Wilderness Trail on the Web

We were not the only people hiking the 5-mile loop of the Claremont Wilderness Park this morning. With the wonderful weather that we've been having this summer, we could hike the trail from 9:30-11 and not get too hot. Many, many other people took advantage of the loop today, as well.

I discovered a website that shows the route along with pictures. The only difference between that website and our hike is that we take the route the opposite direction.

Quakes

Once a summer you just gotta go to a baseball game. It didn't hurt that we had coupons for 2 free tickets to see the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, and see where we sat! Just behind home base, and not too far up. I was pleasantly surprised that the people around us were not annoying - no foul language or anything. The family in front of us with two school-age boys and a little girl made it through 6 1/2 innings before the children got tired and cranky.

Armchair Travel

This year finds some of my friends flung to the far corners of the earth. And while I dream about our next sabbatical, it is still three years away. For now, I will be content reading blogs and following my friends on the internet.

My friend, Pat, is spending a sabbatical year in Christchurch, New Zealand and has started a blog called Down Under and Over about her family's adventures in the land of the kiwi.

Friend Deb has taken a job in Doha, Qatar working for Northwestern University-Qatar as dean of students. Her DeanDebra blog is here.

Another family we know will be spending the year in Denmark, and although a blog promises to appear, it hasn't yet.

A Great Loss

The Harvey Mudd College and Claremont community has lost a dear friend and colleague this summer. Gray Bell, the first physics professor at HMC, passed on last week. Gray was a warm, generous person whom I had the pleasure to know for the past 24 years. I will miss him.

First Came Plums, Now Come Peaches

Produce is ripening late this year because we've had cooler than usual temps all spring and much of the summer. Usually the peaches are finished by the end of July, but they are just starting now. Yesterday I made 12 half-pints of peach jam. Four are regular, 8 have crystalized ginger. I'm curious to see how these ones come out!

I also made some peach salsa, but it is gone and I'll have to make more. Darn!

New Mexican Restaurant

I've always held that the best Mexican food came from places which didn't worry too much about overhead. You know, the dives. We enjoy Patty's and Los Jarritos frequently. Now Claremont has a nice sit-down Mexican restaurant in Village West - Casa Moreno. You could call it a chain if you want since the original is in Covina. The decor is quite nice. You can watch sports on two tvs at the bar, but the sound is off, so it's not too loud.

The service was good, and it seemed that it was fairly busy, which is a good sign.

Hal had the Chiles Rellenos which were a little greasy, but alright.

I ordered the Mole Poblano - Grandma Teresita's Special, and it was delicious.

Claire's plans to move to Boston seem to be materializing. This week one of her new roommates found a place for 4 in Allston, a neighborhood of Boston bordering Brookine where we lived on sabbatical when Claire was 4. She sent her roomie a check for first, last and security. Although this is not a picture of her exact apartment building, it is similar to her new digs and just down the block. The lease starts on Sept. 1.

Success!

All it took was for Hal to check all the settings on my scanner software, and *presto chango* I can scan my medium format negatives in color or b/w! A little clean-up (removing dust and color correction) in Photoshop Elements, and, voila! I have only done one negative at this point. The deal is, I pay Claire to scan all my negs by buying her a ticket to Boston next month. More on this in a future post.

This photo was taken in the 1970s when the youth group I was in (First Baptist Church of Wichita, KS) drove our blue bus to Detroit to paint a church. Here we are unpacking upon arrival.

Medium Format Negatives

A few weeks ago I ran across a pile of old negatives from my brownie camera. While squinting at them, I found some that I no longer have copies of the prints for, and I would really like to have some of them again. I have a scanner which will do slides and 35mm negatives, but no matter which setting I try, it just won't read the 2 1/4" square negatives. I am looking online for photo services, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to pay $0.99-1.99 per print. Maybe someone I know has such a scanner and will let me use it....

Cheapskate Does Not Necessarily Mean Bargain Hunter

I am attracted to magazine covers that promise new ways to save money. I stand in line at the store to read the article, pick it up at the doctor's office or check it out of the library. Invariably, I learn that if I buy clothes that don't need to be dry cleaned, I'll save hundreds of dollars over year and other equally obvious tips.

So when I saw Jeff Yeager on the Today Show touting his new book The Cheapskate Next Door, I thought I would read what he had to say about me. Of course, I checked the book out of the library, since I really am a cheapskate. In the best sense of the word. No kidding. The subtitle of the book, The Surprising Secrets of Americans Living Happily Below Their Means, supports my idea that being frugal and thrifty, isn't dowdy and boring, but is actually cool and fun.

Before daughter #2 takes off to her first apartment, first job, her own independent life, I am going to make her read this book. Of course, our example of frugal living throughout the childhoods of my daughters ought to be a good foundation for them both, but it never hurts to hear good advice from someone other than one's parents.