Boz Dickens

Today is Charles Dickens' 200th birthday. Any excuse to post photos of Boz! Some folks think our pooch was named for Mr. Scaggs, but no. Although I like that Boz, the dirty lowdown is we named ours for Mr. Dickens, whose little brother nicknamed him Boz.

Note the similarities:

As a youngster Dickens had to fend for himself, working long hours in a shoe blacking factory. Our little Boz lived on the street before he came to us, fending for himself for we don't know how long. It might have been months. It might have been a whole afternoon. No one knows the truth except Boz, and even if he remembers he tends to exaggerate.

Either way he was an urchin of genius, as evidenced by, uh, well, I'm sure he was. And although he may never reach the heights of fame achieved by his namesake, he's a well-known dog about town and about the web.

Dickens became a distinguished writer. Boz can distinguish between a Greenie and a Milk Bone. (But why would anyone bother?)

I sometimes wonder if he ever thinks back on the days of his youth, when life was simple and fame was fleeting. I have my doubts. But he does have memories, however vague. He knows he likes big, muscular guys who smoke cigarettes and sport tattoos (previous owner?). He knows he's afraid of the hose (someone who scared him when he lived on the street?). And at this very moment, he might be reminiscing about yesterday when he suffered the terrifying ordeal of a bath and received a pig ear for being a good boy.

Zen Monday: #182

I don't know. You tell me.

Historic Exploits

bust of a Tongva man at Mission San Gabriel

I didn't know archaeologists were shoveling up artifacts across the street from Mission San Gabriel, did you?

Have some video, it's very cool:
Article and video with interviews, from ABC7.
Article and press conference with lead archaeologist John Dietler in the Pasadena Star-News.

Some of what they found was expected, some wasn't. All of it's a big story. Mission San Gabriel was the fourth of the California missions built by the Spanish in the late 18th century. Its founding and subsequent land grab disrupted the pastoral life of the local native people, to say the very least, and set the ball rolling for the exploitation of the area's resources by, uh, people of European descent.

The Spanish weren't the first to do that and they wouldn't be the last, but you could say that uncovering what lies beneath the surface across the street from Mission San Gabriel is the equivalent of uncovering the beginnings of modern Pasadena, Los Angeles, and the state of California as well.

Mission San Gabriel is a beautiful, complicated place. The Spanish missionaries enslaved the Tongva people, and/or they believed they were doing God's work. Some Tongva worked willingly at the Mission. Some tried to run away and suffered for it. There is no one answer and there never will be.

Big Rock Candy

Toward the end of the day when it's nearly dusk here in the flatlands, the mountains north of Pasadena get a pinky-orange glow from sun still warming their folded slopes. It only lasts a few minutes (more than five, fewer than ten) so you have to pay attention.

I grew up in Illinois. It's flat there. Your eyes can go for miles without running into so much as a hill. Living here is a constant marvel--mountains! ocean! desert! And every time I look north I feel blessed, especially when the mountains are pink.

I'll tell you this, too: visits to Illinois, which don't happen often enough, bring just as much wonderment. When nothing obstructs your vision, it's amazing how much you can see.

What to Wear to the Ball

I shot this photo out of the car window last night, just before the light changed from red to green. If there hadn't been any cars behind me I'd have lingered to gaze into all the windows at Mary Linn's Bridal shop at the corner of Fair Oaks and Green Street. The whole place is a Cinderella fantasy right now (complete with glass slippers in the lower left corner of the photo). The windows at Mary Linn's are always beautiful but right now they're especially spectacular.

Maybe it's because Valentine's Day is coming up (or looming, as some people might say) but I'm primed for a fairy tale. I don't expect I'll ever wear one of Mary Linn's amazing dresses, but it doesn't hurt to fantasize.

World Book Night

Is that a library tucked into that shady glen?

It is, absolutely, and why not? It's the main branch of the Altadena Library at 600 Mariposa Street, home of amazing books (and book sales, thanks to the Friends of the Altadena Library).

I read a lot about the publishing industry, which is undergoing wild changes like every other industry affected by the internet and the economy (which is every industry except the chocolate-covered insect industry). Some people say books will disappear. I don't think so. I think this will fadge in such a way that we'll just have different ways of distributing and receiving reading material, much as we have different ways of distributing and receiving music and movies.

Speaking of distribution: World Book Night is coming up on April 23 (Shakespeare's birthday). If you want to sign up to distribute free books you need to do that by February 6th. From the website: 

"Just take 20 free copies of a book to a location in your community, and you just might change someone's life...The goal is to give books to new readers, to encourage reading, to share your passion for a great book. The entire publishing, bookstore, library, author, printing, and paper community is behind this effort with donated services and time. The first World book Night was held in the UK last year, and it was such a big success that it's spreading around the world! Please volunteer to be a book giver in the U.S."

When you volunteer, they give you the books to distribute. You are required to have read the book you give away. Here are this year's books. 

I've read four of the books on the list: Little Bee by Chris Cleave, which I can't say I liked because it was too horrifying but it was also excellent, if you know what I mean; The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, which I'm sorry to say I barely remember; The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, I don't know why I read it because the subject matter is about my least favorite but everyone was reading it back then so I did; and The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, which I absolutely loved. 

Several other books on the list are ones I want to read, but I don't think I'm in the target audience for a free book and my pile of to-be-read books is almost up to my waist, so I'll have to get to them when I can. Because they're good books, and good books aren't going anywhere.

Let me know if you sign up.

Theme Day: Animals

Well, I think it's very weird that a month of 2012 has already passed and it's February 1st, but it is, so it's time for another City Daily Photo theme day. This month's theme is animals.

How do you like my flare? I like it. If you enlarge the picture you might see a couple of contrails in the sky, too.

I'd love to give you exotic animals but Pasadena doesn't have a zoo and I'll be damned if I'm going up into the hills to chase mountain lions. However, if you click on the other participants in today's theme, I bet you'll find some fantastic animals! After all, City Daily Photo is now 1444 blogs strong, worldwide. Our newest member is Jersey Photos from the Channel Islands. And as far as theme day and Jersey Photos goes, let me just say great minds think alike.