Plan Your Route Accordingly

Because I couldn't find any runners or bikers during my small window of photo-taking time today, this is my way of reminding you that the Pasadena Marathon takes place tomorrow.

Weird, because there's usually someone running or biking pretty much wherever I go in Pasadena. It's a health- and fitness-minded place. There are more gyms in town than there are Starbucks (I'm not kidding), we have 24 city parks with facilities for everything from swimming to archery to baseball, and you can even go walking with the Mayor and his buds if you're willing to get up really early on a Wednesday morning. And I haven't even mentioned our miles of beautiful hiking trails.

(Could they have done a more believable job on the marathon website woman's cleavage? That's almost good enough for Photoshop Disasters.)

Recognize the corner? They've been fixing up the place and they're not finished yet.

UPDATE 11/16: THE MARATHON HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO THE LOW AIR QUALITY CAUSED BY SMOKE FROM SURROUNDING BRUSH FIRES.

Public Abstract

Somebody hung a nice-looking poster on the south face of this building on Raymond Avenue. I don't know who the artist is. It kinda looks like a Miro to me, but since I couldn't find this exact picture online I can't be sure. I was telling Pasadena Adjacent it reminds me of a picture my mother hung in our playroom when I was a kid. I was never much into abstract art.

This poster may be temporary. It isn't listed on the city website's public art walking art tours. (If you like that web page I suggest you bookmark it. The city's website is full of great information but it's organized by department - perfect if you think like a bureaucrat, but since I don't it's difficult for me to find what I need there. I tried searching the site for "public art." They're called "Public Art Walking Tours" after all. But I came up with nothing.)

But that's a minor complaint. The good thing is there's so much public art in Pasadena! To me, that's the mark of a world-class city. Paris, London, Chicago...I've never been to New York, but I hear...well, you've gotta have public art. In museums, sure, that's fine, but it's also got to be out there in the parks and on the streets as part of daily life! Life should be lived with beauty. Pasadena knows how to do that.

It's a nice surprise to see a big, cheerful poster on the side of a building! It's like a belly laugh in the middle of nowhere for no reason at all except the fun of it.

Bells & Vaughn Neon

I'm posting this because I like the sign. It says, "Bells & Vaughn Frame & Wheel Aligning." I don't know a thing about Bells & Vaughn, or about frame and wheel aligning for that matter. But get a load of that sign, willya?

I looked up Bells & Vaughn and they have a nice website. It's all about their collision repair facility on Allen Avenue. Thing is, this sign is at 1821 Walnut, a location not mentioned on the website, where they apparently don't do collision repair but frame and wheel aligning.

So I don't get it. But that's okay. Like I said, I don't understand frame and wheel aligning anyway, except to know it's necessary. In a car. I know that much at least.

Because

Because it's Wednesday.
Because sometimes I want to be someone else somewhere else, and because I'm glad to be me right here and right now.
Because there are adventures I will never have. And because I've had plenty.

Veterans Day

It was originally called Armistice Day, named for the armistice between the allied nations and Germany that went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, ending World War I. (Ah yes, "the war to end all wars.") President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Armistice Day a holiday in America the following year.

It's still celebrated in France as Armistice Day and in England both as Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day. In the United States it has morphed into Veterans Day. The change was made in 1954 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to commemorate the soldiers who fought in World War II. Since then, we've acquired more veterans to honor, and honor them we do.

Here's a good gloss on the history of Veterans Day. Eisenhower proclaimed that public buildings would display the American flag. Banks and government offices close at 11:00 a.m. Speeches are given. Wreaths are lain on graves.

But veterans are still with us, thank goodness, and today we honor the living. Business goes on as usual in lots of places. Maybe that's thanks to those vets.

Zen Monday: #24

On Zen Monday you experience the photo and tell us what it's about, rather than me telling you what to experience from viewing it.
There's no right or wrong. If the photo evokes something in you, that's all it is.

Boz's Close-Up

Yesterday's post got me to thinking. Although I have many shots of Boz demurely lowering his eyes, it's wrong to say he never looks at the camera. There are moments when he feels lordly enough to stare it down or, in this case, just look at it.

I love him madly. I love every wrinkle on his head. I love his hairless spots, his golden toes and the white hairs now sprouting on his muzzle. I love his sweet disposition and the way he smells. Mostly I love his friendship. Of course he's not the only love in my life.

When we got him from Boxer Rescue we thought we were rescuing a dog.

Bonus: our little family.