The Claudia Report

Dear James,

This is Claudia writing to you from "lynn's" computer. I refuse to call her mom because I am at least seventy years older than she is.

I would first like to thank you and bunny kitty for the wonderful doggy snack and come clean about something before "she" tells you about it.
First off, it wasn't my fault. When she opened your package she ooohed and aaahed before setting it down on a small, nose height table and jetting off to an egg nog party down the street. So what was I supposed to think? I saw the package with the gingerbread-dog cookie in it, I saw my name on it, and I smelled how good it would taste. She left, and I sprang as fast as my old hips would let me.
So I ate it, I ate the whole cookie including the plastic. It's christmas, I thought. Why not? I did leave the little red tag that said 'from Cosmo Bunny Kitty' intact and that's what ultimately got me in trouble.
I should have eaten that too.
When she got home (probably drunk) she started in on "Oh my god, how could you? That was for Christmas day!!"
How am I supposed to know when Christmas day is? She's been playing that damn Charlie Brown music for at least a month.
I THOUGHT IT WAS CHRISTMAS! So she's yelling at me about being a 'naughty piggy' and calling me "Little Chrissy" like that John Water's film with the girl who loves sugar? So anyway, I didn't mean it in a bad way, and I sure didn't mean to eat the whole thing in one sitting. I couldn't help myself, you know? So if she asks, tell her it was from you guys FOR ME and not for her perfect little idea of christmas. At least somebody got me a present!

So thank you very much for thinking of me at this special time of baby jesus' birthday. How's Austin? Say hello to Francois, and all the kitties: Emma, Sophie, Skank, and Cosmo bunny kitty for me. I love the holidays and the holidays love us! Just please tell 'her' to back off the Little Chrissy jokes, Ok?

merry christmas and happy new year!
love,
Claudia M. Klopfer

Snow Days

Winter is here!

In the days before the official 'Winter Solstice,' Running Springs recieves a hefty dose of snow.
"Just like the old days," was heard more than once around the post office, in the bank, and at Little Jensen's.
In the Bus Stop Coffee House people blew on hot drinks, watching the snow fall from inside fogged up windows.

Across the snowy valley, Mt. Baldy looks like Mt. Everest and visions of sugarplums are dancing through everyone's heads. It's amazing to think that just a few months ago we were so worried about the dry winds of autumn and now here we are shoveling bus loads of snow. For the first time since I can remember, the school district called school for 5 whole days, 5 WHOLE DAYS! before the official holiday break began.



The amazing part of a snow day is how it takes you down a notch, how it makes everyone pay a little more atttention to nature. Watching it snow may be the ultimate in meditative practices. To be still and not react to it, to just enjoy it for it's beauty, that's the trick of a snow day.

Why Hello Kitty Matters

She doesn't even have a mouth! Maybe that's her secret.

In the late 1970's you couldn't cross the street without running over this little white... toy? She's more than a toy, she's a cultural icon! Soft, round, mouthless, a jaunty red bow, and always put together, she has embodied a certain idea of 'cheek' since her stateside beginings in 1976, and I have loved her ever since.

I remember that when my grandma would come to visit us from New Jersey she and I had a special ritual. My mother would drop us off at the mall formally known as Central City in beautiful downtown San Bernardino, and my grandma and I would go straight to the Sanrio store. Like entering another world, the world of Hello Kitty and Her Stationary Factory, you could practically taste the place.
Once there, I proceded to touch and smell every single object in the rows and rows of kitten paraphenalia. I loved the pink smelling erasers, the little note pads perfect for my then tiny fingers, the mini pencils, and the red plastic tissue holder purse that I persuaded my grandma to buy for me. I didn't realize until much, much later the relationship between Hello Kitty and her creators in Japan. How everything about her is Japanese, from her shyness, her size, her work ethic, to her sense of honor and duty. Maybe I'm reading more into it then there really is, maybe not. Hello Kitty came to America about the same time Toyota cars did and we all know that was a good trade for the U.S.A., right?



For some of us, Hello Kitty is as important as...baseball cards. Hello Kitty was the girl version of the obsessive trading of sports cards and at least her stuff was useful. Cabbage Patch kids? Forget about it. For a young girl growing up in California in the 70's, Hello Kitty called across the oceans to me in a way that not many other toys did or could. There is a certain amount of comfort in her beady eyes and soft paws. Yes, there is also a certain overkill to the Sanrio stores that now pepper every mall, but who cares! That excess seems like small pickens now that we see what real 'economic crisis' means. You can't blame this one on the Kitty!



