High School

Last year I had a chance to swim in my high school pool, which brought back so many memories.  You can see pictures here.  This year I had a chance to tour the whole school, but I was amazed how little I remembered.

The high school was built in 1927 and, thanks to the voters, the school will close next year while additions are removed and the entire school is renovated.

This is what it will look like in September 2017.

I don't think I have ever seen the hallways empty.
There were over 2000 people at the school and that was for grades 10-12.

I had forgotten about stairs at a school.
We even had a pool on the fourth floor and a fellow alum used it as the name of his play.

I spent ages and ages on these stairs, which are outside the bandroom.
They look exactly the same!  I think they are the same.

I had forgotten how much time I spent in the band room.
So many memories, especially of good times with my stand partner.

Probably the best part of the tour was walking around with classmates, exclaiming about what we saw and sharing stories.  I was so lucky to go to Cleveland Heights High School.

Three Really Good Things

I don't know where I first read the head of Zappos asks potential employees how lucky they are in life using a scale from one to ten.  He claims seven is the right answer because ten indicates you have been handed everything and a lower number is unlucky, which doesn't match the company vibe.

I won't say my life is a ten (why tempt the evil eye?), but this week (way more than) three good things happened.  I am lucky!

Growing up in Cleveland I listened to baseball on a transistor radio (smaller than this) with my mom.  While I was in town this week I had a chance to listen with her again (still on the a transistor radio) and heard a bottom of the tenth inning two-out two-strike grand-slam homerun.  It was even better than being at the game.

My glasses had some sort of fogginess damage that is similar to what is shown above.  I took them to them to the place of purchase and they claimed to have never seen anything like it, but for a couple hundred dollars I could get new lenses.  Pass.  I lived with it until I went running in the rain (not in Claremont, obviously!).  I could barely see so I wiped them on my shirt.  By the time I got home there was almost no visibility left.  "What would D. do?" I asked myself.  Search online for solutions that have worked for other people.  And there it was!  All I had to do was use some sunscreen with titanium dioxide (according to D., whom I consulted since I trusted his knowledge of material science or adhesives or something).  And it worked!  Bliss!  Joy!

The last good thing was bad at first.  My charger had been damaged and fixed, but because I was trying to maximize the wifi at my parents' house I damaged the same area and it wouldn't work at all.  I could make it until I got home, but it would have been convenient to use it.  I went about the day doing the important things, like deciding which Shelly Berman and Allan Sherman records I wanted.  While I was looking I noticed a charger near the printer.  It turned out to be from a laptop my parents no longer owned.  And it was the right size.  Now that is good luck!

There were way more than three really good things during my time in Cleveland, but these stick out in my mind.  Plus, I don't want to make it sound like my life is a ten in case I get an interview at Zappos.

Home

Recently the L.A. Times published a story about a woman who was hurt that her husband programmed his parents' number as home.  Having just returned from staying at my parents' house I can understand this desire.  It is home!  That doesn't mean that where I live with my husband and kids isn't also home and I hope my kids will always have fond memories of time spent here, but my childhood home lives in a different part of my heart.

It seems each summer I write about my favorite things in Cleveland (like here and here).  For a change I will write about what I saw that was new.

The Cozad-Bates House, which was likely a stop on the Underground Railroad.  

You can learn more and see better pictures here.  I think this quote describes the site well.

Today the house seems rather out of place amongst the towering medical buildings, large parking structures, and high-rise apartment buildings that surround it. However, if you look at the historical circumstances that surround the house it becomes clear why it is located and still standing in the heart of Cleveland’s cultural center.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is not a new place to me, but they recently completed a renovation, so this view of the inner atrium is new.

This is new, but I did visit my favorite, Monet's Water Lilies.

Also new to me was the outdoor chandelier at Playhouse Square.

You can learn more about the dazzle project here.

I know I swam at Forest Hills pool,
but I have no memory of visiting Forest Hills Park.

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport has a program showcasing local artists with temporary exhibits, so that was new, too.

several sculptures by Jerry Schmidt

Type City Cleveland

Bye, Cleveland.  Bye, home.
I look forward to returning to my favorite spots and discovering new things.

Tiny Sample

I have been restrained and not taken a picture of everything that brings back memories.  Here are a few, posted mostly for my benefit.

This hippo has been at the library my whole life.

Jack's Deli 

Pincus Bakery

just the tip of the iceberg

There are so many treasures in the basement.  How do I hold onto them without ending up with too much stuff?  Maybe my parents can hold onto it all for a few more decades.

Family adventure

Long, long ago

we went to LACMA and the kids got free memberships, NexGen, that allow them to bring one adult as a guest.  Yesterday we used them.

