Notes on the Sam Merrill Trail

We've had cool weather for a few days and the sky is clear. I took this shot from about a mile and a half up the Sam Merrill trail, looking out from alongside one of the electric towers. If you enlarge the photo you can see Century City and Santa Monica. That glow is the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean.

Just looking at the photo makes me want to get on the trail--any trail. Each has different merits. The Sam Merrill trail is so popular I rarely use it on weekends. John and I like it for exercise because it has some steep parts and it gets your heart going, not to mention your lungs and thighs. And the views are great. Other trails in the area might be less well traveled and therefore better for bird watching, finding wild flowers or thinking.

I wrote a lot of the first draft of my novel on the Sam Merrill trail. John and I were living near the trail head while I was writing it, and I would stomp up the hill with a note pad in my pack, letting the characters talk to me. Whenever they said anything worthwhile I'd stop and write it down.

Most of what they said may have worthwhile, but not worth keeping for the final draft. But you have to write that first draft in order to get to the second, third, fourth, etc.

Walking is a great writing tool. I walk a lot, and I always have a note pad and pen with me. Camera too, of course.

Petrea's Kitchen Tips: Blueberries

Friends are coming for breakfast today. Isn't that grand, in the middle of the week? Each of us is grabbing an hour or so out of a busy schedule to indulge in coffee and talk. I'll lay off the caffeine so the laughing won't be too strident.

Because people will bring things to eat and the house was already clean, I used yesterday to prepare in irrelevant ways: I cleaned the oven (we won't be baking), trimmed the rosemary bush (it could have waited), returned a library book (talk about irrelevant) and went to the grocery store (we did need eggs).

And I washed some blueberries. A tip: wash them in very warm (not hot) water, then let them dry completely on a towel before you put them in their basket in the refrigerator. They'll last longer.

Petrea's Kitchen Tips is probably not going to become a series. This is the only one I can think of offhand.

Theme Day: Fountains

The first of the month is theme day, and we've got a good one: fountains.

There are many interesting fountains in the Pasadena area. This one's at El Molino Viejo in San Marino. El Molino Viejo was built and operated by Native Americans who lived at Mission San Gabriel in the early nineteenth century.

I was taking pictures for an article for South Pasadena Patch without a thought for the blog. But when the boy ran by (and I just barely caught him) he turned the picture into a theme day photo.

To see what other City Daily Photo bloggers are doing with the theme, check them out here. We're 1340 blogs strong now. That's a lot of international camaraderie.

P.S. If you'll be visiting the Pasadena area, you might want to read my latest article on Patch about the Arroyo Vista Inn.

Zen Monday: #131

photo by John Sandel

Students of Zen are taught through experience.

Please experience the photo and tell us, in the comments, what you have learned.

(Your first Zen Monday? Just have fun.)

Bobcats in the Back Yard

A who's who of LA County environmentalists showed up at Eaton Canyon Nature Center yesterday morning to make plans--for Hahamongna and for the future. As can be expected from a first meeting of many minds, it was inconclusive.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works plans to clear fifty acres of sediment from behind the Devil's Gate dam. I think most people agree the sediment must be removed. The problem is that LADPW has disingenuously used the Station Fire (now a year and a half gone) to declare an emergency, bypass the usual Environmental Impact Reports and tear out fifty acres of natural vegetation along with the sediment. They have investigated no alternatives.

Hahmongna is a sensitive wildlife area, a natural watershed. This is coyote habitat. It's hawk, kingfisher, rabbit, heron, rattlesnake, bobcat, ground squirrel, etc. habitat. Where are these creatures going to go, into the neighborhoods? (Yes. They'll go into the neighborhoods.)

What can you do?

Visit Hahamongna. Learn why it's important. There will be a Hahamongna Walkabout Saturday, February 19th from 9:00am - 12:00pm.
Get Educated. Read the County DPW's plan.

Demand a full environmental review.
Is there an election coming up in your district? Ask your candidates where they stand on this issue and what they plan to do about it. Regardless of what district you're in, your Pasadena City Council person votes on the fate of Hahamongna.

