Aging with Grace

In a few weeks our book club will be discussing David Snowdon's Aging with Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives.  Snowdon started studying nuns in the 1986, using them as subjects because of their similar circumstances (profession, access to health care, etc.).  Although the main focus of the study has been to look at Alzheimer's, he has also looked at longevity and general health.

Although we can all name cases to the contrary, generalizations seem to suggest that people who are generally more optimistic, have some degree of higher learning, eat right, have social support systems (church families, spouses, etc) and other such factors do affect our brains and the quality of our lives.  I'm sure we'll have plenty to discuss about this book, and I found it generally comforting to read since I seem to have done many right things in my life.  I have always thought I would live to be 100 (and without dementia), and, at least I seem to be heading in that direction!

Women's Lacrosse

Having seen this new field at Pomona College which sits atop the new parking structure along 1st St., we finally got over to see a game on Saturday.  Look carefully and see that we watched women's lacrosse, with cross-campus rivals CMS challenging Pomona/Pitzer.  

Easter

On our deliciously warm day (in the mid-80s), we celebrated Easter with C and B who brought over (among other things) Budin of Local Vegetables and Mexican Crema and Chicken with Honey Pasilla Glaze.  

After our delicious noon meal, we took a stroll through the colleges and then came home for a game of Settlers of Catan to accompany our dessert of rice pudding and spice cake.   What a great way to kick off the start of spring break at CUSD!

Easter Egg Grab

It's time, once again, for the City of Claremont Spring Celebration and Egg Hunt. I have no idea how many years our fair city has had this tradition, but when my daughters were young, they learned early on to make sure to be at the Egg Hunt part of the morning ON TIME.  At precisely 10:30, the police siren wails and the kids who have been held back by the thin lengths of string race forward and grab as many eggs as they can.  At precisely 10:31, all the eggs are in baskets and there is sure to be at least one child crying.  As one of their friends once noted, "It shouldn't be called an Easter Egg Hunt.  It should be called an Easter Egg Grab."  

Take your photo with the Easter Bunny

Make sure you bring a basket

Parents, make sure to keep your children in check...

Who knew that eggs come in boxes?

The 3-5-year old crowd

The 6-9-year olds need no help

Bryan Clay at Vista

Do you know who Bruce Jenner is (before the Kardashians)?  Chances are you know he was an Olympic athlete.  To jog your memory, he was the decathlon Gold Medalist in 1976.  Flash forward.  Do you know who Bryan Clay is?  I didn't either, until yesterday when he came to Vista.  Clay also won the Gold Medal in decathlon - in the Beijing Olympics.  Vista's principal, Dave Stewart, was also a decathlete, and he used to work out with Clay.  

Clay came to tell the Vista kids that with hard work, you can achieve your dreams - whatever your dreams are.  He arrived in a fire truck (driven over the field to the cheering of the students), talked to the excited crowd and then demonstrated a long jump and javelin throw.  For fun, some of the teachers participated in putting the shot and javelin throw.  

(As an aside, I read a pretty funny blog post about a javelin recently, and the sister-in-law of the blogger was a brave soul who was one of the teachers throwing the javelin yesterday.  Although I have it on film, my better judgement said not to publish it on the blog, but if you want me to email you the clip....let me know.)

I have, however, included a video clip of Bryan Clay in the long jump at the bottom of this post.  You can check out the Bryan Clay Foundation here.

Bryan Clay holds his gold medal

Skateboarding or No?

Gotta love Claremont.  Gotta love Facebook from which I stole this photo.  Gotta love irony.

Wednesday in the Water-Wise Garden

While sitting in my garden eating lunch yesterday, I enjoyed the flowering Ribes speciosum which has slowly grown over the past several years.  It now puts out these lovely fuchsia flowers which contrast nicely against the spiny stalk.  We have difficulty finding a variety of draught-tolerant natives that thrive in the shade / partial sun, but this one seems very happy where it is.

Further Adventures in Southeast Asian Cooking

H has been working on his Thai cooking ever since our sabbatical in Chicago, and he has his specialities now - Tom Ka Kai, Pad See Ew and Pad Thai.  This weekend he decided to try Vietnamese Spring Rolls, and I'll have to say that I want to encourage him to continue.  These ones had carrots, tofu, lettuce, rice noodles, cilantro, mint, and maybe something else.  Next time we think maybe we'll try asparagus....

Fattoush

Fattoush: A Middle-Eastern salad with pita bread.
Fattoush: A Mediterranean Restaurant next to Super King just south of the 10 Freeway.

After reading the yelp reviews, I decided to have the lentil soup and the signature Fattoush (half size).  I really liked the soup, especially after I squirted the lemon juice into it.  The salad was also good, very fresh, although the dressing doesn't have too much flavor.

H chose the falafel sandwich and declared that he liked the ones at Saca's better, but he did really enjoy the Bataha Hara appetizer (spicy potatoes).

I think we will go back and try other menu items.

Gospel Sing and Church Potluck

I love to sing.  I can carry a tune and I love to harmonize.  For the past several months I have been really enjoying singing with the newly-formed Women's Choir in church.

For several years now, I have been wanting to organize an Old-Fashioned Gospel Sing where all interested parties gather to sing through old hymns and gospel tunes.  Today, we did it.  The Women's Choir hosted a potluck after church, not knowing how many people would show up, so we planned, hoping for 50 and ended up with 58!

One of our very best gospel pianists at church accompanied us as we sang our little hearts out for almost an hour.

It was so fun that we started thinking ahead to other kinds of singalongs.  One idea is to have a marshmallow roast, eat s'mores, and sing around a campfire (in a fire pit) on a summer evening.  Another idea is to have a Cole Porter night, although I have no idea what kind of food would go along with that.  We are not a singing culture so much any more, but perhaps we could foster some new interest in becoming so.