Best of 2012

I said I was going to do a "best of 2012" retrospective and promptly forgot, so I'm a couple of days late. 

Judging from comments, this shot, 2/1 Theme Day: Animals, was the hands-down favorite. I took it during a mid-January sunset at Hahamongna Watershed Park.

Some of these are my favorites, some were favorites of commenters. Really, though, I like them all. I've added links to the original posts.

4/14 Storm

4/15 Sunday Morning Cup & Pup

6/19 Jacaranda

7/20 Julia Morgan YWCA

9/30 A Day Off

12/30 The Other Other Pasadena 

(reminiscent of 2/1 Theme Day, if you ask me).

I enjoyed taking them all. Each photo is a memory for me.

Jacaranda

It's the time of the Jacarandas in the San Gabriel Valley. Adele at Seeing Sierra Madre has already posted more than one "purple picture" and she has more up her sleeve (or in her camera bag). Everyone in southern California with access to a camera is aiming it at the nearest Jacaranda right about now.

If you don't live around here you might not be familiar with these stunning trees, and I don't use that word lightly ("stunning," not "trees," silly). Click on the links to see how gorgeous the jacarandas are.

They're messy, though. And am I the only one who thinks they stink?

Arbor

If you're not joining us for the Hahamongna Walkabout today, you might head on over to Linda Vista and plant a tree.

Arbor Day is April 29th. Pasadena is celebrating early by planting 50 new trees today along Linda Vista Avenue, with volunteers staging from the corner of El Mirador Drive. The trees (coast live oak, jacaranda, American sweet gum, sawtooth elm and one of my favorites, Chinese elm) were donated by the Pasadena Beautiful Foundation, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Pasadena has about as many trees as it has people. Such a friendly and diverse population.

Hometown

It's Jacaranda time in Pasadena.

We've got a lot of blogs here in town. A lot of good ones. For keeping up with what's happening the best one is Hometown Pasadena, managed/operated/lovingly filled to the brim by editor and publisher Colleen Dunn Bates, who seemingly can do no wrong. Right now she's got a couple of pretty shots of the jacaranda trees along Del Mar Blvd. 

Then again, what hasn't she got? It's a mind-bogglingly fabulous website that functions like a blog, or about a hundred blogs. I don't know how she does it, but she does it so well.

Jacaranda Maxima

Ben and I have been photographing jacarandas. We can't help it.

I found this tree at 300 W. Green Street, just south of the Ralph's parking lot. Well, I didn't find the tree. If you're anywhere in the vicinity of this block of Green you can't miss it. The building behind it is marked "Hall of Administration." It could either be administration for the Ambassador Auditorium or for Marantha High School, both of which are south of (behind) this structure. Ambassador kind of matches it, though.

But back to the tree. Have you downloaded Google Earth? Oh, you should. It's a fun program anyway. I learned my way around Paris with it before I even went there. You can explore the world, or just Pasadena. Check out your house, the mountain trails, or the great aerial view of City Hall. And if you type in the address above (300 W. Green St. Pasadena, CA), you'll see the most prominent feature at that address: the huge, purple jacaranda tree, photographed by satellite.