Wordless News

I heard about the site Wordless News on NPR earlier this month, and I occasionally look at the sight. The artist gets up early in the morning and listens to NPR and choses a story to illustrate. She'll work on the image from about 5:00-10:00 a.m., then post the image  on her blog before she gets on with the work she does for her graphic art clients. I particularly enjoyed this one honoring Pete Seeger.

Cool Bike Rack

If you ride your bike to Claremont Optometry on Foothill, you have this cute rack to hitch your wheels to.

Facebook-Free Mondays

A few weeks ago I was dismayed to read a spoiler on Facebook about Downton Abbey just one day after it aired. We usually watch the episode on Monday or Tuesday. I decided that I am going to instigate for myself a Facebook-Free Monday, so I did not check my page yesterday.

For the most part, I didn't miss Facebook. I get tired of these things (and please forgive me if these apply to you)

people who "share" rumors without checking them out beforehand
poor grammar (figure out how to use its or it's, your or you're, people!)
too many posts from a single person in a short period of time (if you're posting 6-7 times a day, you
    need to get a life)
not any posts from others or even a profile picture from some
too many photos of the same thing
people who share a facebook account with their spouse (really? do you share email accounts, too?)
posts which say things like - please share if you love your daughter.... Of course, I love my daughters! I
      just don't need to clutter up my page with someone else's graphic
complaining every time Facebook changes the layout (which hasn't really happened in awhile)
     (remember when people were so mad about the timeline?)
and one of my least favorite - posts that say things like "Oh, no!" which require the readers to ask what
   the matter is.

On the other hand, I do miss some things when I am not on Facebook. For example, I probably missed some birthdays yesterday, and then, when I logged in this morning, it was there that I first heard about the passing of one of my childhood and life heroes, Pete Seeger.

So, I'm not ready to quit my account, but I am going to try to be less addicted to it. (Is that possible?)

Upland Trader Joe's Closing

I heard about it on Facebook last week, and then when I went over to Michael's by the Upland Trader Joe's, I saw the signs confirming it - the store is closing. I have no idea why. Every time I go there, there are many people there, but, I don't get there too often since we have our own TJs in Claremont.  I also saw that Party City next door is gone. Not that I shopped there very often, but it was good to know that it was there for the few times I needed party goods.

Bridges Auditorium Doors

The massive doors leading into Bridges Auditorium are getting a cleaning and lightening up.

Farewell to Vista's Librarian

It comes with the territory of working with a group of people. For one reason or another, the players change due to retirement, moving, career change, or something else. Now Vista is saying good-bye to our librarian. Yes, even though each elementary school has the position of "Library Media Aide", Cindy Dewey (so aptly named for her job) is an actual, certified librarian. She has done so much for the kids from book clubs, blogging with student book reports (written and video), encouraging every reader as well as buying books with her own money to make sure kids have the books they really want to read.     She is moving to Albany, NY since her husband is starting a new job, and although we wish her well in her new life, we will miss her terribly.

Last night the staff had a party to celebrate Cindy's last 8 years with Vista, and we enjoyed this cake made by one of our recently retired teachers. If you click on the photo of this little story on top of the cake, you can read about our love for Cindy.

Andrew's Brain

Just finished the newest E. L. Doctorow book. My second of his, the first being Homer and Langley (which I really enjoyed and apparently did not blog about). I am getting better at figuring out when we have an unreliable narrator, and this one certainly fits that description. I haven't decided whether or not I like this book, but I do know that it would garner a good book club discussion, especially with two strange twists at the end. It may be one of those books that I will not remember at the end of the year.

Vista's Green Team

I have been hearing about Vista's Green Team, and I knew it had to do something with reducing waste at lunch time, but I didn't know too much about it. Then the teacher who is in charge of the program handed me a song that she wants me to help teach students. The tune is John Lennon's Imagine, the words all about reducing trash, written by students. She is going to make a video of Vista's participation in this venture and this song, so I just had to know more.

I learned that Vista and Oakmont represent Claremont in the Grades of Green Trash-Free Lunch Challenge, a competition between 24 LA County schools to see who can reduce the most lunchtime trash. Students wrote essays if they wanted to be part of the Green Team, and three students were chosen to go on a field trip to a landfill along with the principal, custodian and teacher. They learned all kinds of things and were taught how to sort waste. A total of 21 students are on the Green Team, from 2nd-6th grade.

Vista has gone from 8 bags of trash per day to less than one bag per day. Waste is recycled or turned into the compost (to go along with Vista's great gardens), and there is a HUGE dumpster on the side of the parking lot which takes all kinds of things, from clothing and batteries, to cans, bottles and e-waste. Vista earns money from this recycling, so it's a double bonus!