Sometimes I call on my "Inner Hello Kitty" when I see something just as cute that hits the same grandma nostalgia button. Here we see the 'Catskelly' by Indigenous Plush, almost an X-ray version of the Kitty herself, and my crafter friends and their super cute felt lollipops I bought for Xmas gifts.
I wonder if my grandma ever knew how much those trips to the Sanrio store meant to (one of) her favorite little grandchildren? Or, how I would treasure those memories forever?
I sure hope so.

The Huts of Running Springs

Whatcha got in that hut?

I've been gathering data on huts in Running Springs. Seems there are quite a few of these little architectural wonders out there in the greater Running Springs area.

Why is this?



Running Springs is like a village. A village that has expanded out - but not up. Smaller houses are the norm, leaving little inside space for those human habits we love to aquire. Collections, hobbies, visiting relatives - they all go in the hut.

What makes a hut...special?
The best huts aren't prefab. like the ones huddled in the Home Depot parking lot. The best huts are designed and decorated by their owners; the weird folks of Running Springs. They are weird and if you don't believe me go and check out some of these huts.
But weird in a good way.




There are some real winners out there. After the fires of last year my desire to properly document the huts has grown. Some huts, like this one, survived when their house did not.
This is an 'Orphaned Hut.'

We call this next one "Small World Hut." It has the same fussy little Danish look of the beloved water ride. I expect to hear music coming from inside the stained glass windows of this one, the beads jangling from the rafters, the wooden tulips bouncing up and down.
That would be cool!



Do you have a hut? In Running Springs?

Let us know.

*Stay tuned for 'The Czech Hut', 'Tree Stump Hut', 'Rainbow Hut', and 'Scary Woods Hut.'
Plus: Inside the Hut - the Interviews.

Parkland Retreat House

Parkland is ready for its close up.

Almost three years in the making, (or remaking) and its time to open the doors at Parkland.
Our first yoga workshop will be Saturday, September 20th with penelope prabha richards, a great local instructor.
From 9 to noon, the class will feature an hour and half yoga/meditation session, a short break and then more
yoga! Light refreshments to follow as you hang out on the cool grounds, eat, and sip green tea, (of course).




Parkland is part Japanese Zendo, part mountain cabin, part bookstore, and all about SPACE.
It's worth a visit just to check out the book hut!
Future classes include writing workshops, more yoga, meditation, and anything else we can find someone to teach us.
Parkland will also offer massage by a local masseuse - cool!

Cost for the one day workshop is $40 per person by Sept. 13th.
*Mention 'green tea diaries' and sign up 2 people for $70.
Such a deal!
**directions will be sent upon sign up. Space is limited!



Paypal accepted or,
Make check payable to:
Lynn Klopfer
P.O. Box 3502
Running Springs, Ca 92382

Be at the first yoga workshop.
Because you know its good for you.

World Wide Washi

wa = japanese
shi = paper

Au Papier Japonais may be North America's best, and only, all washi shop.

Washi, the handmade Japanese paper that fills Lorraine Pritchard's totally unique Montreal paper store has a tradition longer then the rolls and rolls of washi being displayed all over the cozy store.
You want the best washi your canadian dollar can buy? Head down to the Mile End area, the hippest, most low key of Montreal neighborhoods. Fairmont Street is full of fun, current shops, and Au Papier Japonaise seems to be the neighborhood's Queen Bee.





It's on of those places.

Lorraine's careful attention to detail has created an atmosphere of refined obsessiveness. If you are at all interested in paper - good paper - you better leave before your Amercain Express card catches fire as mine did upon exiting.
Not that her prices aren't great, they are. But the problem lies in the fact that there are too many things you might find yourself needing to have.

Washi, books about washi, calligraphy brushes, beautiful paper umbrellas, more washi, cool little knick knacks for any paper/washi geek, washi, and then in the next room, more washi. In the same way the Japanese love packaging and all it entails, Lorraine's shop is like a Japanese hostess gift; beautiful, well ordered, neat, and heaped with character.

The shop reminds the visitor of a living room fort made of paper (the kind you made as a kid) and you don't want to leave but stay all night under its soothing sheets .



So what is washi?

The Japanese have been making strong, exquisite paper for at least 1300 years. From the workshop pamphlet I picked up in the shop it says this: "In washi, fibre comes from three plants whose inner bark produces naturally longer fibres than trees, and which is laboriously extracted by hand to maintain its length. The three plants are kozo, mitsumata and gampi."

So now we know.

But to get to know washi even more intimately, Au Papier offers workshops from papermaking, to card making, to book binding, to full on painting classes. I just wish there were a satelite campus in California.
Check them out at www.aupapierjaponais.com

There is also a world wide Washi Summit held every year, which would be amazing to attend, I'm sure.



