Nature's Course

A transient river flows through Hahamongna Watershed Park, charting its own course to carry the recent rainfall from the mountains to the dam. See it while you can. We live in the desert after all.

Tonight the Mayor's State of the City event will be held at LaSalle High School. The event's theme is "Charting a New Course." Mayor Bogaard and his staff choose a different location for his speech every year. Last year--or was it the year before?--it was the Rose Bowl locker room, remember? Wish I hadn't missed that. This year I'll be sure to attend because I did the voice-over for the video presentation and I haven't heard the final edit. Could you miss that? I can't. It's a big event (free), starting at 6:30pm, and all are invited.

Another free event I plan to attend is the upcoming City Council Meeting on Monday, February 1st. The Council will discuss the "Adoption of the Initial Study and Approval of the Hahamongna Watershed Park Master Plan Addendum for the Hahamongna Annex." I've read the addendum and find it difficult to follow (and my degree is in Rhetoric). I dearly wish they'd write these things in English. But because they don't they've got some Hahamongna lovers up in arms wondering if they're trying to pull something. Are they going to put in a road across our precious mid-city wilderness? Are they going to tear out non-invasive, non-native trees using funds that might be better used elsewhere in this economy? (Actually, that part's pretty clear. They are.) And who are "they?"

Frankly, I'm not sure. But I'll go to the meeting and listen. Since I don't understand the plan I'm dependent on others to interpret it for me, and different people have different interpretations. My request of those who wrote the plan would be to please rewrite it in English and make their intentions clear.

The time of the meeting is listed as 6:30pm and the public hearing on the Hahamongna Annex issue is listed as 7:30pm. Many postings say the meeting is at 7:30. I'll try to get to the bottom of this today and let you know what time to show up so you can get a seat. Update: I just called City Hall. The meeting begins at 6:30 but it's okay to enter late. The issue will be heard at 7:30.

Time after time, nature shows us that she will out. She showed us in Haiti just over two weeks ago and undoubtedly she'll show us again and again here at home. Whatever the powers end up doing or not doing to Hahamongna in our lifetime, nature will chart her own course long after we're gone. The decisions we make now must be about how best to flow with her in our lifetime.

Too Popped to Pot

I attended an event at the Pasadena Convention Center last Sunday--a seminar called POP! Your Book, Brand, Business and Career.

On the lower level, the Los Angeles Pottery Show was happening. We had this great view coming and going from the conference room, as we crossed over the lower level on bridges set with tables and chairs.

All that colorful pottery was tempting. I thought I might check it out after the seminar was over.

Once inside the packed room I forgot about pots. The POP! seminar was absorbing before it even started, because the speakers came early to network with participants.

I was there to learn, not to blog, so I didn't take photos. I listened, scribbled notes, laughed and scribbled more notes. The organizer, business writer Karen E. Klein, did a nice write-up of the event and posted shots of speakers Sam Horn and Lilli Cloud on her blog, Financially inKleined.

The two brilliant branding/marketing experts kept us riveted for three hours. You can see by their websites that they're tops in their field. We were lucky to have them together.

When we came out, the pottery show was closing down.

Ah, well. I got what I came for. I didn't need pots. I needed to pop!

More Water

The Pasadena blogging community was agog--nay, thrilled with a jealous pang--when, on January 19th, Pasadena Adjacent posted this revelatory tour (with her customary, fun-filled video) inside the workings of the Devil's Gate Dam tower. She and Mr. V. braved the rain to get a scoop and a coup. No one we knew had been inside that mysterious tower before.

When I took this photo on the 23rd, the skies were giving us a sunny reprieve and--what? Those dam workers were giving tours to moms, dads and cherubs.

I broke the news to PA. "You mean I’ve lost my V.I.P. status?" she said. "The carbon's off the lily!!!"

But she got there first, with video, photos, and a nice shot of those orange things.
Here you can see the orange things at work. (You may have another word for the orange things, but we like to use the technical term, Orange Things.) They appear to be an aid in corralling debris. "Debris" in this case is everything from uprooted trees to escaped socks.

This is the same pool of water I featured in my post on Sunday. I was standing sort of up on the left side of this picture to take that one. We were told by the dam engineers the water's 57 feet deep at it's deepest point (or it was when I took the pictures.)



