Arroyo Steps

I thought I might have published a photo of these stairs before. It turns out I have, from a different angle. I've also wondered but never known if they're vestiges of the original Busch Gardens. They're off the main path where you can't easily see them. Watch for side trips.

I do know that's poison oak on the right.

Will you have some time off over the next few days? It looks like we're going to have perfect hiking weather.

Let me know if this picture's too big on your screen. I'm tired of the teeny ones. I like big. But I need some easy watermarking software.

Mental Oz

You know those things that you had all along, but didn't see them until you smacked your ruby-slippered heels together and said, "there's no place like my brain"? I find these things when I take a different route, or take the usual route at a different time of day.

These old steps were a result of the latter. I often walk down this street with Boz in the late afternoon, but this time it was a morning walk. The steps appeared like magic. I had never seen them before. They're about four blocks from my house.

Does this ever happen to you? I don't know whether that's good or bad. Bad would mean I'm woefully unobservant. Good would mean I can allow for pleasant surprises.

Downstairs Downtown

I went out the other night!

After dark and everything!

I know!

Old Town Pasadena has nooks and crannies, too many to count. I like to wander there any time, to peek into places that appear to be secrets. But after dark an intrigue is added, perhaps imagined, perhaps real. Alleys, stairwells, doorways--everything looks different in artificial light and the shadows it throws. At night, I notice things I've never seen during the day. And they become stories in my head, or thoughts I shouldn't be thinking.

The Whole Staircase

Of yesterday's photo Dive asked, "So what was around that corner, Petrea? Did you sneak a look?"

I did. Speedway was prescient when she quoted Dr. King, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

I took both photos a couple of years ago. I was pretty mad at myself when I forgot to use yesterday's picture for Martin Luther King Day last year.

I did climb the stairs. They led to private property, which I did not invade.

But I remember where they are.

Sunday Steps

We've been having cool, cloudy mornings and warm afternoons. If you're one of those people who complains about hot weather, all you have to do these days is get up early. And not like 6am. You can get up at 10:00 and still get in a good hike before it heats up. I wonder how long it'll last.

Probably 'til I post this.

Have a beautiful Sunday, wherever you roam.

Stairway to Hell

This stairway needs some tender loving care!!