Glancing About

The Wild Parrots of South Pasadena

2011-03-09T21:30:00.000-08:00

Pasadena Fire Escape

2011-01-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

Impression Freeway

2010-09-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

The wonders of my new iPhone

2010-08-22T23:00:00.001-07:00

Bright beach day, seagull overhead and no time to find my camera in the beach bag. So, I grabbed my phone instead.

Steve Jobs, I'm a believer...

Beverly Hills Hotel

2010-01-03T00:13:00.000-08:00

The Polo Lounge is up those steps. I've always loved the way it feels like stepping back into the 1920s.

Portapotty Pastoral

2009-10-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist this one at the Rose Bowl the day before the big U2 concert.

Interlude

2009-10-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

I went to Disneyland!

2009-09-16T00:48:00.000-07:00

Fire Storm

2009-08-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

Check out more images and fire coverage on my daily photo blog.

After days and days of breathing smoke and seeing flames, South Pasadena has almost gotten used to having an inferno next door. Above, residents of Via del Rey quietly sleep while firefighters battle on in nearby mountains. Below, another sunset blends with ash and embers.

And Still Burning...

2009-08-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

Check out all of my images from the Station Fire at my regular daily blog.

The fire moves toward Mount Wilson, toward Acton and Sunland, but trails of flame still snake up the mountain behind Brookside Park near the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Life (or at least a game of catch) goes on...
I captured one of the many aerial drops of red flame retardant. The grain of this picture is actually from zooming in through so much smoke and haze. I took the picture standing on Raymond Hill.
As the fire moved, we saw less flames from our vantage point. But there was smoke. Lots of smoke. Here, a shot from late morning.
More and more smoke made mountains literally disappear.

The reason the smoke looks so much like cumulus clouds? A phenomenon called pyrocumulus clouds -- what happens to water vapor when it is affected by fire or volcanic activity.

Burning Out of Control

2009-08-30T01:05:00.000-07:00

The first two shots were taken around 9:00PM from Via Del Rey in South Pasadena.

The above image was taken at sunset, from under the main South Pasadena water tower. You can see the flames on the far side of the left and far side of the right. The fire tripled in size in the course of one day.

Inferno

2009-08-28T23:28:00.000-07:00

I really don't have words to describe what it felt like standing on this lovely street in Pasadena, directly above Brookside Golf Course and The Rose Bowl. The Station Fire in the hills above La Canada/Flintridge gave an otherwise serene view a nightmarish animation.

Here, standing on Via Del Rey in South Pasadena, I found it difficult not to cry ... and it wasn't just from all that smoke.

Let's all hope for cooler days and calm winds. And to each and every firefighter: thank you.

For more images and links to fire updates, check out Petrea's coverage over at Pasadena Daily Photo, Ben's information at the sky is big in pasadena and Altadenahiker's reports from Altadena.

Cross Walk, Del Mar Station

2009-08-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

I always think this looks like a newfangled backgammon board or linear hopscotch. Isn't it cool?

Stained Glass Macro

2009-07-30T00:46:00.000-07:00

Egg on the Counter

2009-07-22T23:39:00.000-07:00

And why not?

Old Soul

2009-07-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist posting this recent portrait of my dog Misty.

South Pasadena Fourth of July Parade 2009 Part 2

2009-07-06T00:55:00.000-07:00

Fasten your seatbelts, folks ... and then click to play this slideshow of vintage cars from the South Pasadena Festival of Balloons Fourth of July parade. Vroom vroom!

South Pasadena Fourth of July Parade 2009 Part 1

2009-07-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

Fog Dance

2009-06-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

Blogger 2 Blogger

2009-06-03T01:42:00.000-07:00

Who is that fabulous local blogger, lurking with a camera by the beer vats at Brix 42?

Night view from the In 'n Out drive thru...

2009-06-03T01:05:00.000-07:00

Mockingbird song, with crickets, around 1:00AM

2009-06-02T01:32:00.000-07:00

I am so fond of this little bird. He's always up way too late, like me.

Boys

2009-05-17T23:29:00.000-07:00

Spotted on El Molino in Pasadena.

Views from the South Pasadena Fun Fair

2009-05-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

Big rides...

About a bazillion used books available dirt cheap...

Lots of bands -- and not a single cover of Sweet Home Alabama or Radar Love...

View from the top of the Ferris wheel. (My little daughter loved this part.)

Too many wonderful faces to count...

Dancers in fancy skirts and shiny shoes...

Lots of various grade school buddies...

...and great vantage points for someone with a camera.

Drive-by Art

2009-05-10T01:05:00.000-07:00

Freeway shots. (Don't worry, I wasn't driving!)

Portraits at the Zoo

2009-05-05T02:10:00.000-07:00

Horses on El Centro

2009-04-28T00:06:00.000-07:00

Just another day in South Pasadena...

Watching the Fire

2009-04-16T01:09:00.001-07:00

I didn't get any good shots of the fire at the South Pasadena Public Works Department last night. But I really like this one I took while GOSP reader and fellow blogger Mister Earl and I stood on the train tracks watching the firefighters put out the blaze.

