Iowa

We landed at LAX last night to the hottest temps in So Cal for the year (so far). When we left for Des Moines on Wednesday I expected to land in a sauna there, but, instead, we were treated to lovely temps, changing clouds (along with some winds and bugs). Our daughters had not seen their grandfather in 5-6 years, our son-in-law had not met the grandfather, so we knew it was time for a family reunion. The sister and brother-in-law drove up from Texas, and along with grandmother, sister, and Anne, all eleven of us were together.

Apparently, no trip to Iowa is complete without a stop at the Heart of Iowa Store in Historic Valley Junction. H feels compelled to bring his summer research students a bit of Iowa, and this year he had hoped that he could find the little pig that, when squeezed, would bulge out its eyes and poop out some jelly beans. Such a fine item was not to be had this year, so he settled for cow pens with eyes that light up and moo sounds.

Lest you think that there are only such silly items in the store, rest assured that you can also purchase such lovely pottery items as seen above, and a variety of food items.

Also on the docket for Thursday was a visit to West End Architectural Salvage in downtown Des Moines. I had seen one of the shows on HGTV about this place and was curious to check it out. I am sure that most in our group were just humoring me, but when we entered, we were immediately hooked with the variety of antiques - some beautiful, some not so much, some already repurposed, some waiting for love. I don't know how much time we spent wandering and taking photos, pointing and laughing, but it ended with coffee drinks at the little cafe on the first floor.

I was taken with these typewriter bracelets, but not with their price tag. A quick view through Etsy proved that West End is not the only place, by far, that makes jewelry from old typewriter keys.

Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?

During an evening constitutional a few weeks ago, I looked up at this tower at CGU, and it reminded me of that song by the band Chicago.

Hidden Claremont

The other day I was walking along First Street, and I noticed a tall statue in the alley, so I investigated. I do not know how long this art has been behind the Folk Music Center, but I have only recently seen it. Being that it is so large, it would be hard to miss.

Communi-trees

When I was wandering through the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden during the Folk Festival, I came across these "Communi-trees" near the back of the garden. I had not seen them before, and I always enjoy seeing new things in the garden.  You can read the sign about the creation of the sculptures.

The Thief

I liked this book and but I didn't like it enough to give it a star on my 2013 books read list. I think that I am finding that I like the writing style of Japanese literature, and this book gave me hints of Murakami, so I am now finding myself on a search for more Japanese novels. A little searching on the internet brought forth Yukio Mishima who is now on my list.

One's Adult Children

I had the opportunity this weekend, once again, to watch one of my daughters in her adult life. This time I saw my younger daughter as one of the lead teachers, along with two of her very favorite own teachers, as they led over 100 dancers in their annual recital. I do not generally get to watch her with her students, although we talk about teaching quite a bit when we are together. This year I arrived early and watched her run through a few pieces with her dancers and enjoyed watching how she works with the girls, and how at home she is in her own skin. When she was two, I knew she would dance, but I could not picture her as a grown-up at that time. Now I am so happy to see who she has become!

Petiscos

It's been a long time coming, the renovation of the little building on First Street. When we moved to Claremont 27 years ago, I believe it was Shrimps, a tiny boutique with fun clothing. The Courier says that before Shrimps, it was the first home of the Claremont Folk Music Center. Then about six months ago or so (I don't remember exactly), I heard that this cute little building would turn into a taco stand, operated by the people who own the Back Abbey and Union on Yale.

So, I've been watching the transformation of this little building, and it finally opened up for business a few weeks ago. Yesterday I finally had to try it out, and I was very pleased with the $4 fish taco that I had. Not large, but full of lots of flavor.

 

You walk up the west side to order, and here is the menu. Pretty easy to change out, depending upon the day's offerings. 

You can sit on these little barrels while you wait for your order.

The back has limited seating at picnic tables, but it seems to me that if all the tables are occupied and there are still spaces at some of the large tables, you could easily make a new friend or two... There is also a small building in the back with restrooms for customers. If you walk past the restrooms, you run smack into the side of The Press and the little free library that is there.

The window for ordering. Kind of like a movie theater ticket window.

The fish taco to go.

Old CD solution?

