Silly

The town board of Huntington, Long Island voted to ban the sale of Silly String within 1,500 feet of parade routes because the stuff stains the finish on their fire trucks.

But at our Parade, Silly String is a time-honored tradition. After all, our floats are biodegradable. What can a little bit of polyisobutyl-methacrylate and sorbitan trioleate hurt? I'm askin' 'cause I don't know.

You ought to read the Wikipedia article. Silly String has some interesting uses. And did you know it's banned in Hollywood on Halloween? It takes a lot to get banned in Hollywood on Halloween.

Well, shoot. I was going to go dressed as a Rose Parade attendee this year.

Update as of 12:04PM:

Pasadena's Public Information Officer, Ann Erdman, corrects me even on weekends! (And I'm grateful.) She says:

"Silly String is actually illegal along the Rose Parade route, and at other special events in the public right of way, but enforcement is difficult because officers can't be at all places at all times and they often have bigger fish to fry.

Title 3, Chapter 3.22.020 (Interference with Special Event Prohibited) of the Pasadena Municipal Code reads, in part: "To drop, roll, throw, toss, squirt or propel any gaseous, liquid, semisolid or solid substance or object toward or among the participants, vehicles or animals in the special event."

Read tortillas, marshallows, Silly String, etc."

Theme Day: Changes

On January first, 2008, my husband drove me through the hills above the Rose Bowl Stadium during the football game so I could try to get a decent shot with my Olympus SP30. We finally stopped on the Holly Street Bridge where I took this photo.
Never mind that we never got close enough to give the Olympus a chance. Never mind that I didn't have the faintest idea how to get a "decent shot." Inspired by Paris Daily Photo, I was determined to begin a daily photo blog about the Paris of the Pacific, even though I wasn't a photographer and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I posted the photo and Pasadena Daily Photo was born.

After two years of daily blogging I've learned about photography, become a better writer and discovered that Pasadena is infinite--I'll never photograph all of it. I've also met more wonderful people than I can count, on the web and in person, and I can't thank them enough for their contributions to Pasadena Daily Photo. I begin my third year of PDP with enthusiasm, open to what new changes may come my way.

Yesterday I returned to the Holly Street Bridge to try my Canon 20D on the same view.
Happy New Year! May all your changes this year be for the better.

Click here to view how other City Daily Photo bloggers have addressed the theme of Changes today.

Last Day, December 2009

On the last day of September I began this monthly theme: a photo of the same spot from the same angle. The idea is to view it at different seasons and watch it change over time.

I've taken lots of pictures from this spot overlooking Johnson Field at Hahamongna Watershed Park. I chose this for one today because of the blue tint of the sky. I probably just hadn't white-balanced the camera, but I like the photo. It's end-of-yearly.

I could say many things about 2009, but I'll just say I've learned a lot and I'm glad it's over. I hope 2010 will be better for everyone. I wish you a joyous, healthy and prosperous new year.

To view the progression of the Last Day posts so far, click on the "Last Day Project" label below.

Horse Crazy

Horses have been part of the Tournament of Roses Parade since its beginning in 1890. This year is no exception: 23 different equestrian groups will prance down Colorado Blvd. with the floats on New Year's day.

As kids, my siblings and I watched all the big holiday parades--the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with its huge balloons, the Hollywood Christmas Parade and its movie stars, and finally the Rose Parade with its flowery floats. The horses have always been my favorite part.

I was a horse-crazy kid. We had two horses, first Pandora from 1963 to 1967, then Brandy from 1967 to 1971 (about when my interest in boys beat out my interest in horses). My sisters and/or brother may correct me on this but I did the most riding--I rode across meadows and down the country roads between our town of DeKalb, Illinois and the little surrounding towns, through fallow fields and alongside the Kishwaukee River. I rode through the NIU campus, and more than once visited the drive-through of the local Jack-in-the-Box.

There are several stables in the Pasadena area. Boz and I often see these guys riding at Hahamongna Watershed Park. They're about the age I was when we sold Brandy, maybe a little older. They said they ride out of the Altadena stables. They seemed sweet, just happy to be out on their horses.

I wonder if they ride absolutely everywhere, like I used to do? Though I've seen people riding horses on N. Lincoln Avenue, Pasadena's too urban to ride a horse through the drive-through at Jack-in-the-Box. But we've got so many miles of trails these guys aren't missing a thing.


City of Pasadena Holiday Hotline is up and running at (877) 793-9311 for answers to any and all questions about the Rose Parade, Rose Bowl Game and BCS final game. Volunteers are standing by through Jan. 7. More info at VisitPasadena.com.

Rose Bowl Enochlophobia

I have a confession to make: I love being out and about in Pasadena all year 'round, except during Tournament of Roses week.

I often drive through the Arroyo near the Rose Bowl Stadium on my way home from Hollywood or the San Fernando Valley. But not today. People are down there getting ready for the game and the parade. I don't know how many people are there. It might be fifty, but in my imagination it's fifty thousand, stomping around in those huge, white tents and sipping camp coffee in rumbling RVs while they do whatever it is they do to get ready for the big New Year's party Pasadena throws every year. I'm certain if I drove through I'd get stuck down there and not be able to get out fast enough. I'm terribly impatient. So today I took the Colorado Street Bridge, which was fine.

Colorado Blvd. is lined with bleachers waiting to accommodate parade-watching patoots. All of Pasadena welcomes the tourists and I do, too. You can feel the excitement in the air. (Even if you couldn't feel it the bleachers oughta tell you something's up.) It's all great, it really is.

I'm no party pooper. I want this year's parade and game to be the biggest and best ever. But tomorrow I'm going out one last time. I'm going to run a couple of errands and stock up at the grocery store, and I'm not going out again until January 2nd.

Update per Pasadena PIO: City of Pasadena Holiday Hotline is up and running at (877) 793-9311 for answers to any and all questions about the Rose Parade, Rose Bowl Game and BCS final game. Volunteers are standing by through Jan. 7. More info at VisitPasadena.com.

Zen Monday: #78

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what I think the photo's about. There's no right or wrong. It means what you think it means, or what you want it to mean.

I look for a photo worth contemplating or, failing that, something odd or silly. And I stay out of the comments box for most of the day to avoid influencing the highly intellectual path of the (usually highly erudite) discussion.

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

Quintessential Pasadena

While John and I were walking Christmas day he pointed out to me this quintessential Pasadena view. If it's not quintessentially Pasadena it's at least quintessentially north of the 210 freeway. Click on the photo to enlarge it if you can't make out the towers of the Mt. Wilson Observatory. The Observatory, the mountain, the palm tree and the Spanish tile roof are typical views on the north side of town, not to mention the streetlight silhouette.

There were scientific and historic reasons to protect Mount Wilson during last autumn's Station Fire. For those who don't live here, perhaps knowing the Observatory is part of what we see from almost everywhere in town will help you understand the emotional reasons as well.

Inspiration: John Sandel.