Horn Tooting

I know what you're going to say: there are no horns in this picture.

I've decided I'm allowed to toot my own horn every once in a while. I love old phrases like that, don't you? It's easy to figure out how that one arose, but where do you suppose "they had me over a barrel" comes from?

I digress.

Please visit my new website, PetreaBurchard.com, designed by Paula Johnson, which officially launched yesterday. Sign up to be on my mailing list if you'd like to receive the occasional (and I do mean occasional) update. Bookmark it. Read my stuff. Say hello.

Then head over to the mausoleum. You meet the nicest people there. In the picture above are (L-R) Shannon, Kirk, Tracy, a puffball whose name I didn't catch, Ann and Sofia. Sofia was there for her Halloween costume fashion shoot and the others were enjoying Mountain View Mausoleum. It's a gorgeous place, one of the Dena's most beautiful buildings, and you're welcome to visit respectfully weekdays and Saturdays 10-4 and Sundays 11-3.

I was there to interview company members of Wicked Lit about their new show for a piece in Altadena Patch. The show opens at the mausoleum and in the cemetery October 21st. Mosey on over and read my article, if you please. No strings attached.

Update 10/13: By the way, there's currently an art exhibit upstairs at the mausoleum of Halloween-themed art. Shannon Shea, pictured at left, has a painting in the exhibit. Good news: it sold!

PDP/PPM Books Contest, week 1

Honestly, I don't know what this is. It isn't a grave stone, but I took the photo at a cemetery.

We don't have cemeteries in Pasadena, did you know that? Not a single one. That may be disappointing for anyone who loves Pasadena so much they'd like to remain here for eternity. However, there are several lovely cemeteries nearby.

What's the closest cemetery to Pasadena's northern border?

That's where I took this photo, and it's the contest question for today. I've given you all the information you need to Google the answer, so even if you're not a local you should be able to figure it out.

Here are the contest rules:

1. Email the answer to me. There's a link to my email in my profile at the upper left. You have until midnight tonight, Pasadena (Pacific) time. Answers in the comments section will be rudely ignored.

2. That's all you have to do.

3. This weekend I'll toss all the correct answers into a hat and ask my cutest, most innocent neighbor child to draw one name. (The job of cutest/most innocent neighbor child will revolve throughout the duration of the contest.) I'll announce the winner in Monday's post.

4. PRIZES! This week, the prize will be a brand new copy of Hometown Pasadena 2009-2010, thanks to Colleen Dunn Bates and Prospect Park Media. I have five of these to give away (maybe more, hint hint), so the contest will go on each Friday for five weeks--plus an additional week (that would be SIX weeks, Petrea), when Colleen and I will give away a copy of At Home Pasadena, the lovely, hardcover coffee table book about beautiful living in our beautiful town.

I'm very excited because at some point during the contest one lucky winner will receive a copy of the brand new novel, Helen of Pasadena, by Pasadenyite Lian Dolan. This book is so new it isn't available until November 1st. But you can whet your Helen appetite by reading chapter one here.

Many thanks to Colleen, Lian and all the Prospect Park Media writers for making this contest possible!

Whispering the Good News

Another TV crew shooting in Altadena? Oh yawn.

I spotted the Ghost Whisperer crew again. This time they were shooting at the Mountain View Mausoleum on Marengo Avenue across from the Mountain View Cemetery.

It's not really a yawn. I've been in the LA area twenty years and I still get excited when I see a film crew at work. A crew means good news--good economic news--especially in an area where the economy revolves so heavily around production.

Although California has lost a lot of production to other states in recent years, a good deal of it is still done here. Locals see this sort of thing all the time, but I thought I'd show other folks what it looks like.

So just in case you've never seen a film crew, here's how you spot 'em: It's not the movie stars. It's the trucks. And yes, even the trucks are just a little bit exciting. They're bringing that good news.