city hall

a familiar icon that was featured many times on this blog during my four year run.

#2 - city hall

august will be the last month of the sky is big in pasadena.  

i have accepted a position at salford mennonite church in harleysville, pennsylvania.  we will be moving in september, so august will be my farewell month to the city of pasadena.  when we moved here from virginia i posted a list of the ten things i would miss most about harrisonburg.  i figured that would be a good way to end our time here, so each day i will be doing one final rundown of life in this great city.  i have prepared two lists - ten things i won't be sad to leave behind, and twenty of my absolute favorite things about pasadena.  we have arrived at the top ten things about life in pasadena.


#2 - city hall

much like the pasadena sky, city hall was a frequent subject of my daily photo blog.  it has appeared seventy times in four years - not quite twice per month, but getting close to that mark.  it was one of my first blog posts ever, and is easily my favorite thing to take pictures of in town.

anyone who comes to visit us remarks about how beautiful this building is, and they are always amazed at how easy it is to walk in and around.  pasadena's beloved public information officer even gave a private tour to some local bloggers last year which was a ton of fun.  i will miss this beautiful building.

#8 negative - changing seasons (or lack of)

august will be the last month of the sky is big in pasadena.  

i have accepted a position at salford mennonite church in harleysville, pennsylvania.  we will be moving in september, so august will be my farewell month to the city of pasadena.  when we moved here from virginia i posted a list of the ten things i would miss most about harrisonburg.  i figured that would be a good way to end our time here, so each day i will be doing one final rundown of life in this great city.  i have prepared two lists - ten things i won't be sad to leave behind, and twenty of my absolute favorite things about pasadena.  i am going to start with ten positives and ten negatives, alternating back and forth each day.  concluding with my top ten things about life in pasadena.

#8 negative - changing seasons (or lack of)

don't get me wrong.  we loved the weather here.  a touch of snow on the mountains is all we ever saw, rare rainy days, and a very comfortable daily temperature make pasadena an incredible place to live.  but for two who grew up in the northeast, we miss having four distinct seasons.  this happy family photo was taken on christmas day with nary a snowflake to be found.  likewise, our fall season has only a few trees which lose their leaves.

okay, maybe i'm just being a nitpick with this one...

a busy day at the courthouse

i didn't stop to ask why the tv crews were at the courthouse last week - i'm sure they had a good reason.

june theme day: under construction

when the first of the month rolls around, hundreds of daily photoblogs from around the world focus their attention on a single theme.  this month the theme is "under construction".  this seems especially fitting for pasadenians as the square in front of our beloved city hall is under construction (hence, today's image).

are you interested in seeing hundreds of other takes on today's theme from around the world?

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

pasadena bike week 2011

oh what a week it was.

another pasadena bike week has come and gone.  i wasn't able to get to everything i wanted to, but i did make it to several events including (clockwise from upper left) the bike to work celebration at city hall, bicycle valet in downtown los angeles at angel city brewing, bicycle riders during art night, and saturday's party to end bike week at one colorado.

stretch

some students (or their parents) must have dropped some serious money on their prom ride - not to mention professional photos in front of city hall.

lardon truck at city hall

i've been pleased to see that city hall has become a local hot spot at lunch time to spot the latest wave of gourmet food trucks.  the other day while passing by i spotted a gourmet ramen truck, a truck serving lobster rolls, and the one pictured here (sorry for the poor cell phone quality)...  the lardon bacon truck - home of the baco (a taco filled with cheese, potato, and bacon, served in a crunchy bacon taco shell).

oink! oink!

revisited #3

in my continuing series of re-photographing some of my earlier subjects, i returned to this outdoor artwork in old town.  the last time i took a picture of this (way back in 2008), it was at dusk, or maybe dark.  this one is in full daylight.

i hope you enjoy!

peekaboo!

rainy days

we've been getting some seasonal gray weather and rain this weekend - even some thunder and lightning yesterday!  here is a picture of our soggy city hall. you can't even see the san gabriel mountains because of the hanging cloud cover.

a bit late for this week, but we'll consider this skywatch friday on a sunday.  you can see more at the skywatch website right here.

city hall construction

busy times around city hall as renovations are being made to the existing traffic system.  brigham yen has plenty of details on his blog if you want to learn more.

blue sky

the view down garfield avenue.

classic city hall

post-christmas cheer

we had a lovely christmas day. 

i hope you did too!

city hall

it has been a little while since i've shown our city hall.

okay, well maybe it hasn't been that long.  but i just can't stay away from our beautiful city centerpiece.  i hope you enjoy her as much as i do!

city hall sunshine

a little sunny perspective on this cloudy sunday.  i think this photo was taken way back in may during our blogger tour of city hall.

going pro

at first glance this may not look like a photo i took - but - long time followers of this blog may recognize this photo from way back in february of last year.

that's right folks, i've been published (and this time it is legit).  okay, fuller seminary's website is far from the top of the art world, but still, it felt pretty cool to see my work in "print" of some kind.  you can see the photo on the live web page by clicking on the image above.

thanks to the dmin program for being interested in my work!

skywatch friday brilliance

i'm really proud of this one.  vibrant sky, iconic city hall, even a few other buildings on the horizon with the mountains behind them.

more skywatch friday can be found as usual, right here.

surviving the heat

it seems like every year we have a heat wave that is worth writing about.  the past few days have been that moment.  pasadena and los angeles county has seen record breaking temperatures for this time of year, making it almost unbearable to do anything outdoors. 

after temperatures hovering around 110 degrees (43 for my celsius friends), i'm looking forward to a forecast of temperatures in the 80s.