On Plums

The Annual Plum Post

Not too many plums on the tree this year. Not very much plum splat. No plum jam or chutney. 

I thought I'd try a new recipe and found something called Plum Clafoutis - no dough which seemed very simple. Of course, the hard part is "quarter the plums". Anyone know a good way to cleanly get those darn pits out? I marinated the rather squished plums with lemon juice, then cooked over low flame in butter sprinkled with a little sugar and cinnamon.  I don't think this is what is was supposed to look like, but plums over vanilla ice cream wasn't all bad.

The Soloist

I may choose this book sometime for a book club. This is not The Soloist by Steve Lopez about the schizophrenic musician on the streets of LA (although this book has a character with schizophrenia AND it takes place in LA and has to do with a cellist - hmmmm....).

I really didn't know what this novel would be about, except that I've read some of Salzman's other books, and it surprised me that most of it is about a murder trial for which the main character is a jurist. It's also about the protagonist's journey as a concertizing musician gone south, and I am still mulling over the parallels of the two stories, plus the addition of a budding cellist who enters the story.  I would have actually liked more of that story.

I think that book clubs would have much to discuss about this novel, especially about the trial and the idea of insanity and murder.

Hoppin' Friday Night

Friday Nights are where it seems to be happening in downtown Claremont. On Friday I wandered the Village with friends because we had heard that Steve Rushingwind was performing (part of the Friday Nights Live!) at City Hall. So many people were wandering the streets that it almost felt urban, or at least like Colorado Avenue in Pasadena.

We also knew that another friend of ours was having an art opening in the Packing House, so we had to wander that direction also. His artist name is Stephen Patrick, and I didn't even know that he was an artist. His photographs are quite beautiful, and this exhibit will be up through the month of July, so I would recommend that you take a stroll to the Prison Library Project Bookstore in the Packing House (which has a fabulous selection of used books for sale).

So many talented people in our community, and this is just the tip of the tip!

More Murakami

I have been working my way slowly through Murakami's books, trying to savor them as long as I can. I think it will be awhile before a new one comes out since 1Q84 took so long. Anyway, I was enjoying this book, but a little confused by the plot until I read that there are two stories. One is titled Hard-Boiled Wonderland, and the other is The End of the World. Both are told in first person, and I didn't pick up on the subtlety that one is written in present tense, and one past. For me, it is just a pleasure to read Murakami, and I enjoyed this one of his earlier works.

Random Friday Photo

I just liked the way these trikes looked, all lined up and ready for preschool action!

Claremont's 4th

Here are a few of my favorite shots from yesterday's 4th of July celebration here in Claremont.

The field at CMC is under construction, so a few people came early and saved some of the spots for fireworks viewing.

These two little guys seemed completely unimpressed with being in the parade.

Marriage Equality

Steve Felschundneff of the Courier is busy at work

The only "horse" in the parade this year....

Tie-Dye Baby Shower

Where else but in California would you go to a tie-dye baby shower for your yoga teacher?

Little Free Library

About a month ago I blogged about a cute little library on the corner of 9th and Cambridge. Last week the Courier wrote about a Little Free Library that now exists by The Press on Harvard. Perhaps the two little libraries are linked, not only because they both exist in Claremont, but because they are both inspired by LittleFreeLibrary.org? The website has a map of dozens of such little libraries across the US, Mexico, Canada, Africa, Europe, Australia and even Haiti. It even offers a catalog where you can buy your own little box, plans for building such libraries and a place to register your own little book-lender. I wonder how many more will pop up in our neck of the woods?

Shifting Rooms

The other day I was looking at our two bedrooms which we use as my music room and H's study (due to empty nest), and I realized that one room was bigger than the other, and that the piano and pump organ were in the smaller room.... I got it into my head that we should switch the two rooms around. I set up an appointment with my piano movers for them to come help with the heavy lifting and soon the switch was made! Of course, we discovered that both rooms are still pretty small, this being a 1922 bungalow made up of a cluster of small rooms. Now I have the opportunity to think of decorating each room to give us the illusion that we have a new house!

Documentaries

While H was spending a long weekend umpiring in Oklahoma City last weekend, I decided to get caught up a little bit on my Netflix streaming queue.  I watched five documentaries, three worth blogging about. My favorite one, Chops, is about a high school jazz band preparing for a major competition.  I wrote more about that one on my music blog on Monday, June 25.

Last year sometime I heard Kevin Clash on NPR's Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me. He is Elmo's puppeteer, and when I saw that there was a documentary about him, I thought it would be worth watching. It most certainly was. Being Elmo is about as charming as you might imagine.

For some reason I had a documentary in my queue (perhaps it was suggested by Netflix, I'm not sure) entitled Bill Cunningham New York. Not really knowing anything about it except that Netflix thought I would rate it a 4, I started it up and then found out it was about the photographer for "On the Street" in the Sunday NY Times. These are the photos of people who are wearing similar kinds of clothing. Bill  Cunningham rides his bike through the streets of NY looking for style and taking photos on the fly.  I also recommend this film about an interesting character.

So, when the heat gets to you this summer, three recommendations for ways to amuse yourself.