At Long Last, Another Book Finished

In my women's book club, we will often bring books we are finished reading to loan out, and two months ago, Jan leant me Good Things I Wish You by A. Manette Ansay. She said it was about Clara and Robert Schumann along with Johannes Brahms, and about the mysterious relationship between Clara and Brahms. As a music historian in my past life, I was interested to read this novel.

It's a quick read. I got a big chunk of it read on the ferry from Catalina to Long Beach on Saturday.

Ansay sets up parallel relationships between her protagonist, a woman who is writing a novel about Clara, and Clara, herself. I had known very little about the Clara/Johannes story, so reading quotations from their correspondence and diaries was interesting. The theme of the novel, can men and women be true friends (think When Harry Met Sally), seemed a little contrived to me, but it turns out that Ansay drew quite a bit from her own recent life for this book which you can read about here.

Sunday Afternoon Project

College Women's Basketball

Last night the Carleton Knights played CMS (Claremont/Mudd/Scripps) Athenas in Basketball. The game was close all the way through, but CMS pulled off the win 61-60. For Thanksgiving Weekend, the gym held quite a few spectators from both teams.

Catalina Celebration

We are grateful to have had the chance to spend several days of Thanksgiving on Catalina. Mostly we were celebrating Hal's big birthday.

Thursday was spent getting to Avalon and eating a lovely Mexican Thanksgiving meal at Mi Casita and then walking that meal off with a stroll around the town. The weather was perfectly sunny and calm, and we even took a stroll up the canyon to the Botanical Gardens just as they were closing.

We stayed at a little inn called La Paloma / Las Flores in a quaint 50's style "apartment" with a partial view of the harbor from our shared balcony. The only uncomfortable part of that was that the room has no heater, and it was clear that we were going to be too cold to sleep. However, we requested extra blankets, and we also got a space heater which made the room much warmer, otherwise we might have had to get a different hotel.

Yesterday we took the 7:30 a.m. airport shuttle to Catalina's Airport-in-the-Sky where we had some hearty breakfast burritos before we started our 9-mile hike back down to Avalon. That is certainly the way to walk, although downhill does take it's toll on one's calves the next day. The sky was clear blue and we had lovely vistas of the mainland, including snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Soon I will add photos to my picasa site of our getway celebration.

Family

It goes without saying, but I'm saying it. I am thankful for my family - my family of origin and the family that Hal and I have created. We love each other, even though we know all our foibles and we appreciate each other, too. I am especially thankful for the great sense of humor that runs through our genes!

Milestone Day

Today I am most thankful for my fabulous husband. Happy Birthday to the best guy I know!

Not a Cliche

Today I am most thankful for my good health. It's not a cliche for me, since last year at this time I was not feeling so well at all, and I missed a good deal of teaching time in November. This year I am running on full steam and appreciating it every day when I wake up.

Vista del Valle Elementary School

I have been thankful for Vista del Valle Elementary School for many, many years now. It's the school that nurtured my daughters; it's the place where I have been working, one way or the other, for 15 years, as librarian and music teacher. It's a community of people who believe in the whole child.

I am especially grateful this year for the beginning string students I have who are eager to learn, practice their instruments, help out, are kind to each other and love music. This gives meaning to my life, even though they don't know that. I'm heading out to teach them now, and I am looking forward to it!

Book Clubs

I am so grateful to have two interesting and fun book clubs. One book club is women-only and we meet on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening over coffee and cookies.

Last night our co-ed book club met to discuss The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. This club meets on Sunday nights over a potluck supper. This particular installment of the book club had some of the best food ever. I loved the curried chicken and rice dish, the mashed parsnips, and the roasted sweet potato salad.

With both book groups, I appreciate the varied insights into the books, whether I liked the book or not. I always learn something and appreciate the friendships that last over the years.

A Week of Thanksgiving

In honor of Thanksgiving, which will last all week, one way or the other, today I am thankful for my church which has been a great community in which to raise children, make lifelong friends, share great meals together and to be part of something bigger than myself.

Today was our annual Thanksgiving feast after the 10:00 service. Here is what the tables looked like before the influx of the throngs (400ish people?). Our persimmons graced many of the tables before we took them to one of our friends who will dry them.