Sweet Old Ride

No, you're not seeing Glimpses of South Pasadena. But that's not a bad idea.

When I lived in Illinois I rarely saw cars like this. Harsh winters make them so impractical as to render them impossible. But here in southern California we see them all the time.

I'm no car expert and I don't know what make or model this one is. Do you?

Pardon Me, My Dander is Showing

So where are they planning to put the soccer fields?

This might be a good spot. A nice little forest stood here in Hahamongna before the January flood when I took these photos. There's still water flowing more than three months later and the area's been pretty well leveled. Hey! Flat enough for a soccer field!

Maybe they're thinking of putting soccer fields here. Nice view, huh?

This, too, could work, once the flood debris has been removed.

Of course we'll have to rebuild our soccer fields every few years, depending on how often the watershed basin floods--which I grant you is unpredictable. But I ask you: where else can we possibly put soccer fields?

Anywhere.

We can put soccer fields just about anywhere.

Hahamongna is a rare gem. Once it's gone, it's gone.

Soccer fields are fine. But they don't have to be built in an environmentally sensitive watershed. (What part of "watershed" does Pasadena Staff not understand?)

I'm surprised we have to keep fighting for this place, but we do. And we're not fighting other citizens. We're not fighting the Hahamongna Advisory Committee. We're not even fighting City Council.

We're fighting "Pasadena Staff."

Who are these people? To whom do they report? Why do they keep resurfacing, like a hungry monster that won't go away, and attempting to devour Hahamongna? What is their agenda?

Please go to SaveHahamongna.org and read the survey that shows what a teeny, tiny minority of Pasadena citizens feels a pressing need for more soccer fields. Then click on "Sign the Petition" to read more reasons to save Hahamongna. As of this writing there are 25 pages of signatures, including some interesting names.

Then please sign the petition. Future generations will thank us.

Theme Day: Red

You would think "red" would be easy, but as soon as that theme was declared I began to see only the most mundane of red things: a car, a faded shirt, a candy wrapper (but the candy was good).

I was relieved when I saw this wheelbarrow because I didn't want to take a picture of just any old red thing.

But a wheelbarrow IS just any old red thing, you say.

Not when it's standing on a 100-year-old path in the Desert Garden at the Huntington Library and Gardens, I say, and especially not when that quiet path isn't open to the public.

There are nearly 1200 City Daily Photo Blogs across the globe. Click here to see how others have participated in today's theme.

Last Day, March 2010

Every time I take one of these Last Day photos I think, "This project was a crazy idea. The view is the same every time." Then I compare the shot to the others and I'm amazed how a place that supposedly has no seasons can change so much in so little time.

Johnson Field is looking a bit shaggy. I love that.

Click the Last Day Project tag below to see them all and compare.

Busy, Work

Forgive me if I'm short on copy for the next couple of days or if my photos bear scant relation to my words. I'm busy busy busy sprucing up my presentation for this Thursday, April 1st, and setting a bad example for myself.

If I haven't already bugged--uh, mentioned it to you, I'm leading a salon at the Pasadena Women's City Club called "Blogging for Your Business: Ten Tips for Putting Your Best Cyberfoot Forward." I hope you'll be there.

If you plan to come, be sure and make a reservation so the Club knows which room to put us in and the kitchen knows to prepare enough appetizers. I want to be damn sure we have enough appetizers.

I think this truck bed makes for an interesting photo but I'm not sure a blog is what this guy needs.

Reservations: (626) 796-0560 or wccpas@sbcglobal.net.
The Women's City Club is at the edge of the Fuller Theological Seminary campus, 160 N. Oakland Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. There's free parking in the rear. Enter the second driveway south of Walnut on Madison on the west side of the street. Dress is business casual. Men are welcome. $6 charge includes those appetizers. Come as early as 6pm for cash bar and networking. Salon begins at 7pm.

Zen Monday: #89

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. Unless I absolutely must say something I stay out of the comments box to avoid influencing the intellectual path of the discussion (because when I get in there everything goes down hill).

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

Sunday Plans

Sometimes the best plans are no plans at all.

What are your plans for today?

The Market Itself

My old Nissan, fondly nicknamed "the Snot Comet" (don't ask), finally took a nose dive. I am between cars. This temporarily makes me and John a one-car family, which wouldn't be difficult anywhere but here in soCal.

I enjoy a good walk for local errands. We have the ARTS bus for getting around town if I need to go further afield. The Gold Line will be getting us to and from Azusa within a mere four years. (Of course most of my driving takes me in the other direction and public transportation takes a tad less than four years to get me where I need to go, but only a tad.)

John and I have been taking turns with the car. It's working out. (Good thing it's temporary.)

But

One thing I keep having to miss, schedule-wise, is the Saturday Farmer's Market. This is a horrible, terrible, dire problem. Grocery store fruits and vegetables are not the same. I don't care what store you get them from, they're not as good. We've managed without them, but we suffer. I am not managing, however, without granola from The Sconeage. Lionel's company makes such superb granola that I've become addicted to it. I am miserable without it.

