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On our way to the art reception on Saturday, we had to stop and re-admire the wildflowers that we saw a few weeks ago on the garden tour, especially since many more are in bloom. 

This picture was taken on  April 6.

So many more colors have exploded in the same spot since then.

Last time we missed the Chevy fly, so we had a chance to look at it this time.

Arboretum

When the Claremont Art Museum closed its physical doors, it did not cease to exist. Last night we attended a Claremont Art Museum event - the opening reception of a show at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden - Steve Comba: Arboretum. I believe this is the first art show in a new gallery space in the main administrative building. The space is one room, and this 8-foot painting titled Arboretum fills one of the walls. It took 8 months to complete this work, but years to gather the inspiration. He has envisioned "a line of trees" for many years, and this is the final work, completed in 2011. 

On the opposite wall pieces of years of inspiration for this work give the viewer a glimpse into the artist's mind, although I told Steve that I thought his mind looked too organized....

I asked Steve if the red spot on this cactus was an owl, and he said that he did not make it an owl, but it could be an owl in my perspective.

Congregation Ale House

When my sister arrived two weeks ago, we wandered downtown Claremont to give her a choice of dinner places, and she thought that Eureka! Burger had a great vibe, so we chose that place.

Now that she has finished up her two-week class in Pasadena, I looked on yelp to try to find a dinner place in Pasadena with a good vibe. I chose a variety of words to search, but decided that if beer or craft beer were search terms, maybe I'd find a good place. That lead me to Congregation Ale House, so we tried it out. It looked very busy when we arrived, but we found a parking spot in the lot (not always easy to find parking in Pasadena, let alone free parking). Turns out you order at the counter and then sit roadhouse-style (long tables that you share with complete strangers) to eat. We chose to eat outside since it wasn't too, too cold (a blanket over the lap from the car's trunk was helpful) and it was a little quieter.

They have 32 beers on tap, including Double Dude from our own Claremont Craft Ales, but we chose an Oregonian Porter that was smooth and delicious like our favorite Pomona Queen. The food was delicious - all of it. I had a Grilled Portabello Cap Salad, which I shared with H who shared his chicken and parmesan sausage and sweet potato fries with me. My sister had a pizza and house salad, both also delicious.

We will definitely return. We might even try the one in Azusa next.

Will You Go To Prom With Me?

As I drove up Indian Hill this afternoon, I saw this on the Laemmle marque. I wonder if Brittney D knows who is asking her to prom?

Library Exhibit Follow-Up

I just found out that the exhibit about the history of the Claremont Public Library is now online, so if you missed it, you can read about it here. 

Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, I did not drive the car today. Of course, I rarely drive the car on Tuesdays....

Easter 2014

This Easter we were fortunate enough to have my sister and brother-in-law in town to help us celebrate. She is in So Cal for two weeks taking a class at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, and he has come out for a long weekend. 

After church this morning, we were joined by C and B who helped us put on a group-effort meal. H grilled the salmon, I made my favorite kale and brussels sprouts salad, C made the asparagus, B made scalloped potatoes, C also made a lemon tart for dessert, and A Kline made the dark chocolate truffles. 

The Marauder's Son - A New Ballet

On a lovely day-before-Easter, I decided to attend The Marauder's Son (based on Harry Potter and the  Sorcerer's Stone) at the Pendleton Dance Center at Pomona College. Emily Kleeman, a Pitzer senior, choreographed and put on this whole hour-long ballet, including fundraising for the event. The dance featured students from the 5Cs as well as a HMC professor (playing a Hogwarts professor). My favorite scene was the chess game. If you read this blog post today before evening, you still have a chance to see the free show at 7:00. Fun for the whole family!

Further Adventures in Swiss Housing

The day after we received the two choices for housing, we got three more choices. Two of those choices are next to the other branch of the campus and far away from where we want to be, so we did not even look at them. This one, though, seemed just fine for us. It is a 2-room flat (top floor, so look at those ceilings!) which means a 1-bedroom apartment. It reminds us very much of the place we lived on our first sabbatical in Brookline, Massachusetts - the top floor, small space, in a very nice residential neighborhood. This one, however, comes with a dishwasher, unlike our Brookline apt. 

We told the housing office that we would take this choice.

Housing in Zurich

The morning's email brought us these two photos, complete with descriptions and floor plans as the choices for housing for our upcoming Zurich sabbatical. Many things excited me about this information. First, both of these apartments are easy walking distance to the ETH (the Swiss Federal Technical Institute) and the Hauptbahnhof (main train station). This is very important as we will be car-free for the year and plan to make good use of public transportation. Also, we have learned that most grocery stores and other stores are closed on Sundays, except for the stores in the train station. If you want an idea of the mall at the train station, check out the website here.

Also, this makes sabbatical so much more real to us. I'm getting even more excited!