Enchanted Grove

On a perfect day, while strolling through a shaded oak grove, you come upon a beautiful, young princess playing a harp.

Be careful. She could be dangerous. There is such a thing as faerie.

If it weren't for the small camera crew and the microphone stand, I might have thought the grove was enchanted. Instead, we chatted briefly with harpist Charissa Barger, and she granted me this lovely photo. Then we moved on, so they could shoot their video.

Do check her website. She plays weddings, concerts for children, etc., and she was every bit as pleasant as she looks. Thank you, Charissa.

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I don't want to forget to mention that as of this writing there are 6 days, 6 hours, 55 minutes and maybe even some seconds left to go in my Camelot & Vine Goodreads Giveaway. Click on the ad on the upper right of your screen and you'll be there! 54 minutes, 53, 52, 51...

Oak Groves

This is part of the grove at Oak Grove Park. It's close to the Jet Propulsion Lab. This part of the park can be found by walking north out of the Oak Grove Park parking lot across from La Canada Flintridge High school. It's a serene little forest, rare in an urban setting.

There's an old oak grove in Arcadia for the moment, though it's likely to be gone tomorrow. It's called the Arcadia Woodlands. But unless something drastic happens, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (same folks we discussed here) is going to dump 500,000 cubic yards of debris on it starting...pretty much now.

I guess they'll have to change the name of the Arcadia Woodlands. Arcadia means " any real or imaginary place offering peace and simplicity." I don't know what they're going to call it once it's a dump.

If you want to help preserve the Arcadia Woodlands, there are some good suggestions at the end of this informative post from LA Creek Freak. It's late, but worth a try.

We in Pasadena still have our Oak Grove Park, adjacent to Hahamongna Watershed Park. We can still even call it an oak grove. But I recommend we don't get cocky.

Other blogs participating today:
Altadena Hiker
Ballona Blog
Bipediality
Breathing Treatment
Chance of Rain
Echo Landscape Design
Greensward Civitas 
Greymatters
L. A. Creek Freak
L.A. Ecovillage Blog
L.A. Ecovillage Gardener's Weblog
Pasadena Adjacent
Pasadena Daily Photo
Pasadena Real Estate With Brigham Yen 
Slow Water Movement
Temple City Daily Photo 
The Sky is Big in Pasadena
Weeding Wild Suburbia

Also, Arcadia Patch is giving this issue excellent coverage.

Solar Salad

When I moved here from Illinois I thought of living in southern California as a vacation on another planet, especially when it came to plant life. Sometimes I still do. Click on this picture to enlarge it. These are bean pods.

The brownish stream on the lower right of this photo is bean pods. The branches above the stream show where the pods came from.

What kind of tree drops bean pods in purple, orange, yellow and green? Surely something not from our solar system.

This photo was taken awfully close to JPL. Maybe I shouldn't be wandering around over there.

Oak Grove Equine

inspiration: Laurie

Yesterday at Glimpses of South Pasadena, Laurie posted a photo of a front yard with an unusual tree swing. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, "I've seen that before. I've even photographed it."

Close, but no cigar, as they say. At Oak Grove Park, a similar swing hangs from a high branch not far from the parking lot. This is a lesson to me, which is Never Delete a Photo.

A Hole Lot of Dedication

It's one thing to view an inanimate work of art, to walk around it, think about it, maybe even touch it. It's quite another when human beings actually become their art.

Yesterday I promised to clear the air about the pumpkin man featured in this week's Zen Monday post. I first saw him on the path during New Town's On the Trail Of, a series of open-air art installations (plus this one bit of performance art) at Oak Grove Park last weekend.

Joseph Ravens and Taisha Paggett title their work I Think That I Shall Never See... and describe it thus: "A person, resembling an enormous solemn doll, carries a large shovel, seeking a perfect place for a hole, always searching, almost digging. A large-headed solemn doll struggles to carry a small tree, seemingly in search of the hole never dug."

I reacted with delight at seeing the "large-headed solemn doll" on the path. (If I hadn't known I was at an art event I might have felt differently!) And it was compelling to see the two of them struggle across the frisbee golf course amid the reactions of people out for an afternoon of frisbee and beer. Art like this--so unconventional, so demanding of both spectator and artist--speaks of the dedication of its creators.

Last weekend's event was funded by grants from Pasadena Art Alliance, the Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division. I wanted to mention them a second time and give links to these groups. Events like "On the Trail Of" are close to impossible without financial help. But this one was a success, and New Town is able to pay the artists thanks to such funding.

Yesterday I received an email from Rochelle Branch, Cultural Affairs Manager of the city's Cultural Affairs Division. She said, "Thanks so much for mentioning New Town's art installation and the support of Cultural Affairs. We are always appreciative of local support for our treasured arts and culture organizations and we are particularly pleased to have provided financial support for this program."

I love this town.

More photos on Overdog.