Urban Light, Chris Burden (Pomona College '69)

Even before we went to an exhibit I had taken a dozen pictures of the lamp posts, shadows, and chairs.

preparing to visit Breathing Light, by James Turrell, Pomona College '65

My favorite part of Metropolis II (also Chris Burden) was seeing the buildings
made from different materials (e.g., Lego, Tinkertoys).

This exhibit was popular with some.

Nelson Leirner's Marcana

D. and R.went to the special Calder and Kandinsky exhibit, which was the most crowded part of the museum, but they were glad to have seen it.

There were special Family Day activities, but the art room off the gift shop was more attractive.

I had no idea the breadth of LACMA's collection so I left feeling like I could easily enjoy another visit.  I hope the kids will decide to take us.

~~~~~~

D. just read about this last night!  From News of the Weird

The upscale restaurant at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced in August that it would soon add a 20-item selection of waters from around the world, priced from $8 to $16 a bottle (except for a $12 "tasting menu"). Martin Riese, general manager of Ray's & Stark Bar, who is also a renowned water gourmet, will sell his own California-made 9OH2O, which comes in "limited editions of 10,000 individually numbered glass bottles" at $14 each. Said Riese, "(M)any people don't know that water is just as important to the entire dining experience (as, say, a good wine)." Riese has been certified as a Water Sommelier by the German Mineral Water Association.

Money, money, money

Our son's soccer team raises money to cover the cost of ref fees, among other things.  On Saturday we had a yard sale in the morning and in the evening a local brewery hosted a benefit, giving a percentage of their profits to the team.

Kids are allowed because it isn't a bar.
Or maybe they aren't allowed and we all brought our kids because they love to be together.
Too bad they are too young to have their own team house.

The assistant coach's band, Los Whateveros, performed

and The Grilled Cheese Truck was there.

What made it unusual was that there was also a company that sells small, personal submarines giving a pitch that night.  They have their corporate offices just one office park away, next to Claremont's other brewery.

I don't know if they sold any, but they certainly educated people who had no idea there was such a product.  The local SCUBA club was there, too, and had a special deal on lessons, but I can't see myself diving anywhere beyond a pool.

It was more work that writing a check, but I think a good time was had by all.

Father's Day

Two years ago I started this blog as a gift to my dad on Father's Day.  Today we couldn't be together but I kept him in mind by running in his old shirt.

Bringing Out the Spirit

Several months ago I posted about removing a tree and leaving a stump,

using this picture as the after picture.

We hired an artist

who completed phase one.

Making progress!

It was hot work without the shade of the redwood.

Finished!

Here is Luis at work on his drum, made from part of the same tree.

This is the new after picture.

untitled, unfinished, but inspired by our tree

Escape, the ongoing saga

After our bookstore tour we walked to a Vietnamese restaurant for a casual meal and tried to decipher the art across the street.

click on image to enlarge

Down the street was an ice cream store that makes all its ice cream with pedal power.

kinetic art in store that sells

"artisan bicycle-churned organic dairy and non-dairy ice cream and frozen desserts"

Our wanderings took us past art created by Tony Sheets, a graduate of the same elementary school my children attend(ed) and son of Millard Sheets, whose art is on buildings in Claremont.

I also snapped this picture, not knowing the story at the time.

"The Hill Street entrance features terra cotta relief sculptures, designed by sculptor Donal Hord, depicting allegorical representations of Truth, Law and Justice. The Grand Avenue entrance features an integrated, terra cotta sculptural group titled Foundation of Law designed by sculptor Albert Stewart, with three figures representing the legal traditions upon which America was founded: Mosaic Law, with Moses representing Judeo-Christian heritage, Magna Carta, with a 13th century knight representing English Common Law, and Declaration of Independence, depicted by Thomas Jefferson."

Los Angeles Conservancy 

We made a point of visiting Grand Park, which is anchored by City Hall at one end and the Music Center at the other.

Next time I'll take books (or buy some at the Last Bookstore) to put in the little libraries,
which were scattered around the park.

Are you still with me?  If you have had enough I can tell you the ending - we got home safely.

We still had time to explore so we stopped in the Walt Disney Concert Hall gift shop, the Grand Avenue MoCA.

in the MoCA gift shop
"for planting, not eating"

So much more to see!  Quirky playgrounds, construction with only the façade of the building left, Angel's Flight, and the LAPD headquarters caught our eye.

We made a quick stop in Grand Central Market, but did not buy $10/pound whole beef tongue.

And to keep up with a European tradition of photographing maintenance covers, I snapped a few photos on the way to the Metro.

I hope the creator of this advertisement didn't get in trouble for
incorrectly guessing the make-up of the World Cup team.

The website included Clint Dempsey.

We waited by the fish tank for our train. 

Home, sweet home.