dA Center for the Arts

It's always a challenge to find a venue for our spring string recital. Last year three string teachers pooled together and had our recital at Pilgrim Place which was a delightful location. This year we had 15 students (6 violins, 1 viola and 8 cellos!). One of the violinist's moms is the director of the dA Center for the Arts in Pomona and she offered up the space there for our recital. It was a perfect place with a little stage, room for 50 chairs and a space for a small reception.

I had heard of the dA Center, but had not been before. I learned yesterday that the name dA came from the first building that the original studio used. It had been an Arthur Murray Dance Studio, but the letters NCE in dance had fallen off of the sign, so the founders decided to use the dA (no idea about the capital A) as their name.

Now that I know more about this place, I am thinking of ways in which to collaborate with them in future endeavors. I also want to go there to check out their exhibits which are free.

Guasalmex

I do not know if I have blogged about Guasalmex - a pupuseria in Pomona near the corner of Garey and Holt. We had not been there in a long time, and after the wedding Lynn and I played last Friday we decided to pick up our husbands and go out to eat. They had never been here, and it sounded good to them, so we inaugurated them to the deliciousness that is a pupusa. 

Not only do we like the food, but the people who run it are extremely friendly and chatty, and though they were supposed to close at 7:00 (and we wandered in at 6:40), they did not rush us nor make us feel, in any way, that we were difficult for them. 

This is a photo of special #8 - a pork and cheese pupusa, black beans and rice, and plantains.

Pomona Library Closing

I am saddened to hear that the city of Pomona is closing their library.  When my daughters were young, we would make the trek to the library (often after piano lessons which were off of Garey, just north of Holt) because the children's room is so fabulous.  Part of the reason it is fabulous is that it has a huge selection of great books, but I really love the children's librarians.  My younger daughter was devouring books at age 5, and I wanted to find great chapter books for her (after she read all the available American Girl books), but I wanted some that were age appropriate for a kindergartener.  Librarian Lois to the rescue!  She could recommend some chestnuts that were new to me and enjoyable for my 5-year-old. The librarians followed our reading habits through jr. high or so when we stopped going to piano and didn't often make the journey to the Pomona Library.

What a jewel this library has been, and I know that many, many people will miss it terribly.   Thanks to Lois for this photo I stole from her Facebook page. There is still a blog that she keeps about the children's room at the library which you can read here.