Low-Income Housing Progress

The low-income housing just south of the tracks in the old Courier lot is moving along this summer.  Here are some photos from the Courier building demolition in January.

Egg Sliders

I did not know what the word "slider" meant until recently.  Now I am a real fan of Egg Sliders from Some Crust for a Saturday breakfast.  You get a choice of sourdough or french bread, two fillings (I like bell peppers and white cheddar cheese), and one sauce (I like pesto).  All this for $2, so it's easy to get two for one breakfast.  You can also add meat or extra filling or sauce.

H likes mushrooms and swiss with chipotle ranch sauce.

Habitat Restore

Although I accomplished my goal of getting rid of at least one item per day last week, the clean-out still continues, little-by-little.  I'm still going through the upstairs, but I also took stuff from the basement to Goodwill this week.  Then we attacked one wall of the garage.  Filling one box and one grocery bag with items for the house (electrical switches and faceplates, vintage light fixtures, etc) plus some new furnace filters that we won't use, I headed off to the Habitat for Humanity Restore on Holt in Montclair to donate these items.  Habitat has these stores across the US and Canada where you can donate as well as purchase items for your home from tile and toilets to furniture.

Bee Cells

My family likes to make fun of me playing this computer game - Bee Cells.  That's okay.  I like to play a mindless game in the late afternoon  and let my mind wander.

The game is simple and doesn't require swift mouse skills.  The objective is to group 6 or more same-color balls together so they will disappear.  After each turn where you move one ball, the computer adds more balls (from 3-6), filling up the grid until finally every spot is occupied, ending the game.

Yesterday I had the best game I've ever had, as you can see here.

Gleaning

Our orange tree has been bursting (and the squirrels have started on the oranges now that the peaches and plums are gone), and I can't make use of all the fruit.  So I called Gleaning HOPE, an organization that works with the Pomona Valley food banks.  Two young people came this afternoon and picked about 100 of the oranges that were the easiest to reach and took them straight to the food bank.  If you  live locally, you can email them at VCoordinator@inlandvalleyhopepartners.org or call Ronald Ortizo at 909-622-3806 x223.

Room

I could hardly put this book down.  I don't want to give too much away, but I think that what makes this book so powerful is the voice of the 5-year-old protagonist and hero of this book.  At one point in the book I was gasping and H to make sure that I was not having a heart attack.  I had a nightmare the first night into the book, although that may be because it was a hot night. Through the eyes of young Jack, we see our world in a new way and challenge assumptions we may not know that we have.

I knew a few things about the plot before I started the book, and one could easily read about the story on the NPR, NY Times and other sites, but I will put no spoilers here.

Earthquake Preparedness

Another summer project - updating our earthquake kit.  For us, it's good to kill two birds with one stone and keep our tent trailer stocked with canned goods and other emergency stuff.  The tent trailer could serve as a temporary home - it's stocked with food, dishes, a stove with propane, a sink, beds with sleeping bags and pillows.  We just need to rotate the food out, and it had been a few years since we'd done that.  Now we just need a few more items to make it complete.  Plus, we're ready to go camping, too!

Do Something You Aren't Good At

I have heard it said that in our culture where we are told we must be the very best at our endeavors, it is actually a good idea to participate in activities in which we aren't very good.  Just for the enjoyment of it.  If that is so, then I should play tennis more often.  Yesterday morning we decided that we hadn't hit the courts in awhile (over a year, perhaps?) so we headed to that little hidden gem in Mallows Park at the corner of Harrison and Indian Hill.  Neither of us is particularly good, and I am worse than H, but, we joke, we get some exercise, and when it is over, we get coffee.

I'm not that good at yoga yet, but I am getting better....

Cleaning Out - One a Day

This week I have been working on getting things out of my house and garage and trying to avoid the landfill.  My goal was something every day.  Repurposing requires a little more thought that just dumping, so here's what I did.

Sunday: Gave away free on craigslist the broken push mower and broken, old ladder (I think the guy wanted the scrap metal).                                                  

Monday: Sent a book to someone who requested it on paperbackswap.com AND while I was at the post office, I sent something to my sister that I have been meaning to AND gave away free on craigslist, again, old beadboard that came out of the cottage during renovation two years ago (seen behind the push mower).

