Art Center is located in the hills of Pasadena overlooking the Rose Bowl. I would literally drive by the Rose Bowl every day on my commute to school. This area is the ‘old-money’ area of Pasadena, meaning people who lived there were quite well-off. The drive was beautiful on a two-way street heavily shaded with large kept trees and the distance from Art Center to the Rose Bowl was five minutes, max.

Adjacent to the Rose Bowl was a large public golf course. There was not a clubhouse on the golf course, and there were very rarely any golfers, but it was there for the area residents. Mostly the golf course was a well maintained plot of land with many trees and grass. It was the perfect place for lunchtime picnics with my close friends sometimes. To get away from the invited craziness of Art Center and relax in the shade while eating and conversing was always very relaxing.

In little time we learned that everyday around lunchtime, the golf course grounds would be watered by high-powered sprinklers. This didn’t hinder our lunchtime outings however. We were able to turn this lemon into lemonade.

Ian was always a very good Frisbee thrower and I learned this when he suggested to play catch with the frisbee. I guess that is where and when I too became a rather good frisbee thrower. There was no comparison to Ian’s frisbee prowess though, he knew all sorts of catching and throwing tricks.

While tossing the frisbee around one day, the sprinklers turned on. This is when we made lemonade. The day was sunny and clear as it often is in Southern California, the temperature was just right, and we were being sprayed with water. Talk about a kid-throwback! It was like the days of slip and slide all over again. Off came our shoes and shirts and we would continue to throw the frisbee, often in the clear direction of the high-powered sprinkler so that the catcher could get doused with water while attempting the catch.

Water Frisbee was great exercise and a lot of fun. The type of fun that youth’s experience when their lives are generally uncluttered and carefree. No cares in the world and it was wonderful! Although we would spend a lot of time on these grounds during lunchtime, we were always respectful of the grounds never leaving our trash behind. We had a great group of friends. Sometimes our group consisted of a number of us of together. Elizabeth, Elaine, Lexi, Mike, Ian, and myself. Awesome peeps. We worked hard, and we played hard. Art Center…those were the days, and I look back fondly on them all.