A Parting Shot and The Rising Storm

     Poster children for the unvaccinated enjoying the fog and drizzle between rain storms that have left us with 12 inches of rain in two weeks while our brethren and sisters up in Sierras are buried under record snow.

    We take the good where we can find it and we'll be tightly gripping our "cup of kindness" as we limp more deeply into the '20's. 

    We've wandered many a weary foot children, so drink up the cup and remember the good old times, stingily parsed these last couple of years. The trusty hand of a friend is a companion wise on the rough road ahead.

    Maybe it just me, but there's something regal here.

    Sunny and Hemingway making the best of it, on a rare moment to be in fresh air, as crises of nature and the human kind beat the old year to a pulp. 

    Another variant, bad behavior and now our precious care givers are beset again. Putin is up to little dictator games, and it's suddenly election year in America. Pass me another cup of kindness there and then I'm headed for safety.

        Whoops! Well, any box in a storm! 

    I've been paying attention the animals around here because people are either disgusting, or they are my friends, who I rarely see except on Zoom or masked, or at social distances and they too are worried about the rise of the disgusting. My tennis pals are an exception as we can put all human foibles out of mind as we rock and roll on the court-except two weeks of rain have stopped that. 

        So Auld Lang Syne 2021. You were supposed to be the year of healing and normalcy. Do you think humanitie's karma is catching up with us?

    

        So I've been looking up, as the storm clouds clear, and I can't stop from trying to make my phone work like a telescope.

        These are meager offerings especially when we have some genuine astrophotographers living in these parts, but they point you in a good direction. We can celebrate the launch of the Webb telescope this month. That will do more for human knowledge than all of the weasel heads in congress, all of the unmasked, and unvaccinated combined.

        Grasp this, Voyager 1 and 2, launched in 1977 are still moving through the heavens. In about 14 thousand Years V 1 will be leaving the Oort cloud. Give it another 280 thousand years and it will be approaching our next nearest star, still in our galaxy of course and we just don't know how many billion galaxies there may be. So there's a perspective to apply to 

the life and times of planet earth in these days of uncertainty. 

        A friend who worked on the Hubble telescope, one of the brightest scientific minds around said often as he aged, "you've got to have a sense of humor in this life." Frank was frequently bemused when it came to how the inhabitants of this planet conducted themselves. 

        So let's take a right good draught for auld lang syne and for the good old days to come.

        Slainte'

    See you down the trail. 

Peeking at Normal

 

Oak trees shadow the moonrise over the Santa Lucia Mountains in Cambria  

        The dawning success of getting jabs into enough arms so the vaccinated can now socialize, inside, sans mask, will awaken distant memories of how great it used to be.

        Another tell is what we are talking about. The "royals" have grabbed headlines after talking to our Queen of media, Oprah.

        Our local King, ruler of the polydactyls, is pleased his ridge top savanna is green again.  Hemingway shows more dignity than those in the palace who have driven yet another young woman  to the edge of despair, and displayed tone deaf racism in the process. 

        It seems if the appalling anachronism of "royalty" is to continue, they need to use CRSPR to design princesses to endure the silliness of such as thinking someone must be bowed to. Oh but we love The Crown and the cheap pleasure of royal gossip and intrigue. These people used to lop of heads and got away with it. So, you don't think history convicts us?

    New direction in Washington is helping lower American blood pressure levels. The Biden Covid Relief plan offers assistance the US needs to recover from the disaster; the disease's devastation of life, economy, normalcy and the malignant incompetence of the Trump-McConnell reign. 

    The Biden plan is a bi-partisan success, favored by a majority of US citizens, both Republicans and Democrats. It is etching itself into Presidential History. It may prove to be a  significant legislative remedy on the scale of FDR.

    The House and Senate Republicans are hopelessly trapped in a psychotic death cult where truth is a sin. Isn't it cute, that right on cue the party of run-away spending and economic recessions is putting on their budget deficit faces again, though a majority of their voters await the Biden relief.

    

    

        Overhanging the way forward is the need for a national nonpartisan investigation into the causes and facts of 1/6. This is something Republicans would like to forget. 

