FAREWELL SHOTS FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Next stop: Boston!

Sunday Jazz at Buster's Coffee House in South Pasadena

I made two trips yesterday to the UPS store to ship back clothes, books, papers, and assorted stuff. Doesn't matter how much I get rid of, I accumulate clutter spores wherever I go. Still, I threw a huge bag of clothes and shoes into one of those giant metal containers along Allen St. I gave up on the few pairs of shoes with higher heels. Not even spikes—just high enough for my ankles to wobble and my toes to scream. I'd dragged them across the country once and they're not going back. They never made it onto my feet for more than a few seconds. Long enough to know I wouldn't be wearing them. Again.

So before I change the blog name from Bluestein Design on California Time back to the original name of Bluestein Design I wanted to show you a few parting shots from my last days in the Pasadena region.

My final visit to the Huntington Library, Galleries, and Botanical Greenhouse garden (some of the images below) got my photographer's brain working overtime. I'm outgrowing this camera. A digital single lens is on the way sooner or later to help me get truer colors and sharper images. But for now, I'll work with what I've got and hope you folks visiting this blog will click on any images you'd like to see in greater detail. If you're reading this through my facebook posting that appears every time I do a blog post, think about visiting the actual blog: http://bluesteindesign.blogspot.com to be able to click on the images so that you can see more details. And sign up to be a follower to see what happens in Boston and beyond.

Ubiquitous Birds of Paradise: parking lots, even, these dramatic beauties never cease to stop me in my tracks with their glowing flames and sharp lines.

At Millard Canyon on Friday I took my socks off, sat on a rock and stretched my legs across the stream so that the bottoms of my feet were pounded by the water. My whole body felt refreshed after that acqua massage.

One recent day at the Rose Bowl a swarm of bicyclists buzzed pass me.

Growing wild outside of the Rose Bowl.

I'll miss the great central Pasadena Library.

The colors always shock me and the camera always falls short.

Into my tenth day of a lingering cold, my eye caught this detail on a Target promo poster advertising their pharmacy experts. It's embroidered into the uniform of the touted expert and hardly noticeable to most who drive by, but I was on foot and noticed this and other posters, each with their own embroidered joke detail.

Detail of Pasadena City Hall

Landscape of my writer's life: A to Z and back again. Took this close up at the Apple store while learning more about my camera during my last one-to-one class here.

From the Children's Garden at the Huntington.

More from the Children's Garden at the Huntington. All around this circular fountain, in subtle shades of gray stone, visitors can study the cycles of the moon.

Variety of Camellias at the Huntington.

Do they have these trees in Boston? I don't think so.

Time for me to take aim at the next chapter in my travels. I'm heading back to Boston in a few hours with eyes open and my camera ready to capture a very long awaited New England spring.