Back to My Baseball Roots

If you know me, you know I am a Dodger fan. In 1988 when Kirk Gibson hit his walk-off home run against the A's in the World Series, I got the religion. It doesn't hurt that I am married to an Orel Hershiser look-alike. Orel won the Cy Young Award that year.

The Dodgers played in the post-season last year, but this year they are in trouble. With the McCourt's divorce and all, I don't have great hope. By which I mean, I have no hope at all.

So what's a girl to do? Look at the standings and realize that my first true baseball love is doing well and follow that team. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, my Dad watched the Sox on WGN and took me to Comisky Park. I learned how to say Luis Aparicio and No-Neck Williams.

Funny thing happened with I looked at the current roster. I found out where my favorite Dodger from last year, Juan Pierre, went. Yay! So, even though I don't get WGN, I can still follow the games online.

Claremont Summer Tradition

You know it's summer in Claremont when - it's Monday night and it's time for another Concert in the Park. Last night Memorial Park hosted the Sgt Pepper's Beatles Tribute Band. (I assume these lads are the group of that name from Northridge, and not the band from New Orleans.) Thank goodness the night air has finally cooled down so we could enjoy sitting on lawn chairs, watch the people wander the park, see the crowd up front dancing and hope that the kids climbing the tree don't fall down and break something.

Little Bee

Next week our book group will be discussing Little Bee by Chris Cleave. This has been on the bestseller list for a while now, and with the promise of a story of a Nigerian girl, I was excited to read it. It started off well enough. The voice of the Nigerian protagonist was appealing and it traded off chapters with the English woman, Sarah whose son who lives every day in his Batman costume. Cute.

When the story starts focusing on Sarah's failing marriage, the writing gets more pedantic. As the story of "what happened" a few years before unravels, it is hard to believe that the self-centered Sarah would have behaved as she did at the ocean in Nigeria.

From then on the plot becomes more and more contrived, and the back story of Little Bee never really materializes.

Perhaps my book club will give me more reason to appreciate the book, but for now, I will continue to read my sister's blog about real people in Nigeria.

Heat Buster, Part 4

Another great place to enjoy the air conditioning is the Laemmle Theatre. The best idea is to choose a long movie that lasts for a good part of the afternoon. At 160-some minutes, Inception fit the bill, and we were not the only people who had that idea.

The movie itself was interesting, though confusing at times (Hal had to explain some of it to me after it was over), and the visual effects were pretty amazing. A little too much of the shoot-em-up parts, the music was pedantic (and loud), but I'd have to say "see it" - and I liked it way better than Avatar.

The Beach to Beat the Heat

Our heat wave rolls along with relief promised by Tuesday. We were not the only people who had the idea to hit the beach today. Hal packed up our bikes and headed to Huntington Beach. Riding up the beach path for 3.75 miles, we arrived at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve where we saw lots of birds, including terns, egrets, and plovers. Our house was 87 degrees when we arrived home. Perhaps we should have spent the night by the ocean....

Hot Weather Vegetables

Three vegetables grow best in hot weather: tomatoes, squash and peppers. Our one yellow squash plant is very, very happy this summer. I've been enjoying all kinds of sautéd dishes which feature this vegetable. I also like to pick the basil and rosemary from the herb garden for seasoning.

As you can see, along with normal-looking squash, we also get very odd-looking squash.

Weather

Summer has officially arrived. We've had a cooler than usual June and beginning of July, but starting yesterday, the heat came blasting down. Today there are beautiful cumulus clouds over the mountains where there are flash flood watches, but only a 20% chance of rain.

It is so hot that I have taken refuge in the air-conditioned Honnold Cafe with an iced drink, my laptop and book.

Tiling Project, Part 2

Living Room fireplace before and after! The before picture is from 1994 when we were in escrow on the house.

Tiling Project, Part 1

Kitchen backsplash before and after!

New Library Hours at the Claremont Library

The Claremont Library has changed hours for the first time in a few years. Although it will be open more hours, it will be closed on Mondays. I think I will like the fact that it opens at 10 a.m. on most weekdays, although I probably won't take advantage of the 8 a.m. opening on Fridays and Saturdays.