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.

Fire Season

    Nerves are on edge during fire season on the west coast.

Californians track where fires are active, stay in touch with friends, pray, and wonder how anyone can deny the worsening impact of climate change. We also ponder the interface between nature, wilderness, where and how we build, and our methods of forestry and fire control. We also live with the impact.

    The frame above is the top of an umbrella on our front deck. It is ash from the Dolan Fire which is raveging our beloved Big Sur, less than an hour up the Pacific Coast Highway.

   It is better today, but we've experienced an ash fall that has coated the central coast and made the air unfit for outdoor activity.

   Above-ash particles captured in spider webs. Below-on our deck surface.

    We've had ash in previous years, but not to this extent, even a couple of years ago when the Chimney Fire threatened the famed Hearst Castle just 6 miles from here.

    This ash fall is a minor thing. Lives have been lost, communities and homes destroyed, daring helicopter rescues have been necessary and thousands of fire fighters risk their lives in California, Oregon and Washington.

         Like many others, I spent time today in line at the car wash.

    On trip number one my granddaughter thought of the experience as a kind of ride. It was her first, and we passed the time in line looking at old movie clips. She told me about an Adam Sandler movie Transylvania, where he is "Drac-lee-a" so I introduced her to Bela Lugosi. 
     "Old time movie Drac-lee-a is not nice, is scary" she said.
    The "ride" diverted her attention, she and her mother had been fretful about the ash. 

    The second visit offered time to check email and read a couple of articles. 

     Since last week's heat wave, we've been lucky to have overnight fog and cooling temperatures. Anything of that nature is a blessing, here and to those in the fire zones.

          A man from LA who came north to escape smoke, said on our local NPR station, "the sky looks like something from a Batman movie." 

       If only all of this was just special effects. 

       September and October on the Central Coast can be spectacular and pristine and each day is like a jewel. But there are times, when fires intrude, that we desire our internal clocks to speed away until rain season can begin.

When it is good, it is as good as it can be. But at times we do a dance with our nerves. And we are heartbroken by the news from elsewhere.

       Stay well, stay safe.

       See you down the trail.

A New Home for Live Oak

live oak nation in a new neighborhood

    The 31st Live Oak Music Festival opens a new chapter in a new home, El Chorro Regional Park in San Luis Obispo after almost 30 years at Lake Cachuma in the mountains outside of Santa Barbara.

     We've been "Oakies" for a mere12 years but veterans of many more also like the new venue and its proximity.

 Live Oak is a benefit for public radio KCBX serving the central coast from Ventura to Salinas and centered in San Luis Obispo. The new venue is closer for the audience of SLO, Paso Robles, Morro Bay, Cayucos, Atascadero, Cambria, Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach, Avila and environs.

   There are generations of Oakies and it is increasingly a family event. We pitched "camp" under the great new sun shade and adjacent to the playground.

  Three days and nights of music with options to day camp or come to stay. The festival has a history of providing great acts and discovering new talent.

    Phil Salazar and the Kin Folk are beloved old pros.

   A new act the Shook Twins from Portland were a hit. Katelyn performs some vocals with a repurposed telephone microphone along with guitar, mandolin, banjo and glockenspiel. Laurie on the left uses beatboxing and looping playing banjo, guitar, bass, djembe, ocarina flute. Nico Slice on mandolin guitar and bass, drummer Barra Brown.

stage too

  Away from the Main Stage is Stage Too where True Zion a roots based reggae band was on when we were there.

    The Hot Licks stage for late night or early morning picking.

     The Beer Garden stage features acts like the Something Ridiculous Jugglers. 

      Live Oak is full of visuals.

   The new home features an excellent Children's area with a game zone for teens and learning stations, games and craft workshops for the little acorns. 

the vibe is like a sunny day in the park

  The new neighborhood is thoughtfully planned, provides camping options, is cooler and less dry than the old campground and there are plenty of convenient facilities.
   From the Main Stage area you see a decorated wall...

        ...and behind that wall...

         From most vantage points, one can look out and see some of the 7 Sister peaks that line the central coast.

     El Chorro has an infrastructure for RV or tent camping and the areas are neatly laid out.

   Musician Joe Craven, far left, is back as the congenial, poetic host and MC for the three days and nights, and, as always, constantly in a new costume.

  I also notice a tucked away work space that was the control room for the energy supply and network, solar powered!

   

  Long live LIVE OAK NATION!  Peace, Love and Dirt!

   See you down the trail.