mountain retreat

The first thing we did after our arrival was to head to the mountains to reconnect with our church family from Pasadena Mennonite who had gathered for a retreat weekend.

#13 - biking routes

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.

#13 - biking routes

los angeles county gets a really bad rap for its cycling culture.  let's face it - this town is owned by the automobile.  but, the san gabriel valley is filled with winding roads, mountain vistas, quiet neighborhoods, and quaint towns.  sometimes they are a bit hard to find, but that is what makes biking in this area so much fun.  ironically, when we left virginia i was sad that we'd be leaving the rolling country hills behind (you can see my lament in the list posted above).  i assumed it would be flat and boring out here, but it was anything but that.

#14 - hiking

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.

#14 - hiking

we didn't take advantage of this often enough during our time here.  there is incredible hiking within a very short distance of pasadena - much of it found in the san gabriel mountains. 

august theme day: post card worthy/#20 - the san gabriel mountains

this is a special theme day for me.  on the first of every month, city daily photographers from around the world post an image on the same theme.  but this is my last theme day (by the way, you can see every theme day i've participated in here).


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.

today kicks things off with...

#20 - the san gabriel mountains

backdrop to many of my photos throughout the four years of this blog, it is hard to argue with their inclusion on my list of favorite things about pasadena.  we enjoyed hiking in these mountains, we enjoyed biking in these mountains, and we enjoyed simply having them in the background of our lives here.


as i mentioned before, people from all over the blogosphere are working with today's theme.  click here to view thumbnails for all participants

eastward on colorado blvd

looking north on los robles ave

what to post?

this was such a full weekend, i'm not sure what to start monday with.  so i'll go with one of the last things i did - a rancho cucamonga quakes game with some of the youth from church (which brought back incredible memories from my bike trip two years ago).  i'll get to more photos from bike week, the tour of california, art night, among other things, later in the week.

lake avenue church and a gray sky

our recent weather has been much more bright and sunny with some warm weather due this weekend.  have we come to the end of our winter gray in pasadena? 

more skywatch friday photos can be found right here.

snow-peaked mountains and storm clouds

this one was taken during last weekend's storm.

more skywatch friday photos can be found right here (as usual).

guest photographer #2

i'm excited to show you some photography from the second special guest photographer, mr. timmy morgan.  the guy can do comedy, acting, voice over work, and apparently can take great photos too!  tim shot this image on sunday morning after a night of very cold temperatures, and precipitation.

check out that so-cal snow!

new soccer field at villa parke

the closest of pasadena's many parks to my home is villa parke.  thus, i've been watching with some interest as construction workers have gone through the process of installing a new synthetic turf field.  it looks pretty sharp from a distance.  Sadly, i couldn't get up high enough to get a good photo of the logo in the center of the field.

from blue sky to trees to tarmac.

pasadena has many of these locations where the urban bumps up against nature in strange and beautiful ways.  you might even say it is where nature meets the road.

corner of villa and los robles

fading to the horizon

our internet has been a bit shaky of late...  sorry for the late post. 

the hike less traveled

our thanksgiving celebration involved an early morning hike.  our original plan was to follow the path to millard canyon falls, but unfortunately that route was closed off to the public. 

our alternative hike ended up to be just as enjoyable as we were originally anticipating.  while we didn't get to see the falls, we did get some breathtaking scenery and beautiful images.  the photo below shows the scar that still appears on the mountains from 2009's station fire.

winter is moving in?

this year has been up and down with all kinds of random weather patterns.  some days have been blistering hot, others rainy and cool.  this week has brought some cooler weather to pasadena once again, with several days of grey overcast looming clouds (and even a dusting of snow on our mountains which i unfortunately did not capture).

more skywatch friday photos can be found right here.

any guesses as to where this photo was taken from?

skywatch friday on saturday

i interrupted the regularly scheduled program to bring you the sand mandala, so today we're bouncing back in time to bring you some skywatch friday on saturday.

with a view like this one at the pasadena high school athletic fields, i wonder how players concentrate on playing their sport of choice??

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

summer haze and construction delays

the title pretty much sums it up.  oh, there are supposed to be mountains in this picture, but the summer haze blocks them out.

more skywatch friday can be found right here.

skywatch friday at victory park

today the pasadena park series coincides with skywatch friday. so you get a little taste of the pasadena sky, as well as a new mosaic park sign! victory park is right next to pasadena high school, and also where the saturday farmers market is located. it is also located right across the street from our fantastic church.

from the city website:

"Victory Park is located at 2575 Paloma Street. Hours of operation are from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. The size of the park is 24.6 acres. Park area includes; a large children’s play area; three softball diamonds with bleachers and lights; one baseball diamond with lights; one multi-purpose lit field suitable for soccer or flag football; sand volleyball court; large parking lot; picnic areas; restrooms; and drinking fountains."

more skywatch friday can be found right here.



previous pasadena parks...

1. brookside park
2. singer park
3. central park
4. grant park

skywatching at j.p.l. and hahamongna

i've been discovering more and more about our local area parks because of a top secret project i'm working on (for a hint, check out the comments on this post). today's photo is of hahamongna park with nasa's jet propulsion laboratory in the background.

for more on the fate of this lovely space, check out petrea's perspective at pasadena daily photo.

more bloggers doing the skywatch friday thing can be found right here.