Don't call it rice paper.
It's washi!

The Franco Nippon Connection

A japonese bistro!
This is the kind of cross cultural eating experience that I always love.
Isakaya, a Japanese restaurant in a French Canadian city, provided my one and only Japanese meal in Montreal. Cheap(er), innovative, and unpretentious, but was it Japanese?

Walking north from dowtown up Rue DuParc, Isakaya is recommended as the only place to eat fresh fish in this area of Montreal. And the meal I had was possibly the weirdest thing I have ever eaten in a sushi restaurant.
Weird in a good way.

I had the "Salade deNouille Sarrasin avec Crevettes Matane" or 'Buckwheat noodle salad with fresh Matane shrimp.'
Buckwheat noodles are terrific and I don't eat nearly enough of them, but I will be trying harder from now on.
They took the buckwheat noodles (cold) and dressed them with seaweed strips, sprouts, avocado, tomatoes, (that's weird, right?), and those crispy kind of noodley crackers, and drizzled it all with a wonderful, savory, hollandaise-like sauce.
It's as if the chef looked into the fridge and said "What do we have in here for tonight's special?" - and boy was it great.
Odd, but great. It was definetly japanese, for the chef's innovative abilities alone.

The only complaint I had was that there wasn't enough. But maybe that's just the American in me, wanting more of what I want.

"Isakaya est un restaurant discret qui offre une cuisine Japonaise authentique" it said in the window.
Translation: Yummy Japanese food in Montreal.

BONSAI !

This is what I would imagine a forest for gnomes to look like - small, organized, and easy on the eye.
The Huntington Gardens in San Marino remains the best place to view a large collection of bonsai in southern california.
The bonsai sit, respectfully, in the Japanese garden area, right past the amazing zen garden of rock, sand, and stone.



'Bon' means 'shallow', and 'sai' means 'plant' in Japanese, as in 'plants that grow in a shallow container.' The art of training miniature trees to resemble their larger brethern first originated in China and is super complex, just like Asia itself. You need all sorts of fancy tools, none of which I have ever seen at Home Depot. About a thousand years ago, back when Japan looked heavily to China for cultural inspiration, they snatched upon the idea and bonsai has been added to the list of 'Japanese things we recognize,' but its far more than that.



*Terri and Sue-ki Yaki eye the bonsai.

Since 1968 when it first opened to the public, the bonsai garden at the Huntington represents the practice at its finest with over 30 plants.
Trained, twisted, pinched, and plucked, these minature trees and plants are meant to resemble the natural world, only smaller. With most things in our present culture getting bigger and bigger, the movement back to a small, managable scale can best be seen in bonsai plants. Small is beautiful. The striking look of a giant tree in minature reminds us how far we've gotten away from the meaning of the word "beautiful" and that big does not equal great.

Now, if only we coult do the same thing with cars.



Shinto elements seen in the signage as well.







New hobby for the year - bonsai!

Rock and Roll Sushi hits the mountain - go eat some fish!

We have waited, and waited, and waited for this moment. Good, affordable sushi closer than twenty miles away. It has happened with the opening of Rock -n-Roll Sushi in Lake Arrowhead's charming-ish Village. A chain of sushi joints catering to a young-acting, reggae listening, Coach bag carrying crowd. So was it worth the wait?
Rock and Roll Sushi sits next door to Papaya Bay, the Thai restaurant that has dominated the Asian cuisine scene here on the mountain (which isn't difficult) for a whopping two years.
So it's on now! Japanese versus Thai food. There should be room for both, right? Its probably a good thing the same company owns both restautants. Considering people in the mountains only go out to dinner for birthdays or with visiting relatives, its hard to determine what's what in the restaurant industry up here.
Are people really looking for good food, or just a place to relieve some of the cultural boredom of the mountains? I'm afraid I know the answer.

