Grand Mosaic

This is  one of those things where if you know it's there it's no surprise, but if you don't, when you come upon it it's somehow incongruous.

I was of the latter persuasion, coming upon this and thinking, well, a modern tile mosaic is the last thing I expected above the entrance to underground parking.

I should make you guess where this is.

Maybe you already know?

It's at the north end of South Grand Avenue--the last building before the Colorado Street Bridge. It's nice to park there (on the street) and walk out onto the bridge for spectacular views and, right about now, some bracing wind. You can stop in the driveway for a bit of erudition on the way back to your car.

Vindicated

I love One Colorado. It's a beautiful part of Old Town Pasadena where late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historic buildings surround a courtyard. Rather than have these wonderful structures torn down they've been refurbished and are now shops and restaurants.

Even the One Colorado parking is okay. It's across the street at Union and Fair Oaks. The lot is well lit, easy to drive around in. Usually there are plenty of spaces.

Bit these days the lot is automated and the payment system is, shall we say, less than transparent. The machine has a mechanical voice. Pleasant guy. He tells you what to do. You do it. Then a little sign lights up and tells you to wait. You wait. The line behind you gets longer.

There's something else you're supposed to do at this point but the machine doesn't tell you what it is, nor does the sign. You have to guess. You have to hope your intuition will guide you through the final steps of the process.

At first I thought maybe it was me. Maybe I couldn't figure out the machine. Was I (oh no please no) getting old? You know, like I said I never would? Would a 21-year-old know what the last step is?

I had thought the parking garage was automated to save money on employee costs but when I took this photo there were two employees sitting in an office to the left. An office with a window. A window that looks out at the payment booth. This payment booth. Where this line continued to get longer because people were waiting while the machine didn't tell them what to do.

It's a relief, actually.

Parking Lot Graphic

Trader Joe's parking lot on a sunny day.

I have groceries on the brain. Shopping is on today's to-do list.

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Update, 9am: you may note the 4:30am post time. I woke up moments before, remembering I hadn't posted. This is rare. I don't have a system exactly, but posting is an integral part of my day.

I usually choose a photo first and prepare it. This gives me time to think about what to say about it. In this case I had chosen the photo but forgotten to think. I don't think I could even spell what goes through my mind at 4:30 in the morning.

Yet I really do have to get groceries today.

Filters

It's a given that we run, bike, hike, ride our horses and walk our dogs in the Arroyo Seco. We also park our world-famous football stadium, our childrens' museum and our aquatic center there. And around those popular people magnets, we park our cars.

The parking lots need occasional maintenance, and I joined a clean-up last weekend. Wilson Lau, Watershed Coordinator at the Arroyo Seco Foundation (ASF), put out the word on the Arroyo Seco chat list ("What better way to show love for your country than to clean up the Arroyo?...Gloves and trash bags will be provided...") and I posted about it here on PDP.

I expected the turn-out to be small, but it was small. Besides Lau and Tim Martinez, a college student, native plant expert and one of the ASF's top volunteers, the only person to show up besides me was a PCC student who shuns the spotlight, so to speak. The four of us cleaned several large islands in two hours. 15 or 20 people could have done the whole parking lot in about 90 minutes, but I doubt they would have had more fun.

Our parking lot islands are populated with black sage, little red berry and California rose. The latter's hips shimmy in the photo above and its thorns wrote their tale on my forearms. I got an excellent upper body workout. 

The islands, and the spaces next to them that look like they're paved with beige bricks, are a permeable filtration system that removes trash and impurities from storm water before it runs into the Arroyo stream bed. I never knew a parking lot island could be an engineering marvel, but in Lot I they are marvels indeed.

Another marvel is the number of cigarette butts down there getting filtered out of our water. An amazing amount of cigarette butts. I said to Wilson, "Are these things major polluters? Or do they biodegrade?" He said "Oh, they biodegrade if you give 'em a hundred years or so."

If you'd like to be informed about Arroyo volunteering opportunities, you can fill out the ASF's volunteer form. There's always something to do. It's likely you'll meet Wilson and Tim in the process. Big plus.

Title

It happens from time to time that I bring a blank brain with me to the blank screen.

As I write, it's the night before today. I've spent what little mental capital I had, sitting in front of a computer all day typing numbers. I don't have anything left with which to write intelligently, about this photo or about anything.

Poo. It's not Zen Monday. I can't expect you to write it for me. What's a daily blogger to do?

It would be appropriate to post no photo at all. Then you could see what I'm really thinking.

Self Portrait at Macy's Parking Lot

What can I say? I'm a square. Who knew? (Don't answer that.)

I spent way too much time in my young life trying to keep up with trends, be cool and say and do what I thought other people wanted me to say and do. I worked so hard at it I fooled myself into thinking it was important.

I'm glad that's over! But I'm not going to waste more precious time regretting it. Youth is like that and I was young.

Middle age has given me permission to be myself. I have embraced my inner nerd.

How cool are you?
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This just in:

Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee meets tonight at 6pm, La Casita Del Arroyo
177 S. Arroyo Blvd. 
Pasadena

There will be an update on the Sediment Removal Project.

Show up! Let's be educated and prepared so what happened in Arcadia doesn't happen in Hahamongna.

Non Sequitur

I usually don't post graffiti--and truly, I have no idea what this says--but I like the picture. No photoshop, no messing. It is what it is. Kinda like not having a face-lift.