I've talked a lot about Hahamongna this week. PDP is not going to be All Hahamongna All The Time. But Hahamongna is dear to my heart, so I hope you won't mind me updating you on the status of this surprising gem of open space in the midst of our city.
---------------------------

About the photo:

I don't often get a chance to view Hahamongna Watershed Park from the north. I took this shot less than a week ago, looking down from above The Meadows. I hope you'll click on the photo to enlarge it.

Some features:

-the jewely pools on the left are catch basins controlled by Pasadena Water and Power. The green areas along the left (east) side of the park look that way because we had a good rain this year.

-the tanks in the right foreground belong to JPL. During the Station Fire helicopters were filling up there, so I assume the tanks contain water.

- in the center foreground, the ground is lower than in the green parts. A year ago that area was filled with vegetation. But the spring rains of 2010, then more rains late in the year, came pouring down from the mountains in a rushing stream so powerful it took out acres of growth.

-what may be harder to see is that there is still a lot of water at Hahamongna. The freeway is the light colored band across the right center of the photo. The Devil's Gate dam is slightly left of center. In front of those, the shimmer of high, brown water. Many trees are submerged.

There's No School Like an Old School

The signs in front of this building limit parking to fifteen minutes. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to stay there that long.

Might make a good movie set. Drug deal? Chase scene?

This building houses the southern California campus of the San Francisco Theological Seminary as well as something called North-West College, both viable institutions as far as I can tell, so I shouldn't be so mean. But I can't help thinking those students must be a wee bit jealous, right across the street from the brand new library and lovely Craftsman buildings at the Fuller Theological Seminary.

Hilltop Life

"Solid life has a capillary connection with the air," says J. "You can burn it, but it won't die."

He speaks metaphorically, of course. Many living things died in the Station Fire a year and a half ago. But you can't defeat life itself. Thus the new growth in the lower part of the photo.

I took the shot a few yards above The Meadows, a hilltop neighborhood in Altadena. You have to be dedicated to live in The Meadows. Every time there's a brush fire or a heavy rain, you get evacuated. The fire came so close to those homes I could have thrown a baseball from a back yard into the flames--and I've got a sissy throw.

But the mountains are at your doorstep. The trail head is in the middle of your block. The trails are beautiful and the temptation is great. People get up there, fall in love with the life, get their capillary connection to the air and neither flood nor fire will move them off that hill.

Sediment and Sand

Although the January 25th meeting of the Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee was well attended, it was a low-key affair. Folks were calm and polite. But if there had been any sand at Casita del Arroyo, one might have seen toes drawing lines in it.

Many citizens don't want Hahamongna to be another Arcadia Woodlands disaster,
LA County is all set with its Post Station Fire Sediment Removal Project for Hahamongna
and
the Committee (HWPAC) has procedures to follow. It's not always easy to know which way they're going to go.

But Tuesday night their toes were showing.

Highlights of the discussion:

Past Committee chair Tim Wendler expressed that he would like to see alternatives to the current plan that would "cause less environmental impact." (Basically, the 50 acres just north of Devil's Gate Dam will be freed of vegetation and kept that way, if the County is true to its word.)

LA County's Ken Zimmer said there are no alternatives to the plan.

Apparently not satisfied with Mr. Zimmer's answer, a Committee member whose nameplate I couldn't see asked him if alternatives had been studied.
He said there were no alternatives.
The Committee member rephrased her question. "Did the County study the possibility of reinforcing the [Devil's Gate] dam without tearing out acres of wildlife?"

"That possibility was not studied," said Mr. Zimmer.

The committee asked the County to return with alternatives to the current plan. Whether the County will do so remains to be seen. Maybe they don't have to. Maybe they can just kick that sand in the public's face.

Obviously I don't have a good feeling about this. I hope to be proven wrong.

The next meeting is currently scheduled for March 22nd, 6pm. As soon as I know the location, I'll notify you.

In the photo:
Pasadena city staff member Loren Pluth operates the computer as staff member Rosa Laveaga watches the screen. Committee members had visited nature centers in other cities to get inspiration for the Environmental Education Center planned for the Hahamongna Annex. But that's another story.

Check out Laurie Barlow's Post about it here.


