Up 'Til Now, Everything's Been Fine

Boz lobbies for the things he wants. He sometimes wants a thing badly until he gets it, then he doesn't want it any more. But he clings to his moments on the porch. He'll stay there as long as he can, whether it's chilly or hot. He must keep watch.

What he sees he keeps to himself. Boz rarely barks. I've heard his formidable bark about five times in the seven years he's lived with us, and at those times I give his declarations great respect: "What is it, Boz? Good boy, Boz!" Usually it's nothing--a passing pug, an insistent crow, a breeze.

I could be wrong about this, though. He might be joining the Twilight Bark.

(The video I've linked you to is 10 minutes long. The Twilight Bark begins about three minutes in. The whole thing is worth watching.)

Parc San Marino

Virginia Jones has two (count 'em, two) daily photo blogs: Birmingham, Alabama Daily Photo, where she posts explorations of her home town, and Paris Through My Lens, where she posts her photographic visions of Paris, a town she and I have both dreamed of living in.

I think Virginia and I both love our home towns or we wouldn't blog about them every day. But we like to dream about Paris. I've never met anyone who's been there who didn't yearn to go back, even if they've been there many times.

Virginia's been there many more times than I have, and she's taken lots of pictures. Her photo of the gate at Paris' Parc Monceau inspired me to post a picture of this often-overlooked gate at the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino. Karin Bugge also posted a photo of this gate in one of my favorite Altadena Hiker posts. All three of us managed to photograph our gates under moody skies. Maybe we're all daydreamers.

My vision of living in Paris involves exploring the ancient streets, gardens and history until I've discovered every inch of the city. This fantasy includes having unlimited funds despite not having a job. I imagine one reason Paris seems so dreamy to those of us who've visited as tourists is precisely because we're on vacation and we're allowing ourselves the leisure to explore.

I'm lucky: blogging about Pasadena gives me not only the opportunity but the motivation to explore Pasadena, and to find hidden treasures like this gate. Next time you're at the Huntington, seek it out.

In Defense of Poetry

photo inspired by John Sandel

April is National Poetry Month and in honor of this great occasion I am not going to post a poem I have written.

Instead, I recommend you mark your calendar for this coming Saturday, April 10th at 5PM and meet me at Vroman's to celebrate. Five poets (real ones), including Altadena's own Linda Dove (In Defense of Objects), will read from their works. Be there or be conventional.

Wait.

Be there or be bourgeois? No. Be there or be...I'm sure there's a better way to say this.

iPhone Wednesday #6 - iDrool

iTook this photo with John's iPhone on a visit to the Apple Store on Colorado Blvd. A mere two days after the release of the iPad, people were waiting in line just to hold it.

John has always used a Mac. I'm a recent convert. Since leaving my PC behind last summer I have had not one virus, blue screen, inexplicable melt-down or caesura in the use of my computer. I'm in Mac love.

My desktop computer is a Mac Mini, my laptop is a reliable old PowerBook G4 and my phone is an iPhone. My wallet, however, is the old-fashioned kind, meaning it has its limits, and there's no app for that. I can do without an iPad right now.

But John has his needs. He's in the crowd in that photo somewhere, lovingly fondling an iPad for the first time.

Needless to say, we're feeding our iPiggy bank with high hopes.

Patterns

I have created another of those weeks with too much to do and too little time in which to do it. It's not like I didn't see it coming.

The previous weeks have been just as full so my prep time gets crammed into little places, usually referred to as "last minutes."

To change this would mean saying "no" much more often. I could, but I'm not sure I want to. I may be freaked out, but I am rarely bored.

Zen Monday: #90

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. Unless I absolutely must say something I stay out of the comments box to avoid influencing the intellectual path of the discussion (because when I get in there everything goes down hill).

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

The Dignity of the Canine Form

Sculpture by Anna Hyatt Huntington at the Huntington Library and Gardens.

Boz at the Jardin de la Maison d'Ebtre.