Tuesday: Sold an extra office chair that was just taking up space in my closet on craigslist  - cha ching!  Put several more books on paperbackswap.com, made arrangement to have food bank volunteers come pick oranges (stay tuned).

Wednesday: Sent two books to paperbackswap.com members, found someone to take a broken pottery casserole and use it in her art studio.

Thursday: Took a box of string music and string accessories for the school program to the coordinator's house.

Friday: Took a half-trunk of stuff to Goodwill - and even though I went shopping inside, I bought nothing!

Today: Donated some books to Upland Public Library

The Dogs on the Plaza

Sitting on the fountain in the plaza tonight, seeing the crowd and listening to The Dogs.

Thursday Matinee

Today's feature film matinee --- the final Harry Potter movie.  I have to say that it was a good thing that we watched the first part of the movie last night on DVD, otherwise I wouldn't really have followed as well.  Since the book came out in 2007, that's when I last read it.  To remember what happened in a book that long ago, well, that's not an easy feat for me.  So, the movie plot was mostly new for me, with the exception of a few things which I did remember.

In my opinion, 7.2 is a much better movie than 7.1.

Tinkers

Tinkers is a prize-winning book that I actually liked.  It won the Pulitzer.  It is also a first novel that I liked. However, is not the first book by an Iowa Writers Workshop participant that I liked.  When Paul Harding tried to sell his book, publishers told him that it moved way too slow for today's readers, that no one wanted to read a contemplative book.

Well, I guess some people like reading meditative reflections.  I can think of Annie Dillard or Per Petterson, authors I have enjoyed.  I also enjoyed the French movie To Be and To Have which moseys along at the speed of the turtle at the beginning of the film.  I think it depends upon the quality of the meditation.  I'm not fond of a book just because it is slow.

The language of this short novel is delicious. "Light filtered down from the sky in various amounts. The branches of maples and oaks and birch leaned across the road toward one another and intertwined and became nearly indistinguishable, their leaves mixed up, apparently sharing common branches, as if, after so many mingled seasons, the trees had grafted into one another and become a single plant that produced the leaves of several species."

Last of the Peaches

We picked the rest of the peaches which were nearly ripe in order to save them from the squirrels.  It was clear that some were ready for using, so I've made salsa and peach chutney.  Someone asked me my salsa recipe, but it seems to be stuff that I have around.  It's best with garden tomatoes (which the squirrels haven't eaten) and I also put in red onion, red and/or green peppers, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil and salt.  Next batch will have some kind of chile (but nothing too hot).

More Crayon Art

photograph of the stained glass

crayon art representation

Having had so much fun with the Kingman Chapel Organ and melted crayons, I tried one of the sections of the stained glass windows in the chapel.  Here is my result.

Running of the Balls, Part 2

Looking for entertainment on a summer Saturday evening?  Looking for a fundraiser to support the building of a new theater at Claremont High School?  Looking to see and be seen?  Looking to avoid the false scare of "carmageddon?"

Then you might have shown up at the Claremont Rotary's second "Running of the Balls" in the alleyway between Harvard and Yale, 1st and 2nd Streets.  You would have seen a large container of green tennis balls, each with a number drawn on, dumped so they could roll down the not-so-steep incline (helped along by electric leaf-blowers, and later on by helpful children) to land either first at the finish line, or get trapped in little cups attached to some kind of gift bag.

Here are two of my favorite photos of the event, but you can see 10 more at my Flickr site under the Claremont, California set.

Beginners

I'm not sure I would have purposefully chosen to see the movie Beginners in the theater, but we were looking for a Thursday matinee at the Laemmle, and since we'd already seen Midnight in Paris, this one came up as our next choice of the offerings.  (I'd like to see Super 8, but it's moved out of the Claremont lineup.)

I'm a Christopher Plummer fan from Sound of Music days, so I enjoyed watching him in this one, although I think the dog was the cutest character.  This movie was entertaining, not particularly deep with a few magical elements thrown in here and there for a fun effect.  Perfect for a Thursday afternoon (with free popcorn if you have your Laemmle Premiere card).

Here's a positive review from the LA Times.

