Klatch Coffee

Ever since I found out about Klatch Coffee I have wanted to try it out. Needing to catch up with my friend, Susan, she suggested we try the San Dimas shop, and I was ready to go! Here is a photo of my chile caramel cappuccino (I think that's what it was called) which was mighty delicious with just the right amount of kick. If you like Mexican hot chocolate, this one will fill the bill.

I know that if it was closer I would go more often, so I bought a pound of sleeping goat blend to bring home. This is the decaf version of the wild goat (maybe that's the right name, maybe not) blend.

Sometimes the Claremont Craft Ales makes a batch of beer with beans from Klatch, and back in February I enjoyed a pint of Coffee Mawes.

Remember back in the day when you just drank coffee and/or just had a beer? Now it's a whole ordeal and a social event!

Adventures in Major Appliances

Our washing machine broke this weekend. It wouldn't spin, and the problem was not the belt. After tipping it over and pulling it apart, H decided that it was the clutch and the part alone would cost $300. We bought the machine in 1998, so I guess it had a good life.

Poor old machine can't be revived

I asked my friends on Facebook what machine they have that they like, and it seemed that half the people hated front-loaders and half loved them. That wasn't helpful. I looked online. That was equally confusing. Then I found out that there are these new hybrid machines that are high efficiency, but are also top-loaders. Again, these kind of machines got either very high or very low reviews.

I finally decided that we should look at the Whirlpool Cabrio, and we looked at Lowe's and Howard's. The guy at Lowe's was fairly helpful, but when we walked into Howard's, it didn't appear that anyone wanted to sell us anything. They pointed us towards the hybrid washers and left us alone. We went away for a bit and then decided that the price at Lowe's and the particular model were the best bet, so that's where we went.

Here is where Lowe's failed at this point (even though we ended up buying the washer there):

• No one came to help us for 20 minutes. As we walked out, someone finally came by.
• They did not tell us that we could get rebates from the Electric and Gas companies (we saw a little sign on the washers at Howard's). This amounts to $135. Major fail.
• They said they would call that night to schedule the next-day delivery. They did not.
• They did not call the next morning. I called them and got quite a runaround on the phone.
• They finally said, "Oh, they'll deliver between 6-8 p.m." But they might be early.



New machine ready to be installed

• They delivered at 3:00. Good thing I was home.

So, I've read the novel that came with it and seem to have successfully washed two loads of laundry. It requires special detergent (HE - High Efficiency) and a college degree to load the clothes and push the right buttons, but I think I've got it.

Time will tell if I will be in the love it or hate it camp, but I do like the idea that it uses less than half of the water than my last washer, and it spins pretty fast so the clothes take less time to dry. This little video demonstrates the strange sounds it makes in the wash cycle.

Mauricio's

I do not usually think about eating out in Glendora (the Donut Man doesn't really count as eating out). But I saw a photo on my daughter's Instagram feed of Mauricio's Mexican Food and Pizza and decided to give it a try. Although it's in Glendora, it is very close to San Dimas, so it doesn't take too long to drive there.

Apparently the schtick here is that Mauricio greets people with "Where have you been?" and then when you leave, "See you tomorrow!" We didn't hear these words (saw the sign, though), but that's okay. The food was great. I had a veggie burrito covered in green sauce which was big enough to last me for lunch and dinner. H had his usual chile relleno burrito (also big enough for two meals). Although we are big fans of Los Jarritos, I think know we are going to add Mauricio's to our list.

dA Center for the Arts

It's always a challenge to find a venue for our spring string recital. Last year three string teachers pooled together and had our recital at Pilgrim Place which was a delightful location. This year we had 15 students (6 violins, 1 viola and 8 cellos!). One of the violinist's moms is the director of the dA Center for the Arts in Pomona and she offered up the space there for our recital. It was a perfect place with a little stage, room for 50 chairs and a space for a small reception.

I had heard of the dA Center, but had not been before. I learned yesterday that the name dA came from the first building that the original studio used. It had been an Arthur Murray Dance Studio, but the letters NCE in dance had fallen off of the sign, so the founders decided to use the dA (no idea about the capital A) as their name.

Now that I know more about this place, I am thinking of ways in which to collaborate with them in future endeavors. I also want to go there to check out their exhibits which are free.

Slideshow on Youtube

I made a little slideshow video of last Sunday's service at Bergthal Mennonite Church. You can view it here. Please note that when I was recording the singing, I did not realize how loud my voice would be, and I was shocked ;-) that sometimes my singing was not *ahem* pristine. However, I decided that with all the flaws, the remembrance of the service outweighed the perfection of the music.

