that the Sanamluang Thai restaurant will be moving to the old Baker's Square location on Indian Hill and San Jose. HMC Thai students have said that this is the most authentic Thai food in the area. Right now it is below the 10 Freeway on Indian Hill and San Bernardino.

This sign says "Serious Drought. Help Save Water." Yes.

Buildings Up, Buildings Down

Claremont continues to keep contractors busy. Here are some ongoing projects.

The model house for the new subdivision on Indian Hill and Vista Drive is up, at least on the outside.

The Ducey gym is down.

Even in Montclair new buildings are going up - corner of Monte Vista and Arrow Highway.

What Would You Do?

Um....No thanks.

Looking forward to Monday

It's the kind of weekend that makes me glad that I can start the work week again tomorrow. Not that it wasn't a fun weekend, but I'm really tired.

Saturday: 8 hours involved in a board meeting. 90 minutes driving to Palm Desert, 90 minutes driving home, the rest in a meeting. The meeting was fine, and lunch was included, and I enjoy the company of the people on the board, but that much driving and that much meeting in one day almost did me in.

More Saturday: Played in a concert. This always takes more energy than one would suppose. It appears as though we are sitting on stage for 90 minutes, and we are. But we are thinking, thinking, and concentrating very hard. Oh, and moving our arms around a lot.

Sunday: Choir rehearsal, church, repeat the concert. Cleaned parts of the house that needed it the most. Yes, Monday should bring a calmer order to my day.

What's Wrong with This Photo?

As seen in Vroman's

Grades of Green Assembly

When Vista found out that we had won the Grades of Green Trash-Free Lunch Challenge, I made sure I put the assembly on my calendar so I could cheer on our school. It was a pretty big deal. The superintendent, three school board members, the Claremont mayor and a few other dignitaries were in attendance. The promoters of the challenge came and made some speeches and then recognized Vista's Green Team before presenting them with a check for $1,000.

Students are sorting their trash and recyclables. 

Two presenters are getting the students to yell - Trash Free!

The dignitaries had chairs in the shade. It was hot out!

 Two of Vista's awesome teachers!

The Green Team assembled