Rincon Azteca

In Southern California we have lots of choices for Mexican food.  I asked my friends, newly returned from a sabbatical in New Zealand, what they missed the most about living in Claremont and one of the first responses was, "Mexican Food!"  We love Patty's and Los Jarritos, but we are always up to try something different, so after seeing this on yelp, we tried Rincon Azteca Mexican Food in the Vons Center on Baseline.

I had the wet carne asada burrito which was HUGE (see the scale with the small plastic fork).  It was pretty tasty and not very expensive.  The store is small and has four booths, but we managed to grab one of them.  I will probably go back sometime and try something else.

Ummmm.....Ravioli

Ahhh....summer posts: new recipes, books, summertime fun in town.  Last night I made this recipe of Sweet Potatoes and Ravioli using thyme from my herb garden.  I have been growing thyme but I'm not sure I've even used it from my garden yet.  It was cool enough yesterday to turn on the oven and roast the cubed sweet potatoes and mix them all up with the Costco Four Cheese Ravioli.  I will be putting this recipe "in the book" for future dinners.

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey

Now I have read three Walter Mosley books, all as book club selections.  The first (read in 2005) was Little Scarlet, one of his Easy Rawlins detective stories.  Then recently we read The Right Mistake, a Socrates Fortlow book.  I thought both of those books okay, but would not necessarily pick up another Mosley.  Next week book club will discuss his newest novel, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey.

Wow.  I really liked this book when I didn't expect to.  It's about South Central LA characters and the realities of race, violence and poverty, but the main character, 91-year-old Ptolemy Usher Grey, well, I couldn't stop reading about him.  I don't want to give away anything, but this novel fuses, according to Alan Cheuse, "family, fable, science fiction and sociology."

Thanks, Jane, for choosing this one.

First Concert in the Park of the Season

The Sgt Peppers Beatles Tribute Band kicked off the Claremont Summer Monday Concerts in the Park last night. This is a popular band in Claremont, so this is what the parking looked like around the park.

 The park was pretty full of concert-goers.

 Attendees had the opportunity to hoola hoop, I think with lessons, and I'm sure for a price, but I didn't check.

Crayon Art

Here are some photos of an art project I've occupied myself with in the past few days.  First I melt crayons on a hot plate, then press (carefully!) small pieces of paper on the goo and lift.  Then I cut out shapes and organize them, then glue them on black paper.  Next I scan the result, import into Photoshop Elements, play around a little more, and voila!  This one is the organ in the Kingman Chapel at CUCC.

Motherless Brooklyn

Jonathan Lethem's wikipedia page says that he lives in Brooklyn and Maine, but I rather think that he lives in California right now since he is the Disney Professor of Creative Writing at Pomona College.

His novel Motherless Brooklyn won the National Book Critics' Circle Award.  Bryan loaned me his copy.  Lionel has Tourettes Syndrome which dictates the flow of the narrative of this detective novel.  Actually, the detective story is not the most interesting part of the story - Lionel is.  Because of that, there are some portions of the story that dragged for me, but the language and rhythm made most of the book compelling.

#!%#@*& Squirrels!

I've brought up the squirrel problem in conversation several times this past week, and everyone has a story. This invasive species has gotten more and more troublesome in our yards in the past several years.  It started with the tangerines in our yard.  They grab one small fruit and take it up into one of the tall trees, eat part of it and drop the peels and uneaten portions all over the ground.

peaches with small bites taken out of them

Well. Last month I started noticing that our plums were on the ground, just before they ripened, but with one or two bites out of them.  And now the peaches.  And the squash.  I have searched over the internet for ways to get rid of these pests.  All methods have their flaws, so my first line of defense has been to pick the fruit just before it ripens to send them to some other food source.

This morning I picked half a brown grocery bag of peaches, but I have to be more vigilant with the summer squash.  Last year I would get one squash a day, but so far only one (total) has made it to the table.

Friday Nights Live!

Here are some scenes from the Village West Plaza tonight where Sligo Rags Band performed.  Even after some very hot days, the evenings cool off so that sitting outside is pleasant.  The plaza was filled to overflowing with people listening as well as eating and lining up at the Laemmle.  The fountains were filled with kids splashing around.

Loving Hut - Claremont

It was just a month ago that we ate at the Upland Loving Hut and wondered when the Claremont location would open.  Well, we heard that people had been seen eating at the new restaurant next to Le Pain Quotidien in the Village West Plaza.  It was way too hot to turn on my oven on Tuesday night, the perfect excuse to go.