Maya's Notebook

When I ran the library at Vista, sometimes kids would tell me that they didn't like a book because it was boring. That usually meant that it was too difficult for them and they didn't understand what what happening. They couldn't justify what was boring about it.

I could not finish Isabel Allende's newest book, Maya's Notebook, because it was boring. I expect great things from Allende since I love much of her writing. This one did not live up to her beautiful prose. The characters came across as flat, and I did not care what was happening in this story. The plot moved along at a snail's pace, despite the fact that it was not at all chronological (which was not difficult to follow). And then, it was due at the library and I had to return it.

Life is too short to finish books you don't enjoy.

Photographing Kansas

One of the things I was looking forward to on my Kansas sojourn was to take landscape photos. The forecast was for scattered showers, so I was hoping for some great clouds. I did not get any of the clouds that I imagined, but I did manage to find a few shots that I like. Here they are, in no particular order.

The wheat is about 1-2 feet high and still green.

This is the barn at my cousins' farm

Sunset at the farm

Sunset with mailboxes

Pawnee Rock Memorial - Read more about it here.

View from the top of the Pawnee Rock Memorial

Shot through the car window - several of many, many wind turbines seen along I-70

Bergthal Mennonite Church - Pawnee Rock, Kansas

The primary reason for my trip to Kansas over Memorial Day weekend was to attend the Memorial Celebration Sunday at Bergthal Mennonite Church in Pawnee Rock. In the 1950s, my maternal grandfather pastored this church, and my mother graduated from high school during this time. At its height, the congregation boasted about 250 members in this rural community, but today only about 15 people make up the church. Couple this with the fact that the building has a black mold problem that is cost prohibitive to take care of, and after several years and heart-breaking discussions, the congregation has decided to tear down the building later this summer. 

Street Sign Kitty-Corner to the Church

In preparation for this sad event, the people decided to hold one final big church service and invite people who have a connection to the church to return. My parents planned on going and asked if I wanted to attend with them. Since I had never seen the church (except as an infant), and I am interested in my mom's heritage, I jumped at the chance to visit Kansas in May. It seemed that I was not the only one who wanted to come. The sanctuary was overflowing with about 350 people, including descendants of the founding families and a handful who had never even been to the church, but had some kind of reason to travel there.

We were in for an entire day of activities starting with breakfast. After the worship service and the noon potluck we had the chance to bid on a silent auction of various items from the church building. People shared memories of their time at the church during an afternoon service and the official day ended with more food - dessert and coffee.

On the dedication day of the church building (the third building for this congregation), people stood outside in front of the church for a group photo. (You can see this photo on a blog post about Bergthal on another blog post here.) On Sunday we all came outside for a final group photo with the photographer on the top of a tall, tall ladder on the other side of the street with four people holding the legs so it would not blow over in the wind.

Table decoration in the basement

Breakfast buffet

Gathering for church

Rules for the silent auction

Offering Plate up for auction

Taking a group photo can be dangerous

But this is the end result!

Faith Alive

Last night I returned home from a whirlwind weekend trip to Kansas (with literal winds out on the prairie and thankfully no tornadoes) for a family-intensive visit.

On Saturday my sister spoke to a group of our relatives about her recently-published book Faith Alive: Stories of Hope and Healing From an African Doctor and His Hospital. Lately I have been thinking about how important stories are for us, as human beings. (Excuse the quick detour here.) One of my guilty pleasures is watching Project Runway, and this season when I saw one of the final episodes where we take a peek into the lives of the finalists where Tim Gunn visits each person in their home and meets their families, my attitude about each designer changes. Their stories make them real and complete, three-dimensional. They are no longer just a designer under heaps of pressure to produce an outfit, but a person with a past and hopes and dreams.

Faith Alive is a collection of connected stories of many people who come together in the Faith Alive Hospital in Jos, Nigeria. These people are courageous, fallible, funny, kind, and, in short, human. I finished the book before I landed in California, and I would recommend it to you if 1) you like to be inspired 2) you have a connection with HIV/AIDS 3) you like to read.

You can order the book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. As the photo indicated, all proceeds from the sale of the book benefit the hospital. You can also visit the website here.

Angel at Pilgrim Place

On one of our evening constitutionals, we wandered through Pilgrim Place and saw this angel in front of Napier Place. I remember that Eleanor Scott Meyers had mentioned that she had painted it, and after I took the photo, I asked her to tell me the story behind the angel.

A number of years ago there was a project in Los Angeles to paint various angels. Two people at Pilgrim Place ended up with one of these angels, but after awhile the paint came off. They gave the angel to Eleanor Scott and asked her to repaint it, and this is what she came up with.