Another photo fraught with a story to be told! It appears that the bench is in the yard of a different home, not in the yard of the white house behind it.
The bench is so warm and cheerful and happy... and the house that looms behind it seems sad, as if an invalid lives on the second floor, watching the neighbor children who run, play and read near the bench, but unable to join them. One day the children notice the sad little face watching them from the window. And then...
And then, the Widow Burgermeister, realizing she is being watched by the children next door, reached for her cane and hobbled across the bedroom to her dresser. She opened the top drawer where. . .
For as long as I can remember I've been a fan of interesting benches. More than once I've taken pictures of them on vacations etc.
So when I opened my Google Reader and saw this delightful red bench, in a yard, under a tree(for shade), I exclaimed - "It is a beautiful morning. Surely."
That photo and title took me back to a vacation with Tom Coston a few years ago in Charleston, South Carolina, when we were just meandering along streets in a lovely residential neighborhood. We passed a white, two-story house similar to the one in your photo, and in the front yard were two little boys selling homemade lemonade. Of course we bought two glasses! It was an idyllic afternoon.
Yes, yes - it's a wonderful spot. I really like the worn paint on the bench and the angle you photographed it. Neat house (next door?) with the double arch.
Doesn't sound like it took much to satisy Cicero. Back in those days, of course, you were happy to just to be happy with whatever. For me, I would need a good dog, a good girl, and, certainly good food. That's even better, IMHO.
I love the narrative you guys started! It's interesting, because I always think this house looks like a bunch of happy bohemians live in it -- kind of like the folks in Capra's film You Can't Take it With You.
Dbdubya, I believe this is a classic example of American Foursquare architecture. It was popular in the late 1800s through the 1930s.
Pasadenapio, I like your story about the boys with the lemonade stand.
Pasadenaadjacent, you made me laugh. INdeed. Library, garden and babysitter is the best combo.
Oh, and a doggie, too, Cafe!
Thanks for being here, everyone! Until tomorrow...
In December of 2007, after many years on the west side of Los Angeles (and at least a third of those years spent stuck in traffic on Pico Boulevard) my family settled into a happy little house in South Pasadena. This daily blog covered over 4 year as I put down roots in my new home town.
LA: Other
My New Blog Launching 2013
Check out my multimedia column archive: Views from the Front Porch
Published at Patch.
Find Me Elsewhere...
Thank you Charlie's Coffee House for hosting my recent photo exhibit, South Pas: Observed. From October 2011 through January 2012 my pictures graced the walls of the best place in town to get a cup of coffee!
Read the nifty story on photo bloggers Petrea Burchard, Ben Wideman, Kat Likkel and little old me featured in the September, 2011 issue of Pasadena Magazine.
For over 4 years, I presented a picture a day from South Pasadena, California -- an incorporated city within the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. All photos up to November, 2008 were taken with a Fujifilm Finepix E900 camera. I added a Fujifilm Finepix S2000HD megazoom in December 2008, a Nikon D3100 in 2010 and a Lumix DMC-DS8 in 2011. I shot with them all. In August 2010 I joined the iPhone camera craze and sometimes included pictures captured by my phone. I regularly cropped images and used basic editing software to adjust the brightness, intensify the contrast, and increase color saturation. Other than that, all images came straight from the camera with minimal alteration. (If I couldn't have done it in a darkroom, I wouldn't do it with a computer.)
The bigger picture:
Consider it a love letter to the place I call home.
You can click on any picture to see a larger version.
All photos and prose on this blog copyright Laurie Allee. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited. (Plus, it's really uncool.)
Run, don't walk to the nearest bookseller and pick up a copy of Margaret Finnegan's delightful debut novel, The Goddess Lounge -- undoubtedly the kookiest, most wonderful riff on Homer's Odyssey ever written. Margaret never ceases to inspire and make us laugh at her blog Finnegan Begin Again. Her book is magical, silly, smart and a wonderful love letter to the all the goddesses among us.
Our very own Altadena poet Linda Dove weaves words into thoughtful tapestries in her moving poetry collection In Defense of Objects and chapbook O Dear Deer.
Kevin McCollister of East of West LA blows our minds with haunting images of Los Angeles. But since we can't put his blog on our coffee table, we can buy his fantastic book. I believe Kevin's images truly capture the quixotic and often heartbreaking soul of LA. Don't take my word for it, see what The LA Times had to say.
19 comments:
Fine by me but then I also image you having real lemonade there too. The romance of the image...
How charming. That pop of red is great. Of course, check out the diagonal tree trunk pushing our eye RIGHT TO THAT BENCH!!
What a cool, old house. Definitely not Craftsman. Victorian style windows. What would you call the style?
Who do you think lives here? I'm guessing an old woman, widowed for many years, with no family nearby to help care for her or her home of many years.
On a morning like this, it's nice to see sunshine.
And that's a great quote.
Great quote and only you would find that wild bench!
V
Another photo fraught with a story to be told! It appears that the bench is in the yard of a different home, not in the yard of the white house behind it.
The bench is so warm and cheerful and happy... and the house that looms behind it seems sad, as if an invalid lives on the second floor, watching the neighbor children who run, play and read near the bench, but unable to join them. One day the children notice the sad little face watching them from the window. And then...
Can we wait until the rain stops?
And then, the Widow Burgermeister, realizing she is being watched by the children next door, reached for her cane and hobbled across the bedroom to her dresser. She opened the top drawer where. . .
That's not a reading bench, that's a smoking bench! Or at least it would be, if it were in the backyard.
(and a babysitter)
For as long as I can remember I've been a fan of interesting benches. More than once I've taken pictures of them on vacations etc.
So when I opened my Google Reader and saw this delightful red bench, in a yard, under a tree(for shade), I exclaimed - "It is a beautiful morning. Surely."
Thanks. :O)
That photo and title took me back to a vacation with Tom Coston a few years ago in Charleston, South Carolina, when we were just meandering along streets in a lovely residential neighborhood. We passed a white, two-story house similar to the one in your photo, and in the front yard were two little boys selling homemade lemonade. Of course we bought two glasses! It was an idyllic afternoon.
Yes, yes - it's a wonderful spot. I really like the worn paint on the bench and the angle you photographed it. Neat house (next door?) with the double arch.
I'm there already! With at least two throw pillows :)
Doesn't sound like it took much to satisy Cicero. Back in those days, of course, you were happy to just to be happy with whatever.
For me, I would need a good dog, a good girl, and, certainly good food.
That's even better, IMHO.
Hey kids,
I love the narrative you guys started! It's interesting, because I always think this house looks like a bunch of happy bohemians live in it -- kind of like the folks in Capra's film You Can't Take it With You.
Dbdubya, I believe this is a classic example of American Foursquare architecture. It was popular in the late 1800s through the 1930s.
Pasadenapio, I like your story about the boys with the lemonade stand.
Pasadenaadjacent, you made me laugh. INdeed. Library, garden and babysitter is the best combo.
Oh, and a doggie, too, Cafe!
Thanks for being here, everyone! Until tomorrow...
Oh, and Oleg -- I have a thing for benches, too. :-)
Looks like a spot for coffee, pen and paper.
The image is is perfect. Yes, it is is. Nostalgic and sweet, lemonade sounds good.
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