        Another overhang, and one where the bill is coming due is the costly undoing of the Iran nuclear deal JCPOA. Since the mistake of quitting the agreement, Iran has enriched more uranium, is using advanced centrifuges and restricting international inspections. Thank you Mr. Trump.*

        And because horror stories need a teasing ending, I hope you've watched the knife attack the Trump organization has directed to his chump party mates. Only he can raise money using his name. His political fundraising may be his best scam and con yet. 

       * The change of scenery or personnell at the State Department and White House will have impact on the looming Iran fight.

         Ali Akbar Salehi, one of Iran's Supreme Leader's most trusted advisors and the head of the Atomic Association of Iran said this week, a deal is a deal and the US walked away.

        Intelligence analysts tell us the first phase of reengaging the JCPOA will be a kind of dance and war of nerves to see who blinks first. They tell us Biden has sent his first message, letting it sink in with the Iranian people, as they face their own inner turmoil and economic trouble.

        An early Biden test is how his humanitarian instincts and the reality of refugees flooding the border will resolve. His critics are looking closely.

        

        And finally, a sailing story. This little single masted craft

has an interesting history. It was a piece of drift wood, apparently bark of some sort, found by our grand daughter Addie, who professed "this will float."

    It lead to looking up sail boat designs and making a sketch.

Nana then helped cut a sail and set the mast. It was time for a test.

    

   It proved its sea worthiness in several tide pools and was the source of pride and glee. Lessons learned, and something proven it was time to return the slightly altered bark to nature.

        When last seen it was moored in a channel between a couple of tide pools awaiting the return of the high tide. Maybe there is a sea shanty in this, but not from this writer. There is a little lass however who found her first trip down to the sea, a great adventure.

        Now, don't we all feel better these days, with hope and a new normal on the rising tide?

        Stay well. 

        See you down the trail.

                                   

LIFE WINS & WINNERS

    Looking at nature has become my lead antidote when news like that of Brussels rips the fabric of civilization. Heart break and mourning struggles against a sense of anger that fuels a desire for revenge. Isis must be destroyed, but there is little I can do, here. Sages tell us peace starts with our self. If not solace, if not reigning peace, at least a glimpse of that in the abundant resurrection of spring life. It helps. 

 CUBA CHANGES

          I'll be glad to return to Cuba. It will change, now that we are warming our relationship with the Island. Eventually it will be painted, rebuilt, refurbished and brought into the 21st Century. 
      The Cuba of Hemingway was an exotic brew of colonial aftermath and Caribbean passion but it was changed by the money of those who went to party, becoming a storied and sensual playground. After the revolution the Island fell into a prismatic melancholy, tattered and even rejected but still vibrant, alluring and intoxicating. Ghosts of the grand elegance and shadows of revolution curled like opposing shapes, unhappy companions, blown by trade winds down the decaying boulevards past crumbling mansions where squatters claimed grandeur and made their own joy. Music in alleys, dancing on stoops, laundry like flags on balconies, old cars Mad Max like, restaurants in homes, buildings falling into piles, areas of blackouts, festival spirit and poor but happy people. That is the Cuba I will remember and long to see again. But it will morph. 
      Obama's visit is the flipped switch that will now begin to 
return modernity, tourism and business. The forbidden jewel will be accessible again and that special, unique place trapped between diplomatic war and its inherent desire to make merry will begin to disappear. The new Cuba will shine no doubt and perhaps in ways like before the revolution. But that Island stuck between Castro's rise, Hemingway's departure and Obama's arrival will shrink away. That is the Cuba I love.
       Links to previous posts from the Cuba File.

The Cuba File Archive

•        The Old Man and the Sea-Meeting Hemingway's boat Captain
• Cuban File-Street Scenes
• Cuba File-The Shrine of St Lazaro
• Inside Hemingway's Home

THE BUILDER OF INSPIRATION

    Once these older boys were part of a creative factory that changed radio and influenced television, advertising and promotion.

     These fellows are part of Jim's team. From the left, Mike Griffin, Bob Christy, Jim Hilliard, this blogger, George Johns. Hilliard began as a young radio star who ended up a broadcasting mogul and business genius. He had that genius and ability to inspire when he assembled a team in the late 60's that created new forms of modern radio. We had fun and  made it up as we went along. Recently we gathered in Cambria. For some of us it was our first time together in almost 40 years. Wow!  Did the stories and memories flow.

     Here's a link to Bob Christy's blog post on the reunion.

