Glory Days

Not a beautiful photo, but quintessential November in Pasadena.

We're on Orange Grove Avenue at Green Street, facing northeast. The stands are going up for the Rose Parade on Orange Grove Avenue from Green St. to Colorado Blvd. You can see the Norton Simon Museum if you look behind the stands across the Elks Lodge parking lot. In the foreground is a cast/crew directions marker for a TV shoot (we see those year 'round and we welcome them).

Beyond it all: the San Gabriel Mountains and that autumn light, coming in low and gold.

And then there's some old bushy tree. I wanted to get rid of it by retouching, but my program just makes it look like I'm trying to hide something.

Quintessential Pasadena

While John and I were walking Christmas day he pointed out to me this quintessential Pasadena view. If it's not quintessentially Pasadena it's at least quintessentially north of the 210 freeway. Click on the photo to enlarge it if you can't make out the towers of the Mt. Wilson Observatory. The Observatory, the mountain, the palm tree and the Spanish tile roof are typical views on the north side of town, not to mention the streetlight silhouette.

There were scientific and historic reasons to protect Mount Wilson during last autumn's Station Fire. For those who don't live here, perhaps knowing the Observatory is part of what we see from almost everywhere in town will help you understand the emotional reasons as well.

Inspiration: John Sandel.

Autumn in Orange Heights

I snapped this just because the light's pretty. Sometimes that's all I need.

If you enlarge the photo you can see the stone pillar on the right and the stone wall at center. Both are typical of Craftsman architecture in Pasadena. In this case I'd guess the pillar at right (part of a gate) is a recent addition and the wall is original to the house. These stones (locally called "river rocks") are everywhere you turn around here.

I've got a busy weekend getting ready for more than one celebration this week. What's to celebrate? So, so much. It has been a hard year for many--including some of my loved ones. Some of it's been tough for me, too. But as a friend told me today, it's easy to look at what's going wrong; she finds it healthier to look at what's going right.

It's blessing-counting time. Can you look around yourself and find the good things? Once I start counting blessings I can't stop.

Color-Coordinated

Laurie's always finding funky color-coordinated car/building combinations in South Pasadena. That South Pas is a snappy dresser.

I never see that here. It doesn't mean Pasadena doesn't like to dress up. It may just mean I don't have an eye for fashion. But this little ensemble worked for me.

Plan Your Route Accordingly

Because I couldn't find any runners or bikers during my small window of photo-taking time today, this is my way of reminding you that the Pasadena Marathon takes place tomorrow.

Weird, because there's usually someone running or biking pretty much wherever I go in Pasadena. It's a health- and fitness-minded place. There are more gyms in town than there are Starbucks (I'm not kidding), we have 24 city parks with facilities for everything from swimming to archery to baseball, and you can even go walking with the Mayor and his buds if you're willing to get up really early on a Wednesday morning. And I haven't even mentioned our miles of beautiful hiking trails.

(Could they have done a more believable job on the marathon website woman's cleavage? That's almost good enough for Photoshop Disasters.)

Recognize the corner? They've been fixing up the place and they're not finished yet.

UPDATE 11/16: THE MARATHON HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO THE LOW AIR QUALITY CAUSED BY SMOKE FROM SURROUNDING BRUSH FIRES.

Corner

Just a corner. Any corner, anywhere.

Look how much the same we all are.

Yard Sale

Yard sales are popular in Pasadena. At a good one you'll find all kinds of deals: furniture, clothing, dishes, books. You name it, people sell it. At a bad one you'll find mostly junk, or the prices are too high and the seller's not willing to bargain.

Weekends around here it seems there's a yard sale on every block. This kind of selling is typically American, and I imagine it goes on around the world as well. In the Midwest we used to have garage sales in summertime. In England I believe they're called "boot sales." We have good weather, so we get to pawn off our junk on each other year 'round.

After I took this photo I met the man in the picture. He said he thought yard sales might have originated in southern California. Maybe so. If not, I'd be willing to bet we're at least the capital.