be happy

" I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.” "

--Groucho Marx

Little Lady Luck

"Good luck needs no explanation."

--Shirley Temple

Style Guide

"Elegance is refusal."

--Coco Chanel

Happy Father's Day

I couldn't help but smile when I saw this dad reaching out for his giggling daughter at last month's Fun Fair. Here's to all the fathers out there, with a special shout-out to our blogger pal Ben over at the sky is big in pasadena, celebrating his very first father's day as a new dad.

Silly String Battlefield

And I thought the confetti eggs were bad enough!

The South Pasadena Fun Fair continues today. (Attend at your own peril...)

Festive View

These charming old windows on Mission will have a pretty good view of this weekend's South Pasadena Fun Fair! Each year the school fundraiser turns downtown South Pas into a carnival of rides, games and about umpteen skillion confetti eggs hurled at random by rampaging elementary school students. (One fourth grade kid last year had a pitch worthy of notice by a major league scout. If I see him again this year... look out.)

You can see my pictures of last year's Fun Fair here.

No great feat ... just great feet

It's the first of the month -- and that means Theme Day for participating City Daily Photo bloggers. Today's theme? Feet!

Yes, feet. (Foot fetishists of the world, rejoice! Today you have a veritable treasure trove over at the CDP website...)

Regular readers of GOSP will recognize this whimsical tilt-a-whirl from a recent post about the South Pasadena Fun Fair. I couldn't resist posting another shot for today's theme. There is something so tender and hopeful and human about feet. These dangling sneakered tootsies make me smile. I think poet Sharon Creech gets to the point here:

Footfalls

Thump-thump, thump-thump
bare feet hitting the grass
as I run run run
in the air and like the air
weaving through the trees
skimming over the ground

touching down
thump-thump, thump-thump
here and there
there and here
in the soft damp grass

thump-thump, thump-thump
knowing I could fly fly fly
but letting my feet
thump-thump, thump-thump

touch the earth

at least for now. . .


Be sure to take a look at the many creative Theme Day images by other photobloggers around the world. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Too much fun for one day...

The South Pasadena Fun Fair continues today. My family spent most of the afternoon there yesterday -- along with quite a few friends and neighbors. I knew the fair would have fun rides and kid's games, great food and loud music. But what I didn't expect was the treasure trove of books available at the used book sale. For $8 I scored a 1967 hardbound anthology of 45 great modern plays of the first part of the 20th Century, a beautiful 1920s edition of Dumas' The Queen's Necklace, a first edition of Daniel Dennett's Consciousness Explained and a quantum physics reference. (And I only looked through a few stacks...)

Fun for everyone -- from daredevils to bookworms. For more images, take a look at my overflow blog.

Come to the Fair...

This whimsical train chug-chug-chugged along Mission Street during the recent Arts and Crafts Fair. For even more madcap rides and games, just head out today and tomorrow to the 12th annual South Pasadena Fun Fair at the School District parking lot between Mission and El Centro. Hosted by South Pasadena's three elementary schools, the event aims to raise much-needed cash during a state education budget crisis. (Recent state cuts slashed around $1.8 million from the 2009-10 budget projections.)

Don't assume you have to be in elementary school to enjoy the activities. Today I saw crews setting up a Ferris wheel worthy of inducing vertigo in even the hardiest adult. Expect even more huge rides, food booths, balloons, confetti eggs, arts and crafts, silly string, baked goods, a used book sale and a vast array of old fashioned games and prizes. (This time, I swear I'm going to win a stuffed panda.)