My stash had run out. Last week I was craving my granola and lo and behold! Friend Bellis called from the Farmer's Market and offered to pick up four containers to tide me over! Bless her!

I still owe her five bucks.

Now that I've found The Sconeage website I realize I can order online, but that is beside the point.

Superfluous Detail: The Singer Building

When I need a dose of superfluity all I have to do is check out the almost unnoticed Singer Building on the southeast corner of Colorado Blvd. and Oakland Avenue.

Everett Phipps Babcock designed the Spanish Colonial Revival structure for the Singer Sewing Company. It was built in 1926 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The current main tenant is the Pasadena branch of Sofa U Love, which may not seem dignified at first glance but it's better than an empty landmark. Another furniture store that occupied the building went out of business not long ago, so I'm glad to see the sofa place there.

Colorful tiles line the street below the windows. Iron filigree decorates above. Then you have these "somewhat ornate" columns outside the front door. I even like the cracks and rust. It's gems like this that make Pasadena charming.

We do have ugly office buildings. I just don't often photograph them!

UPDATE 3/27: Further information thanks to Laurie Barlow, AIA: The Singer Corporation made/makes more than sewing machines. In the early days of the company, corporation presidents made lots of money and built incredible homes. Laurie says "On Saturday [today] there is a public sale of arts and antiques at the house [see "incredible homes" link]. In case anyone wants to go over and see the house and browse the arts and antiques."

Pasadena Architectural Salvage

I love my house. Someday, however, I want to replace the front door. When I do that I won't want just any old door. I'll want an old door from Pasadena Architectural Salvage.

Every time I visit there's something new to be delighted by. I picture a wrought iron gate re-imagined as wall sculpture. I envision a pair of reclaimed columns in my garden with vines trailing down along their peeling paint. I wonder if those antique light fixtures would work in our kitchen or if the glass drawer pulls would spruce up our built-ins.

When I perused the website I discovered this sentence on the home page: "We welcome children and pets!" Boz likes architectural salvage. We have an outing planned.

The store will soon be moving to a new location. I got myself on the mailing list so I can let you know about it. When you visit, proprietor Gayle Stoner will answer your questions, but don't let her fool you. Kitty is in charge.

561

Yesterday's birthday didn't turn out like I thought it would. We picnicked at Vasquez Rocks Monday because I thought John had to work on Tuesday. I figured, on my actual birthday I'd do a little writing, have a nice walk with Boz and clean up the pile on my desk (forget it, that'll never happen).

Surprise! John took Tuesday off. I got a two-day birthday and the second day was entirely serendipitous. We had no idea where it would lead us but we started out hungry, so we headed to Green Street because I knew we'd find something there.

Restaurant 561. Of course. I've driven by many times and always wanted to try it. What a revelation. I don't know of anywhere else--anywhere else--where you can find this kind of dining for this kind of price. Everything was fabulous from soup to nuts--or in this case, from the amuse-bouche (compressed watermelon with...I think it was basil sauce with garlic chips but whatever it was, mmmmmm!) to the "roasted pine nut dust" on the chocolate mousse--and we got out of there for about thirty bucks with tip--which goes to a scholarship fund.

Restaurant 561, at 561 E. Green Street, is the teaching restaurant of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Los Angeles which has campuses in Hollywood and Pasadena. Click on the links to learn more.

As a patron I couldn't have been happier in any restaurant, teaching or not. This was delicious food, beautifully presented and served. Even the coffee was tops; John kept exclaiming about it.

Update:
I'm adding a photo because Susan C asked about the entrees.
Plus, why not?

Tomorrow I'll show you another place we visited on my birthday: one of Pasadena's most eclectic shops.

It Takes Years to Make One of These

Sometimes I need to let my lungs expand into wider spaces than city streets can hold, let my eyes rest on something other than what they see day in and day out, and give my ears some alone time.

Vasquez Rocks is named for Tiburcio Vasquez, a nineteenth-century outlaw who used the rocks as a hideout and even reportedly passed through Pasadena. The park was a good place for eyes and lungs and legs to go do something different yesterday.

John and I ate a picnic among the rocks, climbed into the wind and wore ourselves out.

Today's my birthday. I'm living the life I love. What good fortune I have to be grateful for!

Zen Monday: #88

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 unless I absolutely must say something I stay out of the comments box to avoid influencing the intellectual path of the discussion, because when I get in there everything goes downhill.

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

Primavera II

Apparently it's my tradition to post a photo of Timothy Rutt for the annual Primavera celebration. Tim is the brains behind Altadena's powerhouse Altadenablog, and Primavera is the San Gabriel Valley Blogger potluck Tim hosts along with Altadena Hiker Karin Bugge, Susan Carrier of Open Mouth Insert Fork and Cancer Banter, and Debbie Swanson Patrick of Altadena Above It All and Altadena Daily Photo. Thanks, you guys! We had a wonderful time.