UPDATE:
THIS JUST IN from Altadena Patch:
If you want to find solutions and prevent the destruction of Hahamongna Watershed Park, come to an organizational meeting of environmental activists:

• Where: 1750 N Altadena Dr, Pasadena, CA 91107 (Eaton Canyon Nature Center)
• Date: January 29, 2011
• Time: 10:00am

• In the wake of the destruction of the Arcadia Woodlands and concerns over the sediment removal plans for Hahamongna, a group of local environmentalists are meeting to discuss forming a local environmental coalition.
  The idea would be to have a group that could help influence public environmental policy in a positive direction.
  Members of the local Sierra Club, Audubon Society, and other organizations will be in attendance.
  The meeting will take place at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center.  All are welcome.
• Features: Open to All, Volunteer

• Email: dczamanske@hotmail.com 

Superfluous Detail: Underfoot

A sidewalk grate on the Caltech campus.

Do most places go to this kind of trouble for sidewalk grates? This thing is above and--

--no--

--below and beyond.

To me, a superfluous detail is something beautiful that doesn't have to be--something that enhances the look of a functional item, just for the sake of art. This grate reminds me of Celtic art in its interconnectedness. It is medieval, serious, dark. It's artwork I can hear (the clash of metal against metal) in my imagination.

It's a delight to walk around the Caltech campus and admire the superfluous details. Be sure to look up as well as down.

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?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

Zen Monday: #130

Students of Zen learn through experience.

Please experience the photo and tell us, in the comments, what you have learned.

(Your first Zen Monday? Just have fun.)

The Darling Buds of January

With apologies to William Shakespeare:

Shall I compare this to a summer's day?
It is more comfy and more temperate:
Hot sun doth bake the darling buds of May,
And summer's heat hath all too long a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every day the heat doth make us pine,
When budgeting for air conditioning's slim:
But our delightful winter shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that green it hast,
Nor shall dearth brag we wand'rest in its shade,
Nor is infernal sun our doomed forecast.
   So long as I have camera and compute,
   So long lives this, I hope it's not too cute.

The Backsides

I like the backsides of places
 no one expects you to look

where the old curtains are hung, if any
where they paint one less layer because it's cheaper
where ducts spit hot dust onto dead grass
where rusty, unwanted things wait by the trash

because that's what's really happening.

Que?

It's been a couple of years since I took this photo of the Curtin House on the grounds of the Pasadena Museum of History. The Curtin House was designed in 1915 by Sylvanus Marston, one of those early architects Pasadena is grateful for.

Today's a good day to post this because I want to wet your whistle for June 11th. The Pasadena Museum of History will be hosting Pasadena's birthday party, like it did last year and like it has many other years except not exactly, because this year is Pasadena's Quasquicentennial. If you want to be precise, Pasadena was incorporated on June 10th, 1886. But we don't need to be precise. We need to have our party on the weekend.

So mark your calendar. There will be cake.

Four Stars, To Be Exact

I learned from the 1/17/11 issue of Wired Women, Monica Hubbard's packed-with-Pasadena e-newsletter, that the Pasadena Public Library earned a four star rating from the The Library Journal "for providing exceptional response to patrons and superior customer service."

The Library Journal, a trade publication for libraries (as opposed to, say, itinerant rodeo riders), was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey, the guy who invented the Dewey Decimal System. It has the highest circulation of any library journal. I mention these things because I think they make recognition of our library by this publication especially brag-worthy.

I enjoyed reading about library director Jan Sanders, who in 1999 was named to the Intellectual Freedom Hall of Fame. Could there be a cooler hall of fame? Maybe, but this one's way up there. Apparently it's not like the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in that it doesn't have an actual hall. I couldn't find it on the internet. But still.

Congratulations to Ms. Sanders and the Pasadena Public Library. May your (our) funds not be cut too deeply.

Be made whole by books as by great spaces and the stars. I love the library.

Lights, Camera...

When John came home and told me he'd seen inside our sewers, I had to go look. Woohoo! The Advanced Sewer Technology truck had appeared on our street like the Wells Fargo Wagon, spreading excitement, joy and sewer video.

