Work has begun!

How very exciting. :) Monrovia's cute old train station building will be getting some much needed renovation soon. I know that the train itself is at least four years off, but I can't help but starting to anticipate it.

The Almighty Seed Palm

Ah, the almighty palm. I have dubbed mine the almighty "seed" palm for obvious reasons. I have two in front of my house (or rather the city does), and this year seems to be a banner year for them. I don't know whether it's because I've been watering more, or? But for one reason or another there seems to be a perpetual carpet of hard, yet pulpy, orange seeds on my front walk. Now my footwear of choice is wooden clogs. Imagine, if you will, the tenuous hold I have on keeping my balance when I step on one of these. Picture in your mind a plank with a ball under it, which circus performers sometimes use to show off their balancing skills. This is the situation in which I find myself when stepping on these seeds. "Whooooooooa," I gasp, starting what looks for a moment like a tightrope walker ready to fall.

The situation has gradually gotten worse over the last couple of months, and looking up into the fronds, I see that the palm's fecundity seems to have no bounds. Yes, I'm afraid I'm going to have to call the city, and let them know that my palms are ready for a snipping!

Throop Church, Pasadena

View of the tower from below.

Local bungalows

One of the things I love about Monrovia is the residential architecture. It's not pretentious. It's practical, useful and charming. This small city has bungalows in abundance. I like these in particular because they are offset from the street, and they each have their own parking space right in front. There are four in this grouping. I don't think the fireplaces are real, but they add flavor.

Throop Church, Pasadena

I went to a lecture tonight at Throop Unitarian Church in Pasadena and was taken by this old handmade sign.

Garlic Pest Control Spray

I've recently discovered Dave's Garden forums, and wanted to share a promising natural remedy for a variety of garden pests. I've had good luck with adding a few drops of oil and dish soap to a sprayer bottle of water, but I'm going to try this as well. Apparently this works well on plants in the cabbage family that can't tolerate any sort of oil spray.

Garlic Spray

1) Juice 2 cloves of garlic into a dish of water and let sit for a day or two. Strain.

2) Add an equal amount of rubbing alcohol and mix.

3) Use 5 parts of water to 1 part of the above mix and put in a spray bottle.

4) Store in a cool dry place when not in use

5) Make sure to label as a non-food item!

Photo by Alincolnt

Good Neighbors

This is a tale of two trees. On the left is what remains of what was once a majestic myrtle tree. It has the unfortunate circumstance of being close to a property line, adjacent to a "neighbor" whom shall remain nameless, but will be described here for the purposes of generating a dialogue. On the right is said neighbor's backyard myrtle tree.

Yes, gentle reader, I seek out your counsel in an effort to achieve some sort of balance, if only hypothetical. According to city arbitrators, the unfortunate situtation in which I find myself is all too common. Neighbors arguing over a plant, a wall, an invisible line. I have lived in Monrovia for 2.5 years. I moved here because of the people, the town, the cute homes, the mature trees, the ambiance. Most people I encountered were friendly, helpful, and happy to live here. In fact, I heard locals say more than once, "I love living here."

Having experienced it first hand, I can also concur with this sentiment. Regrettably, I have found myself living next door to arguably one of the most disagreeable residents in town. Shortly after I moved in, she hinted around about my trimming my myrtle tree. I said that yes, I would be trimming it in the near future. A few weeks later, she appeared angry that I hadn't done it yet, and said I should cut back all the branches (on her side) to the property line and top the tree. As the trunk aligns the property edge, that would leave a tree with branches on one side only.

As it happens, I am a tree lover, and was appalled by her suggestion. Topping trees is a cheap and lazy practice, and certainly no substitute for having a trained arborist shape the tree, pruning out weak branches and leaving in the strong and more pleasing ones. She threatened me, saying that if I didn't trim it she would take drastic measures and "stick me with the bill."

After a bit of searching, I found an arborist, and arranged for him to trim the tree. Apparently he was in some demand, as it took two months to get an appointment. In those two months, my neighbor said my tree was releasing dampness into the air, causing her house damage; was dropping excess leaves and causing her roof damage; shading her home to excess; and was a fire hazard. She also said that the leaves from the tree had clogged her rain gutter and she wanted me to pay to have it cleaned out. I noted that she did not have rain gutters on my side of her house and she repled, "Haven't you ever heard of wind?" I replied, "What about the two myrtle trees in your front yard?" She hung up the phone.

I knew then that I was dealing with a crazy person. My tree cleared her roof 4-5 feet, but she was obsessed with getting rid of all branches on her side of the property line. I had my arborist speak to her, and after he trimmed the tree she was happy for about 4 months, and then she started in again about trimming it. In the meantime, she begain harping on a flowering vine I planted on the fence under the tree (I had asked her permission and got her agreement months before). She left me another harshly worded note on my front step, calling the vine a "weed," and notified me that she reported my tree to the fire department and the city.

To make a long story short, she finally made good on her threat, and hacked my beautiful tree in half. She now waves and smiles when she drives by. I called her up and yelled at her and she hung up on me. The other day I was talking to her neighbor on the other side, and he told me that she sued him over a few inches of property line. "She forced me to build this wall, and then she complained about it," he said. "I call it my battleship," he added, pointing to the shape of it. I could see what he meant. As we looked at the wall, I noticed for the first time an additional myrtle tree in her backyard. It was drooping over her roof, touching it in many places. It looked like it had never been trimmed. She had an overgrown vine next to it.

"That woman has a lot of nerve," I said. "I'm going to take a picture of it."

And dear readers, I invite you to make up your own mind. Her tree is on the right. There is more to the story, but I shall finish by quoting the dear poet Robert Frost: "Good fences make good neighbors."

I sure wish I had a better one.

From the Garden

Fat Tire

Maji, 'e sez 'ello!

