Springtime in Pasadena! Arlington Gardens

The greatest gift of the garden 

is the restoration of the five senses.

~Hanna Rion

Last year, my neighbor Drew moved. He was in the condo across the hall, and really the only person I've become friends with, in the building, to the level that I actually go and do things with them. Anyway, I was bummed he left, but he found a wonderful house in Pasadena, so I am thrilled for him that that dream came true, for him.

Anyway, I went out there to see his new house last spring (really lovely and decorated very classy, of course) and we decided to check out the community garden nearby. 

I had planned to post about it, back then, but I was in the midst of all my Rome posts. Now that spring is here again, I thought it was the perfect time to (finally) post this beautiful garden!

One of the things that's so wonderful about this garden, is that there are so many places to sit and read or visit. 

On the little sign, as you enter, it reads …

Welcome to Arlington Garden

"You are about to enter Pasadena's only dedicated public garden designed to demonstrate sustainable water wise gardening in our mediterranean climate. You will notice it changes with every season. Walk the paths. Sit on the chairs and benches you will find throughout the Garden. Find surprises around every corner and many places where you can linger and "hear your own thoughts." 

Love is like a beautiful flower

which I may not touch,

but whose fragrance makes the garden

a place of delight just the same.

~Helen Keller

I know that if odour were visible,as color is,

I'd see the summer garden in rainbow clouds.

~Robert Bridges, Testament of Beauty

Half the interest of a garden
is the content exercise of the imagination.
~Mrs. C.W. Earle, Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden 1897

 

The Amphitheater, above, was built in honor of Sabra Clark, initial Garden supporter and lifelong Pasadena resident. It's used for classes, lectures, picnics, and musical performances and plays put on by families. 

There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden.

there is no evidence for it,

but you can't prove that there aren't any,

so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies?

~Richard Dawkins

We really had such a lovely day. After the garden, we had lunch in an old railway station, that was converted into a restaurant. Really yummy kale salad, by the way!

Drew!

Beauty surrounds us,
but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.
~Rumi

Blessings and light!

Ojai Raptor Center ... Fly away little bird ...

The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply that they have perfect faith,

for to have faith is to have wings.

~ J.M. Barrie

The Little White Bird

Occasionally, the Ojai Raptor Center has an open house, which I always seem to miss. BUT, this year I made it! I left my pastel class one Saturday, an hour early, to head over there with Wendy from class. Turns out it's only about a 5 minute drive from my parents' house.

Apparently, they had at least 1,500 people that day and had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new large flight aviary. The next open house is November 10, 2012, if you're in the neighborhood!

Volunteers who regularly handle the educational birds where there to introduce the "resident raptors." If at all possible, birds that are brought there, are rehabilitated and set free. That is the goal. The educational birds are either physically unable to be released or were imprinted on humans and are unable to fend for themselves in the wild.

"Spooky"

Barred Owl

Bob

American Kestrel

How cute is Bob? Unfortunately, someone else thought so too and he was imprinted on a human (someone hand-fed him and tried to turn him loose) and then he was unable to care for himself. He is non-releasable and now an educational bird.

The Raptor Center is located on what was an old honor farm in Ojai.

Hitch

Bald Eagle

Hitch was born in 2005 but has had head trauma and wing fractures that did not heal properly.

He's been at the Ojai Raptor Center since 2008.

Shytan

Golden Eagle

Shytan sadly is unable to fly because he severed his right wing on a power line, flying after his prey.They don't know how old he is because he came to them as an adult, but he has been in captivity for 20 years. (These birds can live up to 50 years in captivity.) The trainer said he still tries to fly sometimes ... not remembering his wing isn't there. It must be like a human amputation where you have a phantom limb? Anyway, it is really sad but he is so majestic and is a great ambassador for conservation through people experiencing these amazing birds.

They built their new flight aviary so that it curves and will strengthen their wings for their in-flight turns.

On the way out of the property...

I pulled these You Tube videos from the Raptor Center's YouTube Channel.

"Avalon" gets chattier and chattier throughout the video below.

She is a female bald eagle and arrived in August of 2011.

For her full story, click here.

