Doormats and Diapers on the Trail to Eaton Canyon Falls

We're on the trail to Eaton Canyon Falls with a group of third graders.   In route, we pass these painters dabbling in the cool of an old oak.  They've got a vista to the canyon walls and a palate of color.   If they want, they can drop in some school kids.

The kids are on their way to the falls.   And they have an assignment -- to pick up trash along the way.       

We leave the artists and break into sunlight.   The trail swings back and forth across a winding stream and soon the whoosh of falling water is in the air.  Cooled by a misty breeze we come face to face with 40 feet of falling water.  Described by John Muir as "a charming little thing with a low sweet voice," this is Eaton Canyon Falls.

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Over the years, we've been to Eaton Canyon a lot.   I can't step foot in the place without thinking of some past event, whether its carrying a kid on a trail, playing in the stream, watching frogs or just hanging out at the nature center.           

A few years ago, I did a pretty good post on a Hike to Eaton Canyon Falls.   If you can't go on the trail, the post gives you a good idea of what you would see and hear.   

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Back to the third graders.   The kids had a great time.   They scrambled over boulders, played in the stream and experienced nature's beauty in a hands on, soaking clothes kind of way.  

And they carried out their assignment.   They were studying the environment and the effects of pollution.    

So, they picked up trash.  

What they found was amazing.   Beer bottles, soda cans, plastic forks, plastic bags, potato chip bags and wrappers of all sorts.   There was a full diaper someone left just off the trail.   And door mats.   Yeah, my daughter found two door mats lying in the stream.

 The kids filled three large trash bags, which we carried out.

Mountains, water falls, doormats and diapers.   It was a good lesson on nature's beauty, the truly stupid things people do to the environment, and the importance of protecting our forests and parks.

On the Passing of Victor McClinton

I want to join the many who are honoring the life and memory of Victor McClinton.

Near the end of 2012, it was front page on the Pasadena Star News and the most viewed article for days -- Pasadena Comes Together to Remember Victor McClinton.   McClinton was director of the Brotherhood Community Sports League.    At the age of 49, he was tragically killed on Christmas Day.

A recent Pasadena Weekly article aptly titled "One Very Good Man,"  again brought Victor to mind. 

I knew Victor only for a season - a football season.   Like thousands of area kids, my son participated in Brotherhood Crusade sports.   One year, he had the privilege of playing on a football team Victor coached.   So, I knew Victor as a dad knows a coach -- mostly from the sidelines.  But, I saw and  heard enough to know my son was fortunate to cross paths with this man.  

Though I did not know Victor well, I have known men like him -- men who are there for the kids month after month, year after year, consistent, resilient.   They get the keys to the gym or the field and they make sure the kids play.   They are more important than we realize.  

Well worth reading is a moving tribute to Victor written by his longtime friend, Danny Bakewell.    Over the years he led Brotherhood Crusade Sports and coached, Victor touched the lives of 20,000 area kids.  Few can say as much.   His was a monumental life.  "One very good man" who will be remembered by thousands for years to come..  

In Search of the Perfect Date Shake at Sierra Madre's Mother Moo

Yesterday at Mother Moo's, I enjoyed probably the best date shake I've ever had.   That's saying alot because, as I've posted before, I've had date shakes all over southern California.   If you are a date shake fan or ever wanted to try one, then get on over to Mother Moo in Sierra Madre.

Fresh from the desert, Mother Moo has a raft of organic dates and she's offering her own take on southern California's iconic date shake.   The dates are chunky and the ice cream is different than I've had in other date shakes.  Mother Moo's date shake is based in what they call "triple milk" ice cream and it is sans the usual vanilla.   It works and what you get a creamy thick date shake with plenty of date chunks.    

Mother Moo will make this shake to your order.   So, if you want to take this experience to the next level, I recommend asking them to add cinnamon and nutmeg.   The basic shake is good, but the spices put the Mother Moo Date Shake in my Date Shake Hall of Fame.       

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New Years 2013

In Pasadena, all our New Year's rituals revolve around the Rose Parade.  In Seattle, it was about staying warm and getting a good view of the Space Needle.

