Let's Make that 41

I didn't realize that I was going to read another book before the new year, but The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker came into the library for me yesterday. It's short, and once I started, I was swept into it. I found out about this book from reading this review in the New York Times. If I told you that it is a treatise on rhythm and rhyme in poetry told in a novel where not much happens, that may not grab you, but I have actually found it charming. I wonder if it would be a good book to discuss at a book club meeting?

LA Superior Court

I finished jury duty today without appearing in court all week. Apparently the courts aren't quite so busy during the week between Christmas and New Year. Now I just have to fill in the jury summons and return it to the court by mail.

40 Books in 2009

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery has been on the bestseller list and piqued my interest. Several months ago at book club, Jan brought it along wanting to know if anyone wanted to read it. She just couldn't get into it. I took it, but it sat around for awhile. Then another friend told me that it was actually good, once you got past the first third of the book. With nothing else lying around, I picked it up on Sunday and finished it today.

It's the kind of book that gets better as it goes along, which I find unusual. Many start out strong and flounder in the middle.

That being said, as I look over my list for 2009, I think my favorite reads were: Hallelujah Junction by John Adams (the composer, not the president), Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow, and Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Wall.

A Happy Last

Today I put the last college tuition payment in the mail! The seven years (between two children) worth of tuition went by very fast, though.

Wilderness Park

Hal and I took the loop at the Claremont Wilderness Park this morning. We saw a number of people we know (Rebecca, Gaby, Louisa, Eric, Margaret and Matt), dogs, horses, bike riders, families pushing strollers, people with canes, and pregnant women. The sky was overcast and the recent rains have left much green growth. I need to remember to take this hike more often.

Christmas 2009

• Christmas Eve trip to Fry's
• Seeing the house in Hacienda Heights where Chris' mom grew up
• Christmas Eve menu: Tokyo Express for Lunch, Hal's Thai food for dinner
• 5:00 Christmas Eve service at church
• Homemade bagels for Christmas breakfast
• Hanging out all day at home (one exception: Claire went out taking care of cats)
• All food vegan except for the free-range, no-antibiotic turkey
• Watching the Monty Python DVD we got for Christmas
• Hal and Liesl soldering the Frank Lloyd Wright window they started last Christmas
• Eating apple pie (made by Liesl) and gingerbread (made by Claire) for dinner
• Playing Settlers of Catan which Liesl and Chris gave us for Christmas

Magic Castle

Here we are, ready to take on Hollywood! First stop, parking near Madame Tussauds so we could walk by the Chinese Theater and down the Hollywood Walk of Fame until we reached La Loteria. Excellent, excellent food. I had vegetable enchiladas with a pumpkin seed sauce.

In order to reach our final destination, we walked back the way we came, admiring all the people dressed in costume - from Michael Jackson, to Darth Vader, to Barney and a transformer.

Walking up the hill, we came to the Magic Castle. We know someone who is a member of this exclusive club. He performs about twice a year and can invite people to come. You have to be 21 to go, so we've been waiting until Claire reached that milestone. We saw the mathemagic show by Art Benjamin. You can actually watch his show here. The castle was so crowded last night that we did not have a chance to see the big show, but we did get to see Latimer, an up and coming magician.

We have a pretty good concept of how this whole place works. Everybody drinks, bars and waitresses everywhere, everybody has a great time and thoroughly enjoys the shows. They don't seem to mind the wait for the shows, either. We thought that people-watching was fun.

Family Togetherness

Liesl and Chris came bearing games to Claremont. First thing Monday morning they hooked up the Wii to our tv, and we have been playing tennis, bowling, Mario Kart and a few others. Also, they made us open our gift early so we could have more time to play it. It's Settlers of Catan, which we played in Oregon with them this summer.

A 99-Cent Tradition

A number of years ago we started a tradition. Just before Christmas we all go to the 99-cent store to buy each other stocking stuffers. We all wander around the store by ourselves, trying to avoid each other as we choose silly gifts for each other.

So, today, the electricity went out at 4:15, so we drove to the store and found what we needed. We came back in the dark to a dark street - no electricity yet. Hal found the camping lamp which sits fully charged in the closet, and by the time we got the gas log lit in the fireplace, the electricity came back on. Good thing, since we wanted to eat dinner and heat the house.

Hooray, again!

Liesl and Chris made it to Claremont early this morning - 12:40 after a marathon day of driving from Eugene with a little side trip to the Bay Area. Now the holidays are really here!