I am so proud of our kids who have taken an initiative and have great follow-through. I am also proud to be part of this community of teachers who teach the three Rs and more to our kids. 

Death of a Whistle

When I was in 9th grade, I was still in jr. high (in Wichita the grouping was 7th-9th), and I was a girl's gym leader. I, in no way, wanted this job, but the p.e. teachers made me do it. We were supposed to help out in gym class, and also to "monitor" the showers. (I don't think they still make jr. high kids shower after p.e, which is good, because that borders on torture.)

One of the "perks" of being a gym leader was that we got to wear white camp shirts and bloomers instead of pea green camp shirts and bloomers. Really. 

One of the other "perks" was that we were given whistles. Until today, I have carried my whistle on my keychain, and perhaps I have used it a handful of times in the past (aaahhhmmm) years. Today, the whistle totally fell into two pieces, and that is the end of that.

Strange Stones

These are some of the images you get when you google Strange Stones and click on "Images". 

I am more interested in the book of that title by Peter Hessler (tucked in between photos of interesting stones). River Town, Hessler's first book still sticks in my mind as a great read, about his years in the Peace Corps, teaching English literature in a teacher's college.

This book, a collection of essays about his continued time in China with some pieces on America, has been an equally interesting read. I think my favorite one is called "Walking the Wall" about The Great Wall of China, which, as I found out, is not one wall, not visible from space, and still continues to engage my imagination (what with my fascination with history and architectural ruins).

Where I'm From

At Women's Retreat, we usually have an ice-breaker on Friday night where we can share things about ourselves. This year we had a fill-in-the-blank poem about where we come from. We enjoyed this activity very much, and here is how I filled out my poem.

Women's Retreat - Highland Springs Resort

It was time, once again, for our annual Women's Retreat. This year we had a new venue and a different weekend (the MLK holiday weekend this time, rather than the last weekend in January). The Glen Ivy Retreat Center has closed, so we were on the hunt for a new venue. We came up with the Highland Springs Resort and Conference Center in Cherry Valley. You can read about the history of the land here from the early 1800s when the land was a Rancho - an outpost for the San Gabriel Mission, then as a stagecoach stop, then in 1927 as a health resort (complete with colon cleansing and vegetarian meals).

Today the Resort hosts weddings, retreats, conferences, and also walk-ins for lunch and dinner at the Grand Oak Steakhouse and Bar (I guess they gave up on the idea of vegetarian food....). The claim to fame, I think, are the lavender fields, but the olive trees are also beautiful. Yesterday we took a walk through the trees, by the fields and ended up at the 1100-year-old Oak Tree and a pen of sheep and some beautiful vistas.

Another New Appliance

Out with the old....

In with the new!

Colby Fire

With our drought in Southern California and high temps with Santa Ana winds, we woke this morning to the news of the Colby Fire in Glendora, about 11 miles west of Claremont. Obviously this fire is a great disaster for many reasons, but it also creates some amazing opportunities for photography. Unfortunately for me, whenever I was out and about and could see the smoke cloud or beautiful colors, I did not have a camera on me. Then, when I went looking for photos, my views were obscured either by buildings or the fact that it was just hazy.

Therefore, the photos in this post come courtesy of my friends. These two photos were taken by a firefighter who is married to one of my friends. He was at the fire early in the morning and managed to post them. I'm sure he will be very busy for a few days. Over a holiday weekend, no less.

This photo is from another friend of mine which looks like a photo I might have taken if I'd had my camera earlier today.

Fitness Room at CMC

Pretty soon now, the Ducey Gym at CMC will be torn down to make way for the new Roberts Pavilion. Here is the sign with the artist's rendering of what's in store. It looks pretty nice.

Before Christmas vacation, we saw this sign on the door to the Fitness Room. 

We were told that the cardio and weights would be moved to a room across from the Ath and the Hub and would be open sometime in early January. That day has finally come, and we are back in business! In the meantime, we have been walking the track behind Ducey and adding interval training. When we get to the stadium side, we run up and down the stairs, and then on the other side of the track, we jog for one length. While that has been great cardio and still an option for some days, I have missed the weight machines.

Her

We have decided that we don't really need to see the middle movie of The Hobbit series. At least not in the theaters. So last week when we saw Joaquin Phoenix on The Daily Show talking about his new movie, Her, we were intrigued, so we took in a weekend matinee.

Despite the fact that it was 2 hours long (and I think the story could have been tighter in 95 minutes), it was a pretty good commentary on our relationship with technology. The main character falls in love with his computer's operating system which is set up to become personalized to him. I loved the irony that he works for a company called BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com.

