Ventanas Window

I'm a lightweight. I didn't used to be. I think I need to get out more often.

Ventanas Restaurant and Bar at the Westin is a quiet spot for a weeknight martini. A little off the beaten track (aka Colorado Blvd.), which is sometimes exactly what you need.

Or exactly what I need. For me to tell you what you need would be presumptuous.

Got a favorite weeknight spot? It doesn't have to be a business establishment. Let's hear it.

Last Night, Fountain, City Hall

I've said it so many times I sound like a broken record: you can't take an ugly picture at Pasadena City Hall. You can take a blurry picture there or an amateurish one, or one that's poorly framed. But no matter what you do it won't be ugly because City Hall has no bad angles.

What's a generation? Twenty years? Twenty-five? By either definition, Pasadena City Hall has served the citizens of Pasadena for more than three generations. I bet those early generations were as puffed-up and proud of City Hall as we are.

City Hall will be here for generations to come, still beautiful long after people have no idea what a broken record sounds like.

Whispering the Good News

Another TV crew shooting in Altadena? Oh yawn.

I spotted the Ghost Whisperer crew again. This time they were shooting at the Mountain View Mausoleum on Marengo Avenue across from the Mountain View Cemetery.

It's not really a yawn. I've been in the LA area twenty years and I still get excited when I see a film crew at work. A crew means good news--good economic news--especially in an area where the economy revolves so heavily around production.

Although California has lost a lot of production to other states in recent years, a good deal of it is still done here. Locals see this sort of thing all the time, but I thought I'd show other folks what it looks like.

So just in case you've never seen a film crew, here's how you spot 'em: It's not the movie stars. It's the trucks. And yes, even the trucks are just a little bit exciting. They're bringing that good news.

Make Lemonade

I'm a fortunate person because the other day, a lemonade stand popped up on my street. When it's almost a hundred degrees out, that's what you do.

I happened to be thirsty. I also happened to have 25 cents. That bought me a glass of cold lemonade, time with my neighbors and some good memories.

When John and I moved onto the block this girl was just a teeny thing. Her mother was pregnant with her little sister and her brother wasn't even an idea yet. If I'm lucky, I'll get to watch these kids grow up. The thought of this is beyond joyful to me. I mean it exactly that way; it's more than joy, it's profound to watch these lives unfold, to observe these small people becoming themselves.

Hey! How long do you think I can keep this blog going? If the kids keep posing, you'll get to watch some growing, too.

Zen Birthday: #50

Last week was a special Zen Monday for lovers of the Space Program and adventurous hearts throughout the world. This week is a special Zen Monday for my love and the light of my life.

Zen Monday is (usually) the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about. Ordinarily I don't like to influence your thoughts about the photo, but today I can't help but give you a hint.

Morning Doves

Someone who came before us attached a birdhouse to a post supporting the roof over our back porch.

This photo is oddly framed because Ms. Mourning Dove doesn't want me near her. She'd fly out of the nest if she could, but she's got eggs and doesn't dare leave them. I took the picture from several feet away, then cropped it.

As far as I can tell, Ms. and her Mr. are on their second brood this summer. The first was a successful pair of little ones, both of whom still gallivant around our back yard gorging themselves. We have a vast selection of bugs and they're welcome to 'em.

I like to sit on the back porch and write in the mornings before it gets too hot. The female tolerates me because she has to, but the male has just about had it. He flies to and from the nest but won't stay there if I'm around. Sometimes he brings sprigs of dried grass for the nest. When he flies he makes a noise like a wildly upset dolphin after too much caffeine. It wasn't until I read Wikipedia's article about mourning doves that I realized it wasn't a vocalization but his wings making all that noise.

I'll always be grateful to the person who put up that birdhouse. I wonder what I'll add to bring joy to the people who'll live here after I'm gone? (Maybe replace those gutters?)

Mind if I ask, who does your landscaping?

Boz tried to chat up a rattlesnake on our evening walk yesterday. I wanted a photo, but cooler heads prevailed and the snake refused to pose. So I thought I'd show you a photo of his yard.

The law says I can take a picture of your yard as long as I take that picture while I'm standing on public property, and as long as I don't use ladders or telephoto lenses or extraordinary measures to go peeking over your hedge or into your windows.

Until we came along, that rattlesnake was sunning himself right in the middle of the path. I'll bet he thought we invaded his privacy.

