coyote!

this guy decided to follow me into the road on a recent bike ride through griffith park. the question, of course, is how do you pronounce coyote? kai-oat or kai-oat-ee?

at the corner of los robles and orange grove

down on the corner. i hope you like it. enjoy your saturday!

golden state

i don't mind the sunspots on this photo because they usually appear when you take a picture straight at the sun. the reason i wanted to take this was because of how illuminated the ocean was. see that golden sliver on the horizon? the day was clear enough, and we were up high enough, to see the pacific ocean, and it was shining like gold.

more skywatch friday photos can be found right here!

the bacon-wrapped hotdog with peppers and onions

each city has its own local street food. los angeles is no exception - in fact there is an incredible variety here (especially with the recent foodie truck explosion). everything from tacos to chili-spiced tropical fruit to crazy corn-on-the-cob.

today's photo features another local treat that los angeles has borrowed from mexico - the bacon-wrapped hotdog. this guy created a makeshift cart with a tiny stove, shopping cart, and plenty of supplies. my mouth is watering just thinking about it...

80th best public high school in the usa

a recent blog post over at kchblog made me aware that a local school had received a national ranking by us news and world report - in fact, la canada high school was ranked #80 in the top 100 schools in the nation. congrats go out to the spartans!

by the way, this photo demonstrates what an incredible location they have - right off the 210 highway, but with an incredible view of the mountains. note that nasa's jet propulsion laboratory is there in the background.

the wine detective

a recent addition to the wine landscape in pasadena is the wine detective. this place has a unique way of doing things - you prepay an amount upon entry, and then wander around the shop sampling wine by the ounce. each bottle can not only be sampled at a price per ounce, but can also be ordered by the glass, or a full bottle purchased to be taken home. they feature wines from around the world, and each bottle is served at the correct temperature. there are some gourmet finger food items if you wish to snack while you are brushing up on your viticulture. it is located right across from one of our favorite pasadena restaurants.

hometown pasadena has a great write up on the shop that you can read right here.

snow on the mountains with a palm tree

much inspired by altadena hiker's beautiful images mixing palms and snow, i'm showcasing my own attempt at this southern california phenomenon.

i'm also working on compiling a list of all the area bloggers who have been featuring our snow-capped mountains. check them out at yesterday's posting.

snow peaks and flintridge sacred heart academy

several area bloggers are showcasing our snow-peaked mountains after last week's incredible rainstorm. i'll keep updating them as they appear, but for now, check out brian & kelly, palos verdes daily photo x2, glimpses of south pasadena, altadena hiker, and east of allen.

these three images are of sacred heart - an area private school in the foothills around the rose bowl - with our beautiful mountains posing as a decorated backdrop.

as our parking area slowly becomes a lake

rumor has it that the parking area of our building is now one of the largest bodies of water on the west coast. okay, not really, but it does feel much more aquatic than it ever has in the two and a half years that we've lived out here.

we're supposed to have a short break from the rain today, followed by more rain when next week arrives.

beautiful sky (and a few friends)

in hopes of bringing some sunshine and blue sky into the incredibly rainy pasadena sky, i'm posting this lovely image from a few weeks ago, passed on to me by our friends, the morgans.

more (hopefully sunny) skywatch friday photos can be found right here.

bicycling in the rain

it has been unseasonably wet in southern california this week. we don't usually get much rain, so when it rains for more than a few hours in one day people take notice. it has been raining almost non-stop so far this week, and as you can tell by the edge of the street in the bottom of this photo, it is raining more than the streets and gutters can hold.

this cyclist is hardcore. i'm sure this is a common sight in places like portland or seattle, but not in los angeles county. i consider myself to be an avid rider, but even i'm not really willing to go out in this mess. congrats - whoever you are!

fuller seminary throwback aerial photo

borrowing a theme from our ann erdman, our public information officer's fantastic mystery history series, i'd like to show you a photograph i have very information on, nor did i take this photo myself.

this image was found on fuller's campus by one of my coworkers. he snagged it when someone in our building was cleaning out their office. i'm not sure of the year, or who took this photo, or even how it survived. But those who are familiar with the area will notice several very interesting things. orient yourself with city hall in the upper left corner, with los robles and oakland as the two visible horizontally moving roads, and walnut and union as the visible verticly aligned streets.

a few things i noticed...

- the massive parking lot behind all saints church where plaza los fuentes now stands
- oakland avenue goes right through fuller's campus where a tree-lined walkway now appears
- there is no trace of our, ahem... beautiful courthouse
- obviously fuller's new library is not in the picture
- likewise, the pasadena museum of california art and the pacific asia museum are missing

so can someone give me an estimation of when this photo was taken? can you spot other differences between now and then?

the calm before the storm

i took this photo on sunday afternoon - just before the rain started to fall. we've had an almost steady stream of rain since then. sometimes just a faint mist, sometimes a heavy downpour. rain is in the schedule for most of the rest of this week. while this kind of thing is normal in other parts of the country, here in the san gabriel valley we're hoping our mountains don't come sliding down into town - especially after this summer's station fire.

hope you're all staying safe and dry in pasadena!

red rye grapefruit i.p.a.

i've been homebrewing with some friends for a little while now. today we are brewing our 9th batch since we started just under a year ago. this photo is of one of our best concoctions we've come up with. we started with an india pale ale recipe made partially with rye malt. we then added grapefruit rind and dry hopped it with perle hops.

it turned out to have an incredible dark ruby body with a frothy head. the aroma is slightly grassy and floral with just a touch of grapefruit peel thrown in. the flavor profile balances the spiciness of the rye with a nice sweet roasty malt flavor and finishes with more of the grapefruit and hop bitterness.

