as seen on the morning walk

I saw a post on Reddit the other day that showed a photo of Los Angeles and suggested that the hazy/foggy/smoggy conditions render it an urban hell.

Now, to be fair, I think that in many regards, the greater Los Angeles metro can be and is an urban hell.  And I do remember visiting in the early 90s and being amazed and horrified by the smog at the time.  But that photo?  I don't think it was a hellscape of pollution.

It's a welcome thing, or so I think but we often have overcast skies or mist or fog in the mornings.  The marine layer moves in over the metro, hugging up to the mountains and sometimes slipping through the passes.  It makes for cooler mornings, a nice thing for us.  May Grey, we call it.  June Gloom.  It exceeds those months, however.

It's August 31, and on my morning walk today, I saw this as I looked east on Union:

Nope, not pollution.  Walking south on Orange Grove a short time later, I felt a few drops from the condensation that was dripping off the palm trees.  The morning started with a good fog through much of my end of Pasadena.  It feels slightly autumnal, encountering it at this time of year, and oh, you can only imagine how much I yearn for autumn and winter and cooler temperatures and rain!