Squeezing things in

I am so grateful that I decided to get out and about when I could. After visiting the Denison Library in the morning I had plans to meet up with friends and visit two small art museums in Ontario.

A. drove us to our first stop, the Ontario Museum of History & Art, where we met up with friends who live in Ontario. We loved walking around and seeing the beautiful pieces of furniture, but it was very, very hard not to reach out touch the wood, which looks so silky smooth. In addition to the furniture they had stories and drawings

including this one done for the
president's office at Harvey Mudd College

Across the street is Chaffey Community Museum of Art, which had an exhibit of art work inspired by Sam Maloof and a watercolor that he himself painted!

I loved these miniature versions of Maloof furniture
done by Mike Johnson, someone who worked with Sam Maloof.

I was also happy to see unrelated art from local artists,
especially this fabric art by Sumi Foley.

Here's a closeup.

After wandering the museums we walked over to Logan's Candies, 

which is known for the candy canes they make on site.

They did not have any special leap day candy but we found a few things to enjoy!

Our friends knew about a garden filled with kinetic sculptures
and public art including this tree (picture found on this public art site).

We said our goodbyes and then we headed home. A. drove on the freeway for the first time and we arrived home without a problem. Ta da!

One Ringy Dingy

A. pointed out that our Mbps, megabits per second, were very, very low. We looked into updating our service and the price different was affordable.

I am not sure if I would say that the third time was the charm,
but after being stood up twice I was thrilled that
someone came to the house for the third appointment.

Not only did the person not show up the first time, when I called to ask about it I was told that the person was at my house at that very moment. Then I was told the person was almost done with the work. When I said I was at my home I was then told that the person had tried to gain access to our home but was unable to. Would I like to reschedule? The next day I talked to a different person who did apologize for the fact that I had been lied to.

The second time I also arranged my schedule so that someone was at the house when I had to leave. Nothing. All day. At least this time they just kept telling me the person was busy, maybe later. Maybe later. Maybe later. Would I like to reschedule?

I felt like I was living in a Lily Tomlin sketch, but more of the type of,
"We Don’t Care. We’re the Phone Company. We Don’t Have To."

Ta da! Someone showed up and on time!
The person seemed to know what to do and everything went smoothly.

We have a new box on the house

and away from the house.

The entire process was a big pain, but now that we are all home and on our computers I can say that I am glad it is done and I am not trying to get an appointment this week!

Last Month (now known as a long time ago)

Looking at these pictures it seems odd that they were taken less than three weeks ago. How carefree I was! I am so glad that even though it was a rush to get from my morning outing to this event that I made the effort. I had planned to go back to take some other pictures, but I thought it was not a rush. If nothing else, I hope I learn to do things when I have the chance to do them!

photo credit A.
I mentioned earlier that I was reading The Library Book for a city-wide program.

Earlier in the year the manager of the local librarian spoke about the library. Later this month the author was scheduled to speak in town. A dance professor from Pomona College, who was formerly the senior librarian in Los Angeles for almost thirty years, talked about his experiences during the aftermath of the fire. This was followed by a question and answer period.

My favorite event was a tour of Ella Strong Denison Library at Scripps College,
where we learned about this Gutenberg window,

toured the reading room,

and learned a lot in the rare books room.

I missed seeing a page of the Gutenberg Bible
but I was able to hold a 4,000-year old cuneiform
tablet (I hope I am holding it right side up).

If aren't in town when the library is open you can catch glimpses of the it in the movie Beaches, which I learned while researching this post.

Lucky Me!

A friend and fellow blogger had received two free tickets on Metrolink and invited me on an adventure (this happened in life before COVID-19 arrived in California).

I pulled out a couple books

and suggested a walk starting at Mariachi Plaza because I am trying to get to all the places in this book, which I bought when the illustrator visited the now-shuttered Mrs. Nelson's Toy & Book Shop.

I was happy to see that the plaza still had a mariachi feel

photo credit to my blogger friend
and we even saw one musician!

Our secret walk included the house where Max Factor grew up.
I had not considered that there was a person behind the company.

There were a lot of nice houses in the neighborhood and one person saw us admiring them and invited us in for a tour! He thought we might have been location scouts, people looking for a place to film an ad or show.

Just a few blocks from the plaza is Hollenbeck Park, a nice oasis in Boyle Heights.

There were great murals along the way but I was
most excited to see a bench just like in Mexico City!

photo credit to the restaurant
My friend had found a vegetarian-friend restaurant, un solo sol. We both chose pupusas, which came with black beans, cabbage slaw, and fried plantains. I would definitely go back!

I had been telling everyone about our plan to visit Libros Schmibros (the name reflects the current population of the neighborhood and the Jewish population many decades ago).  "Libros Schmibros champions the pleasures of literature and its power to change lives." It was inexplicably closed so I will have to go back for both pupusas and books!

We said goodbye to Mariachi Plaza and went back to Union Station.
I tried to give a little art tour based on what I had seen in November.

There was early voting in the foyer of the Metro HQ building, which seemed like an odd place since we could see the screens (although in reality I could see only the screen and nothing on it).

How lucky we were for beautiful weather and for the chance to explore Los Angeles. As I sit at home it bring pleasure to look back at the pictures from the day.

Food

When it comes to eating out my kids are more like my sisters, which is why they love to visit them! Their meals are much better than bread and gorp while sitting on a bench in a park.

Our first night we had Israeli food

including this cauliflower.

The second night we tried all sorts of things at Azul,
like these ant eggs (I passed on this). 

Not shown, fried grasshoppers to sprinkle on top

I liked the tortillas with a different images embossed on each one.

photo credit queremoscomer.rest
On the last night we went to Matisse,
which has a wonderful bakery attached to the restaurant.

Mexican Adventure

Did you know that one of the world's largest pyramids is just a short bus ride from Mexico City?

photo credit Charles Haynes
 It turns out I was the only one who was not aware of that fact.
It was a free day for Mexican citizens, which the
ticket-taker was kind enough to ask if we were!

From the Encyclopædia Britannica:

Pyramid of the Sun, large pyramid in the ancient city of Teotihuacán, Mexico, that was built about 100 CE and is one of the largest structures of its type in the Western Hemisphere. The pyramid rises 216 feet (66 metres) above ground level, and it measures approximately 720 by 760 feet (220 by 230 metres) at its base. 

The Pyramid of the Sun dominates central Teotihuacán from the east side of the Avenue of the Dead, the main north–south artery of the city. It was constructed of about 1,000,000 cubic yards (765,000 cubic metres) of material, including hewed tezontle, a red coarse volcanic rock of the region. During hastily organized restoration work in 1905–10, the architect Leopoldo Batres arbitrarily added a fifth terrace, and many of the original facing stones were removed. On the pyramid’s west side, there are 248 uneven stair steps that lead to the top of the structure.

We took the scenic route (oops) to get to the pyramid but there was a little museum and a shady place to wait while some people climbed to the top.

photo credit A.
View from the bottom

photo credit Charles Haynes
View from the top, with Pyramid of the Moon off to the right

Having had a little adventure getting to the pyramid we were hoping for a less exciting trip back. A. found the shortest path back, which turned out to be a wide trail without anyone selling anything. The gate at the end was unlocked and just as we were wondering how far we would have to walk to catch the bus and how long the wait would be, someone asked Charles if he were going to to Mexico City because the bus in front of us was headed there. We turned over the return tickets and took the four remaining seats. It is good to be lucky!

February leftovers

Working at candidates' forum in San Dimas

Trophies at USC

Open mic night at the Folk Music Center

New-to-me discovery on campus - a Sagehen foosball table!