Migraines

Sometimes I can go for almost two weeks without a migraine. In the past two weeks I've had nine. Nine! And I'm not sure why. A doctor can give you pills, which is great, but it's not enough.

Everyone who gets migraines experiences them differently. Some people don't get help from drugs. Some drugs help me, except when they don't. Either way, even if the pain is manageable the zombie effect is not. I slouch through migraine days dragging my body along like it's a bag of rocks, which, come to think of it, is also a good description of my thought processes.

Migraines are confusing. I thought I was going to have a tenth in the wee hours of this morning. The circumstances were the same as always. The pain in my head was in the same place. My brain felt dull and my vision pulsated. Rather than try to sleep I got up and went outside. It was cold and that felt good. I exercised for a while. Then I came in and made coffee. Slowly, whatever it was went away.

If that would work every time I'd be a millionaire. Or at least muscular.

Maybe it wasn't a migraine. But I haven't had a plain old headache in almost twenty years.

My mother had migraines. She was the most stressed-out person I've ever known. That tells you something about my upbringing and what I imprinted on.

So although some will tell you to omit wine and cheese from your diet, in my case migraines might not be based in physical causes. I don't have a problem with wine, cheese, coffee, chocolate or many of the other conventional "triggers" (an apt word).

But maybe I could limit my migraines by limiting my stress. I think this is a great idea. The only things I stress over are being out in public and being home in private.

Do you get migraines? If so, please don't share your cures, I've tried them all (except this one). But please do share the following:

Are your migraines caused by physical things? (food, drink, smacks to the head)
Are they caused by emotional things? (stress, fear, Mac vs Microsoft)
Do you continue working when you have a migraine? What makes this possible?

 

How do you relieve stress? Or are you out of ideas?

Not So Hot

Is the sun ever going to come back or not? I took this photo at least a year ago and it seems like it's been that long since the sun has shone on/shown itself in Pasadena.

I admit I'm impatient, but one doesn't move to southern California from northern Illinois for the cool, cloudy weather. Or at least that didn't used to be the case. Maybe now one does.

This time I won't complain. Doesn't it seem odd, though, that southern California used to be hot and for the last couple of years it's simply not?

Pole Pigs*

I called these barrel-shaped things "transformers" but John thought they were insulators. Neither one of us was sure. We decided to find something better to argue about.

The wiring of the world seems primitive to me. We've been wired for over 200 years. I think we're on the brink of finding a wireless way to do things that have been wired until now. Will we miss the paraphernalia? Will telephone poles, wires, insulators and electrical transformers end up in museums soon? Or will we trash them all before we realize they're cherished vestiges of our past?

A few months ago, John and I hiked up one of the fire roads above Altadena. High up where the electrical towers stand, we found bits of a ceramic insulator embedded in the soil. One of the big ones must have fallen from the tower and broken. We brought home bits of it as keepsakes.

*thanks to Ted Thompson for the title of this post.

Location

John and I went scouting yesterday. We were looking for a place to take a photo. You know how much trouble I have finding places to take photos in Pasadena.

But we need a particular photo this time: we want it to look like a studio backlot. You know--huge, warehouse-type buildings, kind of non-descript.

We didn't find it. Pasadena's too descript.

If you know of a place that might fit the bill, please let me know. It doesn't have to be in Pasadena, just within driving distance and accessible to the public. Or if it's not accessible and you can get permission for us to use it, why thank you, that'll be just fine.

I took this shot in Edmondson Alley south of Bellevue Drive. I love Pasadena's alleys.

Edmondson Alley

Recognize the "free range baby palm tree"? (Thanks, Elaine.)

Turn south of yesterday's photo and you'll see more of Edmondson Alley - lots more. Until Trish mentioned it (see yesterday's post), I hadn't known this alley existed. It's just one of the million little things I have yet to explore in Pasadena.

Well. Not so little. Edmondson is a long alley, stretching from the south end of Central Park at Del Mar all the way down to Glenarm. Eight straight blocks of Edmondson Alley, between Fair Oaks and Raymond, wait to be photographed.

You can read a fascinating bit of history about Edmondson Alley in the History: Planning section of the Wikipedia entry about the Pasadena Freeway. The Alley was originally an elevated wooden bikeway that started at Hotel Green (which explains why the alley starts at Central Park) and ending at the Raymond Hotel.

For you non-Pasadenish, the Hotel Green once stood across the street from Castle Green, which still looms north of Central Park. Alas, South Pasadena's Raymond Hotel no longer stands.

Eight blocks of Alley. Castle Green. Central Park. Tip of the old iceberg. If I could make a living posting pictures of and digging up info about alleys, hotels, stores, coffee shops, pretty houses and civic activities, I'd do it. (Who wouldn't?)