This is my sweet kitty's thing that he does when he wants you to pet him. It's impossible to resist THE PAW.

Morning Light on White

I cannot remember the name of this vine, but it's doing rather well
near my front door. So pretty.

Avocados!

I have an extremely prolific avocado tree in my backyard, and have given away crateloads of them over the summer. I even went door-to-door aorund my neighborhood giving them away. I tried to sell them to local Mexican restaurants, but since they are not the dark, nubby (and easy-to-shuck) Hass variety, they weren't interested. Does anyone have any ideas about what to do with the rest of them? New ones are starting to form and there are still plenty left to pick!

My Father's Hand

I've just stared a new blog, My Father's Hand. I will be doing regular scans of his figure studies. He has hundreds of them, so it should take awhile! Stop by and have a look if you are so inclined.

Colorado Commons

I don't know about you, but I'm very excited to see the new Colorado Commons go up. This isn't a new image, but it's the first time I've posted it here. The developer is Barker Pacific. Click on the image to view larger.

Upcoming Development at Magnolia and Duarte

Some new places are going up at Duarte and Magnolia. Bowden Development is the developer and the architects are Saito Design Group.

Sunday Afternoon Tango

Whether you are new to dancing Tango or have some practice under your belt, it's nice to know that you can spend a Sunday afternoon in nearby Pasadena transported to another dimension: that of Argentine Tango. It can be very addicting!

The Sunday Tango Práctica runs from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. This Sunday, August 27th, will be open to new enrollment. All levels welcome. Go to the Tango Academy of Pasadena (c/o Pasadena Civic Ballet Center), 253 North Vinedo Avenue in Pasadena (North of Foothill Blvd., between Altadena Drive and San Gabriel Boulevard). An instructor will be available to answer your questions. Admission is $12 (complementary beverage and appetizers included with admission).

Illustration: Fabián Perez

Dog Park Beauty o' the Week

Spotted this cute Aussie at the Arcadia Dog Park. Love the way she's steppin' out!

Making Juice!

I planted a blood orange tree a couple of years ago and my harvests are starting to get to be a decent size! I picked about 20 of them,wrapped them in my skirt like a farm girl and couldn't resist taking a photo of them after I cut them open. YUM.

Feedback?

I have been posting to this blog fairly regularly for more than a year now and I have an average of about 20 visitors a day. I'd like to know what people would like to see on the blog. I would be interested in having discussions about what people are experiencing living here in Monrovia...most of what I've heard and seen is pretty positive. People seem to really like living here. I'm curious as to what people think could be improved.

I think it would be very conducive to strolling to have nicer street lights, but I know it's expensive. I wonder if there is such a thing as solar street lights? They wouldn't have as much power, but you could put in more of them. It seems to me that people here really enjoy coming to the Friday night street fair and more such opportunities for strolling would likely be welcome.

My favorite regular

I always see this guy at the street fair and he makes me smile. I love the sound of his guitar, and his concentration. I like to picture him sitting in various places around Southern California, singing his sings and making people happy.

Dr. Q. Dental

I've been looking for a good dentist in Monrovia for awhile now, and just got a flyer in the mail for "Dr. Q Dental." They are offering free teeth whitening and a $49 exam and x-rays. Has anyone used them? I'd be curious to hear about anyone's experiences or recommendations. They are located in Old Town on East Colorado.

Impatiens

A little something from my garden.

Mapping Apartments

Finally someone has done a Google/Craig's List hack that allows you to easily search for apartments in your area. You get a list with prices alongside a map with markers showing you the location of each! Fantastic. I'll never forget the day I was driving around with my camera snapping pics of houses I liked (for this blog!) and a woman started following me. It freaked me out because she would pull over when I did and then pull away when I did. This went on for about 10 minutes when I became exasperated and rolled down my window.

"Are you a real estate agent?" she asked. "I'm looking for an apartment in the area." I wasn't able to help her, but maybe with this post I can help someone else through this challenging task! Check out My Apartment Map and see for yourself!

Show Dog!

I spotted this gorgeous beast at the Arcadia dog park today. She's an
8-month-old Akita. A real beauty!

Obsessive complusive cat

Must see to be believed!!

Caffé Opera & Bistro

I love Caffé Opera because it is a nice atmostphere, good food (though somewhat pricey) and they are open Monday nights! YEY. As you can see, they have entertainment as well (on the weekends).

Ghost Rider

Gotta love a summer evening pony ride! I never got to go on one as a kid but but got my own horse as a teenager. I just loved riding. Still do. If I wasn't too big I'd pay for my own pony ride here.

Cracking open

I have to say I'm rather proud of this picture. What fun. My stephanotis floribunda put out a green seedpod this year, and it hardened and cracked open to reveal these lovely little floaty papery mini-pods inside. They catch the wind rather easily and I wanted to document it!

Unknown butterfly

Spotted this guy in the garden today and he looked pretty fixed on his branch, so I thought I'd try to see if he's hitch a ride on my finger. Lo' and behold! And he held firm through my entire impromptu photoshoot. Good thing I had my camera in my purse! Anyone know what kind of butterfly he is?

Hangin' out in the avocado tree

Where's Waldo? :)

Farmer's Market Berries

Mmmmmnnnnnn!

Miss Pinky's Kettle Corn

Miss Pinky's Kettle Corn is quite popular at the Monrovia Friday
Night Street Fair. I didn't get any this time, but saw quite a few
people with giant bags of it. We enjoy walking along Myrtle Ave. on
Friday nights, especially in the summer when the temperatures are so
fantastic.

Old Town Pizza

Mr. Maji on the garden path

A window I liked...!

Centre Stage

Where the future stars of Monrovia learn their trade...

How to Hack a Voting Machine

Could it be that easy? A must view. See for yourself here.