The first thing we noticed was that the interior is quite modern, and instead of ordering at the counter like in Upland, it's a sit-down, service restaurant.  The next thing that I noticed was that the menu was completely different than Upland.  We chatted with the owner, and he said that each Loving Hut is supposed to create its own vegan fare, and that he said that if we had any suggestions of what we'd like to eat we should let him know.

Tacos Diego

Portabello Sandwich

The menu is a little pricey, with most entrees about $12-14.  Choices include appetizers, salads, soups, sandwiches, pizza and a handful of other entrees.  I did not try any of their non-alcoholic wine, but H had the passion fruit iced tea ($5 including refills) which was pretty tasty.  The waitress and owner made sure to chat with us which was good since it took a little while to get our food, and the two orders came out about 7-8 minutes apart.  I know they are just getting started, so I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt, although I think that if they had to keep apologizing for the tardiness of the meal, they should have comped us drinks or a dessert, or something.

Okay, that's the less-positive, but the food was very delicious.  I had the Tacos Diego and H had the Portabello Sandwich (with avocado and green peppers and lettuce with small salad).  We will probably go back, but not too often unless the prices come down.  We'll probably also continue to go to the Upland location occasionally.

Blog Following

Two of the blogs I have been reading this year are almost about to expire as my friends will be returning to Claremont from their respective sabbaticals.  Just in time, one of our teachers at Vista has embarked upon her exciting year traveling to Asia and Central America, and I just discovered her blog which you can access from the column on the left of "Blogs I Follow".  It's called Buried Treasures.

A Traditional Claremont 4th

Every 4th of July Claremont rolls along with great traditions, centering primarily around Memorial Park. Every year I look for something that puts a twist on the tried-and-true, or just something new.  The funny thing for me is that there are several traditions I never participated in before, but decided to this year.  Starting out with the Kiwanis' Pancake Breakfast.  For $4 one gets two huge pancakes, two sausages, and coffee, oj and milk, along with shaded picnic tables.  If you get there before the start of the race, the lines are very, very short.  After the race, the lines are quite long.

I'd never seen the 5K race, but this year I enjoyed watching my friends run, walk, and jog the course at the beginning and then crossing the finish line.

 Here is a shirt I liked.

 The parade, my favorite part of the day, had all the usual fun stuff, but also included these new entries.

Mona Lisa on foot

Really, a John Deere tractor?  Actually there were 2!

And perhaps my favorite - Llamas!

Patriotic Hymn

One of the things that I like about the Independence Sunday at church is that the choir sings The Battle Hymn of the Republic accompanied by the CUCC Brass.  This is the pretty famous version that you can hear at this youtube video.

Red-Tailed Hawks

Yesterday morning I went early, took my camera.  It's quite bright at 6 a.m. these days, but the world is quiet of people, giving the squirrels, rabbits and birds free reign to do their animal things.  At the Pomona Track, three red-tailed hawks and I skirted around each other for a half hour, and here is a photo as well as a movie of these beautiful birds. 

I have more bird photos at my Flickr Site.

Vegetarian Borscht

At the end of May I made a list of recipes I'd like to try this summer, and I am working my way through the various recipes online.  Here is a vegetarian borscht recipe that was pretty darn tasty.  I've topped it with greek yogurt which makes a delicious and healthy substitute for sour cream.  I didn't have any dill, so I put in some rosemary from my garden.  I'm sure that each herb lends a different flavor, but rosemary was fine.

State of Wonder

With the reading of Ann Patchett's latest book, State of Wonder, I have read 26 books in the first six months this year.  My favorites were: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire.  And I always love the Number One Ladies' Detective Agency books, but that's like admitting that I like chocolate.

So, would I add this one to that list?  I think Ann Patchett has a way with words, and I was hooked when I started this book, reading it quickly, and then slowing down so I would have more time with the characters and the language.  And then about 3/4 of the way in, it became quite hard to suspend my disbelief.  I won't give away any of the plot, but the end just takes too many twists and turns for my liking, and too many things happen at just the right time.   I felt compelled to read this book, but I am now ambivalent about it.  At first I thought it would be a perfect book for my older daughter, but now I know that she would be very put off by the "science" which is at the center of the novel.