Wordless News

I heard about the site Wordless News on NPR earlier this month, and I occasionally look at the sight. The artist gets up early in the morning and listens to NPR and choses a story to illustrate. She'll work on the image from about 5:00-10:00 a.m., then post the image  on her blog before she gets on with the work she does for her graphic art clients. I particularly enjoyed this one honoring Pete Seeger.

Cool Bike Rack

If you ride your bike to Claremont Optometry on Foothill, you have this cute rack to hitch your wheels to.

Facebook-Free Mondays

A few weeks ago I was dismayed to read a spoiler on Facebook about Downton Abbey just one day after it aired. We usually watch the episode on Monday or Tuesday. I decided that I am going to instigate for myself a Facebook-Free Monday, so I did not check my page yesterday.

For the most part, I didn't miss Facebook. I get tired of these things (and please forgive me if these apply to you)

people who "share" rumors without checking them out beforehand
poor grammar (figure out how to use its or it's, your or you're, people!)
too many posts from a single person in a short period of time (if you're posting 6-7 times a day, you
    need to get a life)
not any posts from others or even a profile picture from some
too many photos of the same thing
people who share a facebook account with their spouse (really? do you share email accounts, too?)
posts which say things like - please share if you love your daughter.... Of course, I love my daughters! I
      just don't need to clutter up my page with someone else's graphic
complaining every time Facebook changes the layout (which hasn't really happened in awhile)
     (remember when people were so mad about the timeline?)
and one of my least favorite - posts that say things like "Oh, no!" which require the readers to ask what
   the matter is.

On the other hand, I do miss some things when I am not on Facebook. For example, I probably missed some birthdays yesterday, and then, when I logged in this morning, it was there that I first heard about the passing of one of my childhood and life heroes, Pete Seeger.

So, I'm not ready to quit my account, but I am going to try to be less addicted to it. (Is that possible?)

Upland Trader Joe's Closing

I heard about it on Facebook last week, and then when I went over to Michael's by the Upland Trader Joe's, I saw the signs confirming it - the store is closing. I have no idea why. Every time I go there, there are many people there, but, I don't get there too often since we have our own TJs in Claremont.  I also saw that Party City next door is gone. Not that I shopped there very often, but it was good to know that it was there for the few times I needed party goods.

Bridges Auditorium Doors

The massive doors leading into Bridges Auditorium are getting a cleaning and lightening up.

Farewell to Vista's Librarian

It comes with the territory of working with a group of people. For one reason or another, the players change due to retirement, moving, career change, or something else. Now Vista is saying good-bye to our librarian. Yes, even though each elementary school has the position of "Library Media Aide", Cindy Dewey (so aptly named for her job) is an actual, certified librarian. She has done so much for the kids from book clubs, blogging with student book reports (written and video), encouraging every reader as well as buying books with her own money to make sure kids have the books they really want to read.     She is moving to Albany, NY since her husband is starting a new job, and although we wish her well in her new life, we will miss her terribly.

Last night the staff had a party to celebrate Cindy's last 8 years with Vista, and we enjoyed this cake made by one of our recently retired teachers. If you click on the photo of this little story on top of the cake, you can read about our love for Cindy.

Andrew's Brain

Just finished the newest E. L. Doctorow book. My second of his, the first being Homer and Langley (which I really enjoyed and apparently did not blog about). I am getting better at figuring out when we have an unreliable narrator, and this one certainly fits that description. I haven't decided whether or not I like this book, but I do know that it would garner a good book club discussion, especially with two strange twists at the end. It may be one of those books that I will not remember at the end of the year.

Vista's Green Team

I have been hearing about Vista's Green Team, and I knew it had to do something with reducing waste at lunch time, but I didn't know too much about it. Then the teacher who is in charge of the program handed me a song that she wants me to help teach students. The tune is John Lennon's Imagine, the words all about reducing trash, written by students. She is going to make a video of Vista's participation in this venture and this song, so I just had to know more.

I learned that Vista and Oakmont represent Claremont in the Grades of Green Trash-Free Lunch Challenge, a competition between 24 LA County schools to see who can reduce the most lunchtime trash. Students wrote essays if they wanted to be part of the Green Team, and three students were chosen to go on a field trip to a landfill along with the principal, custodian and teacher. They learned all kinds of things and were taught how to sort waste. A total of 21 students are on the Green Team, from 2nd-6th grade.

Vista has gone from 8 bags of trash per day to less than one bag per day. Waste is recycled or turned into the compost (to go along with Vista's great gardens), and there is a HUGE dumpster on the side of the parking lot which takes all kinds of things, from clothing and batteries, to cans, bottles and e-waste. Vista earns money from this recycling, so it's a double bonus!

I am so proud of our kids who have taken an initiative and have great follow-through. I am also proud to be part of this community of teachers who teach the three Rs and more to our kids. 

Death of a Whistle

When I was in 9th grade, I was still in jr. high (in Wichita the grouping was 7th-9th), and I was a girl's gym leader. I, in no way, wanted this job, but the p.e. teachers made me do it. We were supposed to help out in gym class, and also to "monitor" the showers. (I don't think they still make jr. high kids shower after p.e, which is good, because that borders on torture.)

One of the "perks" of being a gym leader was that we got to wear white camp shirts and bloomers instead of pea green camp shirts and bloomers. Really. 

One of the other "perks" was that we were given whistles. Until today, I have carried my whistle on my keychain, and perhaps I have used it a handful of times in the past (aaahhhmmm) years. Today, the whistle totally fell into two pieces, and that is the end of that.

Strange Stones

These are some of the images you get when you google Strange Stones and click on "Images". 

I am more interested in the book of that title by Peter Hessler (tucked in between photos of interesting stones). River Town, Hessler's first book still sticks in my mind as a great read, about his years in the Peace Corps, teaching English literature in a teacher's college.

This book, a collection of essays about his continued time in China with some pieces on America, has been an equally interesting read. I think my favorite one is called "Walking the Wall" about The Great Wall of China, which, as I found out, is not one wall, not visible from space, and still continues to engage my imagination (what with my fascination with history and architectural ruins).