They also have a barn owl box on USTREAM that will hatch sometime this spring. You can see the mamma in there preparing her nest. Here is the USTREAM LINK

I wrote about the Ojai Raptor Center in a previous post, after meeting some of the birds at Ojai Day in October of 2010. To check out those photos, you can see that post here. I had an actual camera that day, not just my phone!

Hope you all have an amazing week. Please enjoy this song, which I love love love, by the indigo girls! Warning, it's a little sad but really beautiful.

O birds, your perfect virtues bring,

Your song, your forms, your rhythmic flight,

Your manners for your heart’s delight,

Nestle in hedge, or barn, or roof,

Here weave your chamber weather-proof,

Forgive our harms, and condescend

To man, as to a lubber friend,

And, generous, teach his awkward race

Courage, and probity, and grace!

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

May-Day and other Pieces

Blessings and light for a beautiful Spring Equinox!!!

Farming Friends and Lunch

I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred,

I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I met Susan in junior high. She was tall and beautiful, and very smart. This continued through high school where she was an honor student, president of the girls' league and eventually homecoming queen. On top of that, she was always nice and just a totally cool chick. I remember we'd get together to study and all we'd do is chat for hours on end. I have a feeling it was me that was the bad influence in those study sessions, considering she was the one getting straight A's.

We lost touch in college. She studied zoology at UC Davis, then plant ecology at the University of Alaska, while I was studying art and doing theatre in San Diego. Eventually, (I'm jumping way ahead here) she ended up in Ester, Alaska near Fairbanks running Calypso Farm & Ecology Center with her husband and their two adorable girls. Check out their website. What they are doing is pretty amazing.

Happily, we got back in touch a couple of years ago on Facebook when I was staying in Ojai recovering from my appendix. Her brother still lives there (in Ojai), not far from my sister. He does organic farming in The Happy Valley, and that is where we met up last Friday for a picnic when Susan and her family were in town visiting and taking a break from the Alaska winter. It's on the same road and just a hop skip and a jump from The Beatrice Wood Centre for the Arts.

We picked greens for our lunch and along with a few other goodies (and a little balsamic and olive oil) we were ready to go. It was a glorious day and great to see old friends!

Susan

New little lettuces coming up ...

Mmmm ... my salad ...

What a cute family, huh? Susan, as gorgeous as ever, with her brother Peter in the middle, her husband Tom in green, and her sweet girls, Addie and Elsa. (Addie's in the sunglasses.)

Hoping to go see them in Alaska some day, but until then ... we'll have our visits in Ojai.

Bloom where you are planted.

~ Mary Engelbreit

Earth Day Lessons

Keep close to Nature's heart...

and break clear away,

once in awhile,

and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.

Wash your spirit clean.

~John Muir

Earth Day lessons from my nephew Benjamin

and his Labradoodle Lucy.

Play outside!

Hang in a flower bed!

Help in the veggie garden ...

And get seriously dirty!

Talk to the animals ...

And teach everyone to appreciate even the tiny

ones with 6 legs!

Make wishes on Dandelions

And enjoy the beautiful little moments on this

extraordinary planet.

And I would add ... give back and find new ways to leave as little footprint as possible on our beautiful planet.

I learned from my sister that you can use cloth napkins everyday and if you forget the reusable grocery bags in the car leave the cart and go get them! I also got a reverse osmosis water filter and the water tastes so much better than from plastic water bottles! I fill up my cute red stainless water bottle and I'm good to go! I recycle, buy used clothes and earth friendly cleaning products, eat as much locally grown food as I can, and I print on both sides of my recycled paper. Little by little I am adding to the list!

One of my favorite lines was by my friend Royce. He walked into my apartment and on seeing I had lights on in 3 rooms said in a deadpan voice, "Um, Al Gore called. Wants me to tell you to shut your lights off." Then he laughed, and so did I but I am much better now about shutting off my lights!

Some of my favorite places to give back and help the planet are World Wildlife Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation and Surfrider Foundation. And to find out where to buy locally in your area ... check out Local Harvest. My favorite eco blog that has tons of cool creative inventions and ideas is INHABITAT. Definitely worth checking out these sites!

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,

places to play in and pray in,

where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.

John Muir

Happy Earth Day!

What are your favorite earth day ideas and lessons?