Celebration

Paella and Pinot Fest

     Just ahead, we'll visit a civilized retreat from the world, the 15th Pinot and Paella Fest at the park in Templeton Ca.

from the jungle 

      A knock on the gate interrupted my preparation of tea as I listened to a report on yesterday's vote.

      A young man, wearing a name badge with something in his hand stood in the sun at the end of the walk.

      "Can I help you" I said cranking a kitchen window open.

      "Yes, my name is Rob, I'm running for election," he smiled holding up a flyer. "Am I too late?"

      "Looks like you are starting early," I said.

      

       Actually Rob was a realtor, prospecting. But they do start campaigning early in California. 

      Yesterday was what we call a jungle primary. In this jungle the top two vote getters in every elected position moves on to the November general election. 

      The jungle is open, not a party preference vote. One can vote for independents, greens, democrats, republicans, libertarians and a few other iterations. 

       So our election to replace the mostly respected to beloved Jerry Brown features Gavin Newsom, Brown's lt. governor and a Trump Republican Donald Cox, a businessman.  LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was sidelined with the rest of a big field. 

      Newsom is liberal, Cox is conservative and the Trump government has been and will likely be one of the issues here.

      I suggest, this is why life also offers sweet refuge.

diversions

    Songwriter/singer Jill Knight is a tonic. Playing with extraordinarily talented musicians her lyrics take you to many places and moods.  

and then there is the fest

      Fifteen years ago Marc Goldberg and Maggie D'Ambrosia of Windward Vineyard put Pinot and Paella together as a celebration of Paso Robles wine makers and chefs to the benefit of the Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation.

    There is a clear benefit to patrons as Paso wineries pour and chefs compete in a paella cook off.

Maggie and Marc
Photo from Paso Robles Daily News

Cheers!

    See you down the trail

     

FROM OUT WEST-LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT AND GOVERNOR BROWN

LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA AND
GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN

    Dear Sirs,

          California and the federal government have an opportunity to partner in problem solving while advancing technology, creating employment and improving quality of life. The state and federal government should design and build ocean desalination plants and a network of pipelines to deliver water to communities and the agricultural zones including of course the Central Valley.

          California abounds in technological and engineering knowledge and has been the crucible of innovation. California produces food that feeds America and much of the world but we can't make it rain nor end an historic drought. However we can respond with imagination and progress.

          A state and federal partnership accomplishes a great deal; regulatory compliance and clearance and a capacity to get it done. Think such a venture is impossible? Consider the extraordinary response of this nation to the crisis of WW II. Consider also the zeal and achievement of the American space program when the nation was committed to a moon landing. This nation could benefit from a good swift kick in the butt to get back on a path to excellence. This project would do that and you can make it happen.

          More good happens in California than in Washington DC. Bipartisan government occurs and while it is not perfect, things get done and problems are managed and solved. Aside from the public business of California, there is also the extraordinary success and life changing impact of technology, communication, transportation and space businesses. But we cannot make it rain. 

          Life depends on water and entering the fourth year of  historic drought clouds are on the horizon and they are not rain clouds. Historically this part of the US has sustained life altering droughts. There is meteorological and climate science now that suggests we could be in another such  period and that it could extend decades. It is arrogance to forget it has happened, repeatedly. Unlike previous eras and epochs we have science and technology to interact with the Ocean.

          The Pacific must be protected and proper environmental and ecological management is mandatory. A state and federal oversight can work to those ends. The peril is too severe to leave such things to a free market, profit making set of values.

          The design and implementation can be founded on the best science and engineering and most of that is already here and could be augmented by others in a critical review and project management.

         As the project(s) move forward each community could  undertake an ascertainment of need including the calculation of a sustainability index. i.e., how much water is needed now vis a vis anticipated growth? how is that water used-commercially, in homes, for agriculture, etc.? what are optimum growth and expansion frames? what are fair water rates in a tiered system?  What is a community's sweet spot to be truly sustainable? All of this would be managed and navigated by an oversight process that is long on academics, scientists, economists, planners and engineers with project management expertise drawn from the best and brightest in business-e.g., Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison and such peers. Think of that quality of individual to be your managing partners.

         Notice who is peripheral to all of this?  Elected politicians. Once the public's business was the trust of the United States Congress and Senate. Recent history only disqualifies them from running and likely delaying or destroying such a venture. Of course this will take funding and in that way they will need to be stakeholders, but how to affect that and how to contain their negative influence  is what you both are being paid to do as Chief Executives.

         Private investment could be tapped, in lieu of tax or other incentives. All business has an interest in the viability and sustainability of life and agriculture.

         Mr. President, Mr Governor you wield power and influence and have the ability to summon the "best and brightest" and to establish and pursue vision.  Even if we can water ration and restrict and even if it suddenly starts to rain laying siege to the notion we are in extended drought or climate change, we know that on a strategic world stage, water supply is a critical pointer. We even plan for future wars being fought over water. California and the federal government could evince a scenario that tends to a present need and allows for good options in future need.

