Art Night

Art Night Pasadena is held twice a year. It's always great and it's always free, and that includes transportation between the venues.

Last night, 14 venues participated. My friend Linda and I started at the Armory Center for the Arts, where this man couldn't seem to tear himself away from Ornithology 3 by David Dedlow. To the left is ReloJ, an etching by Edward Ruscha. Both works are part of the Armory Center's Off the Wall Biennial Art Auction.

It's damn near impossible to see everything, but Linda and I gave it our best shot. The night was brisk and beautiful and it was fun to be out. Instead of using the free transportation we used our personal, built-in free transportation between several of the venues.

Sore feet, ibuprofen and early to bed. But worth it. Art Night is one of those things that makes me a braggart about Pasadena.

Extra Art Night shots on Overdog.

Home Shopping, If You're Not Superstitious

Hey, it's Friday the 13th (again)! I wonder what that does to home sales, even in a bull market. I suppose if you're superstitious you just wait a day.

But when it's the home of your dreams you kinda want to jump on it, don't you?

Take this snappy little number. It's been more than a week since I went by there. It might already be gone.

Click on the little pic below for info if your heart's aflutter.

Amphibious Clean-Up

While touring the Caltech campus the other day, my friend Barbara and I witnessed the finals of the 2008-2009 ME72 Engineering Design Contest, also known as Amphibious Clean-Up. You may have read about it here. The students had been working hard for months, and Tuesday was the culmination.

The young men standing on the bridge were about to throw lightweight balls into the water to serve as "floating debris." Amphibious robots then dove in, cleaned up the debris (well, some of it) and crawled out the other side, scoring points. The robots were cheered on by the crowd at Millikan Pond, an ordinarily tranquil body of water that lies shimmering outside the Millikan Library.

The pond would be a good place for students to gather between classes. Yet I remembered there hadn't been a soul around when I'd photographed it last February. Barbara said it's unusual to see many students hanging out on campus. At Caltech they have too much work to do to.

Tuesday, however, they were enjoying the fruits of their labors. At least the engineering students were. I got the impression they enjoy their work. If you can turn what you love into what you do for a living, you're creating the good life.

Caltech

I toured the Caltech campus yesterday afternoon. My friend Barbara works there, and was kind enough to show me around. I took tons of pictures. I gasped a lot, and not just at how pretty the place is.

Caltech is more than just a campus. It's a think tank, a treasure of astronomical history, and a bastion of scientific brainwork. It's where the great minds of yesterday, today and tomorrow come together to create science as art.

Changes are happening at Caltech, just like everywhere. More pics to come.

Bluster

It was sunny in Pasadena yesterday, but clouds loomed over the mountains all day, threatening a storm. It was blustery and beautiful.

I look forward to a time when wiring is underground. I've complained about telephone wires in the way when I want to enjoy the scenery. But something about the Eaton Wash corridor and its colony of cables fascinates me. Maybe it's the danger. I don't think I'd want to grab hold of one of those wires, surely not during a storm. Not that we get much lightning around here even when we get rain.

Alas, there was no storm yesterday. Not a drop that I know of. Just a lot of bluster from on high.

Zen Monday: #39

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about.
There's no right or wrong. If the photo evokes something in you, that's all it is.

As each new Zen photo is posted, a label is added to last week's to identify it (if I know what it is).

Sweet

Before I moved to southern California I had never seen a pomelo.

Walker Farms sells pomelos and other fresh produce from their booth at the Pasadena Farmer's Market. (I especially like their Pink Lady apples.) When I tried photographing the pomelos today, John suggested I get something else in the shot to provide scale. Otherwise, if you're like I once was and have never seen a pomelo, how would you know it's not a grapefruit?

Fortunately, a most charming model happened to be available. Her daddy works at the Walker Farms booth. Her camera-shy dog, J.D., guarded nearby.

In case you're wondering, pomelo tastes milder than grapefruit. And sweet.

Please note the scale. That pomelo is bigger than her head!