983 Too Many

If you live in Pasadena you probably already know about Union Station Homeless Services. Here's a branch of Union Station I happened on the other day: the Euclid Villa Transitional Apartments. I didn't know what it was at the time. I thought it was a pretty house, and I could tell from the signs on the porch that it wasn't a private home. I took a picture, came home and looked up the address.

According to the website, families living there "pay 30% of their income for rent, while gaining the skills, stability and confidence they need to secure permanent housing."

You can't learn everything from a website, and homelessness is a complicated issue. But that sounds sane to me. A homeless person who ends up at Pasadena's Union Station is lucky, if you can call that lucky.

In searching for other organizations in Pasadena that serve the homeless, I found the Ecumenical Council's Friends In Deed. Their site says, "The official homeless count of 2008 in Pasadena found that 983 homeless adults and children live on the streets on a given day." This tells me the homeless percentage of our population is low compared with Los Angeles, for example. But one homeless kid is one too many.

It's our town. These are our neighbors. What other organizations do you know of that serve Pasadena's homeless?

Some Definitions, Kinda

As long as we're on the subject of the Pasadena Public Library and its coffee shop, Central Grounds, I thought I'd post this shot I took while waiting in line for my coffee the other day. Central Grounds is located on the east patio of the library and as you can see, the patio's open to the sky.

Kinda the definition of a patio, really.

That black-shrouded, sad-looking corner of a building beyond the patio roof is just about the same spot at which I was gazing when I took this photo. I like the shot. But the Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse is not the most popular edifice in town. Perhaps its current face-lift will make it more attractive.

Kinda the definition of a face-lift, really.

I wasn't able to find out anything about the construction on the web. The current job might not actually be a face-lift. When I was there to snap this shot, a man on the construction crew said something about it having more to do with securing the facade to the building than making it pretty.

Like, keeping the facade from falling off? I guess that would keep the streets safe.

Which is kinda the definition of a courthouse, really.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I've been taking a vicarious vacation on Turquoise Diaries lately because Aysegul's visiting the most glorious places. Yesterday she said she loves Ghost Whisperer, which was shooting at the Pasadena Public Library last Friday (see yesterday's post). So for Aysegul, here's a shot of the library's main hall, in case it shows up on Ghost Whisperer.

Something I recently discovered about the main hall: you can drink your coffee in there! I KNOW! (Oops. Shh. I mean, I know! I was shocked!) I've visited the library's coffee shop many times. Central Grounds is outdoors on the front patio. It was the first stop in my quest for the perfect coffee shop in which to write (a quest I promise I'll take up again.) But it wasn't until last Friday, when it was nine million degrees out, that I discovered I could buy my coffee at Central Grounds and take it inside to the air-conditioned comfort of the main hall. (I'd make the main hall #10 in The Quest if I didn't think it was cheating.)

You may not drink your coffee in the stacks. You may not have it in the computer room or the study rooms or beyond the reference desk. Only in the main hall. But click on that picture and enlarge it. Isn't that a nice place to plug in your laptop, drink your coffee and write?

Lovely as it is, I don't suppose Aysegul would trade places with me. Not even for a glimpse of the Ghost Whisperer.

Shh!

In comments July 17th I mentioned I was "coming to you from the Pasadena Public Library," where a crew was shooting scenes from Ghost Whisperer.

Many Hollywood productions use filming locations in Pasadena, South Pasadena, Altadena and the surrounding area. Our parks and institutions stand in for places all over America and Europe. The Ghost Whisperer crew is in town so often they've probably all given in and bought property here.

The shoot itself was inside at the northeast end of the building. I didn't see any of the performers. I'm a performer myself and I respect their workspace, so I didn't try to get near the set. But even on the outer edges of the shoot, where I could glimpse lights and crew, I was asked not to take photos.

They asked nicely, so there you have it. I'm sorry I didn't get you a picture of a crew guy in a tool belt. I think a lot of us would have enjoyed that. But I did get this pic of some of the essential equipment outside the library's back door.

Zen Moonday

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about.

Zen Moonday is...you tell me.

Hot Jazz

I'm one of those people who almost always needs a sweater in the evening, so I treasure these summer nights when I can be sleeveless outside. It's hot during the day, but to me it's worth it to have evenings when I don't shiver.

