Culture at the Colleges

Puck and other Fairies

We are fortunate to live at the doorstep of 5 colleges, especially at this time of year when all the performing groups are ready to strut their stuff.

Yesterday started with a noon concert at Balch Auditorium at Scripps by the Quartet Euphoria.   The small hall was filled for the performance of Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 95 (the serioso quartet).  

After that delightful repose, I strolled over to Thomas-Garrett Hall at HMC for a performance by the Lady Garrett Players of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  At this science and engineering college, students love to take Professor Groves' Shakespeare course in the spring where they read a number of plays and choose one to perform in a makeshift theater - the courtyard of the building which includes two large olive trees in the center of the set.  

This being Alumni Weekend, many alums were in attendance at this performance which will be repeated this afternoon.

Things Kids Do

Yesterday at school some second graders caught a few black widow spiders and their egg sacks and brought them to the office.  Our office manager, a sane person, ended the lives of the spiders as well as the their potential progeny, saving us all from future problems.

The students were flabbergasted.  How could she?  Even the eggs?

How did the students recover?  They decided to start catching bees instead.

I am going to encourage our office manager to start a blog about things that go on at school.  She sees it all.

The Magician's Assistant

I have been a fan of Ann Patchett's writing, ever since I read Bel Canto in 2003.  After that book, I decided to read her third novel, The Magician's Assistant.  Now I've had a chance to reread it for book club tonight.

What I particularly like at Patchett's writing is her smooth prose which reads as though it took her no effort to write.  I also enjoy her characters who are full of heart. This particular story takes place in Los Angeles and the small town of Alliance, Nebraska.  As a transplant from the midwest to Southern California, and a two-time patron of the Magic Castle, I also enjoy Patchett's sense of place.

Jonathan Kozol in Claremont

Last night I was fortunate to hear Jonathan Kozol speak at Garrison Theater.  I am probably one of the few people in the Claremont USD who had not heard of him before this week.  An educator and author, Kozol speaks passionately about what's wrong with our current American public school system as someone who spent 20 years in inner city Boston schools.  Although he spoke about poor school districts, what he said also applies to the middle class.

As our elementary schools embark on standardized testing next week...well, I will be thinking about what our students really need.

Patience Pays Off

About 10 days ago I got a splinter under my fingernail.  I wavered back and forth as to whether a chunk of wood was actually lodged there, or if it had gone in and out and just injured the skin under the nail.  Well, after waiting on it to work its way up, I pulled out a pretty big hunk of wood.  It doesn't hurt nearly as much as it looks like it should.

Eureka! Burger

We just had to try out the new burger place located in the Packing House in Village West.  A Saturday night is very busy, and we were told we would have an hour wait, but they seated us in 20 minutes.  I think what they really meant was that the food would be served to us in an hour.  The waitress came by to apologize for the slow kitchen, and she was very friendly, but the burgers took about 35 minutes to make.  I think that since they are new and just figuring things out, it will hopefully get better. 

As for the burgers, I had the Fig Marmalade Burger which had "Homemade fig marmalade, melted goat cheese, crispy bacon, garnished with minced tomato, onion and arugula dolloped in a spicy  porter mustard."  I'll have to say it was delicious.  The sweet potato fries, which were drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon, were not as flavorful as I would have liked, but they were fine.   

H thought that his Pearl Street Blues burger with melted blue cheese, mushrooms, onions and chipotle ketchup was about one of the best burgers he's ever had.

I guess that means we'll be back, but probably at a less busy time.

Easter Photos

The Alleluia returns to church

The flowering cross

Menu

Dinner for four

LA Phil Field Trip

Thanks to the Foothill Philharmonic Committee for their generous donation of tickets and bus transportation, 29 of our orchestra students got to attend a concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall this morning.  We attended the final concert of this year's Toyota Symphonies for Youth performed by the LA Philharmonic titled The Hero Composer.

Before the concert, there are activities for the children, and our favorite is the drum circle.  This year the students had boomwhackers and created rhythmic patterns based on various colors of buckets.  Of course, our students have been studying music, so they were exceptionally good at it.

Besides listening to portions of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, we were treated to brand-new compositions by student composers which we were surprised to discover were high school seniors.  They are part of the Composer Fellowship Program, a two-year program for high school students.  Imagine being 17 and having your composition played by the LA Phil!

Curb Appeal

During this very hectic week, we managed to chat with Jonescape and have them arrive the next day to build us this stone wall that we have been thinking about for a long time.  There is a matching one on the other side of the porch.  I am very pleased!

April Showers

The ample rains this winter have made the flowers in our pots go crazy.  They have taken over the front of the house!