Thanksgiving Sky

by Laurie Allee
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South Pasadena skies have been ridiculously dramatic lately!  (I have another one here, too.)

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Along the Arroyo Seco

Along the Arroyo Seco

The Arroyo Seco is much more than a weird concrete channel used by local skateboarders. Although the Spanish name roughly translates to “dry stream bed,” it usually flows with several cubic feet of water per second, and occasionally swells to near capacity with the runoff of an erosion-prone 46.7 square mile watershed. It starts near Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest of the San Gabriel Mountains and winds its way between La Canada Flintridge and Altadena through Pasadena, alongside the western boundary of South Pas and onward into the bigger concrete confines of the Los Angeles River north of Downtown LA. The Arroyo Seco stream assists in replenishing the Raymond Basin aquifer underlying Pasadena.

two golden hours

"Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever."

--Horace Mann

Best of Glimpses: #1

I hope you'll forgive a few days of lazy blogging, but I need some time to clear my head. In this interim, I'll post some of my favorite shots. Here is a lucky one captured on Arroyo Drive, at sunset after a storm.

Originally published March 2, 2011

Settings: Part 41

Okay, my noir friends ... this could be a setting for something spooky and nefarious. Put on your best Chandler fedora and tell me: if this shot were part of a scene in a movie, what would happen here?

Nightfall over the Arroyo

I was listening to this when I captured this moment. (It was a good moment.)

Affirmations in the Gutter

I literally stepped on this yesterday while taking a walk near the Arroyo Drive overlook. I couldn't decide if I was inspired or depressed by the fact that I stumbled over someone's positive reminders. (Maybe he/she didn't need them anymore?)

Two for One

Think the owner will notice if I take one out for a spin?

Winter's Bones

January's trees epitomize the austere, retrospective feeling of the season. (Even in sunny, 70 degree Southern California.)

Artifacts

Trees are your best antiques.
~Alexander Smith

Looking Toward a New Year

It's January 1st, and that means it's Theme Day for participating City Daily Photo bloggers. Today's theme is Photo of the Year.

I don't know if this is my best shot of 2011, but it's certainly a favorite. I grabbed it on Arroyo Drive last summer right after the San Gabriel Valley had been drenched by a storm. The receding clouds created all sorts of bright, happy colors in the sky, and made the view from my favorite look out seem all the more expansive and hopeful.

A nice mood for a great new year, right?

To see a panorama of incredible images, please take a few moments to check out photographers from all over the world adding their best shots to today's theme gallery. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Happy New Year, everybody!

Big Sky

Your faithful blogger just returned from a week in Austin where the vistas are big and the sunsets are dramatic. Not to be outdone, this Arroyo sunset welcomed me back to South Pas...

Love on Arroyo

These two started making out about a second after I took this picture. (And no, I won't show that shot. What kind of blog do you think this is, anyway?)

Heatwave

Little Bit isn't the only one still running a fever. South Pasadena sweltered yesterday with yet another day of unrelenting heat. (My garden thermometer was 101 at 3:00PM.) What happened to autumn?

and the days dwindle down...

We might not have cool weather yet, but the afternoons glow with long, autumnal light.

It's definitely September.

comfort of open spaces

Autumn

Oh the sight of a tall shedding tree:
to us it has grown to the limit of the sky
that breaks through its branches.

Filled with summer, almost thoughtful,
its faithful head seemed deep and thick.
But now its bones cross the sky like streets.
And the sky doesn’t know us.

At best, if we tried to warp
like birds through new openings,
we would be denied by the right of space
to consort only with worlds.

Like flags, the waves we feel in our seams
seek the connection and comfort of open spaces—

--Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by James Burnham

Wish You Were Here

Today is the first day of the month, and that means it's Theme Day for participating City Daily Photo bloggers. This month's theme is Postcard-worthy.

There are a lot of postcard-worthy spots around South Pas. This overlook from Arroyo Drive is one of my favorites. Looking west toward the setting sun feels like staring into opportunity. (It's hard to believe the urban swell of metropolitan Los Angeles stretches out behind those hills.)

For other postcard shots from around the world, check out what my fellow City Daily Photo pals have come up with. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

For a look at some of the little details we love about South Pas, check out my latest column at Patch. It should post sometime this afternoon.

Time Out

Sitting on this bench -- perched above the 110 freeway -- reminds me a little of being in a treehouse. Find daydreams and imagination up here, leave obligations and frustration down there. (At least long enough to take in the view and catch a few rays.)

View Without a Room

If you want to take in the view of the apartment buildings on the south end of Arroyo Drive, this is your spot!

Speaking of views, check out my column at Patch today. It should post some time before lunch.

UPDATE @ 2:00PM: Thanks to those of you who emailed me. My latest column wasn't coded to link up with my columns section over at Patch so the above link (and the one on the side of the blog) won't take you there. For now, just click on the front page of Patch and you'll find me.

The Color Green

Today is the first day of the month and that means it's Theme Day for participating City Daily Photobloggers. Today's theme is The Color Green.

South Pasadena is fairly keen on green. I could have shown this house. Or this one. Or this car. (I could have even shown this robot.) But when it comes right down to it, the greenest green in our city is the green from all of the beautiful trees. The ones along the Arroyo are particularly hypnotic in the summer sunshine.

For more interpretations of the color green, be sure to visit my fellow City Daily photobloggers. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants