JUST-WHAT IS IT? & SWEET ENDINGS

Flag Day in Cambria

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

Abraham Lincoln

THE BLOODY NRA

     In a parallel world where the morality of the NRA rules human hearts instead of Judeo-Christian values or those of other faith systems and beliefs, Wayne Lapierre would be gunned down by an AR 15.  In this world Lapierre has been an accomplice in the gunning down of innocent men, women and children. 

     The NRA and every member of Congress or a state legislature who has not advocated or voted to ban or restrict sales of the AR 15 have the blood of Orlando, Newtown, Auora and San Bernadino on their hands. The bullshit machine of the gun manufacturing and sales industry and the NRA has tried to sell this nation on the "sporting, hunting and self defense" qualities of the AR 15, a civilian model of the M 16 military rifle. The truth behind the fraud is greed, the sales of a gun.

     With federal trainers, ATF and FBI agents, local and state law enforcement personnel and US Army weapons instructors I have used AR 15s and many other weapons and handguns and with proficiency. There is no sound reason the AR 15 should be in civilian hands. AR 15s are designed to kill and the semi automatic nature of such weapons can be easily turned into rapid fire purveyors of death. Anyone who tells you anything else is either a liar, coward or someone who needs to prove masculinity or feminine macho with a gun.

     There are better hunting weapons. There are other weapons that require greater skill and mastery for sport and competitive shooting. There are plenty of other weapons that could be used for self defense-but God help us if we descend to the absurd theory being advocated that if more people are armed there would be fewer victims of mass shootings.

      The issues of gun safety, registration, control and all the peripheral arguments aside, the sale of assault weapons to the public is simply stupid and dangerous. Not to do something about it only moves us closer to that parallel world.

BOYCOTT JUSTIN?  

       When Justin Baldwin owned and managed the Justin Winery it was a place of quality, sustainability and a prestige label in the Paso Robles appellation. The flag ship Isosceles was an expensive wine but award winning and well respected. How far Justin has tumbled since Mr. Baldwin sold the operation to the Wonderful group owned by Stewart and Lynda Resnick the people behind POM Wonderful and Fiji Water and other enterprises.

        Presently San Luis Obispo County is investigating the practices of Justin winery. After a couple of years of complaints from the family-like Paso Robles wine industry, Justin is being seen in an interesting light.  A couple of years ago people complained that Justin had begun cutting revered California Live Oak trees, in droves. During the height of the drought Justin began clearing land and planting new vines. And they were said to be over irrigating. Many shook their heads.

        Aside from staff departures, the destruction of a beloved rose garden, they increased the volume of wine made. Under Baldwin the label found a level of case production that assured the quality people expected. That changed. Californians, familiar with Justin, found the wine on shelves and restaurants as far as Florida, where the once vaunted wine tasted nothing like the old limited quality product. 

      I pass this along and label it as gossip-I cannot prove the  veracity though anecdotally this has gained wide circulation in the local wine industry-where Baldwin produced something like 200 thousand cases a year, the Resnick regime is trying to push it to 1 million or more. They do sell a lot of pomegranate juice and bottled water, but a high quality wine is different. Baldwin loved wine and winemaking as do most of the Paso winemakers. It appears the new Justin is simply the manufacture of a commodity in pursuit of more sales.

      In the meantime they are being investigated for killing many prized California Live Oak-something you can not do-scraping hillsides and lying to the county about their intentions. They display the arrogance of a "one percenter" in a community known for friendly, cooperative, environmentally sensitive practices where there is a devotion to quality wine. We know people who are dropping their membership. Others are talking about a boycott. And the local government may have sanctions in store for a bad neighbor. It's my take the Resnick operation would be more at home in Napa.

A BETTER TASTE

    An apple rosette made by my daughter Katherine.

    A Zuccotto made by Chef Giovanni of the Harmony Cafe at the Pewter Plough Playhouse in Cambria.

GREAT PERFORMANCES

    Bryan Cranston as LBJ in the HBO adaptation of the stage production All The Way. Melissa Leo as Ladybird, Bradley Whitford as Senator Hubert Humphrey, Frank Langella as Senator Richard Russell.

    Also first class Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins in the teledrama The Dresser.  Good work too from Emily Watson and Edward Fox.

    See you down the trail.

ON THE EDGE

MORE THAN RANDOM MISSES

    An eerie thought occurred as I watched the meteor shower splashing the sky. While it's not for everyone, I'm lucky to live where it is dark, very dark with a minimum of light and light pollution. I joke with my friend Frank, back in beautiful Falls Church Va, that I moved west to watch rockets being launched (Vandenberg AFB) a particularly spectacular sight because of the dark sky. Actually the sky is not dark, it's deep and rich and so full of stars it has dimension and space has a shape and texture. So on a recent evening I'm on the deck watching the zips and streaks and the next night I'm soaking in the spa when it dawns on me how extraordinary it is that we escape being hit by all of these flying icebergs and chunks of rock.

