Stuffed Peppers

Tonight Claire wanted to fix dinner for us and her friends, so she made stuffed red peppers. We are enjoying eating on our patio this summer, and tonight we shared dinner with Rebecca, Kelsey, and Amy.

Sunday in Claremont

This morning our first Sunday NY Times arrived on our doorstep. We are missing the Chicago Tribune and couldn't stand the Sunday LA Times (all 10 minutes of reading it), so we are trying out the NY Times Sunday edition. It took me over an hour to get through the magazine, so I think next week I'll save that for last and let it last more than one day. I think if I can get past the bits of "LA is so inferior to us", I will really enjoy this little luxury. I am still trying to get the LA Times to deliver M-F to us, but I might actually have to talk to a real person to make that happen. I could be okay without it, but Hal has to have his fix. I'll read the comics.

After starting the morning paper, I took myself down to church for our annual patriotic Sunday, and it was great to see so many people again. After the service the church had a picnic, so I could actually socialize to my heart's content (or until everyone went home).

Next Sunday I'll actually go to the Farmer's Market! (And Liesl will probably go with me!)

CYS Website Moved to a New Home

This morning I moved my CYS website to a new home (all by myself!). Hal and I are changing internet providers in a week or so, so I had to find a place to house my site. Because of this blog and my activity on Facebook, I no longer needed my personal webpage which was hosted by Harvey Mudd College. So I took over that site.

So, here is my new site for Claremont Young Strings:
http://www2.hmc.edu/~cvanryswyk/

Let me know if you see anything weird or wrong or out of place.

Cousin Pat's Wedding

Last weekend my cousin, Pat, in Canada, got married - the last of the Sawatzky cousins to tie the knot! His sister, Lisa, put these photos on her Facebook page, but I'll put some here.

New Things

Today I rode my bike to Trader Joe's, filled two bags with yummy food (thanks for the bag, Rosemary!), and put the bags in my new handy-dandy bike baskets. Loaded down, I coasted downhill, easy as pie. Then I learned that if I leave the bags in the basket and put the bike on the kickstand, it doesn't stay standing. Lesson learned.

I am so excited about this TJs - close by and spacious! I'll probably be making a trip there about every 4-5 days....

Hal spent about an hour researching and ordering us new phone/internet service. For the price we now pay, we're going to get cable internet and phone - free, unlimited calls and 10X faster internet.

Thoughts on Claremont & a day with Claire

I enjoy walking through Claremont and having people smile and say hello, even though we don't know each other. Is Claremont friendly because we are a small community, because we live in a great climate, or because California is laid-back? People in Chicago will not look you in the eye when passing.

Claire and I had a lovely shopping day together. We went to Target and the mall where she used her sense of style to help me choose clothes - skirts and dresses and pretty shoes, even!

Actually, the first place we went together today was the bike store where Claire's birthday present had been assembled and waited for her to pick it up. She rode it home a very happy camper. Then she took a ride this evening, and now she and Hal are out on bikes searching for microwave popcorn so we can watch The Wire (Netflix has found us in Claremont!).

Back in the Swing

We are now back in the swing of Claremont life. We went to church yesterday morning, then book club last night, and this morning we worked out at the gym. Thank goodness it is only 75 degrees so far this morning. The weekend was way too hot for my liking.

New In Claremont

Today was spent cleaning and more unpacking. This will take a little while, I think.

We bought Claire a bike today for her birthday which was last week. I told her she should enjoy her car, since that will be her mode of transportation this summer. She's pretty excited about it.

Tonight we had dinner at the Mawhorters and got a chance to catch up. After dessert we walked over to Pomona College where there is this new "thing" (they had a name for it, but I don't remember what it was). It's a pool of water underneath a roof which has a square hole in it to see the sky. Various colors are projected on the underside of the roof which give the sky different colors as the lights change and as the sun goes down. I will try to find a link for it. It is very cool, and I think we'll be spending some summer evenings walking there to enjoy the free show.

We're Home!

Yay! We made it home today by 1:00! And it's a hot one - over 100. Was I really cold this past winter?