Here's a good way to spend a couple of hours on warm a Sunday evening: the Playhouse District's 6th Annual Free Jazz Summer Concert Series, Sunday nights, 5-7 pm in the courtyard at Vroman's.

I took this photo last Sunday, July 12th. Nick Mancini's Quartet was scheduled, but this was definitely a trio. So if you're particular about which group you're going to see I recommend you give a call first (there's a number listed at the link). Otherwise, just go. The music's going to be good, and you'll get to sit outside without a sweater.

Bridge Benefits

Every year--except this year--Pasadena Heritage holds a fund-raising party on the Colorado Street Bridge. But due to the "challenging economic times," this year's party had to be canceled.

That doesn't mean you can't celebrate the bridge, and raise funds for Pasadena Heritage as well.

Today is Bridge Benefit Day at these local eateries who support Pasadena Heritage:
Big Mama's Rib Shack
Los Tacos
Cha Da Thai
Robin's Restaurant
Chandra Thai

Can't spare the bucks to eat out tonight? A walk in Lower Arroyo Park is free.

Opportunist

The Arroyo is arrayed with spider webs. They dangle like ornaments from the branches of innocent trees who have no idea of their complicity.

Freak Creek

Pasadena Daily Photo has had a lot of outside input lately. As long as people tell us interesting stories, you won't find me complaining.

This one's not so much a story as it is a question: What is, or was, Woodbury Creek?

On June 24th, I received an email from Stan Ellington of Pasadena, telling me about this "concrete stream bed that flows from under Mountain Street just east of El Molino Ave. (Gladys Ct. and Mountain St.). I think this is Woodbury Creek," he said, "that used to flow through Washington Park but is now mostly underground. I can't find it on any map of Pasadena. Do you have any information on this stream?"

I didn't have any information, but that didn't stop Stan. He found LA Creek Freak, a blog about LA's lost waterways, and asked them the same question. On June 29th they posted the outstanding entry, Woodburied Creek. They even posted maps. The one I've linked to shows a blue line through the area at the southeast corner of Washington and El Molino, where you'll find Washington Park. The line continues south between El Molino and Palm, meeting up with Mountain Avenue at Gladys Court where Stan had first noticed the creek.

In her post on LA Creek Freak, Jessica Hall said, "I suspect the City of Pasadena may also have stormdrains over the creek, as we all know it is encased in concrete today." Gee, ya think? From the same position where I took the above photo, I turned around 180 degrees and took this:
The framing's not perfect. I didn't realize at the time what I was taking a picture of. But sure enough, there you have a storm drain and a manhole cover.

Just yesterday Boz and I were walking along another street that crosses the creek path, and we passed a driveway with a manhole cover right in the middle of it. I'd never seen that before. I checked the map and it, too, is in the (concrete) path of Woodbury Creek.

Stan's question still feels unanswered. But I want to thank Stan for asking it and for turning all of us on to LA Creek Freak. They are a find. Maybe someday we'll find Woodbury Creek, too.

Free Time

Are you free this afternoon? Well how about that? So is the Pasadena Museum of History.

Pasadena family histories are highlighted at the PMH right now, and on Wednesdays until January 10, 2010 you can get in free if you live, work or go to school in our community. They're calling it Community Wednesdays. Click the link for times and requirements. You have to prove you live here, and the link tells you how.

I took this photo upstairs in the Fenyes Mansion, which is part of the museum. (Mansion tours may be separate; check the website for times. A $4 donation is suggested.) It's the bathroom. Just the bathroom.

As Pasadena's Public Information Officer says, "Don't cry to me that there's nothing to do in Pasadena this summer." (Check this post for a list of free activities for kids and teens.)

Storming

This storm is not happening today. No, no, this happened sometime in the past. But we can commemorate it.

Today is Bastille Day in France, and because it was a French man who inspired me to create Pasadena Daily Photo, it's fitting to honor him and all my French amis with a photo.

I searched my files. I had no red, white and blue. I should have run out and taken a photo of the Alliance Française de Pasadena, but I was working today. I didn't have a picture of a Bastille. But storming? Storming I've got.

Zen Monday: #56

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about.

As I post each new Zen Monday photo, I'll add a label to last week's to identify it if necessary (if I know what it is).

Dissemination

My husband has the camera today. What's a blogger to do? Why, dig into her archives, of course.