Let's take a look at the food:
From what we ordered and ate, it looks to be in the "American Sushi" style of rolls smothered in various salty sauces. Not bad tasting at all, but not tasting like much. Good sushi has that fresh, distinctly Japanese flavor. Good sushi is not afraid of itself, nor does it hide behind fancy eel sauces and store bought wasabi. When you can taste the 'special sauce' more than the fish, question this, said grasshopper.
It was my friends Lori and Mike's first time trying sushi - first time! How wonderful, so I was hoping it would be a great experience. I think we enjoyed picking from the 24 beers on tap selection more than the food menu.
We got the Psycho roll, (mike's choice, pretty adventurous for a first timer) the Red Dragon roll, and the Baked Lobster roll.
Tasty, extremely filling, well presented, average priced - but not what you would call "the best sushi I ever had."
How could it be?
They were out of endemame to begin with and the servers had trouble remembering the difference between spicey tuna and baked salmon - but they are trying.
The stainless steel, numerous flat screens pumping sports programming to the mountain masses, and the bright red and green of the interior solidifies Rock and Roll's place as a "California" sushi joint. Well, I suppose we'll take what we can get and be happy. I am looking forward to returning, (which is a good sign) and ordering sashimi and Udon. I will sit in the outdoor seating area and enjoy the lake view while sipping green tea, (which, come to think of it, they didn't offer. What's up with no green tea?).
I'm still waiting for a hole-in-the-wall noodle shop to open in Running Springs. It'll be called 'Little, Little Tokyo.'

Adult Pinatas - good clean fun

If only you could have been there.
Two birthday boys, both alike in their Tauranian ways. One from the mountains, one from the sea. Each in a celebratory mood, both game for a swing at the ol' bull on a string. Adult pinatas, (sorry, I can't figure out how to put the little squiggle over the n, but I know it should be there). The idea had been swinging around for awhile, and finally it was time to step up to the plate. An ancient tradition of youthful humiliation, what able bodied adult wouldn't want a crack at one?


We bought the pinata at a local "party supplier" but one of my students said that next time I should call his aunt who made "the best pinatas ever." I might call her because taking a swing at that bull on a string was one of the best moments of uncontrollable laughter I've had in a long time.
When's the next birthday?


The trick to an adult pinata is to fill it with "fun" things, things not ordinarily found in a 1st grader's pinata. The dice got a nod from Steve, one of the birthday boys. I believe he said, "I like the dice."
Good enough.
There were a few other bonuses tucked up in the tissue papered belly of the bull as well: lighters, lip gloss, asprin, profilactics, and some candy to round it out. The other birthday boy, Sean, scrambled for a bottle of moisterizing nasal spray and I think Mandy got the Visine drops. The next day I had to go back to the scene to make sure there weren't any 'traces' left strewn about on the forest floor. Surprise neighbors!
But looking back, I'm sure anyone would have joined in the swinging, if they had been invited.

The Bus Stop - Coffee House, Community Cafe

Finally! Running Springs gets lucky. I first ate at the Bus Stop on St. Patrick's day 2007 when the cafe was in its first week of business. Owner Terri Schauer had corned beef and cabbage, un-Irish potatoes and a hollandaise/mustard sauce you could eat every day until Easter, and we've all been hooked since. Hands down the best 'gourmet' food on the mountain, great coffee, pastries, wi-fi, sprinkle sugar cookies, and a surprise soup du jour selection that never fails. My favorite is the split pea coconut curry.
Visit on the way to or from Big Bear, or if you're just odd enough to stay in Running Springs for the night.

The Book Hut

hut. noun - “A small single-story building, often made of wood, that is used as a simple house or shelter, or for storage, temporary accommodation, or for leisure activities.”

Sometimes we do crazy things and sometimes those things turn into the best things we ever did. Sometimes.
Case in point: at the end of 2005 when the housing market was taking its first, tentative dives into the deep end, I bought a second house. Not just any house, but a house with a hut. A hut, I found, that has given a much needed home to the enormous book collection that keeps happening, now far out of mine or anyone elses control. The books needed a home and so a hut is what they got.

The house itself was a mess, but the 'book hut', out in back and to the left, was in perfect condition. Perfect size, free standing, concrete floor, a small work stand, a window, and plenty of wall space for shelves. I only needed to remove the sharp objects that the previous owners had left behind - rusty saws, rakes, and weird mountain equipment I've never seen before. I got all that junk out of the hut and reversed any 'shed karma' by putting in all the books, shelving, pictures, and book accessories (yes, there are book accessories).
The Hut houses all the tools needed to start making our ever so popular 'rescued book journals,' journals and sketch books made from old, funky, groovy, book covers.
The book hut also keeps all the book spines that we've saved (about 2,500 of um') for a future project. Any suggestions? Please email.
The Hut has also hosted one small party in June of 2006. Apparently the hut has a magnetic pull, possibly like the ancient menstrual huts women were so fond of, (and I don't blame them one bit) back in the day. Personally, I think the Book Hut would make a perfect menstrual respite, and I bet even the men who found themselves lounging inside the hut on that chilly June night, sipping cocktails by candlelight would agree.
The Book Hut will be featured more prominently in the collection of stories called, "The Huts of Running Springs" currently in the works by yours truly and other people too.
Are you the owner of a hut?
Tell us about it.