I took this shot about a year ago. John is below the dam chatting with Becca, PDP's resident geologist. To give you an idea of the amount of rain we had last week, I cropped the photo below for comparison. On the right of that shot you see the cement slab beneath which John and Becca are standing in the "dry" photo. If you enlarge the "wet" photo you'll also see a cement outcropping jutting out below the dam on the left. I had crawled up next to it to take the "dry" picture above; it's on the right side of that photo.

Zen Monday: #82

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what I think the photo's about. There's no right or wrong. It means what you think it means, or what you want it to mean.

I look for a photo worth contemplating or, failing that, something odd or silly. And I stay out of the comments box for most of the day to avoid influencing the intellectual path of the (highly sophisticated) discussion.

As I post each new Zen Monday photo I add a label to last week's to identify it if necessary.

Nature, Doing Its Job

The whole world burst out of its proverbial house house yesterday and enjoyed the sun. Hahamongna Watershed Park was flooded with bikers, hikers, horses, dogs and mountain runoff.

The other day on The Sky is Big in Pasadena (not a misnomer, by the way) there was a discussion about whether or not the past week's weather was unusual. Seemed like it was, but one commenter reminded us that a winter deluge is the norm. It's just that during our years of drought we've become accustomed to winters bereft of rain. Last week's storms weren't enough to end our drought, but they helped.

The flooding at Hahamongna Watershed Park is severe enough to have permanently altered the landscape. Trails we knew are gone and will not be back. What remains in their place is as beautiful as what we'll miss.

And the infrastructure held up. The Devil's Gate Dam did its job. So, I'm told, did the Pasadena Water and Power workers who've been running the joint in 12-hour shifts. Kudos.

Inspiration for the photo: John Sandel.

Tilt

This is Earlham Street, looking west from Lake Avenue.

I did not take this photo on a windy day.

Any scientists out there? What is it about our trees? Is our sun always in the southern skies and if so, why isn't that true of everywhere in the northern hemisphere? Is it axis tilt? Magnets? Or is it just my medication?

And to think I once thought of majoring in astronomy for about five minutes.

I am so tempted to remove that street light.
I feel better. Just don't enlarge this, I don't have Photoshop. And if my medication's the problem you don't want to upset me.

The Lukens Estate

Here's the house we've been talking about. I wasn't planning to post these shots. I want to get across the street and get up high on something to shoot over the fence. From this low vantage point I don't think you get the magnificence of this big ol' Victorian pile.

According to Thal Armathura of Avenue to the Sky--a blog all about Lake Avenue--this was once the Lukens Estate. Thal's been embellishing my Lake Avenue posts all week with his vast knowledge of Pasadena history. (The Lukens Estate is actually on El Molino, but the entrance lane used to be Locust Street, starting all the way over on Lake Ave.)

Quoting Thal from Wednesday's comments: "The long time present owner and restorer of the Luken's Estate, Roger Kislingbury, is a legend in Pasadena, and I'll present his story in a near future update on Avenue to the Sky...Roger is a friend and most recently he was the owner of the Old Pasadena De Lacey's Club 41, but the whole story of his adventures in Pasadena will be forthcoming...He has worked really hard to restore the Luken's Estate...He is a master of historic preservation and historic recreation. The Mecca Room, Art Deco magnificence, in Old Pasadena on Colorado next to the 99er Bar, he restored with such finesse, we were astounded."

I look forward to Thal's post about Kislingbury.

Theodore Parker Lukens was the first Pasadena Real Estate developer and a two-term Pasadena mayor (1890-92 and 1894-96). He was many other things, too, including a conservationist who whose nickname was "the Father of Forestry" for good reasons. The Wikipedia article about Lukens is an eye-opener, considering our recent momentous fires in the San Gabriel Mountains. There's also a great old picture of the house, which was designed by Harry Ridgeway and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Lukens was one of Pasadena's earliest citizens, extremely active in civic life, a promoter of natural causes and a friend of John Muir. He even promoted the establishment of Oak Grove Park, for which I'm grateful. He's buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena. After reading about him I like him so much I think I'll go pay my respects.