Hey, this stuff doesn't happen every day.

The monitor in the upper left of the photo shows the main sewer line under my street. It's quite clean, considering.

The gentleman in the photo was handling cords and lines, making sure they didn't get stressed or caught up in anything. Another person on the truck operated the underground camera, which can go as far as 6,000 feet.

These guys were inspecting the main sewer line as well as lines to individual homes. The man I spoke to said the camera couldn't get through in some places because of tree roots. (Pasadena has a lot of trees.) Advanced Sewer Technology reports such glitches to the gas company, who hired them to look for gas pipes in the sewer tunnels.

To the workers and companies involved, this means safety and problem prevention. To me, this means there's a manhole on our block I hadn't noticed before. Strange how you can drive over something every day for five years and not know it's there.

(Meanwhile, my newest article is up on South Pasadena Patch: The Gabrielinos: Life at the Mission is second in a series.)

On the Map

Civitates Orbis Terrarum


"I'm one of those people who get dizzy just being in a bookshop, so you can imagine what these rare books did to me."

Thus spake Barbara Ellis, aka Bellis, about how it felt to assist the head of Caltech's Archives and Special Collections in putting together an exhibit of rare maps and books. The "On the Map" exhibit, created by Shelley Erwin, explores the concept of mapping earth and sky, and includes such rarities as a copy of Ptolemy’s map of the world that was printed during his lifetime.*

He could have touched it himself.

I know, right??? AS IF!

Here's an early map of Moscow. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

The exhibit is small, filling a few display cases on the second floor of the Parsons-Gates Hall of Administration on the Caltech Campus. It's a wonderful opportunity because these books and maps literally rarely see the light of day. As it is, they're displayed in low light to protect them from UV rays.

This is Kronborg Castle.

I know! Elsinore! Where Shakespeare set Hamlet! Cool! Also cool, and factual as opposed to theatrical: Tycho Brahe's island observatory, Uraniborg on Hven, is pictured. It's the little island in the sound.

Most of the items were donated to Caltech by Earnest C. Watson, founder of the Watson Lecture Series, professor of physics and dean of the faculty at Caltech for many years. I'd love to know what else they've got in the archives. It must be an amazing place for the eyes, imagination, and white-gloved fingers to wander.

Bellis says, "I was very thrilled to be allowed to touch those books and look through them, though very sparingly and gently."

Read Barbara Ellis's excellent article about the On the Map exhibit in Caltech's Engineering and Science Magazine.


*Sooo wrong! See Bellis' comment.

Zen Monday: #129

It's Zen Monday again, can you believe it? This is the day you tell us what the photo's about, rather than me telling you.

The reason we call it "zen" is loosely (very, very loosely) based on the zen idea of teaching through experience rather than telling--you know, lectures, taking notes, reading books.

So, please experience the photo and let us know what you learn. There's no right or wrong. We're here to have fun.


(Please take the time to scroll down and see the stray dog pics I posted late yesterday.)

Lose Somebody?

We interrupt this post to bring you today's stray dog report. This little guy followed Boz home but ran away when I tried to lure him into the yard with treats. We saw him again when we walked in a different part of the neighborhood. This time, with Boz as a lure, a couple of kids invited the little guy into their cat carrier, where he seemed calm and willing. No collar, no tags. Looks to be a male Chihuahua mix. He's on his way to the Pasadena Humane Society because those kids and their mom are heroes.

About, oh, ninety seconds after our Chihuahua friend was dispatched, Boz and I saw this beauty. I believe it's a female but can't be sure. S/he wouldn't let us near. No collar, no tags. I almost thought she was a coyote but on second look that was only because she was scruffy from being on the loose. I wish I could tell you where s/he's headed. Last seen in the vicinity of Mountain and El Molino.

A collar, tags and chip costs about $25 and very little heartache.

Sugar Water

I love the pergola and whatever's growing on it. It's a nice way to shade a porch. I didn't think I'd like the lion but he grows on me. Not crazy about the other statue, but that's a personal choice. The bougainvillea is gorgeous. I have two of them that look like weeds. Occasionally they pop off a sallow bloom.

I don't know if the feeders are working. I did not see bird one.