Floor Show in the Sky

Sure, it's pretty, but this daytime moon has nothing on the 2012 Perseid meteor shower. The astronomical event kicked off Friday night but it expected to hit its peak tonight. In fact, NASA says it's supposed to be "the best meteor shower of the year."

Those NASA scientists aren't known for hyperbole, so I say we all look up and watch the show. Depending on sky conditions, we can expect to see 60-100 meteors an hour. Not only that, but the brightest planets Jupiter and Venus are lining up for a center stage position. We will even be able to see the red giant Alderbaron adding a touch of color. (How like a star to wear red to a black tie event...)

It's nice of the solar system to offer some nature-made fireworks after the recent excitement of the Mars rover Curiosity. (Honestly, after Curiosity landed the other night I think I heard the cheers from JPL all the way down here in South Pas!)

Go outside and look up tonight, everyone. If you can get out of the city you'll have a better view. Check out the Dark Sky Finder map for the best spot to avoid light pollution. Bring your smartphone and play Citizen Scientist: NASA wants your help counting meteors!

(With everyone looking up tonight, maybe someone will finally figure out what the heck is going on in the night sky above our neighbors in Studio City...)

Ballerina in the Window

"Dancing is poetry with arms and legs."

--Charles Baudelaire

On Heatwaves, Bad News and Butterflies

I could post yet another photo of the flies that are buzzing around my kitchen. I could post a photo of the wilting hydrangeas, the backyard thermometer that tells me it's 105, or the patch of paint on the west wall of my house that is cracking from the onslaught of blazing August sun.

It's easy to zero in on what's wrong, even if it's just a small part of the overall picture. I'm not just talking about how it's easy to overlook months of heavenly weather and complain when we are sweating out a brief heatwave. It's also easy to focus on the latest scandal or tragedy as proof positive that things are desperately bad in the world and we're smack dab in the middle of impending disaster.

But what's the point?

My dad once said, "If you play outside enough, eventually you'll get caught in the rain. Who knows, you might even be unlucky enough to get struck by lightening. Just don't let the idea of getting zapped keep you inside."

My dad was one of those people who always looked for the grace in things. In fact, he would have made a great PR man with his ability to put a positive spin on any situation. I remember going to see him in the hospital, one of the many times he was in intensive care. He was hooked up to a dozen machines with electrodes on his chest, a tube in his nose, an IV in his arm and compression sleeves on both legs.

"How are ya, Dad?" I said.

He looked awful, and I felt scared, and the beepbeepbeep of his heart monitor made me think about life's undignified fragility, about inevitable endings and the seemingly random hands of Fate's card game.

"I'm great!" Dad said.

His voice was small and cracked but his big, booming spirit drowned out the mechanical beep and, in the absence of any Kings or Aces, he offered Fate a beautiful bluff.

"There's a ball game coming on the TV," he said, "and the nurse is smuggling in an extra piece of peach pie!"

I guess I'm just trying to say that we should place all things in context. We should enjoy the ball games and peach pies. And if we look past the kitchen flies, we might find a butterfly in the garden.

Look Up!

August skies are trying to get your attention.

(For the mother load of ethereal Arroyo Seco sky images, check out Shanna Galloway's blog View.)

Daydreaming of Winter

Am I the only one who starts fantasizing about cold weather right about now? I don't mean shovel-the-snow-in-the-driveway, get-out-your-lambskin-gloves East Coast/Midwest cold weather. Please! This is Southern California!

I'm just ready for black tights, root vegetable stew, hot toddies, roasted marshmallows, down comforters and, for the love of heaven, no more flies in the house.

Anyone with me?

Caption This Photo (#93)

Hmmm...

NSFW (if you're a robot!)

No, that's not quite right.

Anyone?

Still Life with Pepsi

I've been thinking a lot about finding new subjects to write about and shoot. Sure, part of it is because the people in my life literally run from me with talk-to-the-hand motions whenever they see me take off my camera lens cap. Also, after 4 years of daily photoblogging a city of only 3-odd square miles I worry that I might be running out of things to cover...

But it's more than that.

We live in an age that allows us to lay in bed and check out a Paris webcam from our iPad. We can digitally call up images of all the world's great landmarks, great artworks, great moments in photojournalism and enough YouTube cat videos to fill the National Film Archives. Photography tricks that once took decades to learn in a darkroom can now be replicated with an iPhone app. The complete works of Shakespeare, The Age of Reason and Grays Anatomy and can be downloaded to your Kindle in less time than it takes to walk over to a bookshelf.

There's a whole lot of big stuff to see, read and do, right at our fingertips. There's so much to see, in fact, that we're often buried in our smartphones instead of taking in the scenery around us. Although, to be fair, we're not always looking at great works of art or reading Shakespeare. There are all those cat videos, after all.

My point? Let's not forget about the little stuff around us. It's the little stuff around us that counts. It's always the little stuff around us that counts. In fact, I think that right after Socrates said "I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing," he backed it up with, "Hey! Look at the cool footprints I just left with my sandals!"

Or maybe I just read that on a blog somewhere.

I was sitting in my office the other day trying to figure out something big and important to write about. Then, I noticed my cup on the table. It's not worthy of mention on Mashable. It will never have its own webcam. It won't be included in a Century's Best Invention website and it doesn't even include a cat. But it's a nice grounding reminder of the little, insignificant wonder that is all around us.

There's no app for that.

Noir Moderne

“I wouldn't presume to define noir - if we could define it, we wouldn't need to use a French word for it - but it seems to me it's more a way of looking at the world than what one sees.”

― Lawrence Block

Magic Hour in Pasadena

(The drive back home from Old Town last night was beautiful...)

tap tap tap tappety tap tap tap tap...

...tap tap tap tappety tap!

The Langham Huntington Pasadena

Sure, the Langham Huntington Pasadena is technically next door to South Pas, but it's close enough to feel like part of the neighborhood. Plus, exploring the grandeur of this early 20th Century hotel feels a little bit like going back in time to when South Pasadena's own Raymond Hotel was in its heyday. When you walk along the grounds of this gorgeous place, you can imagine what it was like back when Henry Huntington was his generation's big mover and shaker...

Then, you can come back to the 21st Century and take a digital photo of the cute baby ducks.

Numbers

It's the first of the month, and that means Theme Day for participating City Daily Photo bloggers. This month's theme is Numbers.

If you walk around the grounds of South Pasadena High School, you'll see these tiles embedded all over the place. For years I tried to figure out what they meant. Was the architect an obsessive compulsive who really needed to count? Were the numbers a reminder of South Pasadena students' reputation for great math skills? Did the entire sidewalk design come out of a big Tile By Numbers box? Was it a horrific reminder of the relentless, unending passage of time?!

Eventually, Mister Earl told me the numbers represented graduating classes of the high school, and that every year was (or would be) represented.

I like my obsessive compulsive story better. (All together now: one, two, three, four... ahhh. I feel better already.)

City Daily Photo is in the process of changing servers, so this month's collection of worldwide Theme Day posts can be found here. (Many thanks go to Julie of Sydney Eye for setting up the alternate blog for Theme Day posts.)