I have held out for owning a smartphone now. (I held out on owning a cell phone for as long a possible.) I know I would love one. At home I am often tied to my desktop, laptop or iPad, (tv, too) but when I leave the house, I do not have a gadget to distract me from seeing the world around me. I watch as people are deeply absorbed in their devices, but not with other people. I know that some day I will get a smart phone, and I hope to not change my involvement in real life because of it.

Public Art

On our way to the Laemmle yesterday, we saw these tree covers next to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I knew to look for them because I had seen a photo on Facebook. I was not sure who was behind these colorful tree-warmers, 

but then today on Instagram I saw this photo. The Clarewood Knitters are "Warming the Village One tree at a time). Now we know them name of these guerilla artists, but not their identity!

Afternoon Project

My project this afternoon was to assemble sets of flashcards for my beginning string students. My friend and cohort made the templates, then I photocopied them onto card stock, then cut them up, grouped them, punched holes in the corners and put each group on its own ring.

This year, this was more of a deal than last because I have 18 beginners - 12 violins, 4 violas, 2 cellos. I told them that when they pass their Twinkle test next week, they will get a set of flashcards. They seemed very excited about that.

Take One Candle Light a Room

Our book club will be discussing Susan Straight's Take One Candle Light a Room this month. It was selected as this year's Claremont On the Same Page read. We are a little slow on the uptake since the events for the selection were in the fall.

Anyway, this book has been lauded by a variety of reviewers who, I think, have a great deal more patience than I do when it comes to this style of writing. I found the choppy style (not quite stream of consciousness, but close in some places), the plethora of characters and the amount of details which do not add either to the plot nor the tone of the story too confusing.

I think the story itself bears telling, once I sort of figured out what it was, but I felt as though I waded through so much extraneous stuff. For example, there was attention paid to the fact that the narrator was bitten by fire ants, and how that stung her legs like crazy, and then they applied some home remedies to her bites which helped some but not a lot. I have no idea how that illuminated either the plot nor the characters.

This is the second book by Straight that I have read, but I don't think I'll choose another one unless it's for a book club.

Burn Remedy

The other day I foolishly picked up a lid that had been in the oven. Although the pain was not too bad, I immediately grabbed a piece of tin foil to cover my fingertips. Instant cooling and no pain! I kept it on for about 10 minutes, and when I removed it, I continued to feel no pain. I heard from my friend about this tip when she asked me to see if my scientist husband knew why this worked. He didn't know, but I don't really care since it just does.

Why It's So Cold

What's wrong with this photo? My friends and family in the rest of the country might first say that the frigid temps are what's wrong.

But I say that an apostrophe has gone missing. Really, people, let's learn to use apostrophes correctly!!!

Why It's So Cold. If you don't know the difference between its and it's, then take some time to learn it and and then use it correctly.

This rant brought to you on the "most depressing day of the year."

Daylight Creeping

Some of my lessons end at 5:00, and the last week of December, the lessons end in dark. I tell my students that when I see them in January, it won't be quite as dark at 5:00. As I look outside now at 5:05, it IS a little lighter. Hooray!

"The shortest day has passed, and whatever nastiness of weather that we may look forward to in January and February, at least we notice that the days are getting longer. Minute by minute they lengthen out. It takes some weeks before we become aware of the change."

- Vita Sackville-West

Daughter Date

Today was a shopping date with daughter C. Once in awhile we look at each other and say, "we need to go shopping!" For us, that means Ontario Mills. Today we realized that we are getting this down to a science. First we head to Coffee Klatch in Ontario which opens up before the mall. Then we know the secret route to the mall from there and can find the entrance closest to the Gap. After I'm done with the Gap and C needs to continue, I head off to the Banana Republic factory store and we meet up when we are finished.

Next we have to decide whether we want to go to Victoria Gardens, but whether or not we go there, we must stop for lunch. Usually it's Gandolfo's, but today I had a hankering for a hamburger, and I had not yet been to Five Guys, so that's where we ended up. I have to say, it was a delicious burger, and I was glad I took the advice to get the small one (regular-person-sized) with everything. Also, a small fries is good for two people.

A plus was that there was a Target in the same center, so we didn't have to maneuver through the parking lot to get to the Target at the Colonies in Upland to pick up just a few small necessities.

New Year's Revolution

You might be enjoying the commercials where the guy is talking to four kids who say the darndest things. In the most recent ad (seen here) the kid says that his new year's revolution [sic] is to eat more jelly beans.

I'm not big into resolutions anymore. Maybe I never was, but on my walk this morning I was thinking that I am so over taking pictures of food. The food is going to have to be awfully special for me to take photos of it. I think I will now go back through my 2012 photos and remove all those food pictures.