Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun
Showing posts with label Cambria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cambria. Show all posts

Monday, January 9, 2023

Storming the New Year


         We've started the new year with an ample baptism on the California central coast. 
        In Cambria and environs 8.5 inches in the last 10 days has washed 2022 away and changed the color scheme from drought brown.
        Rain is forecast for 8 of the next ten days. We've been soaked for 8 of the last 10. We are being warned to expect 5 inches in the next two days.



        Santa Rosa Creek is a water freeway gliding into the Pacific near Moonstone Beach. It's also a zoom-floom. 







        The storm surf is audible from miles away. Its roar and growl thunder the planet's voice. Its power is immense.




        Some are not content to listen and watch.



        Leaks, slides, road closures, lost power and communication, washouts, and localized flooding; California is good at getting things back in operation and  Californians take it in stride, especially on the central coast. We've had a breather between the "atmospheric rivers," and we wait now for the next act. 
        This is a place of "human/nature interface;" mountains, forests, wildlife, the Pacific Ocean. We live here with the knowledge that nature rules. We are cool with that. Still, this rain season is unlike most. 


        See you down the trail. 
        

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Shades of Gray


 
        The sky interfused with the gray marine bank on the horizon and everything muted in the cast of a haze and filtered flat light.
    

        A "Fogust" day with a twist, more pelican squads than I have seen.





        North of Cambria the kelp beds and sea vegetation is thick, heavy and in my untrained observation, thicker than normal.
        

       Pelicans, cormorants and gulls gather near the kelp forest and sea grass.     



        The pelicans were dressed for a late August gray at the coast. 



        A natural display and lots of fresh air. Living, between sea and sky.

    See you down the trail




Saturday, June 26, 2021

CURRENTS OF CHANGE


     Have you noticed the changes swirling around us as we re-enter life?
    Our friend Marcos, visiting from Scottsdale, watched the walkers, surfers and beach denizens on a busy afternoon in Cayucos and observed "I just can't believe how quickly we have gone from such isolation and carefulness to this," pointing to what could easily have been a pre-pandemic California beach scene.
    Some express a sense of guilt the US has opened while many nations are still gripped by fear and soaring death rates. 
    We've heard the callous, those who are dying now "have it coming" because they have refused vaccinations.
    People talk about  variants, a possible breakthrough, whether to mask again when flu and cold season return. 
    And I've noticed we have some remedial work to do in our social skills. After a year and half of limited social contact, listening, waiting a turn to speak, and sharing the floor can all use some polishing. 
    As we expected, normal is not like it used to be, but we are intent on living it fully.

Photo by Babak Tafreshi
The Great Jaguar Pyramid

        I was fascinated to see the above photo by Iranian science journalist and photographer Babak Tafreshi. He captured the Pleiades above the famed Great Jaguar Pyramid at Tikal, a Mayan site in the jungles of northern Guatemala. 
        An assignment took me to Tikal as I worked on a documentary about Mayan culture and the mysterious pyramids of central America. 
        The Great Jaguar was built in 732 AD and was part of a Mayan capital that existed until 1450. My photos are less sensational, but our videographer captured marvelous scenes.


        Thought to be a funerary temple it is nine levels high, symbolic of the Mayan underworld. We climbed those steep steps, carefully. 
        There is superstition and legend around Tikal, sometimes referred to as the place of voices. I have a theory about that.
        Our crew was scheduled to stay at a camp lodge just a few miles from Tikal, but a few weeks before our arrival it was destroyed by a fire as a result of a gun battle between rebels and government troops. We persuaded the local government to let us stay at Tikal in thatch roofed huts used by archeologists when they were working on the site. The only power was from a generator that had to be turned off by 10PM. 
        When the overhead fans stopped it was hot. We were under triple canopy and the air barely stirred. When the lights were out you could not see your hand pressed to your nose. Complete darkness. And yes we heard the "voices."
        The place is infested with Black Howler monkeys.



    One Guatemalan source says the sound is "like the lament of one of the tortured and bellicose demons of Mayan mythology." It's been described as the sound of the "devil retching."
     My memory of sweating and sticking to damp sheets in the stale air of a thatched hut as the Black Howlers climbed over the top of the roof while howling is vivid. In was in that setting I surmised the "voices" were in fact the monkeys. Others who have spent more time at Tikal say those voices are more spiritual. 

            As Babak's night photo reveals, the plaza at Tikal is a marvelous place for night sky, not so in the dense jungle.
        Cambria is like that too. In the trees it's not so good, but in open areas our night sky views are magnificent. 
        I applaud Claudia Harmon and Beautify Cambria's efforts to preserve the heritage of seeing our celestial neighbors.
        Cambria has its share of astronomical photographers and I wonder how many of us spent more time looking at the stars in the last year and half. 
        