    It's not the kind of thought you want to sneak into your brain before bed time, especially if you tend to be anxious I suppose. There is a ton of stuff flying out there and of course science tells us this blue planet has been nailed before, probably several times. So from this land where you watch rockets, real cowboys, surfers, enjoy the beauty of vineyards and breathe Pacific air it might not be surprising that one begins to contemplate space ship earth and it's delicate fragility in a cosmos that goes beyond the bounds of rational and finite thought. Beyond finite, that presents a problem so we come up with infinite. Where precisely does infinite begin to be infinite, and what does it mean that it never ends?  Actually, don't give either of those much thought or you may find yourself drooling in your shoes. Still we can ponder how lucky we are that our course has, for the last few thousand years at least, kept us from a head on collision with a space brick or mountain.

     I wonder if we spent more time looking up, or wondering about cosmic eventualities, if we wouldn't be a little nicer to each other and to our planet and its limited resources. Greed, malice, hate, anger, war, zealotry and all of that kind of behavior would look pretty barbaric and primitive to someone looking in from way up high. In however long we humans have been jogging around this globe we never get far from acting like lower animals hanging around a swamp. Despite what our better minds and loving souls have done, a lot of homo sapiens act like thugs or brain washed lab animals. I saw a great cartoon that had God sitting and looking through a scope at planet earth.  He says to Jesus or an attending angel-"If it weren't for the dogs, I'd have blown up that place  long ago."

      Well, it seems we got lucky in this last Geminid meteor shower, spared again.  Wonder if we could evolve a bit more or make some personality improvement this Christmas season?

SPEAKING OF WHICH

    Once the kids are no longer in the house a little of the Christmas magic goes with them. Still we pull down the boxes  from the attic and Lana transforms normal to the festive spirit of the season. She's talked about getting a smaller tree and we may do that, someday. The tree is a direct cerebral link to family Christmas' past and especially one on South Ebright Street in Muncie. 
     I must have been six. It was the first year the big time magic of the season etched into my little brain. The scenes are still indelible. Our little two bedroom VA financed home looked out at a street light that during this season seemed always to be wrapped in swirling snow. A real life snow globe! The tree was strung in those big old fashioned colored lights. Mom, no real artist created a Bon ami snow scape scene on the living room mirror and the window in the front door. I thought they were shear beauty. We had a record player, not a high fi, but a little player with speakers attached and I played needle drop over and over and over on Silent Night and Gene Autry's Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Life could never be more perfect, so full of pure joy and wonder.

     So, I still like Christmas trees. When we were first married we could spend hours, canvassing several lots for the "right tree."  Now we go the garden center, look for one in our height range and bingo bango pick a tree with almost no hesitation.

A little crooked? No trouble. A little uneven? No problem.  

  No matter, the noble green is worthy of holding the ornaments and memories and taking its place in the long line of trees in our Christmas dreams. There was a time we  planted live trees. It's rewarding to think of how tall they've become and how many seasons of light and hope they've shared. 

LIVE WATER

  Rainy season has begun and with promise we'll make a dent in the drought.  Here Santa Rosa Creek makes entry into the Pacific on Moonstone Beach in Cambria.

GOOD FLICKS
TRUMBO

       Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo is enough reason to see this film. He's extraordinary, again. But so is the film about the tyranny of the "black list," right wing thought police, cowards and hate mongers and the courage to speak your mind. 

       The bad guys, as they truly were in the dark era, are John Wayne, Ronnie Reagan, Hedda Hopper and weasel politicians on the House Un American Activities Committee.

      Unexpected heroes are Lucille Ball, Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger. This film, based on fact, is full of great performances including, Helen Mirren, Louis CK, Diane Lane, John Goodman and Elle Fanning. Director Jay Roach and screenwriter John McNamara attack the difficult question of how free can and should we be to think and speak. This is an intelligent script and is probably too much for some to think about it. But has history reveals, it should be thought about. As some current politicians demonstrate, maybe it could happen again.
       Trumbo is American history and civics, warts and all.

BROOKLYN

       As Lana told our daughters, "This is the kind of love story I like."

       It is also a great telling of the kind of transitions many of our relatives made, though this time the back drop is 1950's Brooklyn. 

       A splendid cast makes every moment a delight. Saoirse Ronan as the Irish lass is magnificent and those blue eyes are hypnotic. Jim Broadbent is a quiet master as his Father Flood is proof. Julie Walters as boardinghouse manager Mrs. Kehoe and Emory Cohen as the boy friend Tony both fill the screen-Walters with those darting dark eyed looks and Cohen with a smile that shines.

       Sweet, tender and uplifting-Brooklyn is a perfect "date night" film.

      See you down the trail.