Local housing market struggles to get back on its feet, while one local school serves up some healthy eating

* ... LOCAL HOUSING: I heard from a few local Realtors after I posted an update on the local housing market. My own personal Realtor of choice is the hard-working Mary Christenson of Watson-Touchstone (pictured). She reported good buyer activity and reduced inventory, especially in homes under $400,000. She also noted the first time tax buyer credit ends April 30th and "buyers need to get offers accepted now in order to close by that date. I've had very good closing activity for sales generated in December during the last five weeks-by the end of February I will have closed a full 50 percent of my entire sales volume for last year!" Meanwhile, fellow Watson Realtor Katy Glentzer took me to task for citing the online real estate sales website Zillow in reporting slow sales in other markets. "We are not singing the housing Blues in Bakersfield," she said. "For the past several months our prices have increased. Yes, inventory is down, thanks to the banks wising up. Is there anything wrong with supply and demand? They are releasing foreclosures at a slower pace and actually helping owners through the short sale process."  We'll keep an eye on the local market and my thanks to Mary and Katy for their input.


 * ... HEALTHY EATING: I received an interesting email from local writer Teresa Adamo about a new after school day-care snack at the Downtown School. Each child receives a bowl holding different fruit, all cut into chunks. The kids are each given a plastic glove to gather their chunks of choice, and a skewer for the creation of their fruit kabob. Said Teresa: "As you can imagine, it was a huge hit! I saw happy kids making second kabobs because they enjoyed the process so much, not to mention the ingredients! The fruit choices included: oranges, bananas, cantaloupe, honeydew melon and kiwi. Of course, from a Mom's perspective, I saw the healthy value in this interactive snacking. With the alarming rates of childhood obesity -- not to mention the unknown, long-term affects & impact on health care -- this scene was at least a little reassuring." Someone from that school is thinking.

 * ... GAUCHO WORLD: I heard from two University of California at Santa Barbara graduates who wanted to give their alma mater a shout-out. Marciano Flores, activity director of the AVID program at East Bakersfield High School, wrote to say he was both a proud Gaucho and an East High Blade. Also weighing in was old friend and Gaucho grad Laura Wolfe, who is now working with the Arts Council of Kern after many years in development at Cal State Bakersfield.

* ... CAR CLUB DONATION: Hats off to the Bakersfield Car Club and its annual Super Cruise show that was held at the Kern County Fairgrounds. Club member Roy Romagno told me the club raised more than $10,000 to benefit the the Society for Disabled Children of Kern County. Always nice to see local folks pitching it to help others during a difficult year.

* ... BAKERSFIELDISM: Reader Bobbie Hulson offered this one. "You know you are from Bakersfield when even old people pick their parking spaces by how much shade there is, rather than how close they are to the door." And add this one: "Someone from out of town talks about how foggy it is and you tell them, 'just wait!'"

Armanda Bosley, longtime owner of Lou Ella's, dies; UC Santa Barbara alumni looking for reunion

 * ... BRAIN DRAIN: Reader Elaine McNearney wrote to tell me about all the alumni from University of California at Santa Barbara who call Bakersfield home. Apparently there are so many local kids applying to UCSB that Bakersfield is one of the few communities with a full-time UCSB staff person, working primarily at South High but also at Bakersfield High. McNearney said Catalina Mendiola works to help kids through the maze of paperwork required to be admitted to the UC and tries to identify students who qualify for the Research Mentoring Program targeting students from different disciplines. In addition, she said "a group of UCSB alumni are trying to locate other Kern County alumni and plan some social activities. So if this little ditty makes it to print please plug our brand new FaceBook page ...UCSB Alumni of Kern County." Any other Santa Barbara alums out there?

 * ... RIP ARMANDA BOSLEY: If you have lived in Bakersfield any length of time, you will remember the old Baker Street location of Lou Ella's Children's Boutique, which catered to generations of local families. One of the long-time former co-owners was Armanda Bosley, who died of a heart attack last week. She was 95. Reader Greg Cowan wrote to tell me of her passing, calling his aunt "a Bakersfield  institution" who worked alongside her daughter, Brenda, to serve thousands of local families. Bosley's parent's immigrated from France, and her father opened what would become the original Pyrenee's Bakery. After school, a young Armanda would deliver fresh bread to customers on her bicycle. She and Brenda purchased Lou Ella's in the 1960s and it served our community well for over 40 years. (The store later changed hands and moved to the Southwest). If you have memories of Armanda or Lou Ella's on Baker Street, feel free to email me and I will share on this blog.  Keep this special family in your thoughts.

 * .. NO NAME BAND: It's always nice to see local folks getting together for a worthy cause. That's what happened over at B. Ryder's bar and restaurant on White Lane Thursday when the "No-Name Band" was scheduled to play for a crowd to support the Bakersfield Ronald McDonald House at Memorial Hospital. The leader of this Baby Boomer band is Dr. John Heidrick, who along with Dr. Raj Patel owns Preferred Family Physicians off Truxtun Extension. You will no doubt recognize some of the "No Name Band" members: Jill Harlander on vocals, Jerry Stewart on guitar and vocals, Tim Montgomery on drums, harmonica flute and guitar, Leslie King on bass, John Brock on drums, Mike Hall on lead guitar, Michael Bell on rhythm guitar and Dr. Heidrick on guitar.

 * ... VALLEY PUBLIC TV: Learned the other day that Esther Brandon, a former local First Five Kern Commissioner, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Valley Public Television. This is yet another indication of how KVPT is reaching out to the south Valley, and Kern County in particular, to gain support through partnerships and collaborative efforts. Brandon is active in Temple Beth El off Panorama Drive, has two boys (one at the University of Colorado and the other a senior at Garces Memorial High School, not to mention a sweet yellow lab named Blue) and is married to Rogers Brandon, president of the American General Media radio group.

 ... * BAKERSFIELDISMS: You know you're from Bakersfield when .... "You no longer associate bridges or rivers with water" and "You swear that just last week there was an orchard where there is now a whole new housing development."