        How are you and your pod fairing in the changes of reopening? In our case we helped hold on to sanity by gathering with a 4 other masked friends every other week in either a court yard, back deck, garage in inclement weather, or Diane's delightful back garden.  
        It was human contact in a slightly more relaxed context. At a time when we were wary of being too close to others, it was wonderful to be with friends. Now that we can dine out, shop without masks and enjoy being vaccinated, we still like to return to Diane's because it's just lovely. 
        That's another Cambria blessing isn't it? We have so many lovely gardens, meditation spaces, places to sit and enjoy.
        I'll let you in on a little story about surfing these currents of change. Our little pod decided we'd take a lunch out. First week it was grand, and not surprisingly we ran into other Cambrians we had not seen for a while. Emboldened by that we thought we'd try again and at a what had been a neat little place by the water, but out of the village. We arrived to find the afore mentioned Diane sitting on a bench, having gotten there 30 minutes early to put in our names for a "45 minute to hour wait." 
    We all assembled and stood around wondering if we were in a crowd for an amusement ride or maybe kayak rental. After another 20 minutes we were told there were still nine parties in front of us. Enough of that, we bolted for the place we had been successfully the week before only to be told it would be "45 minutes to an hour." 
        Starting this week, we are back to each other's deck, court yard and Diane's garden. 

        Guess we had forgotten that "normal" sometimes meant "the wait will be about 45 minutes, we'll call you when your table is ready."
        Bet there's a table or a bench or chair closer to home and with no wait. And Cambria is as lovely as lovely can be.

        See you down the trail. 
    


Saturday, February 20, 2021

Accountability and Hope

 


     Nature, life's portal, like human hope, springs anew. Poetic that spring follows the season of dark. It has been a long season.

    The world reeling from pandemic, brutality instead of reason, and nature's recent hostility renders us weary, wounded and in need of lifted spirits. 

    We offer these:

  •  frames of spring 2021, early as it is in California 
  • and the word that is the elixir for all that plagues us, Perseverance, as in Percy.

    This elegant flight machine, a Great Blue Heron that graced our ridge top this week is a thing of beauty, grace and wonder. So is this...

NASA 
Perseverance on Mars 

      As bad as it can be on planet earth, the best of our huddled masses has put us in the heavens, again, and with selfies.

    Our technological offspring, a global darling, will rove and produce science exploration and contribute mightily to the intelligence of humankind. 
NASA Illustration

       Out west we can still see footprints of our pioneering spirt and long suffering endurance. Humankind is capable of the stars if we remember the foundational basics and lead with our intellect and act with character, listening to our hearts, where we know right from wrong.  

        We are sorry for the recent misery in the Texas Republic. They could have, should have, been prepared. Many places on this planet routinely handle winter's blast, but Texas thinks of itself as bigger, badder, and tougher. Texas is the home of the Lone Ranger. 
        A commission has been launched. Before it lifts a hand we know why the state was so hammered. Poor planning, no accounting for climate change, maximized profits, cheaper construction techniques, the "we've got ours, you get yours" attitude, a belligerent sense of energy independence and money, inequitably deployed along the spectrum.
        Ted Cruz, his other qualities not withstanding, is the poster boy for the attitude in possession of some Texans in authority. But there is also Willie Rios
Photo by St. John Barned-Smith  Houston Chronicle 

        The South Houston Councilman, who is a tradesman, led herculean efforts to get sewage treatment plants operating and water running. The councilman worked around the clock tending to the needs of his district.
Rios on the right with constituent   
Photo Yi-Chinn Lee Houston Chronicle

    We see the model of public service in Willie Rios and his kind, the ideal "politician," there to meet the needs of neighbors. Theirs is not to set blame or to steal away to the beach, but to fix, and serve. It is good to see acting on principle instead of political careerism. Elected office at it's nexus is about the constituent.

    Accountability matters. As one who called for a national inquiry as early as January 6, it is my sense it should be under the Department of Justice. A congressional inquiry could get at the truth, but history, and you and I are served if it is far from a political landscape. 
    Perhaps because I know and for decades covered co-Chairman Lee Hamilton, I have a bound volume of the 9/11 Commission and have pulled it from the shelf a surprising number of times over the years. A good commission report is necessary for understanding and it can be curative. We need that now. It too can be a tonic, a springtime for the soul of America.




       When the trees bloom on the California central coast, spring for the rest of America is not far off. The vaccine is being distributed, good and decent people are in control again, and investigative efforts are underway. 