I took this photo early, before things got crowded. Later on we had about 45 people, says Tim. Maybe we'll see more pictures of the picnic on their blogs. The food was great and the people were even better.

If you weren't there we missed you.

Holy Hopscotch

You'll probably have to enlarge this one.

I found this chalk work in front of the David Allan Hubbard Library of the Fuller Theological Seminary as I traversed the campus yesterday.

This calls up everything from philosophical arguments to historical discussions to cheap jokes, not to mention high praise for whoever did this fine work. Don't even get me started.

Wait--yes, please do.



P.S. Don't forget the bloggers' potluck today. You're invited. Don't worry, it's not as pagan as it looks.

Blogging for Your Business

One of the perks of having a blog is that when I have something to promote I get free advertising!

I'll be giving a salon-type talk (comfy/cozy) on Blogging for Your Business: Ten Tips for Putting Your Best Cyberfoot Forward, Thursday, April 1st at the Pasadena Women's City Club. If you've been thinking about starting a blog, or if you've already been blogging but nobody's reading, come join us. We'll discuss:

how to use a blog as PR;
can your blog make a living on its own?
blogging as online networking;
blogging etiquette
and more.

Please come! I'd love to see you. The cost is $6.00 and it includes the talk and tasty appetizers. You can't beat that! There's also a cash bar (this is part of the comfy/cozy). You can come as early as 6:00pm for networking, but be sure and drift in no later than 7:00 when the talk begins. We should be finished by about 8:00.

This is also a good time to check out the Women's City Club if you've been thinking about joining. It's a great place for business women to network, bring clients, and create and participate in programs. They're having a membership drive the first part of this year with discounts and perks (click on the red shoe to learn more).

Reserve now for my talk on April 1st: (626) 796-0560 or wccpas@sbcglobal.net. The Women's City Club is at the edge of the Fuller Theological Seminary campus, 160 N. Oakland Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. There's free parking in the rear. Enter the second driveway south of Walnut on Madison on the west side of the street. Dress is business casual (no jeans).

Any questions? Oh yeah--it may be a women's club but men are more than welcome. It is my talk, after all.

Henry's Back Yard: Part Three

Continued from Tuesday and Wednesday...

Karin the Altadena Hiker is a docent at the Huntington Library and Gardens, which privileges her to explore parts of the grounds that aren't open to the public. Inside Karin beats the heart of an explorer; give her a piece of ground and she will seek out its every corner.

Karin's favorite part of the Huntington Gardens is the Desert Garden, and this part of the Desert Garden is closed to the public. The stairs above and this walkway, both made with river rocks, are in the oldest part of the garden and were probably installed before 1910. Many specimens in the Desert Garden are over 100 years old.

I'm grateful to Henry and Arabella Huntington for having the foresight and generosity to leave their home and collections as a legacy to us. I'm grateful to those who work and volunteer at the Huntington for making it such a magnificent place to visit. I'm grateful to those who contribute financially--donations large and small--so this unique institution can thrive. And I'm especially grateful to Karin, the decent docent, for the unique tour she gave me of the quiet, private places in the gardens.

There's more to see, so much more. I've got to think of a way to return the favor to Karin so I won't feel guilty begging her for a chance to see it again.

Henry's Back Yard: Part Two

Continued from yesterday...

Backroads wander through hidden parts of the Huntington property, unfolding the story of those who lived there a hundred years ago and of those who live there now.

This old, stone culvert begins at the northern end of the unused acres. Huntington decent docent Karin and I passed it early in our ramble. Next came expensive private homes, lining the fence just outside the property. Through thick foliage we glimpsed tennis courts, gazebos and private gardens. It would be abusing my privilege to show them to you. People pay a lot of money to live exclusively, and I'm not that kind of blogger. (But I enjoyed my glimpses.)

I thought you'd like another flower shot. The place is rife with wildflowers.

At the southern end of the property we found the other end of the culvert. At least I think it was the same one. It appeared outside the most exclusive home of all. There's a grounds-keeper's cottage--not really a cottage, but a lovely home, very private. Can you imagine?--being able to wander the grounds alone in the midst of all this glory?

Henry's Back Yard: Part One

Down a secret road, where the public isn't allowed...

...a grove of orange trees grows. The trees are about a hundred years old, I figure. Big, fluffy trees with branches that droop to the ground, where little purple wildflowers reach up to kiss the oranges.

The trees are precious and well cared for. They grow in the part of the Huntington Library and Gardens that most people don't see. The Huntington property is about 250 acres but 100 or so of those acres are closed to visitors.

Last week, on a cool, overcast day, I got to wander those quiet acres because I know a person in high places: a docent we'll call the Altadena Hiker.

More to come.

Zen Monday: #87

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 unless I absolutely must say something I stay out of the comments box to avoid influencing the intellectual path of the discussion, because when I get in there everything goes downhill.

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