Recession Religion

Lake Avenue Church is reflected here in the empty storefront across the road.

That's literal, not figurative. Though the stores may be empty these days, Lake Avenue Church seems full.

I wondered if the same is true of all churches. It's easy to make the assumption that, during a recession, church attendance would rise. So you know me. I Google.

The only thing I found was a Gallup Poll from March of 2009. It says no, attendance is the same as it was in 3/08. But last March people hadn't been unemployed for eight, nine, ten months yet. Stores weren't closed up and down the street. Prices hadn't been so high for so long.

This slump won't last forever. (I promise!) But while it's going on, let's take a completely unscientific poll. Have you been attending your house of worship more in the past year than before? If so, is it helping? In what way?

Blah With a Past

Sometimes, when you learn a little history, the nondescript becomes, um, descript.

When I trekked up Lake Avenue last Satuday I took only a few shots of the Lighthouse Christian Bookstore. I didn't plan to post them. Why post more depressing shots of empty storefronts, especially when the building is so blah?

Then, in comments regarding my post about Gateway Plaza, Thal Armathura linked to his post about the complex of buildings just south of it across Locust Street. His post is about what Locust Street used to be (a rich man's driveway) and what the empty bookstore used to be--the Northlake Market. You have got to see the photo. Go look, then come back.

It's too bad about this tragic remodel. "Unmodel" is a better word. Ignorant of its history, I didn't bother to take a master shot of the structure. But you can see its blandness (and the photographer) reflected in the photos here.

I go by the Lukens estate regularly. I haven't gotten a shot that satisfies me but if you want to see what I've got, give me a shout in the comments and I'll put one up this weekend.

I pre-loaded pictures this week due to unusual computer circumstances but with any luck, iPhone Wednesday will be back next week because it's so much fun.

What Ever Happened to the Sandwich Board?

This tough-chick mannequin is familiar to anyone who drives north of the freeway on Lake Avenue. She usually sits closer to the road, but when I walked by last Saturday she was almost inside the door of her regular hangout, Pro Boxing Equipment.

I stopped inside and met Abdul, the friendly sales rep you see behind Ms. Mannequin in the photo above, and on the left in this picture from Pro Boxing's gym. Abdul seems dedicated to the establishment and to martial arts, a vast variety of which they teach at Pro Boxing.

According to Abdul, Pro Boxing is offering a free fitness class during the month of January--Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 5-6 PM. This is your chance to check out their gym. Just show up. Can't beat free.

Abdul also told me the mannequin was moved closer to the door because neighbors have complained about her. I wonder why. Was she in the way? Did they object to her outfit? Were her sunglasses too tacky?

I hope the neighbors are happy. Two doors north they have this:

Zen Monday: #81

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what I think the photo's about. There's no right or wrong. It means what you think it means, or what you want it to mean.

I look for a photo worth contemplating or, failing that, something odd or silly. And I stay out of the comments box for most of the day to avoid influencing the intellectual path of the (usually highly erudite) discussion.

As I post each new Zen Monday photo I add a label to last week's to identify it if necessary.

Gateway

I have no idea how long it takes me to walk a mile because it's impossible not to stop every few feet and take a picture. If I ever want to time myself I'll have to either go without a camera or take a friend who finds my photo habit annoying. So far I don't know if I have any friends like that. Nobody's had to ask me to stop shooting yet except security guards.

Yesterday I had my camera, my solitude and my walking shoes. I walked north on Lake Avenue from Walnut Street to Belvidere Street taking pictures. I'll mine the results here on the ol' blog for a few days, in no particular order.

Let's start with Gateway Plaza at Lake and Locust, just south of the 210 Freeway. If you have an office job, Gateway looks like a decent place to work. It's convenient to the Lake Avenue Metro stop, and at least from the upper floors you have good views of the mountains, the San Gabriel Valley and the city of Pasadena. Plus, a little over a block away there's the Walnut St. branch of Lovebird's Cafe and Bakery and you can't beat that.

I think Gateway is attractive, as modern buildings go. The outdoor plaza's well done. At the lower right of the picture (you can't see it here very well) there's a little patio where employees can have their coffee (and a taste of sin from Lovebirds) with a view across the Freeway to the mountains. I was taking photos there once when the security guard asked me to stop. He said they had a policy...yadda. But he asked nicely, and I was on Gateway property. Asking nicely makes all the difference.