    
    One more look at the Great Blue Heron. I was busy in my study when daughter Kristin called to alert us it was next door.
    Usually I see them only from a distance, unable to capture the texture of their feathers. In this case she or he was busy apparently stalking gophers. That too strikes me as justice at work.

    Where spring is always at the right time, it seems also Providential the most complicated space landing happens as we confront climate, disease, lies and division. It reminds of a human skill and also our destiny, to persevere.

    Stay safe and stay well.

    See you down the trail.

Friday, January 29, 2021

STORMS--UPDATED




POST UPDATE
    Highway 1, the fabled Pacific Coast Highway in beloved Big Sur has suffered mightily. The photos are by Heath Johnson of Cal Trans. The road had been closed as a precaution as the storm closed in on the coast.
    This damage is at Rat Creek near the John Little Nature Preserve and a few miles below the Esalen Institute. 

    Flood damage in homes is extensive. Many of us in Cambria are hearing from friends who experienced standing water in their homes and garages.
    At our home, on a ridge in what is called Top of the World, we recorded 13.3 inches from Tuesday to Friday morning.
    Our power outages were intermittent with the longest being a 5 hour stretch. We are lucky, some in the village have been without for days. 
    A few additional photos are posted below
    
 A storm turns a tranquil creek entry to the Pacific into a roiling torrent. The California central coast is recovering from an 
   historic storm that belies a pacific calm, a peaceful nature.             Consider it metaphor for the betrayal of the beauty of a constitutional principle or a Capitol roiled by a storm of insurrection.


            This post is primarily about the atmospheric river that has inundated the central coast with record setting rain. It is something to see, and to live through. At this UPDATE we've had 13.3 inches in THREE days. We share a few scenes here.

        But the old reporter's fire horse instinct can not be stilled. There is something rotten wafting from Washington and it very dangerous. 

        It is political gospel Republicans were warned by the House impeachment that if Donald Trump was not stopped by a Senate conviction, he would be emboldened and would do more to damage to American credibility and a civil society. If they had listened he would not have been able to perpetuate the big lie, savage the electoral process, embarrass the nation and rile his brainwashed minions to attack the government, the citadel of a our democratic republic and to seek to kill government leaders.

        It appears they are about to be cowards and accomplices again. Not to put a stake through Trump's narcissistic heart will bring more havoc on this nation. Killing Trump power will not end the travail, but his preternatural would-be successors do not command the loyalty of the suckers who were swindled by the worse liar in American history. 

        America is under attack from domestic terrorists. They are Trump jihadists, self righteous idiots, brainwashed by Fox News and rightwing spew. They reject all proof that Trump and his shameful failure were rejected by the largest vote in American History. They want to end the Republic and impose a would-be dictator. These are dark and evil currents and there is increasing evidence members of the House and Senate were in on the Capitol attack. They should be rooted out and dealt with. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz are insurrectionists and prison time is the least they deserve. Ditto for the complicit members of the House. That Kevin McCarthy goes on bended knee to see the disgraced Trump is enough to make Lady Justice hurl. The crazy woman from Georgia takes a weapon onto the House Floor and says Nancy Pelosi must be taken out. Matt Gaetz, a Bozo of a stoner goes to Wyoming to challenge a House Republican leader Cheney. Maybe her papa, the dark lord of Republican grift will take Gaetz hunting with a shotgun.  

        It is time for the Republicans to stop this descent to violence and chaos. And it is it is time for federal investigative agencies and the Depart of Justice to send a few to prison and to continue to root out the militias, supremacists, faux patriots, fantasy warriors, racists and the intellectually destitute who believe anything that comes from a Trump's mouth.

        Enough of the profane. Let's look at the profundity of nature making history. Our little village and environs has been at ground zero of an atmospheric river acting like an open hose.

Along Main Street, East Village

Where a popular Taco vendor had a spot
The lawn bowls court 




Waterfalls in abundance, most in places where they never existed

The Before-
San Simeon Creek-usually a gentle stream

Not now-

After the rain...



additional photos





      All of the water, in an area where rain comes only in one season, reminded me of Scotland. Power outages, landslides, road closures, flooded homes and garages, downed trees, high winds and constant rain informs us this, unlike Scotland, is not natural. 
    But...we were in for a drought year, having received only two inches, deep into the rain season. That has changed in two days. 
    We'll recover, have something to talk about, and be grateful for the green hills and mountains, wild flower blooms, recharged lakes, reservoirs, wells and streams. 
    The storm of violence and hateful lie fueled terror is another matter. On that, it is time to act.

    See you down the trail.