         Executives lead, this is your way to lead us through problem solving and to create a legacy that includes a better way of doing things.

APRIL OUT WEST

   See you down the trail.

WHO IS RACIST? WHAT'S WITH THE SUSPENSION? and SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL

SLIDING BACKWARDS

     An agonizing disappointment to boomers is the new crop of racism that seems to be the spearhead of a wave of bigotry and narrow mindedness in the US.

     We spent the early and mid 60's fighting to end segregation, American apartheid and blatant discrimination. The entire culture was swept up in the drama and federal legislation moved to excise intolerance and set up an even playing field, imperfect and flawed though some of the legacy efforts have been. Feminism followed in that wake, connecting with efforts of earlier generations of suffrage campaigners to even the score for women. Still it seems as though it has been for naught.

      New studies and reports find a complex mix of racist attitudes in American today. Some of the young, the reports say, don't know or have not been taught what discriminatory or prejudicial behavior is.  "Post racial" is a term that is used.

      Then there is a poster child of our new dilemma, the matter of NIGGER. Some of you maybe offended seeing it here. Back in our youth it was a phrase never used in civil or polite conversation. Today its use is a map of how confused we seem to have become. Is it OK for African Americans to use the term, but not for anyone else? Though people of color divide on this. Is it wrong for a Caucasian to criticize its use or even to use the word? Depends on who you ask, doesn't it?  

       Remember the early argument about weather Black's could be racist?  Some who suggested that a person of color could also be a racist were themselves called racist. Today most agree that a person of any color or ethnicity can also be guilty of being racist, ethnocentric or bigoted in other ways.

        LGBT people have probably garnered more media attention for their struggles for equality in the last few years, though old fashioned racism has not disappeared. Classism stalks modern western life even as women still fight to overcome, the barrier being their birthright.

        From where I stand on this planet there is plenty of evidence of narrow mindedness, discrimination, fear, prejudice and hatred. The targets are men and women of all color, all ethnic origin, all gender identity or sexual preference. And so too are the perpetrators.

       It is easy to paint the broad stroke villain as being white men-Anglos/Normans/Saxons and in America in particular there is a sad history of invasion, genocide, land theft, broken treaties done by our government run mostly by white men. However there are many other guilty of such insensitivity and crimes around the globe with different casts of color, ethnicity, heritage and land of birth. We know that Africans too were partners in the horrible sin of slave trading. Patriarchy is written into the history of cultures north, south, east and west. American white men are in fact easy targets for criticism, but then if that is all who you see as offenders, you suffer tunnel vision and are not looking on a large enough scale of history and geography.  

      One of the most economic and employment vulnerable

today are legions of men, 50 plus, who were dislocated by the Great Recession and who are still out of work, unemployable or underemployed. Who in today's political climate are likely to carry their banner? Perhaps I should go cautiously here, less some of the dunderheads in our legislative branch of government who fail on intelligence about or understanding and sensitivity to half of the human specie, just might pick up that standard.  

     Our ability to find a commonweal, a set of normative values, a framework of equality, a true open-mindedness is honorable and necessary work for this democratic republic. It will be challenging, painful and will demand our better angels. To continue as we are with confusion, ignorance, rampant narrow-mindedness and condoned bigotry will lead only to apocalyptic political and cultural landscapes.

SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL

      On a recent hike I saw a couple of young California Striped Racers crossing the trail, enjoying the sun.

     The area was the scene of a recent "controlled burn."

     The sky was a palate of contrails.

HATS OFF TO THE SAN LUIS OBISPO TRIBUNE

   The paper editorialized today that William Randolph Hearst would have approved of Lady Gaga's recent adventure at his famous Castle, now a state park.  Nick Franco, the highly respected local State Park Supervisor has been suspended, for mysterious reasons, since approving of Gaga's use of the Hearst Castle for a production shoot.  

    Lady G paid some $300 thousand for the use, left additional funds to underwrite a water use study, did a promotional piece and a public service message about water conservation. The Hearst Corporation approved "loaning water" and the entire undertaking. Governor Jerry Brown wrote approvingly to Lady Gaga.

    The paper hints that perhaps some bureaucrat's nose may have been out of joint. Maybe or she is angry they missed their moment of closeness to her Lady G.

     Tsk, tsk, tsk.  Stay tuned.

    See you down the trail.  

A POLITICAL MYSTIC

A SPEECH THAT LEAVES THEM TALKING

    "Unique," "quirky," "Jesuitical" and as a headline read

"a speech like no other" are published descriptions of Jerry Brown's California State of the State address."

      I've covered many State of the State and State of the Union addresses and I was struck by its eccentric and quintessential "California-Brown" singularity. 
        Regardless of your political skew, or attitude about  Brown, it was crafted and spun in an inventive way to make it a memorable offering. 

