Left Coast View

Ragged Point overlook

Big Sur

     A visiting 3 year old got her first look at Big Sur from what she called the "roof deck." She was mesmerized, as I was all those years ago.

     As written here previously, the theater of mountains meeting ocean fired neurons that gave polarity to the navigational tides of my life.

     Years ago one of the smartest people I know, a Harvard Law graduate corrected something I said about people and provincialism. He reminded me a provincial mindset can be authored by wider parameters than I cited. 

a left coastist

      This left coast has pulsed my gyroscopic tendencies. 

Yes, there is the cultural affinity that is comfortable. Creativity seems most compatible with open mindedness. Artistic pursuits seem to breed enthusiasm, joy, and a delighting of the senses. 

      But there is also a primordial resonance and power of pure nature. It massages the soul.

      And here, on this left coast, there is light that provides clarity for the eyes and for the mind. It infuses life with color and dimension. It has shaped me, kneaded me. I've become a provincial, a left coastist!

 A "Bottle Brush" tree dressed in spring finery

 A flirtation with the setting sun

An exquisite composition, this spring lily.

      There is something to observe about being a left coastist, this assumed and self proclaimed provincialism, especially at this time in the struggles of our Republic. Imagine a new program-that follows below, but first.....

    The biennial Petals and Palettes art show has been judged and is hanging at the Cambria Center for the Arts (CCAT) Gallery.

     It is a cooperative venture of the CCAT, supported by the working artists in this historic colony and the Cambria Garden Club. 

      Art and floral arrangements in symphony...

      This Blue Ribbon of floral arrangement with art is the work of Lana, both the artist and floral designer. 

          The painting, Bonnie's Garden is the work of one of Cambria's best, Pat Wilmott. 

        Lana was painter and arranger.

             She also created this floral arrangement for the stunning photography of an extraordinarily talented Judith Skartvedt.

         

             Tom Gould's masterful photo realistic rendering is matched by the floral work of Donna Hoppe

           Another award winner is the painting by one of Cambria's great, Jeanette Wolff. 

           Kathi Rippe, another popular artist and award winner.

       This award winner, both painting and arrangement by Holly McCain.

          An honorable mention here for Lana and master water colorist Steve Kellogg, also a tennis master. 

                 A mixed media offering by Sheri Parisian.

 

        A lily painted and paired by mother nature.

        If you have an opportunity to be anywhere near Cambria in the next couple of weeks, the show will be up in the CCAT Gallery, but the floral arrangements are on a shorter time schedule.

        that coastal view

         Our little coastal enclave is half way between LA and San Francisco. We are about an equal distance from the cultural and political landscape of Bakersfield and the central valley. We are about as far from Washington as one can get, our backs are at the Pacific. 

         We are in the waves of energy and thought that come from the Bay area of San Francisco, San Jose and the Silicon Valley and those from the vibes of entertainment, rocket science and diversity of LA and southern California. Over the mountains, past cattle ranches and through wine country and over the high desert is the world of agriculture and culture of the Valley. 

         We see diversity of all sorts. We take our measured view, with the bias that this is not like anywhere else and attitudes here are sometimes the butt of jokes back east. Well, we can joke back. Just pretend that after this season of Game of Thrones brings the series to an end, a programmer begins a new series-

if this were a just world...

(a creative overview)

        The occupant of the White House is bound and gagged and marched to the US Capitol by way of visiting the memorials of WWII, the Korean War and the Viet Nam wall.

        Before he ends up in the well of congress, he is forced to take a full briefing by the CIA including about the intentions of Vladimir Putin's Russia and Kim's North Korea. 

        Before he is tried as a traitor, he must endure the forced reading by Mitch McConnell of the full Mueller Report. 

      Then Speaker Pelosi reads to him, the Constitution of the US. 

      Said McConnell is  then named as a co-conspirator and bound back to back with the president.

      And then children will present causes of indictment--reports-

       --about the national security consequence of denying climate change and of pulling out of the Paris accords, 

       --recitations of each of the thousands of lies he has told,        

       --analysis of the consequence of his undermining of the national security apparatus 

       --replay of his Helsinki appearance with Putin, 

       --the reading of transcripts of his private conversations with Putin, 

       --reports on the nature of his business relationships with Russian mobsters, 

      --replay his grandiose statements about Kim, 

      --video of the most recent missile launches.

    After the children complete their presentations, all US citizens will vote; thumbs up or thumbs down. 

       Talk about must see TV!  And maybe it could be serialized on Twitter. 

        See you down the trail.