My childhood hero

Here I am with Peter Yarrow. That's right, from Peter, Paul and Mary. He was in Claremont singing and signing books. All I have to say is that he is as warm and wonderful in person as you might expect him to be. After this photo I got a big kiss on my cheek!

Fall Harvest

These are probably all the persimmons we'll get this year from our tree. There are a few more on the branches, but they're being used as bird food.

Good news

I received a package of information today about Claire's spring semester in Arezzo, Italy at the Accademia dell'Arte. Amidst all the forms (health, roommates, etc) are the dates of her spring break. The great news is that her break will coincide with the week we plan on visiting her in mid-March! That makes our plans to visit her about 100 times more exciting!

Also, you MUST see the video of my cousin's 6-year-old daughter on her blog.  Drama Queen!

Summer Weekend in November

Temps are in the upper 80s and low 90s this weekend, and the fires are burning all around, but it's pretty calm and clear here in Claremont. We are in desperate need of rain here.

I have been trying to imagine a tile backsplash in our kitchen, not quite sure what I wanted. Until yesterday. Hal and I went to see Bill and Sandy's new tile work in their kitchen, and I love their backsplash (seen here). I think this is what we want in ours!

Thai Night

Here are some of Hal's research students cooking up a storm of Thai food in our kitchen last night. They made Tom Kha Kai and Pad See Ewe.

Dinner and Movie

One of Harvey Mudd College's alums produces the James Bond films, and last night he provided the opportunity for some of the Mudd family to catch a sneak peak of the newest film, Quantum of Solace. A chartered bus took about 35 students, alumni, faculty, trustees and staff to the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City where we had dinner catered by Wolfgang Puck. We were joined by many more HMC people, as well as Bill Nye (the science guy).

Then we went onto the studio lot to a theater where we watched the film. Although I am no Bond afficianado, I did enjoy the exotic locale shots (starting off in Siena, Italy). Just to be part of this big event and to walk around on the studio lot was pretty darn fun. We even made it home before midnight!

A Birthday Luncheon

Today I was invited to a luncheon to celebrate Mary Fallis' birthday. Mary has worked at the Stone Center for Children's Books for many a year. I used to spend hours of my afternoons at the Stone Library. Here we are after consuming a delicious lunch, and I am standing between Judy (who hosted the event) and Mary, the honoree!

Book Review

I saw The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates listed alongside some of my very favorite novels in an ad and thought I ought to read it. It started out okay, but then seemed very fragmented, with little cohesion, and then I realized I didn't care about any of the characters. So I guess I would give it two stars out of five.

Also, Hal and I tried watching the first three episodes of the Emmy-winning Mad Men and took the rest of the disks off of our Netflix queue. Who likes a show where every character is unlikeable?  (Apparently, lots of people...)

In the News

NY Times: You can check flu trends via Google now.

MacWorld: Netflix will soon stream movies to Macs instead of just PCs.

Channel 4 News: Highs in the 90s for the next few days (but it's still chilly at night).

Tomorrow is the Great So Cal Shakeout - the largest-ever earthquake drill tomorrow at 10 a.m.

AND THIS JUST IN FROM THE INTERNET - - - Peter Yarrow will be in Claremont next week signing books (and I hope he'll sing....)!!!!!!!

A Day Off

Today was a delightful day to catch up on things. Ever vigilant, I took another trunkload of stuff to Goodwill, cleaned up and organized a room upstairs, went grocery shopping and even had time to play duets with Lynn and have coffee this afternoon with Hal.

However, the best part of the day was PEPPERNUTS, PART 1. Every year about this time, I start on these family Christmas cookies - a recipe from my Grandma Wiebe. Today was the day to make the dough. This takes about 45 minutes to an hour. First you warm up Dark Kayro Syrup and melt butter in it, then add sugar. When that's all creamed, you put it in a large bowl and add oodles of flour along with all kinds of spices. Today I used up the last of my cardamom... Anyway, after that you add a mixture of sour cream and eggs into which is put anise oil (which you must order from a pharmacist) and lemon extract and finish adding flour and stir until your arm falls off. Put your arm back on and put the dough into the refrigerator so the spices can intermingle.

PART 2 arrives when I have another spare hour or two. Maybe this weekend.