Hastings Branch Library

A while back during Banned Books Week, I posted a series about local library branches. But Pasadena has more library branches (and libraries not part of the city system) than days in the week. So I still get to pop one in here once in a while.

The Hastings Branch is part of Pasadena's city system and today's a good time to visit. It's open from 10-6 on Saturdays.

From the website: 

Hastings has strong popular fiction, picture book, folk and fairytale, home arts, travel, and biography collections.

The meeting room accommodates up to 35 people. Use of the meeting room is free to groups who do not charge an admission fee or restrict admission on the basis of membership.

Hastings Branch has a large on-going book sale, where both hardbound and paperback books are sold.

Those are three of my favorite things about this branch. Go ahead and click the Hastings Branch link because they might have some of your favorite things, too.

My fourth favorite thing about this branch is the butterfly sculpture outside the north side of the building. I couldn't find out anything about it, so if you've got any info, let us hear it.

Three Cameras

On my way to the ATM yesterday I caught a glimpse of the Green Street side of the First Church of Christ, Scientist at Green and Oakland. The building is grand from all angles, especially on a sunny day, but Green Street not being its best side I decided to double back on my way home and park in front, on the Oakland side, to take its picture.

Kinda sparkly on a sunny day. If this building had a speaking voice it would be a big bass with a Mid-Atlantic accent.

I got lucky. A bride and groom were having their picture taken by three photographers, two of whom they were aware of.

ltdLive 2012

Pasadena Convention Center

Is it just me or is your calendar suddenly full, too? Yesterday morning I went to a seminar. In the evening I attended a meeting. Today I'm working and I have a meeting, and tomorrow there's more to come. Many events want my attention and some of them I'm even interested in. I think it's partly exuberance in the new year, partly a need to get something going in a tough economy.

Worth checking out at the Pasadena Convention Center on February 1st and 2nd: ltdLive 2012, a Conference for Entrepreneurial Women. ltdLive was created by Pasadena author and entrepreneur Nada Jones for "women who live at the intersection where business and life converge." Meaning, perhaps you're stuck at home with three kids and perhaps you'd like to occupy your brain with something else and make some money in the process. Or perhaps you're already an entrepreneur, and you're ready to take your business to the next level. Dance atop the glass ceiling in your glass slippers, as it were.

We used Nada's book, Sixteen Weeks to Your Dream Business, as a jumping off point for the Business Builders' Boot Camp in which I participated--goodness--two years ago. Nada came to our final session and helped critique business plan presentations. She's friendly and approachable, not to mention a smart business person who knows how to motivate others to stop sitting around dreaming and start doing the thing they've been dreaming about doing.

I was going to call her a sharp cookie but then I thought, that doesn't sound appetizing at all.

Visit ltdlive.com for details and to sign up. This might be your year.

Coffee Gallery on a Steep Hill

I was at the Coffee Gallery Backstage earlier this month to hear Will Ryan and the Cactus County Cowboys and write an article about them for Altadena Patch. (It was a really fun assignment.) I get to the Coffee Gallery pretty often.

The Coffee Gallery and Coffee Gallery Backstage are two separate but, shall we say, conjoined entities operating out of basically the same space. Both entities are institutions around here.

When John and I first moved to the San Gabriel Valley we rented a house in Altadena. We got married in the back yard there. We called the Coffee Gallery "Awake and Open" because of the sign hanging outside. It's always been part of our lives here.

Right now, both Coffee Gallery entities need to raise $20,000 by February 15th for their Conditional Use Pemit (CUP) and parking variance in order to keep their entertainment license.

They're having a fundraising concert on February 8th. Tickets are $18 and the artists, bless them, are donating 100% of the proceeds to the Coffee Gallery. Timothy Rutt wrote a good article about it on Altadenablog. If you can't make it to the show you can still make a donation.

$20,000. My god, that's steep. I think the Coffee Gallery will do it, but jeez louise, how's a small business supposed to survive in LA County with fees like that?

Boz (Not Boz)

Oooh, the face.

How many times have you said, "I wish I could have a dog like Boz, but there's only one Boz in the whole, wide world!"? I know! You're like a broken record! How many times have you wished you, too, could have a mild-mannered, easy-to-handle, calm-as-can-be Boxer like Boz?

Well, now you can! Yes, you, too, can meet Vinnie the Boxer at Boxer Rescue! He's available for adoption today!

Here's what Karin the Altadenahiker had to say when she walked Vinnie: "He was happy to mosey on the leash, but every so often would break into a sweet but tame happy dance. He wouldn’t lunge at other dogs who said rude things behind fences, but he wasn’t afraid of them, either. Was curious about everything, but not insistent about it."

Wow. "...all a boxer has to offer without the exuberance," as Karin says. Sounds like Boz to me. And Vinnie comes with a bonus even Boz can't match: he's an actual Boxer (Boz is actually a Mixer).
Here's another shot Karin took of our guy:**

I love that far-away look in his eyes, don't you? Soulful. So Clark Gable.

Vinnie (you can name him Boz once you take him home) is 7 or 8 years old. I highly recommend a mature dog, especially if you yourself are not a spring chicken. Puppies are great if you have furniture to spare and if you are free 24/7 to train your young piddler and walk him/her several times a day so he/she will please god sleep for chrissakes. But Karin and I picture Vinnie with someone who appreciates the finer things in life--at a slower pace.

"In all the [dog] walks I’ve taken," says Karin, "I've never met a dog so well behaved and affectionate." And Ms. Hiker has walked more than her fair share of dogs as a volunteer at Boxer Rescue.

To learn more about Vinnie, read Karin's piece on Altadena Patch. Then call or visit Boxer Rescue and take Vinnie home with you. Then you, too, can have your very own Boz!**

Boz the Mixer, photographed by John Sandel

I guarantee it--you'll be so glad you did.

**Leash and tags sold separately. Available in colors shown. Boz not included.

Zen Monday: #180

Here at the old Pasadena Daily Photo blog, we celebrate Mondays with a bit of Zen.

Zen learning comes from experience, I'm told, rather than lectures or books. So please experience the photo and, in the comments, tell us what you've learned.

There's no right or wrong. We're here to have fun.

Rainy Day Mood

The Richard H. Chambers Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Building, seen from the Lower Arroyo

It didn't rain all day yesterday, just all morning. Still, I was in a rainy day mood. I craved the cozy feeling of running the heater and drinking hot tea, and I indulged.

One cloudy day some time ago, PDP's resident geologist Becca and I took our dogs to the Lower Arroyo thinking it wasn't going to rain. It did, of course, as soon as we were as far from our cars as we could possibly get. We were the only non-wild creatures in the Arroyo between the Colorado Street Bridge and South Pasadena. Everyone else, wild or not, knew enough to find shelter.

It began to pour, rattling the leaves and forming puddles on the path. The stream ran full from north to south. Becca and I were soaking wet. We let the dogs run free and they were out of their minds with the joy of it.

Yesterday, Boz curled himself into the shape of a Lima bean and spent most of the day by the heater, with the exception of our neighborhood walk. Now that he's older he craves being cozy, too. Because I know the feeling I run the heater for him, but he turns up his nose at tea.


Here's another view of the Courthouse from the Arroyo, with Boz posing in the foreground.