A SCOTS BLUFF-HAWKE MAKES BLUE-AND TO THE BRIDE!

Like a Scot's Wind

  English, Scots, Irish and a blend of Brit genealogies have  settled in Cambria and on the central coast. 

  Windswept bluffs and plenty of room to ramble are appealing and familiar.

   Legroom with views.

 

   Expansive heath where land joins sea.

   Wind and surf in chorus.

     This area "speaks" to some of our DNA.

Born To Be Blue
will make you blue

    Chet Baker is one of those great talents who let demons direct his life and Born To Be Blue, currently in release, is an artful film that tells the story very well.  

     Ethan Hawke, who studied the trumpet and who sang, turns in a superb performance capturing the genius and torture of Chet Baker. Baker was a better singer than Hawke but the entire score and musical ambiance of the film is masterful. Cool and blue jazz and the essence of mellow.The film ventures into a little bop, thanks to the Dizzy Gillespie shading in the plot. Then there is Miles Davis and the script's hint that Baker was pained to get Mile's respect, even to the point of destructive behavior.

     Hawke is good throughout, but the scene where he stares into the mirror in the dressing room at Birdland while fighting with himself about whether to take methadone or to fire up a fix of smack is riveting and is the distilled crux of the story. Born To Be Blue is directed by Canadian Robert Budreau who has made award winning shorts. Brit Carmen Ejogo is excellent in her double role as Elaine and Jane.

     It is an art film, playing in limited distribution about a tortured artist who lived to play the trumpet and shoot heroin, so you won't leave with a smile. It's not for everyone, but if you like Baker's music, Jazz, good story telling and excellent acting it's a good 90 some minutes. Hard to beat the music.

                           

Happy Anniversary

   After all these years you are still my beautiful bride

and I'm more in love every day. 

A Sweet Finale

    Giovanni the maestro at Harmony Cafe at the Pewter Plough does many things well including his own take on Zucatto. This was a recent "experiment."  We lab animals were swooning very quickly after this photo. "Heavenly" was a consensus.

     See you down the trail.

A GOVERNMENT OF STOOGES

HE SAID IT RIGHT

     As soon as I started shooting the sign this morning, more than a dozen others got out their cars and began doing likewise. I felt like a translator at the UN, explaining the best that I could.  Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Swedes, Italian and French.  Those who spoke or understood English then translated to a growing crowd of others who swelled the road side crowd.  

     The Ranger Booth at the Tioga Pass entrance to Yosemite was under siege. No one, except those with printed reservation forms were being admitted. The Rangers were doing their best to remain cool and apologize. More than once they sympathized with foreign visitors who were here for what is likely their once and only visit to the iconic American vistas.

     We were saddened for those who will miss the views that should be on everyone's bucket list.  We visit frequently and it was easy for us to shake it off, not so for the others.
     He must have been a Russian, at least by my guess of his accent.  He was explaining to traveling companions, loudly as he walked back to his car.
      "To close this park.  They are a government of stooges!"
Agreed, I thought to myself.

    We drove on to other destinations.  On our way out we passed the group of Brits who shared our lodge dining room only an hour or so earlier.  A group of 20 or so had rented Corvettes and are touring California.  There they were, bright, shiny convertibles, in a caravan headed west on 120

toward the gate where the besieged ranger probably wished he could tell the increasingly long line of cars that he worked for a government of stooges.

    See you down the trail.