You may remember my July 3rd post about a fluffy tree in the Hahamongna basin. Well, Ann Erdman, Pasadena's Public Information Officer, read that post. Ann can't bear letting a question go unanswered and, like me, she loves research. Unlike me, however, she knew where to look for the answer. The question was, what was that fluffy tree?

Ann emailed two experts and sent me her results.

From Darya Barar, Certified Arborist at the City of Pasadena:
"The tree in the picture looks like an Arroyo Willow to me. I believe the maintenance policy in the arroyo is to allow trees to be as natural as possible.... that means in the fall there is no intervention by City crews."

And from Elise Jackson, Arroyo Seco Program Coordinator:
"Darya is correct. This is a native willow, a predominant tree in the Hahamongna flood basin, behind Devil's gate dam. The white 'fluff' contains the seeds which aids in the wind dispersal of these seeds. You can see in the photo the seeds (dark spots) mixed in the fluff. These trees definitely give Hahamongna the look of a winter wonderland, when the wind blows the white fluff completely covers the air and the ground, distributing seeds for the natural regeneration of our native willow woodland and providing important wildlife habitat."

In the July 3rd post you see the tree, looking snowy. In today's photo you see what Elise is talking about: the fluff distributing its seeds on the ground along the path.

Thanks to Darya and Elise for responding to Ann, and thanks to Ann for spreading this information.

Rovers

If you're looking for something to do on a Saturday (and you're checking in here early, before 8:30 a.m.), head on down to Lower Arroyo Park and let the Pasadena Roving Archers show you a thing or two.

You're going to be shooting arrows, so there are requirements. Like minimum age 10 years, proper attire (a t-shirt would work), tie your hair back (because ouch! you don't want it getting caught in the bow, I remember that from high school), and bring some water (it gets hot down there). Read all the requirements here.

What is not required: money. Beginning classes are free of charge.

I met three Roving Archers in the Arroyo last week; pictured here is Robert Storts, retrieving his arrows. Ernie Lateer and Ramon Oceguera are two more of the expert archers you'll meet, and they were friendly (and really, really good shots). You can stop by and speak with members and/or club officers on Saturday or Sunday mornings.

The archers rove throughout the southwest side of Lower Arroyo Park, where you'll see different targets peering out from the brush. It's a case for keeping that other Rover on a leash.

Update: While we're on the subject of the Arroyo, I've just updated this post (about the fluffy white tree north of the dam), thanks to information Ann Erdman was able to find.

Hey, you're standing in my light!

Embedded in the sidewalk outside the Doty block (aka the Hotel Carver) at 107 S. Fair Oaks, you will find jewels.

You can find variations of these treasures around town. Try Union Street just west of Raymond, where the purple glass is part of a building. Or along the sidewalks of Mission St. in South Pasadena, where the glistening, glass gems are larger.

Here they are in context, in front of the Doty Block:
I didn't find a listing on the web for W. D. Perine. However, I think I found his office. 28 New Montgomery Street is a San Francisco address, for what it's worth.

Loren Roberts of Hearken Creative Services has his office in the Doty Block. He learned a lot from his current landlord. "The basement of the building used to extend out to below those glass plugs," he says. "Unsure if they were decorative skylights or what. Then the walls got re-built at the line of the building, so those glass plugs don’t look down to anything except open space. But they started getting plugged with cement when the new walls were getting water damage from the outside, where water would come down through the broken glass..." He also said his landlord has expressed an interest in restoring them.

True to form, Loren sent along this fantastic link.

UPDATE: Terry sent this link (right under my nose!) about how the facades were changed in 1929.

Earth Trembles, As Does Memory

This week we've been talking about the Doty Block, a building at the corner of Fair Oaks and Green Street in Old Town Pasadena. Yesterday, Margaret and Trish asked if the mural that once graced the north face of the building had at one time been only partially visible.

I'm coming up on my fourth year in Pasadena. A lot happened before my time. But Terry Griest, a San Francisco Bay Area graphic designer who grew up in Pasadena, experienced the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake while living on South Orange Grove Blvd. And she kept the clippings.

It was a pretty serious quake:
(All three clippings are from the 10/2/87 issue of the Star-News.)