why am i telling you all this? well, i'm pretty proud of this beer, because it just placed first in its category at the recent doug king memorial homebrewing competition organized by the maltose falcons - the country's oldest homebrewing club. full results of the competition (including our victory in category 24) can be found right here.

bloggers unite for haiti

one final photo from our recent trip to arlington gardens. click that link for all of the photos i took.

on a more serious note, if you haven't figured out how to support the relief effort after the haiti earthquake, consider donating to mennonite central committee. mcc has been doing relief work for decades, and they have been active in haiti for a number of years. if you live in canada, they are one of the organizations that the canadian goverernment has selected to receive matching funds.

my, that's a nice birdhouse

spotted this lovely creation on our tour of arlington garden. i wonder if anyone lives inside?

january theme day #2: best photo from 2009

city daily photo (of which i'm a proud member) typically has theme days on the first of the month. this month is a little different, as they are asking members to use the 15th of january to re-post their favorite photo from this past year.

as i looked back through my year in photos, i had several choices. some were photos of meaningful experiences or significant sporting events, others were photos of significant pasadena moments, while others i just liked the artistic value. the one i chose combines all of these things - good times with friends, in a pasadena setting, with a picturesque artistic value. it is a fun picture, and i really like it. and thus, is my best photo from 2009. for those who are curious, it was posted all the way back on january 28th.

you can also check out what all of the other bloggers selected.
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skywatch friday on thursday

a photo of the pasadena sky taken from our trip to the arlington garden.

more skywatch friday can be found here.

getting up close with some plants

i'm ashamed to admit that i know none of the names of the plants that i have featured today. each one is an image from our visit to arlington garden. if a reader is able to name all three, i would be extremely grateful!

the citrus grove

for those who missed yesterday's post, i'm featuring photos this week from arlington garden - a unique park space in pasadena. today's images are of the corner of the garden that is filled with citrus trees. check back in later this week for more pictures from this incredible location.

arlington garden

meredith and i ventured out on sunday afternoon to check out arlington garden - one of pasadena's most unique public park spaces. the garden was built on land that was marked for development of the infamous 710 highway, and so of course for some residents, it represents more than just a beautiful place to visit. the designers chose to emphasize drought resistant plants, plants native to the mediterranean climate, as well as plants native to california. this creates a beautiful and also educational space - hopefully for generations to come.


this week i'll focus my photography on pictures that i took on sunday (with the exception of something special planned for friday). i hope you enjoy the trip through arlington garden!

bcs national championship aftermath

i took this photo from the colorado street bridge overlooking the still illuminated rose bowl after thursday evening's national college football title game. the streaking car lights in the foreground are from the 134 freeway bridge.

mamma's brick oven pizza

heading to south pasadena for today's photo. what's better than really good pizza? really good pizza with friends of course. here jon and adam model the delicious pizza we picked up the other day for a movie night. fun times.

the tide rolls through pasadena

while i am neither passionate about college football, nor someone willing to spend hundreds of dollars to get in to the national championship, i was excited about the big game being here in pasadena at the rose bowl. and while i was not at the game, i did have several friends who were there in person - one of whom, my friend angela, sent me this photo from her seats at the game. what a view!

of course those of you who watched the game know that the alabama crimson tide knocked off the texas longhorns. i guess cows can't swim, or maybe crimson out shines burnt orange... i dunno.

more skywatch friday as usual can be found right here.

angels in the rose parade

this year's mlb all-star game is in anaheim at the historic angel stadium. the angels decided to participate in this year's rose parade by inviting a few former players to wave at the crowd. while it wasn't quite as cool as the dodger float from two years ago, i'm a sucker for anything related to my favorite sport.

yo ho ho!

my friend tim noticed that this float was playing music from the movie "hook". so what did we do? went to his house later that night and watched it.

a side note, i think the pirate ship would have gone over much better without the giant honda logo.

what in the world?

this was a fun float. we heard people cheering from down the street and wondered what was going on. then the float arrived but we still didn't know why. then we saw dogs wearing tutus, on surfboards, skiing down a snowy slope. certainly a crowd pleaser! can't see the dog in the photo above? look below for a shot of a dog ready to take off.


just a reminder that i've got a running list of blogger's reviews of the parade back on saturday's post. if i've left someone out, please let me know!

football floats

the two teams involved in this year's rose bowl game had their own floats in the parade. i think ohio state's float was a tiny bit better, and where i was watching the parade there were far more ohio state fans around than oregon. maybe that is why they were victorious on the field.

it's my air-o-plane

did anyone else at the rose parade sense a theme (beyond the official theme of "a cut above the rest")? i noticed that at least three floats in the parade had planes flying off the front. i really like the design, but don't these float makers get together to make sure they aren't doing the same thing?

2010 rose parade photos

yesterday's rose parade was pretty enjoyable. unlike last year, i was not sitting in the front row. however the perch i found to snap photos from gave me a pretty great vantage point. this first photo is of the first float of the parade. check out how tall it is! the photo does not do it justice. for those who didn't watch on tv, this band member raised and lowered the bugle throughout the parade. as a side note, i just noticed that i caught the goodyear blimp in this photo as well.

those who want a little more insight into yesterday's photo, i've posted a video clip from our ride through the streets. you can find it added to the post.

other area bloggers who were at the parade (i'll keep updating this list as they appear)...

cafe pasadena

east of allen x2

stan's obligatory blog

kchblog
pasadena daily photo x2
uncouth gourmands

january theme day: changes

happy new year!

last night we changed things up! instead of sitting by the road and spraying cars with silly string and throwing marshmallows, we hit the streets by bike doing that exact thing to the bystanders!

matt and i had a great time. sorry the video is so choppy.



happy new year! (by the way, the post date and time for this blog entry is 1/01/10 at 1:11am - cool, right? does anyone speak binary?)

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