My clutter cleanse is going quite well. I am keeping track of items I am purging, and so far in June it's more than 40 items. Some of those items are old CDs, and I thought that if I hung some in my peach tree, the sun shining off of the reflective side might, just maybe, scare off a squirrel or two. I have no idea if this will work, but it is worth a try. I'll let you know.

City Hall Business

Every summer I renew my business license with the City of Claremont, but this year I did it online. They say that it will take 4-6 weeks to get my license in the mail, but they have always been much quicker than that in the past.

Today I actually went into City Hall in order to obtain my Resident Parking Permit for the Wilderness Park. I have not been hiking there since the pay parking lots went into effect, but I'd rather be ready to go when I want to. Since City Hall is closed on Fridays, I made sure to go in on a business day.

The last time I looked in the fountain in front of City Hall, I saw a rubber duckie. Today a saw a shark, but the duck was nowhere to be seen. Hmmm...

Borgen

In time for your summer viewing pleasure - Borgen. This political drama focuses on a (fictional) first woman prime minister of Denmark. Although it is in its third season, the first one is being run on KCET on Friday nights. You can watch the first episodes on Linktv.org to catch up and then start watching on tv. Here is a link to a Salon article about the merits of this series. And for one of my readers, it has subtitles, so, Judy, you can keep up with your Danish.

Claremont Folk Festival

I cannot believe that I have lived in Claremont for 27 years, and I have never before been to the Claremont Folk Festival. Thankfully, I rectified that on Saturday when I attended the festival for the first time. It was also the first time that the festival was held at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens. What a perfect venue for such a great event. I will be sure to go again.

For the uninitiated, the all-day festival features lots and lots of live music with two stages going. There are workshops from folk singing, drumming, ukulele, songwriting, didgeridoo, and arts. Various vendors sell interesting items and local food vendors have eats and drinks (including Claremont Craft Ales and Dale Brothers).

Here is Peter Harper playing at the Lily Pond Stage (plenty of shade for the audience).

 Here is a mosaic in process at the mosaic-making workshop.

People were enjoying monotype printing.

Kids were enjoying a puppet show.

Here is a "quilt" where people have written the name of a special song on an index card.

You could buy cool banjos and cigar-box ukuleles.

Many people were carrying around their own ukes.

Food vendors

Here is Moira Smiley and VOCO on the main stage. I really, really enjoyed this performance and came home to look them up on the internet. They have a TEDx talk that you can see here.

This group, Fivacious, was supposed to have a spot on one of the stages, but something went wrong, so they were strolling around the gardens and singing in various spots. I stopped for a listen, and they gave out CDs when they were done. They are a family of 5 siblings singing a capella gospel.

Six-Word Memoirs

When I was catching up on NPR Most-Emailed Stories podcasts, I heard about the six-word memoirs for mothers for Mother's Day. Because I was catching up, that meant that Mother's Day had come and gone, but I tucked away the thought in my brain for Father's Day. Of course, a life is impossible to distill into six words, but one can create an image in such a brief expression.

Because I missed Mother's Day, I will also offer up a memoir to Mom today, too. These particular memoirs highlight some of the gifts I received from my folks.

For Dad:

Chose my sins wisely, per Dad.

For Mom:

Punctual, with clean clothes and reliability.

I have been fortunate to have parents who love me unconditionally and supported me throughout my life in what I chose to do. They opened up a world of knowledge to me with travel and books. 

Thanks, Dad and Mom!

Apricots!

About 5 years ago we planted a fruit cocktail tree which has two kinds of peaches, a nectarine and apricot. We have not gotten much fruit from it yet, until this spring. We were thrilled to see so many apricots. However, those &$#! squirrels started nibbling on them when they were still hard. So, I showed those little buggers and stripped the tree clean of the fruit and took them inside to ripen. It didn't take long, and this week I made apricot jam. Yum.

Picasso's Blue Nude with Otterspace Arts at Claremont Craft Ales

Last night I figured out how I wanted to use some of my birthday money (thanks, Mom and Dad!). I got my friend Lynn to accompany me to Claremont Craft Ales where Otterspace Arts had a painting class. They hold these classes at CCA once a month on Wednesday evenings, and yesterday's class used Picasso's Blue Nude for inspiration.