It just so happens that Terry also studied the Doty Block as part of a photo essay for a class called "The City as an Art Resource," at Cal State Long Beach. She created the essay in the mid-1980's, when Old Town was in transition from "scary part of town that you didn't tell your mother you were visiting after dark" (her words, K!) to the shopping mecca it is now.
Terry didn't think this 1984 photo she took was any big deal, but to me it's amazing. I'd never before seen a photo of the mural in context. I'd never seen the garage next door, only an enticing glimpse of the brick work along the top, in a black & white photo (see yesterday's post). I just love it.

I also love this shot from 1887:
Terry says it's "a photocopy of a photocopy." But you can see the turret that was once on the southeast corner, and the bay windows that faced out on Fair Oaks. Sweet.

I blog about Pasadena because I enjoy it. If only I didn't have to make a living! But I can't always run out to the library or the Pasadena Museum of History every time I want to research a post. I'm limited to what I can find on the web, and believe it or not, the web is limited. It doesn't have every photo, and it doesn't have personal memories.

So it's incredibly rewarding when PDP visitors get involved. The posts from yesterday and the day before (and tomorrow) wouldn't have been possible at all without Loren Roberts of Hearken Creative. Additional links in the comments really rounded out the information. And Terry Griest's contributions today are really outstanding. This participation in the conversation about our home town is extremely gratifying, and I can't thank you all enough.

I've also received a few emails this week from people who voiced their feelings about the Old Town they remember from before the changes. I'm only beginning to understand what an upheaval that must have been. I only know Old Town as it is now and I love it, not because I'm a shopper (I'm not) but because I love well kept old buildings. But knowing me and my love for old things with a little bit of dirt on them, I think I would have loved Old Town just as much before.

Maybe even more.

Then and Now: Hotel Carver

We're picking up from where we left off yesterday. Sort of.

If you knew the 107 S. Fair Oaks Building when it was the Hotel Carver, you understand why I photographed it from this rather unattractive angle. I over-sharpened the photo, so when you enlarge it you can see the detail.

This copy of a well-known picture of the building comes courtesy of Hearken Creative's flickr photostream. Wikipedia's article about the Carver says this mural was painted by Paul Waszink (who I'm told rented space in the building at the time he painted it). The wall, and the proverbial writing on it, were damaged in the 1987 Whittier Narrows Earthquake.

In the top photo you can also see the pale spots where the original bay windows were. They were removed in the 1950s when Fair Oaks Avenue was widened.

Carved Up

The transformation of the building at 107 S. Fair Oaks is all but forgotten. I've been in Pasadena for fewer than four years and I might not have known about it if it weren't for people who visit and comment here at PDP.

But this building has a history, as so many of our Old Town structures do. I highly recommend the Wikipedia article about it. Parts of it were written by an artist who had an office there during a crucial time, when the tenants were evicted to make way for a remodel and retrofit as part of the revitalization of Pasadena's Old Town.

The artist and I have never met, but we've corresponded via email. When I told him I'd be visiting the building and posting photos, he said he didn't want to see them. He hadn't been inside the Carver since being evicted in the mid-1980s because it was too painful.

For some of us who came later on, the "revitalization of Old Town," as it's called, seems like a boon. But for at least a few who lived and worked there back then, it was a time of upheaval, a time of "cutesy-fying" their neighborhood, a time of heartbreak. That viewpoint is exemplified by my artist friend, who visits the blog and emails me from time to time with bits of information about his beloved Hotel Carver.

Recently another PDP visitor who comments here, Loren Roberts of Hearken Creative, invited me to his office in the basement of the remodeled Hotel. In part of the building's varied history, it was the first hotel in Pasadena owned by an African-American, and Loren's office would have been in the nightclub where famous black musicians are thought to have played.

Loren loves his office and appreciates the retrofit, but he's also an avid fan of the building's history. He gave me a tour, showing me the "SIGN" sign in the basement and historic photos in the lobby.

I could tell the place has changed a lot over the years. A bar once occupied the main floor; it's long gone. The change most noticeable to my email friend would be the stairway that once dominated the entryway. Gone, gone, gone. And of course there's the exterior. I'll save that for another day.

But my artist pal may be surprised to know that a poster he signed in protest of the remodel hangs, framed in glass, in the lobby.

Update, 10:30 am: Please read the comments, as Loren has added more information than I could give.

Zen Monday: #55

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about.

As I post each new Zen Monday photo, I'll add a label to last week's to identify it if necessary (if I know what it is).

Lazy Sunday

This spring our stretch of gloomy skies seemed longer than usual. Finally it's sunny and toasty. Just what I wanted! So, after last night's excitement, I'm going to spend spend a relaxing day in the sun.

