A Wish Fulfilled!

Our old garden had bare dirt below the clothesline and new one has mulch.  As someone wrote in the paper recently, the great thing about brown yard is that it is easy to spot the green weeds.

One thing that isn't great is being unable to find clothespins after dropping them.

I received these as a gift from my parents over six years ago 

(I know because my ten-year-old used to play with them when he was in nursery school).

More recently I received these as a gift and they have been great, too.

I was hanging up laundry yesterday and wishing I had more colorful clothespins.  Afterward I ran a couple errands and didn't find what I was looking for, but how could I pass up using a coupon?  I decided to take a quick look at the clearance items and right there (but not on clearance, can't win 'em all) were sparrow clothespins! Wishes do come true!

Recipes

The newspaper had an article comparing apps that sort recipes and I was mildly interested since I have a stash of recipes on my computer, some as word documents and some as .pdf.  I prefer paper because it doesn't go to sleep and it doesn't distract me with other things.  Some recipes I use are in cookbooks, which I have a shelf of despite the fact that I use just a few of the same ones repeatedly.

My favorite recipes have been collected from magazines,

copied from Parents magazine in 1990, which I read at a library in Austin

copied by hand from a cookbook,

from an international cookbook at a Boulder school library where I volunteered

 or cut from the newspaper.

from the Boulder Daily Camera

I was given this recipe at a wedding shower

Every Thanksgiving I make this recipe from Mrs. McKeever.

 Of course my favorites are the recipes in my mom's handwriting!

Archeology

I forgot to write about the treasures found in the yard (besides rocks, rocks, and more rocks).

This is one sample of goodies found.
I forgot to photograph the foam airplane, formerly white rag, and half a toy dump truck.

I wish I knew the story of this old tile,

which is now incorporated into the side yard.

Library Centennial

The Claremont Community Foundation has a series of parties each March and we try to support at least one.  This year we chose to attend the Claremont Library centennial celebration hosted by the Friends of the Claremont Library.

 A library memory project is being started to collect memories related to any library.  I have been thinking about it but have been having a hard time narrowing it down.

What is a party without food?  

I don't understand the relationship between these sandwiches and the authors.

Feel free to enlighten me.

Even the little books were edible.  A. ate one by Kafka.

Inside was an historical display of the library's history.

The humble beginnings are shown here.  

Not shown here is the Spanish Colonial Revival building that stood until the early 1970s.

This building was suggested as a replacement.  

It is significantly more attractive than our current library, 

but it is smaller.

The highlight of the afternoon was the announcement of the 

Claremont: On the Same Page book for 2014.

Sadly, no author visit this year.

Raising Money

Schools in California cannot require a student to buy so much as a pencil and the state has not paid the districts what they are owed (most recently the state changed the funding formula for each district and said that wiped out any debts that were owed).  Most public schools raise money, some by selling magazines and wrapping paper, others by having golf tournaments and spell-a-thons (that raise over $20,000!).  Our local elementary school does many small things, including selling scrip for local stores and having the local pizza parlor donate a portion of its profits once a month.

We used pizza as a little bribe to get the family out on the quad.  Both things were a treat.

Neighbors' Food

A. is taking care of our neighbors' hens, which Z. and I visited this morning.

He had found three eggs and we found another that was still warm.

A different neighbor has blood oranges.

Maybe the best free food is the sample we get when visiting Trader Joe's.

Ahead of Our Time

The New York Times had an article this week that claims Brown Is the New Green, but we had finished our drought-friendly backyard the week before.

About halfway through the first day of work I realized I had forgotten to take before pictures and they refused to undue three-plus hours of work, but you get the idea, I hope.

 before and after 1

before and after 2

before and after 3

before and after 4

before and after 5

before and after 6

before and after 7

before and after 8

before and after 9

before and after 10

before and after 11

before and after 12

and a few bonus after pictures

It is a great place to entertain so let us know when you are coming over!