I think this was the first Rose Parade I've missed in more than two decades.   I'm not a big parade fan.  But the Rose Parade is different.   I like the whole build up to the parade and game -- the street decorations, bleachers, visitors from the Midwest, RVs, float building, driving the parade route and then walking to the parade on New Years Day.   We were called to the great Pacific Northwest for a wedding and missed the home festivities this year.    Seattle was fun and spectacular in its own right.   Just quite a bit different around New Years.     

Sierra Madre's Who-Ville Festival and Small Business Saturday

Are you Black Friday'ed out?   Tired of fighting your way into the big box to pay big bucks for big plastic things shipped in from overseas?   Well, here's a small town antidote to your weariness.

Today, Sierra Madre is presenting its Who Ville Festival.  It runs from 1 PM to 8 at night and all the information is here.   

The festival, like "downtown" Sierra Madre, is the antithesis of the Best Buy/Target/Walmart experience.  One is small town; the other Big Box.   One is lots of small stores. The other lots of long aisles.   One is picturesque and homey.  The other ....   Well, I could go on, but you get where I'm coming from.

I've posted before about one of those small Sierra Madre locally owned efforts -- Mother Moo Creamery.  
The Moo, as we call it around here, opened a year ago and is now a fixture at 17 Kersting Court.   They are local folks, who hire local folks and who get their ingredients locally.   And, they turn out gourmet products on par with anything you'll find in town or out of town.

Special for today, the Moo will be hosting other locals upstarts who make top quality products.   Marcia will be there with HomeBody Botanicals.  In addition to her great lotions and salves, she'll have some extra special stuff for the holidays.   One is Elderberry Syrup made with elderberries that our family wildcrafted in the local foothills.   Another product I really like is her Fire Cider, which we take in the winter to ward off colds.  Like everything she makes, the Fire Cider is made from locally or organically sourced ingredients and is carefully packaged. 
      

Black Friday at East Pasadena's Best Buy

This week I've watched the line outside Best Buy grow.  It started Monday with a few guys who set up camp outside the front doors.  The line has grown each day.  Here's a picture taken at 7 PM tonight (Thanksgiving night).  The line now stretches from the Best Buy doors (which are on the other side of Ross) south all the way to Foothill Blvd.

They are in line to get a shot at  buying the Doorbusters.   This year, the Doorbuster to top all others is a 40 inch Toshiba flat screen TV for $180.  That's an advertised savings of $240.

We talked to a guy toward the front of the line.  He's after the Toshiba flatscreen for re-sale.   Of course, there are other items he wants too.      

Doors open at midnight.   There's still time to get in line. 

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It is fun to watch people set up camp in front of Best Buy and to see the line grow.  But, I have no desire to get in that line.

What looks better to me is Sierra Madre's WhoVille set for Saturday from 1 PM to 8 PM.     .  

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving with a photo of a wild turkey I took north of Sacramento and a 2009 post that's an oldie but goodie:

Some interesting turkey facts on this Thanksgiving Day.

Turkeys are the biggest game birds in North America. Wild turkeys have dark feathers to help them blend in with their surroundings. They eat seeds, berries, acorns and small insects. At night, they evade predators by sleeping on tree branches.

Wild turkeys populate many areas of the country. Seems wild turkeys were also native to the Los Angeles basin. Don't know if any wild turkeys remain here. But, there are wild turkeys in northern California. The flock above was photographed in the Sierra foothills.

None other than Benjamin Franklin championed the turkey for the nation's Great Seal. Dismissing the bald eagle as a scavenger of bad moral temperament. Franklin preferred the turkey because, "though a little vain and silly" it is a "Bird of Courage." I think Franklin more loathed eagles than exalted turkeys. He also made a case for putting a rattlesnake on the Great Seal.

Ever wondered how the turkey got named? The Story of How the Unofficial Bird of the United States Got Named After a Middle Eastern Country is an entertaining piece on the MIT website that explores the question. And yes, our word "turkey" was named after the country Turkey.

The turkey on your table this afternoon is a distant cousin to the birds that fed the Pilgrims or which roam wild in the foothills. The National Turkey Federation website describes modern turkey production. Domesticated birds have been bred to maximize breast and thigh meat, can't fly, and have white feathers which don't leave pigment spots when the bird is plucked. The NTF reports that per capita consumption of turkeys in 2009 is estimated to reach 17 pounds.  That's a lot of turkey.