Claire on Italian TV and YouTube!

While talking to Claire yesterday, we found out that she had been on Italian TV last week! One of her teachers recruited some of the dancers to go to the local cable tv studio and perform on a talent show. You can see it on YouTube here. Claire is in the back row on the left, and about 2:53 minutes in there is a close-up head shot of her. Also at the very end, the host asks the dancers where they are from, and you can hear Claire say, "California."

I can't believe that she'll be coming home in 11 days!

Eco Sunday

In honor of Earth Day this coming Wednesday, we thought about the interconnectedness of life on earth during church this morning. One of the biggest consumers of electricity in most homes in the clothes dryer. Each family emits a ton of carbon dioxide a year into the air using enough electricity to run their dryer. So, like the Italians, I am going to start pre-drying my clothes. Starting yesterday. I put my towels outside to dry, and then ran them for 10 minutes in the dryer to get that fluffy feeling, thus saving a good 60 minutes of drying time.

We also recycled big time today by selling the claw foot bathtub from the cottage on craigslist to a happy buyer!

Saturday in the Yard

Besides raking up all the leaves and twigs and branches that littered the yard from Wednesday's wild wind, our yard work today consisted of a trip to Garrison Foothill Nursery to buy more plants for the shade now that our fence panels are in place. Hal is at HMC this afternoon wooing accepted students, so the planting will have to wait until tomorrow.

I also bought some spray soap to put on my vegetables that are being eaten by some small creatures. Pictures of the fence on the Picasa site.

Later:
It was so warm today that we had our first dinner of the season outside on the patio!

That's What it's All About

Today when I taught the upper graders music, I requested all the kids who might actually show up for Shop and Dine next Friday afternoon. (Shop and Dine is a big fundraiser for the Claremont Education Foundation which raises money for the schools.) So I got about 14 self-selected students (most of whom are my string students), and I had the most fun singing with 4th, 5th, and 6th graders that I have ever had. They wanted to sing more than the three songs we were rehearsing, I didn't have to cajole them into singing louder, AND they sang in tune! Plus they were happy to make hand motions and sway in the appropriate times.....

Yet Another Book

No, I didn't just read this whole book today. During Lent at church we have had a book discussion on Thursday nights. This year we read Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith by Diana Butler Bass. Tonight, though it is no longer Lent, is our final discussion of this book since it took a little longer to read than our prescribed four weeks.

Butler Bass studied a variety of thriving mainline progressive Protestant churches for three years and compiled her findings in this book. She found out common characteristics of churches which appear to defy odds by growing in areas where many other churches are slowly dying.

It has been an insightful book which has given our small group much to discuss.

Book Club Book

On Sunday our book club will discuss People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. I finished it today, a few days early since it has been recalled by the library. Parts of the book I skimmed, since I needed to finish it, so some of the plot is a little fuzzy for me. My impressions - I enjoyed various segments of the book, and I really like the idea of finding out the mysteries of the haggadah through forensic research. However, I felt as though the book as a whole needed some one unifying factor which was either absent, or I didn't find it. The two story lines could have been more linked, in my opinion. Again, we'll see what others in the book club have to say, and maybe I'll change my opinion, or maybe understand the book better.

More Deconstruction

Looking into the kitchen through the bedroom and dining room. All the upper parts of the walls are gone, allowing for new wiring to go in. Hal thinks that the west part of the house was original and that the east part was added later, now that he can see through the walls.

Cottage Kitchen Demo Day!

Today was the day the contractors showed up for the first time. Just leave them alone, and the kitchen gets demoed! It amazed me, though, that even without all the cabinets and other stuff, the kitchen is still very small.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from a 70-degree and sunny Claremont. Everything seems to be in bloom, and the allergies attest to it!

Fence, Part One

Saturday, Yard Day. Last week we ordered two fence panels to put between the cottage and our house. Today we picked them up in the U-Haul. Here is the first panel in the ground and waiting for the cement to be poured into the footings. Hence the two long boards holding the panel in place until it's set.

The contractors come on Monday to start on the cottage renovation. Hooray!