The teachers walk you through the painting step-by-step, making the process very easy, but mostly really fun. I've looked at the photos on their website, and often people's pictures look pretty similar to each other's, but this painting allowed for many individual interpretations. I think I was inspired by the Fauvists in mine. Lynn's reminded me of the German Expressionists. 

I particularly enjoyed doing something completely different than I usually do. I would certainly do this again, and I would encourage anyone to give it a try.

Here is a series of pictures of my work in progress (I liked having the word "bonkers" behind the photos).

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

Another first novel with high acclaim. In fact, Heidi Durrow's book won the Bellwether Prize for Fiction given for a novel that addresses social justice issues.

When I started reading the book, I was immediately engaged with the main character, a biracial girl whose father was an African-American serviceman and mother was Danish. I usually like characters who are smart, and Rachel certainly is.

However, when it comes to plotting, I ended up not quite being sure about the novel's main idea. Was it about the issues of being biracial? Was it about a family tragedy? Was it about addiction?  The part of the story that was supposed to be, perhaps, suspenseful was not particularly so. And then the end of the book came, wham, at a sudden stop.

With a good editor, this book could have been much better, and hopefully, the author's next book will learn from the problems of this one.

LYFE Kitchen

During our day trip to LACMA on Saturday, we took a little lunch break and drove to Culver City to try LYFE Kitchen. H had read about this place in the NY Times Magazine in April and wanted to try it out. Although it's the kind of place where you order at the counter and they bring out the food, it feels like a nice place and has these herbs growing right in the indoor seating part.

I enjoyed the fish tacos, H had thai curry soup with his grilled asparagus flatbread, and we both tried the chia water with strawberries, mint, ginger and lime. I have been eating chia seeds on my morning yogurt because of their omega 3s and 6s. The chia water was pretty good. This restaurant also has a vegan menu as well as gluten-free, but serves sustainable and local meat, as well. Each entree is less than 600 calories, and if there was a location closer, I would go more often. The other location is in Palo Alto, a little far for lunch.

Generations at Vista

On Friday we celebrated the retirement of one of Vista's longest-serving teachers - Teri Tondee. Teri was already a leading teacher when my daughter arrived as a kindergartener in 1990, and she has been an integral part of the Vista Family.

As I thought about those years past when I started out as a Vista parent, then the Vista Librarian (officially the Library Media Aide), and now the music teacher, it occurred to me that in the fall only one person will have more seniority than me, and that is our custodian.

At the party, many of the Vista people who I've known for the past 23 years arrived, and it revived many good memories, reminding me of Ley Yeager's saying, "Looks like a school, feels like a family."

We wish Teri all the best in her new endeavors.

Birthday at LACMA

Yay for a birthday that falls on a weekend! On my Kansas trip I read a few articles about the James Turrell Retrospective at LACMA and knew that's how I wanted to celebrate my birthday. I had also been wanting to see the Levitated Mass, so that was a bonus.

I have no photos of the Turrell exhibit since they are not allowed, but let me say that I am glad we saw it. I think if I was not familiar with his Skyspace at Pomona College, I may not have enjoyed the show as much, mostly because his work is very subtle and takes time to enjoy. 

When we arrived at the museum just before it opened, the skies were still holding on to June gloom, so the light was soft, but the skies uninteresting. If I lived closer to the museum, I would watch the skies and take opportunities to photograph this rock. The bolder is actually smaller than I had envisioned, but, nonetheless fun to see.

Of course I enjoyed much of the art that we saw (mostly modern), I was particularly enamored of Metropolis II - a model city with trains and cars that zip around like crazy. The kids watching the cars were clearly thrilled with the excitement, as evidenced by their chatter and occasional shrieks.

We capped the evening off with a trip to the Pomona Skyspace.

Star Spangled Banner

At the CUSD board meeting last night, no one could remember a time, ever, when a group of students played for such a meeting. So, we think this is a first - the Chamber Strings (mostly 6th graders) playing the National Anthem at the start of the meeting. They played very well and received hearty applause from the standing-room only crowd.

The space was a little tight, so the set-up was slightly unorthodox, but I don't think anyone was stabbed by a bow.