Nobody's Walkin' in LA

You've heard of "getting away from it all." If you enlarge this photo, in the distance you can see what-all people around here like to get away from.

Theme Day: Best Photo of 2009

The City Daily Photo blog community is having a mid-month theme day called Best Photo of 2009. I know of no dictated criteria such as "best framing," "most skilled lighting" or "strangest physical position from which photograph was taken," so I went through all the photos I posted in 2009 and chose my favorite.

I posted it on June 6th and called it Mountain Sandwich.

Here are links to a few others that contended for the coveted prize--the runners-up for Miss Pasadena Daily Photo of 2009, as it were:

Paths and Passages from February 1st.

Art Night from March 14th.

Under the Engelmann Oak from March 17th.

Norton Simon Museum from March 24th. (March was a good month.)

A Mad Tea Party, from August 4th, was taken by a neighbor. We've never been sure which neighbor--either Lisa or Michelle. They're both brilliant, which is why it's hard to tell.

Things the Light Does from August 23rd.

Each picture I post is joy to me for its own reasons, but these are my favorites from the year. Thanks for sharing them with me. I have so much fun making the photos and posting them. The only thing that tops that is chatting with you all in the comments section.

1134 blogs around the world have hopped onto the City Daily Photo bandwagon. Many are joining in today's Best Photo theme. Check them out.

Necessities

I have need of the sky,
I have business with the grass;
I will up and get me away where the hawk is wheeling
Lone and high,
And the slow clouds go by.
I will get me away to the waters that glass
The clouds as they pass.
I will get me away to the woods.

-- Richard Hovey (1864-1900)

iPhone Wednesday #1 - Panorama, Sam Merrill Towers

Okay, hikers, I'm sure this looks familiar. Click on it to enlarge it. Familiar, but...not.

John's still creating panoramas with his iPhone. I got the app but haven't used it yet. (Sometimes I'm slow to make use of new technology, but once the technology is passe I'm more comfortable.)

A few City Daily Photo bloggers are doing a thing called iPhone Wednesday. It's casual. Kim at Seattle Daily Photo's doing it for sure. Chuck (One a Day - Mostly Seattle) might do it. Ming the Merciless at Bangor Daily Photo might do an iPhone shot today, too. I won't know 'til after I've posted. But whatever they post today I trust you'll find it interesting.

Probably won't be a panorama by my husband, though.

Missing Girl

It's too important not to post this.

Thanks go to Tim at Altadenablog for vetting the information. He called the Sierra Madre Police Department and they are indeed working on the case. According to Sierra Madre PD, if you see Cassie or have any information, call local law enforcement (Pasadena PD if in Pasadena, sheriff if in Altadena).

Today's regular post is below.

Not Private Enough

You know I'm going in there.

This road is in Altadena, which is not an actual town, legally speaking, but an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County. What makes the road private, I wonder? Can they really keep me out? Do none of my county taxes pay for their roads, their infrastructure?

"Private Road" calls mansions to mind, but up this way you won't find anything fancy. It's quiet, though, unless your neighbor's blasting his stereo with the windows open--which has been known to happen.

Zen Monday: #80

Zen Monday is the day you experience the photo and give us your thoughts rather than me telling you what I think the photo's about. There's no right or wrong. It means what you think it means, or what you want it to mean.

I look for a photo worth contemplating or, failing that, something odd or silly. And I stay out of the comments box for most of the day to avoid influencing the intellectual path of the (usually highly erudite) discussion.

As I post each new Zen Monday photo I add a label to last week's to identify it if necessary.

Inspiration for today's photo: Susan C.

Shimmer

I don't know a thing about Tip Top Cleaners except it's a block from Cold Stone Creamery. Location, location, location. Important for any business.

I like the photo, though. All those nondescript, bagged-up clothes on the right, the press-board (or is it plywood?) counter, the plastic trash can, the wires and chains coming down from the ceiling, the round ventilation fans above, the semi-confusing reflections, even the neon sign, none of it--none of it--can take away from that dress.