I'm too tired to write much about the photo. John says it could be an entrance to faerie. What with all our urbanization it's conceivable that such entrances exist in parking lots or other places in town. Faeries have to get home, too.

Or

I'm eating a cookie with red and green sprinkles on it. The green ones are teeny, tiny Christmas trees.

Just Breathe

Today I have to make one more run to the grocery store. Tomorrow I'll be hiding out. If I leave the house Friday, you can bet I won't be going anywhere near where commerce takes place.

I can't remember the last time I went shopping on a "black Friday," but it was before they called it that. Something traumatic must have happened because I haven't ventured out again. Whatever it was, I've blacked it out. It's easy enough to reconstruct: traffic, overloaded parking lots, crowds, artificial bargains, fatigue. It must have gotten to me.

I'm better now, more relaxed. I'm just practicing my own, age-old holiday tradition of not shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I'll see you out there next week and don't worry, I can handle it. I'll be the one screaming "ohm" at the top of my lungs.

T G I Freelance

I'm glad it's Friday.

As a freelancer, the weekend makes no real difference to me except that the businesses I frequent will be more crowded for a couple of days. It's not like I have the weekend off. Ask anyone you know who works for themselves and they'll tell you: they don't work less, they work more.

Still, Friday feels like the end of the work week and the weekend feels like free time, and I still feel guilty on Sunday nights because I still feel like I've put off my homework.

What's up for you this weekend?

Why I Take the Stairs

I really enjoyed this post on the Old Pasadena Blog about some of the creative ways the Pasadena Museum of History shares its photo archives around town. (Love the PMH!)

The post mentions the Delacey Street Garage, and that's where I took this shot. (Love the Delacey Street Garage!)

I mean I like that you can park free for 90 minutes in Old Town. We ought to have something like that in other parts of town. It would be a boon for businesses. The city recently put in some odd sort of parking meter-type thingies on Lake Avenue south of Colorado Blvd. I stood in front of one of them with another woman one day trying to understand it and we both finally gave up. I could probably figure it out, but who has that kind of time to spend learning how to use a parking meter?

I'm probably old-fashioned, but mostly I'm just really impatient.

Zen Monday: #44

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what the photo's about.

As I post each new Zen photo, I'll add a label to last week's to identify it if necessary (and if I know what it is).

Storm Twilight

I had fun taking pictures during our storm a few days ago. We had gorgeous skies and some crazy light.

On Wednesday, USElaine of Willits Daily Photo tagged me to reveal 5 things about myself. I wouldn't do this for just anybody, but hey - it's Elaine. So here goes:
1. I was once what you'd call a Led Zeppelin freak.
2. My mother told me I'm descended from the pirate, Henry Morgan, and I like to believe her.
3. I've been lifting weights.
4. I can't bear the smell of perfume.
5. I can burp on cue. And it ain't no pansy belch.

I like color, it suits me. But this time I like the B&W too.

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?)

Zen Monday: No Parking

Oh go ahead. Try.

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo then tell me what it's about, rather than me telling you what to experience from viewing it.

A Room With a View

I suppose we could play "where am I?" Nah. Too easy for the locals, and no fun for the out-of-towners.

So okay, these are the tippy-tops of the condos at 111 S. Delacey Avenue. Which doesn't leave a lot of options for where I was when I took the photo.

I wish I could remember who recommended the tops of parking lots as good places from which to shoot photos. This lot's at the corner of Delacey and Green.

Fun first, then back to business.

I promised one last shot of Mills Place. It's further down in this post. But first:
This guy is big in Pasadena.

Meet Ben Wideman, whose daily photo blog, The Sky Is Big In Pasadena, is Pasadena's other daily photo blog and a favorite of mine. Ben's a very cool guy. I got to meet him Saturday in the real world (well, it was sorta surreal) at a local blogger get-together hosted by Aaron Proctor and Frazgo at the Aztec Hotel in Monrovia. Monrovia Daily Photo wasn't there. Bummer! (Photo by John Sandel.) While you're at Ben's blog, check out the June 26th post and add your two cents.

I hope someone posts a good group photo of the blogger party, because mine turned out blurry. However, I'm inspired to post a San Gabriel Valley blogroll. There are so many great blogs around here, covering every subject. Watch for it coming soon here on the main page. If you have a local blog and it's not there, please notify me. I'll get started today, but it will probably never be complete!

Thanks to Aaron and Frazgo as well as to Kathie, who owns the Aztec Hotel. She went the extra mile to make it a very nice event.

Now to our last picture of Mills Place:
I took this from high up in the parking structure on DeLacy Street at Green, looking east. Mills Place is T-shaped, and this is the east-west part of the T. Way down toward the end of it you can see the red door of Crown City Mattress Works from Friday's post. And you already know the red-domed building is Castle Green because you saw it yesterday.

Hmm. That's probably enough of Mills Place for a while, huh? Tomorrow's Zen Monday. I hope I remember.

Zen Monday: Park It Here

Good morning. Had your coffee? This is the parking structure on Hudson just south of Walnut.

Sign Sign

I wonder how many times I've driven past this. I suppose it's a good thing I never noticed it, because when you're driving you're supposed to watch the road. But lately I've been parking the car and getting out to take photos. When you do that, you see things you never noticed before. Today I parked across the street from this parking garage on Union Street, intent on taking photos of something else.

And there it was.