Mother's Day 2021

Paid a visit yesterday for Mother's Day. Crazy that it's already three years. On the 14th it will be ten years - a whole decade - since my Dad passed away, and that's even crazier. 

The Brother and I took one of Mom and Dad's friends from high school with us. Her parents are buried at the same place, as is my godfather, so we visited them as well. Lots of people and decorations at the cemetery, which really is a beautiful place. Then we went to lunch and had a pretty nice time. It's a treat to be able to go inside a restaurant again. Who knew that would ever be a thing?

All in all a good day. Hoping those of you who still have your Moms around have a wonderful day with them!

Monrovia Historic Home Tour

The Brother and I did the Monrovia Historic Home Tour yesterday and we had a blast.

The theme this year was the town's first homes, all built in 1887 except for one that was built in 1884. All were various types of Victorians, and although initially I was disappointed that there weren't any Craftsmans this year, we learned from a docent that the ornate Victorians were what was in style in the late 1880's. The more streamlined Craftsmans wouldn't come into style until years later, which explained their absence this year due to the theme.

In the end it didn't really matter. The houses were beautiful and the care taken by their current and previous owners to adhere to the historic architecture and even rehabbing the houses when necessary was evident in every room.

The highlight for us was the last house we hit on the tour, the beautiful Victorian known as Idlewild, which just happens to be for sale. It was also the only multi-level home where we weren't allowed upstairs, which was disappointing, plus I wasn't overwhelmed by the kitchen, but the rest of it was impressive as hell. The entryway is gorgeous and the wooden arch between the living room and dining room was absolutely stunning (the picture on the listing doesn't do it justice). I think The Brother was still kind of meh about it until we got outside and were directed to the wine cellar, which is only accessible from the side yard. I think that sold it for him. Probably a good thing he doesn't have a spare $1.7 million laying around. They also wisely didn't have any actual wine in there so we didn't have to fight off the temptation to make off with a souvenir.

Overall, even without a Craftsman, we had a great time. The weather cooperated and none of the houses were terribly crowded. We topped it off with dinner at North Woods, which never disappoints. All in all, just a great day.

Idlewild's grand entrance.

Scenes from the Monrovia Street Fair

Our window seat at T. Phillip's Ale House gave us a view of the petting zoo and camel rides.

Dr. Adam Kendall is a fixture at the street fair. He is a doctor turned musician and music teacher. His little dog is always with him.

It's a great street fair, especially for kids and families.

Camels of Monrovia

Last Friday, after running some errands and doing some shopping, Mom and I headed over to the Monrovia Farmer's Market. If you've never been there, it's very family-oriented, heavily attended and really fantastic.

For diehard foodies it might be a bit light on produce, but I still managed to score a huge bunch of celery, some big beautiful strawberries, kumquats, dandelion greens and a lovely bouquet of lavender. It also has some really talented jewelry vendors. I ended up with two necklaces, plus my Mom bought the matching ring and earrings to one of them for my birthday. Very pretty stuff.

There's also a ton of food vendors, plus plenty of places to eat on Myrtle Avenue, where the market is located.

There's also really incredible stuff for the kids. There were three or four of these giant inflatable slides, and the petting zoo included not just pony rides, but camel rides as well. Seriously.

Mom and I had dinner at Jake's Roadhouse.

Monrovia is a beautiful town with a lot of local history, and its farmer's market is huge and highly recommended.

Monrovia Historic Homes Tour

Last Sunday I took Mom to the annual Monrovia Historic Homes Tour. We'd been a number of times back before she moved out of state for a few years, but we hadn't been back to see the beautifully restored homes since then.

The tour used to be on Mother's Day, but this year the Monrovia Historic Preservation Group decided to move it to the first Sunday in May. The weather cooperated - it was a beautiful, cool day.

I didn't get a lot of pictures as interior photography was prohibited. You can see some interior shots on their site here.

We stopped at the Monrovia Historical Museum first. They had some items for sale and I picked up an old menu from The Derby Restaurant in Arcadia. I'm going to have to do some research on it, but it might be an original. The Bacon-Wrapped Filet dinner is a mind-boggling $2.75.

Part of the museum is dedicated to law enforcement in the town over the years. I just loved this part of the exhibit:

Click for a bigger image to read the
plaque: "Kids - Try on the uniforms".
Great way to reach out to kids.

The houses we visited were all beautiful. We hit a couple of Craftsmans, a Tudor and the Upton Sinclair House, which, while officially a Spanish Colonial Revival, defies description. We were so boggled by the Sinclair House that we completely blanked on visiting the last house.

California Craftsman.

Gargoyle standing watch over one
of the tour houses.

And of course, the Upton Sinclair House:

Even the front door is amazing.

The house is unusual in that the walls and floors are cement. The owner has done an unbelievable job decorating and furnishing. She has done things that don't sound like they would work, but they do. For example, she painted the walls gray. And just for fun, when the light hits them a certain way, they take on a lavender hue. My Mom kept wondering if the owner was an interior decorator or set decorator, and the place does look like something out of a movie. I snagged a couple of pictures of the interior from the preservation group's website:

They still don't do the place justice. Despite the color of the walls, the place was very bright. I told my Mom if I lived in a place like that, I'd never leave my home. We just couldn't get over it.

Originally built in 1923, the house was the home of writer Upton Sinclair from 1942 until 1966. The house was damaged in a 1991 earthquake, shifting off its foundation and suffering cracks to the walls and ceilings. The then owners wanted to demolish the house, which led to a battle between them and preservationists that lasted several years. The owners finally accepted an insurance settlement and gave up the house. The subsequent owner repaired the home by adding to the foundation where the house had come off of it. The current owner bought it about four years ago.

If you've never taken the tour, I highly recommend it if you have any interest in historic California architecture. Next year's tour is May 7, 2017.