Orbital

2009-04-12T03:30:00.000-07:00

4:00PM at the Japanese Tea Garden in Descanso Gardens

Easter Egg

2009-04-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

Wilt

2009-04-06T02:49:00.000-07:00

petals ripen then
fall like tripped ballerinas.

ephemeral bloom.

Night Approaches

2009-04-04T00:32:00.000-07:00

A tall palm does its best to catch the last rays of a sun as dusk settles. The moon waits.

March

2009-03-13T02:44:00.000-07:00

a new spring tiptoes
into days stretched by sunlight.

winter's shadow falls.

Remnants

2009-02-11T01:36:00.000-08:00

Americana at Brand

2009-02-07T00:47:00.000-08:00

After a rain.

San Rafael Bridge off Arroyo Drive

2009-02-05T02:25:00.000-08:00

Not as flashy -- or as famous -- as the Colorado Street Bridge, but this one still beckons. Cross it from Arroyo Drive, just outside of South Pas.

Coffee on South Lake

2009-01-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

Night grainy -- but I love the feeling of this image, and the colors are dreamy. (I know Hopper would have painted a Starbucks if he lived today.)

Doo Dah Parade

2009-01-19T01:02:00.001-08:00

The rest of the world knows about the prestigious Rose Parade, but the Doo Dah Parade is a great local party -- and so much more my speed. Where else can you watch the Men of Leisure's Synchronized Napping squad fluff their pillows alongside a solemn march of Amnesty International? (And all while planes fly in formation above?) Find out more about the Doo Dah Parade here and read a news story about it here. (And take a look at more of my photos in the animated montage below.)

Castle Green in Black and White

2009-01-10T02:02:00.001-08:00

I don't know if Charlie Chaplin danced with Lillian Gish in this beautiful old Pasadena landmark, but if he didn't he should have.

Happy New Year

2009-01-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

Lacy Park in San Marino was the place to be on New Years Day...

Christmas trees for giants...

2008-12-24T00:03:00.000-08:00

Everything's bigger in San Marino.

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-18T23:41:00.000-08:00

Looks like Jack Frost enjoys spending a little of his Christmas break in Los Angeles. After this week's storms drenched the foothills and valley, the clouds parted to reveal Winter: Southern California style. Each year I marvel at the first appearance of snow. Every hazy summer loses the mountains in a veil of smog. But in December, they emerge with holiday icing. Just in time for the solstice.

Cross walk at Caltech

2008-12-17T01:58:00.000-08:00

Well, when you get right down to it... theoretical physics really is a lot like rock and roll.

Moonlight bends...

2008-12-09T02:34:00.000-08:00

Here, the blurry, blinding moon, captured by my camera just now -- a long exposure on the ledge of my bathroom window. That velvet sky! Those lacy trees!

Everything reminds me of a poem. Here's the one this image brings:

Moonlight bends over the black silence,
Making it bloom to wild-flowers of sound
That only green things can hear.
A wind sprawls over an orchard,
Frightening its silent litany to sound.
A thread of star-light has fallen to this tree
And curls among its leaves, tangling them to silence. . . .
Standing amidst these things,
Beloved,We feel the words our hearts cannot form.

--Maxwell Bodenheim

Three through a window...

2008-12-01T02:50:00.000-08:00

Sitting at Russells in Pasadena.

When up on the roof there arose such a clatter...

2008-11-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

Forget snow. In Pasadena, it begins to look a lot like Christmas when you look up and notice giant reindeer perched on supersized ornaments. These are cropping up on the rooftops of buildings lining Colorado in Old Town. (I think they're hilarious and over-the-top goofy/joyful-- a combination that is always welcome here...)

The scariest trick or treaters...

2008-11-01T03:10:00.000-07:00

134 Freeway Westbound

2008-10-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

I honestly think I am to real photography what a butterfly catcher is to entymology. This is one of those haphazard shots that required virtually no skill or expertise to simply wave the camera out the car window and grab.

But isn't it cool?

(Thanks to my hubby for doing the driving.)

Viral Art

2008-10-19T01:15:00.000-07:00

A frog begins in a brilliant spawn, and then forms into an egg, and then morphs into this tadpole...

Next?

Shadow Family

2008-10-19T00:55:00.000-07:00

Us. Outside Ikea in Burbank.

The Towers Apartments

2008-10-15T02:25:00.000-07:00

Located for at least 6 decades on El Molino at Del Mar in Pasadena. (Or is it somewhere in New York?) It's such a noir building -- but that jiggy-jaggy brickwork makes it silly, too. Now that's a unique combination...

Colorado Street Bridge at Night

2008-10-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I don't just prowl around libraries at night. Sometimes I hang out under the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena.

Hawks Overhead...

2008-10-07T14:54:00.000-07:00

...above my house.

Peace Freeway

2008-10-05T03:30:00.000-07:00

110 toward Pasadena.