Options

I can rarely decide between color and black & white. Whenever I post a B&W photo (not often) I usually put up the color one, too. Both media have their merits. Why choose?

This is a big, fancy world, kaleidoscoped with wonders. Sometimes, you can have it all.

I'm thinking: radio/movies/TV/video/DVD/blu-ray/netflix/streaming, etc.

I'm thinking: wax tablets/scrolls/illuminated manuscripts/hardbacks/paperbacks/ebooks, etc.

What are you thinking?

Pasadena Purple

Here's what I did to this photo: I toned down the highlights.

Now that I see it on the screen it looks like I was walking in an enchanted forest, where pretty posies grow near a charming cottage. Maybe an ogre lives there, or better yet a sweet old witch, who makes tasty cookies for good children and nasty ones for bad ones. The purple flowers tempt the littlest ones to her doorstep, where she offers them goodies (or baddies--one can't be sure 'til one eats). The older, wiser kids must be brave. They leap the purple flowers, run to the house, grab the tiny hands of the little ones and spirit them away, plucking a blossom as they go.

Either that or I was squatting in the gutter, while Boz stood on the median saying, "murph!" Which means "come back now, you come back now."

Zen Monday: #186

Let's face it: Zen Monday doesn't have anything to do with Zen, not really. Except maybe today.

Zen Monday is the day you tell us what the photo's about, rather than me telling you. Please share your insights in the comments.

March Your Calendar

March in Pasadena is overloaded. I don't know why this is true but it's the same every year. Just like the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can't possibly get to all the parties and events you want to attend. Your digital calendar has run out of room; you have to remove spaces between words to get it all in. If you still use an analog datebook (I do), you've resorted to putting things on post-its so you can move them around and try to fit them all in.

Three things you must attend, no matter what:

Art Night, Friday, March 9th, 6-10pm. Twice a year, Pasadena's finest art venues open their doors for free. It's a tradition both erudite and wacky. You can go after Real Irish.

LitFest Pasadena, Saturday, March 17th, 9:30am to 5:00pm. Speaking of erudite and wacky, here comes a new tradition! The first annual Litfest Pasadena will take place in Central Park (pictured here) under the batting eyelashes of Castle Green. Authors, publishers, booksellers--everyone who reads will be there. Food and a kids' area, too. (They still need volunteers, find out more here.)

And don't miss Primavera IV! Saturday, March 24th, 11-5pm. Primavera is the Altadena bloggers' gift to all San Gabriel Valley bloggers and blog fans. Everyone's invited! We bring a dish to share, we enjoy Altadena's Farnsworth Park and we bask in each others' actual, as opposed to virtual, company. It's the one event when you can talk to all the local bloggers without bothering with word verification!

Real Irish

apple blossom on the tree in my back yard

Next Friday, for the first time in quite a while, I'll be performing live!

It's not like a Madonna concert exactly. (Actually I don't know that. I've never been to a Madonna concert.) Friday, March 9th, I'll be joining Anne Louise Bannon at Webster's Fine Stationers for "Real Irish," an early lead-in to St. Patrick's Day. (I wanted to call it "Lorica and Scot go to Ireland," but I was outvoted.)

Anne is a renaissance woman, a freelance writer and a wine afficionado. I even buy my handmade soap from her. Plus it turns out she holds a Master's degree in oral interpretation (even more obscure than my Bachelor's in Rhetoric). My qualifications are almost as good: I like to drink wine and I like to talk (okay, I've also had a 30-year acting career and I'm actually paid to talk), so we make a good pair. Anne is even of Irish descent, which makes her green-wearin' legit. (She's Real Irish.)

I'll just admit it right now: I'm a Scot. The family claims Welsh descent as well. None of this qualifies as Irish. (I am Not Real Irish.)

Anne and I figured a wine tasting and some Celtic and Irish literature would make a fun late afternoon/early evening. Starting at 4:30, come to Webster's and have some wine. At 5:30, once your edges are soft, Anne and I will read to you for a little while. In fact, in fewer than 30 minutes, we will run you through a simplified gamut of the entire history of Irish literature. As if that were possible.

Come on by. We'll get you all Irished before you head down the hill for Art Night Pasadena.

Real Irish

Friday, March 9th

4:30 wine tasting

5:30 readings

Webster's Fine Stationers

2450 N. Lake Avenue,

Altadena, CA 91101

(626) 797-1135

Maybe I'll Keep It

Last night my family and I took a walk at Hahamongna as dusk began to infiltrate the park. I decided not to bring a camera but of course I didn't leave my phone behind and Hello, my name is Petrea and I am a photography addict.

I'll soon be trading in my primeval iPhone for a new model. But I kind of like these photos of the women runners from (I assume) Occidental College, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in the background.

As thy sky darkened, the poor old phone camera kept its (digital) shutter open longer. That made the runners more blurry and JPL more glowy.

Theme Day: Electricity

Today when I think of electricity I think of what it would be like not to have it. The Dark Ages, for example, were really, really dark. Imagine having to ride from, say, Oxford to London (Londinium) in 500 A.D. At night. I mean, no street lights. Not one!

(I don't think the Dark Ages were called the Dark Ages in Pasadena, but it was just as dark here.)

To see how other City Daily Photo bloggers have interpreted today's theme, click here. City Daily Photo keeps growing. We're now 1456 blogs strong worldwide. Our newest member is Tallahassee Daily Photos. Stop by and say hello!