Hidden in Plain Sight

 I am still not running, but am able to go for long walks. I see things I hadn't noticed before.

I can't quite see the house, but I like the entryway.
An online site says this house last sold in 1971.

I had never noticed this house built in 1927,

even though the unusual garage is right on the corner.

This 1928 house is behind a large hedge, but when
I looked it up I found photos from the last time it was on the market.

I had not noticed the house next door, another one built in 1928.

It is not as well maintained, but I can imagine it had been elegant.

It reminds me a bit of a house on College Ave.,

which was built in 1930.

Yet another house I never noticed

is also built in 1928, but looks so different. It last sold in 1988.

"Lloyd L. Brehaut
Fertilizer Dealer"
I have seen this many times and always wonder what is inside.

Nice to know there is still more see.

Home ownership

We love many things about our house, but there are bits of reality that aren't my favorite parts.

D. is great at dealing with regular issues around the house, including plumbing problems. On the other hand, if one's drain auger snake is only 25 feet long there are limitations.

Not looking good

Plumber's snake, but it wasn't long enough so he
left and came back with a longer one. Success!  

Next up was a fly infestation. Ewww! But D. found where they were coming from and we worked together to deal with it. 

Having them out of the house reminded me of this book.

I don't know if it is related, 

but we have had two tiny lizards in the house recently.

I had an email saying the power would be out until noon.
No problem, I can go without or go other places.

I got the car out of the garage before the power was out and came back from the grocery store after noon. Maybe I should not have been so optimistic about the timing. But all is well that ends well and nothing melted/got spoiled.

Now we are trying to hire someone to rebuild some windows, fix a tiled floor, and other tasks that are best done by professionals.

Thank goodness these are my biggest issues!

Birthday Trip, final part

In some newspaper I read about a new donut place in Redlands, which serves an unusual selection (e.g., orange blossom, miso caramel banana). I was tempted by the carrot cake donut

In the end I had my favorite, an old fashioned, and D. had vanilla.

From there we cycled the same route. It was less drizzly but still hard to get good views. After showering and packing up we drove to campus to walk around. 

We enjoyed walking around, but did wonder if students cycle, walk, or use transit to get to town. Or maybe they just stay on campus?

We did not take a tour of the most famous house in town, 

"time takes all but memories"

but thoroughly explored the grounds.

We drove by a few more houses on the way to lunch. We were too late for the orange season but bought some local avocados.

There was a pop-up bakery serving a hot lunch and there were three little libraries to explore while waiting for our lunch.

I am not sure why I chose this, but it made me smile.

The whole weekend made me smile! I love taking tiny vacations that are not too far from home.

Spring Break, Part Two

Part two started with a bike ride to the end of the A Line, which is currently 12 miles away. In nine months will be less than three miles away. 🤞

The train ride was uneventful and then we cycled the last mile to our friends' condo, unloaded, changed, and started strolling through the big city, stopping to shop at 

Erewhon
(yes, we did go back to buy NZ peanut butter)

and Vroman's
(we did not buy this Little Golden Book but did find other treasures).

D. caught the bus to Velo Pasadena

which is part store and part museum.
D. was not tempted by an $8000, even with a 30% discount.

I found a children's resale shop and found a 

sling to replace the used one I bought and used with the last two children I looked after. It had no price tag and they couldn't find it in the system so they sold it to me for a real deal! 

We finally met up with our friends and had a wonderful dinner at a plant-based restaurant. It is always a treat to have so many options, but it does make it harder to choose.

In the morning my friend and I cycled to the Huntington 

and enjoyed the beautiful spring flowers

and gardens before it was open to the public. 
D. and D. took the dog for a walk in the Arroyo (not all 22 miles).

We met up and the four of us took a tour of the neighborhood surrounding the Gamble House. 

I did like seeing other houses and learning about things like the brick sidewalks (no longer allowed to install them but also not allowed to remove the existing ones), 

but one of my favorite parts was hearing and seeing a swim meet at the Rose Bowl Aquatics pool.

I kind of want a brick planter now

or maybe brick designs in the driveway.

What is a vacation without our sigfigs?

After lunch we reversed the process,

with slightly more crowded trains and an uphill ride home.

It was good to go and good to be back home.

House Move Update

A little over a year ago we watched a house get moved down the street, as documented here. 

Despite needing significant updates internally, it looks like it fits in.

bird's-eye view of house at new location

The lot it came from is still empty with only
the shell of a garage on the property.

bird's-eye view of old lot

Changes in the neighborhood

I had never taken a picture of local artist Barbara Beretich's house on Harvard so I am using images from Google maps.

I went by recently and saw a green-waste dumpster out front. The guys working there said it was owned by Claremont Graduate University and the house had a lot of potential.

What a difference!

Gate Post

 We had two simple gates by our house.

We had had them rebuilt before but they were not sturdy. After years of talking about it we finally hired someone to make new ones.

We think they were worth the wait!