Halloween '09

This is the first time I've spent Halloween with my parents since 1977, and it was unlike any other. Since today is Saturday, we've had college football on the telly, waiting for the big Oregon/USC game playing during the trick-or-treat time. After watching the first quarter, we decided to watch more of the game on the tvs at Pizza 'n Such.

The Oregon Ducks did not disappoint us! They are playing amazingly well this year.

Numb3rs

My folks have arrived for a visit, and tonight for entertainment we took them to a math lecture at Harvey Mudd. The speaker was Gary Lorden, a retired Cal Tech math professor who has been a consultant on the tv show Numb3rs. Although some of the math was above our heads, we got some of the broad strokes and ideas. Of course, we enjoyed the cookies and conversations afterwards.

Almost made it to November

My rule of thumb for when to turn on the furnace - Nov. 1. When the house was 63 degrees this morning, I thought maybe I ought to warm it up a bit for bookclub, so I turned on the furnace for a few hours this afternoon. October 28 is pretty close to Nov, right?

Playing with Eggshells

This is the third week of string instruction in the Claremont schools. We have a record high enrollment this year, and the excitement is always high at the beginning of the year. The beginning strings are working on holding the bow correctly, and to work on the bow holds in a non-boring way, I put plastic Easter Egg halves on the tips of the bows. They get to pass the eggshells around in a circle, and this game is always a crowd pleaser.

Say what you will about Facebook. . .

Today I got in contact with a college roommate through Facebook. I had followed her a bit through the Alumni publications and knew that she had moved to France, but that's all I knew about her. She has been in France for nearly half her life now, and she and her husband run a champagne vineyard. Now I have a link to her blog about running the enterprise!

Suburban Wildlife

Last night while walking to my concert (we played Finlandia, Mathis der Maler by Hindemith, and Haydn's Harmonie Mass), I heard a great horned owl in one of the eucalyptus trees along College Ave. Then I heard another one answer back. We used to hear owls around here, but I hadn't heard any in quite a while, so it was good to hear them again.

BC Cafe?

On a concert weekend, we usually go out to dinner, or lunch. Tonight as we drove to Sanamluang for some tasty Thai food, I looked at the building where BC Cafe stands, and the name on the top was Kick Back Jack's. When did that happen?

Falling Leaves

It's the time of year when the ash trees on our street start losing their leaves. Lots and lots of little leaves turned yellow. Yesterday morning I raked and filled our green waste dumpster nearly full. Of course, today it hardly looks as though I did anything yesterday. There are enough leaves in the street that when cars drive by, it sounds as though it's raining.

I will be raking leaves now for at least another month, maybe 6 weeks.

When Liesl was 11, we sat on the front porch and watched these leaves falling on a sunny day, and she wrote this poem:

Journey

I am a leaf.

I am falling.

Twisting and turning,

As I drift downward.

I seek

A nice spot,

A spot to land.

Right here.

Safe and sound.

In a child's hand.

A Night on the Town (with some Gown)

We took advantage of the CMC Atheneum tonight and heard Steve Levitt, author of Freakonomics, speak. We weren't actually in the same room since there was an overflow crowd, but we saw the live feed in the next building. Levitt is an entertaining speaker with some interesting and some odd ideas. Maybe I should read the book.

After the talk, we rode our bikes to Village West to try out Yogurtland - yet another tart yogurt sold by the ounce. I recommend the pomegranate raspberry tart flavor. The addition of mini m 'n ms and raspberries is also recommended.

Moving On

If LA is sad over the Dodgers losing the pennant, we can put our hopes and dreams into the newest LA phenom. Tonight I am watching the Gustavo Dudamel inaugural concert with the LA Philharmonic on PBS. We didn't make the actual concert, but are very happy to be watching it in HD. This guy is GOOD.