My sister has lived in Claremont for many years.  She has an extensive network of interesting, talented friends who have been dropping by with news and goodies now that she is post-surgery.

I actually lived in Claremont in 1973, just after graduating college.  My sister, Jan, found me an apartment and a job.  Even back then she had many connections.  I worked making hand-forged jewelry for a now-defunct store named Figg.

Recently I read that Claremont is known as the City of Trees.  There are many venerable eucalyptus, pepper, palm, and sycamore trees, along with many others I can’t identify. And of course there are the six colleges whose quads and gardens make for great walking.

The houses around the village are highly individual and imaginatively landscaped. Here’s my sister’s front walk.

The inside of my sister’s house is more like a museum.  We wander around looking at the art on the walls and the collections of old dolls and wooden chests of drawers full of beads and yarns that she uses in her artwork.

The figures in the foreground are a collection of carved wooden doctors she found in a shop somewhere.  We had fun guessing which specialist each depicted.