       It was fresh, unanticipated, non traditional  and a bit of an inspirational charge. It prompted memories of the "Moonbeam" era.
     He painted a scenic California time-scape including the building of the missions, expeditions, the discovery of gold, to the establishment of Apple, Google and the silicon valley invoking impressions of California as the land of creativity, innovation and leadership. He even referenced the original Californians in the tableau that was sun drenched, hopeful and full of can do.  
     He spoke of the Pharaoh's dream, quoted philosophers and poets.  He also reprised FDR's line about a "rendezvous with destiny." 

      As he was in the 70's, Brown is a hybrid. A thinker, idea merchant, philosopher, master of old school "backroom" and retail  politics, and a wonk. He is a political mystic.

      In the world of Sacramento and real politics he's laboring at imposing fiscal restraint, profound educational and regulatory reform, quoting French intellect Montaigne, breathing life into building a bullet train and borrowing from his father's legacy addressing future water issues.

      He's got a challenge in hemming in legislative spending especially with pumped up revenue from taxes approved by voters. He applied the State of the State address as a tool in the retooling of California legislative budget making principals that he seeks. He told the story of seven years of famine in Egypt and Joseph's interpretation of the dream.  He told the lawmakers we should remember the wisdom of Joseph to pay down debts and to store up reserves. 

       Given the normal political flack in the air, hearing a state's Chief executive channel such an eclectic scan was both pleasing and entertaining. Certainly one of the season's better speeches. Memorable indeed. 

WINTER GREEN

     Late January on the Central Coast prompts the season reminiscent of Midwestern spring. Here, winter is green. 

     See you down the trail.

SUCK IT IN

 THE FUTURE IS NOT CHEAP

     Sometimes vision comes with a price and acrimony.  

     The US is overdue in brining rail trail into modernity. Other nations put us to shame and our transportation matrix suffers by lack of high speed trains.  This week the California legislature will vote on Governor Jerry Brown's attempt to build the nation's first high speed line. 

      Many criticize the plan, saying it is too expensive, we can't afford it in a recession, that the opening leg is on a non crucial route.

      Governor Brown is quoted as saying "Suck it in.  We've got to build, we got do it right."

       I agree.  There is probably never a time we can "afford" to undertake a leap into the future, so it is easy to put it off and as time passes it never happens.  Exactly why the US is a pathetic player when it comes to rail travel.

       There is a Chinese wisdom, from LaoTsu, that says "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."  This is California's opportunity to start the US on that journey. It will cost more later, it is already seriously delayed and it will be good for future generations.  
      Jerry Brown's father, Governor Pat Brown authored the California State Water Plan and helped push the Golden State into the future. There was acrimony over his idea, but the flourishing of the Central Valley agriculture, the water resources in Southern California and other measures have proven to be the positive outcome of a visionary plan.  In this case it is "like father, like son." 

      High speed rail has proven itself in Germany, Japan, France and other nations.  
     It's time to "suck it up" and get on with the future.

DAY FILE

THE SPIT & THE ROCK

     History abounds in this shot.  The Rock, at the end of the spit is the famed Morro Rock, a volcano plug and one of the "Nine Sisters" of volcanic and tectonic formed mountains that follow the central coast from Morro Bay, south to below San Luis Obispo.

     The "Rock" was named by the Portugese explorer Juan Cabrillo in 1542.  He thought the rock looked like a Moor, the North African people of whom the men wore turbans.

     The spit is naturally occurring, but augmented by breakwaters built by the army.  During WW II landing craft were housed in the harbor and the spit was used as part of

training exercises.  Some of the D-Day invaders practiced  "hitting the beach" from landing craft on the spit.  

     In December 1941 the Morro Rock was struck by shells fired from a Japanese U boat.  It was the same day the oil tanker Montebello was sunk by a Japanese submarine.

     Today the Spit offers a scenic and athletic hiking trail.

INTO THE SUNSET

Here are a couple of minutes of nature for you

See you down the trail.

THE CALIFORNIA WAY

A FUTURE BLOOMS

         Once again California blazes a path forward. Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation mandating that California utilities get one third of their energy from renewable source by 2020. This is the most aggressive alternative energy mandate in the United States.
         Supporters say this will encourage and reassure investors to keep the money flowing. As the computing and software advances coming from California demonstrate, where capital and new ideas mix, advances are made.  This mandate should generate increased technological advances.

         

AN OPENING IN THE NUKE HAZE

         It is a bit like an open patch of sky, between the layers of clouds, fogs and marine haze.

           In a good example of bipartisanship, Central Coast representatives have urged PG&E and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to go slow on the renewal process of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear plant.  Democratic Congresswoman Lois Capps and Republican State Assemblyman Gary Blakeslee have urged the go slow process until new seismic studies are concluded.  Diablo Canyon sits near several faults, including a recently discovered ocean fault.  The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors has also asked PG&E to slow the renewal process until the advanced studies are complete.  This is a great example of how responsible public servants can put party issues aside to attend to the public's good and best interests. 

DAY BOOK

RANDOM SHOTS

BIRDS AND BENCHES

 This time we catch the heron in flight.

Bench 1.0
Tumbling down.

Bench 2.0
See you down the trail.