Maybe I'll take Boz for a walk. We'll stop and sniff every blade of grass.

Okay. Maybe...I'll go for a drive.

Nah, don't want to waste the gas.

There's always my yard. I could bask in the shade of my tomato plant.

I know. I'll see what's up at the LA County Arboretum. I haven't been there in a while and they've got some interesting stuff blooming right now. Now that's a garden. Too bad I can't take Boz, but I think he'd object to the peacocks. Or vice versa.

Fireworks

Today my wish is that everyone in the world had the freedom to vote for their own government, knowing their vote would be counted.

May I have more than one wish, please? Thanks. I also wish everyone had a source of income, a home and a chicken in their pot.

It would at least be a start. When we're free and fed, it's easier to make peace.

I never thought of those things when I was a kid in DeKalb, Illinois. On July 4th, we'd hop into the station wagon and head over to Hopkins Park. We'd find a good spot near the band shell (the old one) and spread our blanket on the grass, maybe near people we knew, maybe not. Everyone in town came out to hear Dee Palmer lead the DeKalb Municipal Band. When the Sousa marches started, everyone--adults and kids--laid on their blankets to watch the show in the sky. Maybe the adults were reflecting on freedom, maybe not. I was just being dazzled.

Thursday night I got to see the Altadena Town & Country Club's fireworks, viewed from the back yard of friends who live across the street. It was a lovely party with great food, interesting people and a beautiful setting (torches included).

The kids were so excited to see fireworks! And it was an impressive show, during which I did not reflect on life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. I giggled all the way through it because the kids were so delighted.

There's a new band shell at Hopkins Park, but the The Municipal Band, still led by Dee Palmer, plays Sousa Marches on Independence Day in DeKalb. Some people sit on the shiny new benches, some lay their blankets on the ground. Regardless of their ages, their concerns or their hopes, for a little while they just listen to the music and watch the show in the sky.

Fluff Piece

One of my favorite paths at Hahamongna Watershed Park is currently a winter wonderland. I'm pretty certain this plant is native to California. At this time of year it fills the area surrounding it in the Arroyo Seco with white fuzz. It's on the ground and in the branches. We're probably all breathing it right now. Sure is pretty, though.

You have to blow this picture up to get the full impact. I wanted you to see this the way I saw it, so I didn't adjust the colors or contrast. To give you some scale, the log at the lower right is about two feet long.

I searched the web but I don't think I used the right terms. Can anyone tell me what plant makes this white fluff?

Update, 7/11/09: Ann Erdman, aka Pasadena PIO, went to the trouble to email a couple of experts about this flora and sent me her results.
From Darya Barar, Certified Arborist at the City of Pasadena:
"The tree in the picture looks like an Arroyo Willow to me. I believe the maintenance policy in the arroyo is to allow trees to be as natural as possible.... that means in the fall there is no intervention by City crews."
and from Elise Jackson, Arroyo Seco Program Coordinator:
"Darya is correct. This is a native willow, a predominant tree in the Hahamongna flood basin, behind Devil's gate dam. The white 'fluff' contains the seeds which aids in the wind dispersal of these seeds. You can see in the photo the seeds (dark spots) mixed in the fluff. These trees definitely give Hahamongna the look of a winter wonderland, when the wind blows the white fluff completely covers the air and the ground, distributing seeds for the natural regeneration of our native willow woodland and providing important wildlife habitat."

Thanks to Darya and Elise for responding to Ann, and thanks to Ann for pursuing this information!

Le Déjeuner sur le Sly

Yesterday I made reference to a "secret picnic." S. invited a few friends to help perpetuate her tradition of a "trespasser's picnic," where you have your lunch in an idyllic spot that's somehow...off-limits.

Of course your purpose is benign. You have no wish to intrude. You simply know of a spot. No one's using it, it's perfect, and shouldn't someone have a picnic there?

When you leave, you take with you every bit of what you brought. "Pack out what you pack in," as they say, and no one will ever know you were there.

Theme Day: Empty

Today is theme day for City Daily Photo bloggers, and the theme is "empty." How fortuitous that I went on a secret picnic yesterday. Before we even began to eat, we emptied the first bottle of wine.

I'll tell you more about the picnic tomorrow. For now, check out the other City Daily Photo bloggers around the world who participated in this theme.