     Here's a link to observations by one of our favorites, Bruce Taylor, who though he was not at the reunion was part of that late 60's group. 

      It would sound like tooting our horn to detail the accomplishment and impact of that Fairbanks Broadcasting team. We just did it and back then kept moving on to the next goal. Now with benefit of hindsight, the record gives us a sense of pride. But more important was the warmth of old friendships and simply being together again. The old National PD, George put it together. He can still format winners and Jim can still lead us over the next hill. Winners, willing to pay the price.

     See you down the trail.

TALES AND TAILS

Flowing

  Creeks and waterways are beginning to resemble their old selves again. The vaunted El Nino has been producing rain in California, including on the drought stricken Central Coast.

 Driving in the rain in California is akin to driving in snow or on ice elsewhere. Since rain is about the only diversion from sunshine and blue skies in most of California, rain is a big story.

    But after four years of drought, every drop is a cause celeb.

   Here on the Central Coast, half way between LA and San Francisco, it looks as though we are in for a week of rain, with a few hours between cells that allow the ground to soak it up.

   Back in Indiana we never gave much thought to rain, unless it was ruining a picnic, ball game, wedding or etc. due in large part to the fact there is so much rain. Here it is a seasonal oddity and some people and most animals are frightened by it. Really!

THE CATS TALE

   So we begin with the end, before the tail, or tale.

 Joy, on the left and Hemingway are young enough to have missed what a California Central Coast winter is like. All they know is the abnormally warm and dry winters of the past couple of years. So this year, cooler temperatures and rain have them in a dither.
  Because of allergies, they spend their time on the deck and porch and in the garden on the hill. They sleep in the garage.

     To help them through their first real winter and recognizing their love for boxes, Lana made a Cat Condo. They've taken to it. The connecting "door" allows cuddling.

   Hemingway was perturbed I disturbed his nap for a photo op.

   Nighty night!

   See you down the trail.

AFTER THE MEAL-A GOLD STAR

A STAR ON THE CHEEK

Archive Photo Courtesy of RMonseth

    It was a raw winter night, shortly after the first of the year in 1980 and New Orleans was in a post holiday slumber. We were there on assignment tracking drug smuggling and had checked into a hotel in the French Quarter. I asked the night manager if he could recommend a good local eating spot. He told us about a new place a few blocks away that he said was Cajun-Creole. That is when we found K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, open for less than a year and not yet famous.

     Steve Starnes, one of the truly great photographers and I wondered in. There were only two other guests. We were greeted joyously. As the waitress-hostess explained the menu and the "special" quality of the food, the big man in the open kitchen asked if we'd like a Cajun martini, on the house. Hard offer to pass up. The big man brought us his concoction, pepper vodka, vermouth and a jalapeno pepper. He sat with us, sipped a drink and asked what we liked and what we knew about Cajun food. The big man was Paul Prudhomme, still unknown to the New York Times and the worlds food writers.

      We got a special creation, heaping plates full of everything he made. And we had another martini, which put a big smile on the big man's face.  We ate everything put before us including a couple of deserts. It was one of the great dining experiences in my life. The waitress-hostess, who it turned out was Kay Prudhomme, the K in K-Paul's, was actually stunned both plates were clean. She said "that never happens." She went to the hostess station and brought back two gold stars which she attached to our cheeks. "You boys keep these and remember us."

      About two years later I was back in New Orleans and for months had been thinking about getting back to K-Paul's. The hotel concierge said Prudhomme wasn't taking reservations since the Times and a few others had "discovered" the place.  He said you'll have to wait in line which could be up to two hours.  

      I was stunned by the number of people in cue and was told you needed to put in your name.  As I got to the check in I had a flash of brilliance. As Kay asked for my name, I opened my billfold where I had stuck the gold star and put tape over it.  Crazy, I know, but what a memory. Anyway I asked Kay, do you remember this. "Oh my, the clean plate and you kept that star? Honey you stand right there and as soon as that tables clears you're going to sit down."  With that she padded off to kitchen area, now busy with others and said something to Paul. He looked at me smiled and gave me a thumbs up.  When I was seated a waitress brought me a Cajun Martini.

      Paul Prudhomme who gained fame for his Creole-Cajun fusion food died this week at 75.  He many a lot of us smile.  

AFTER THE ROSE'

   I'm fascinated by the shape of wine bottles and especially those of French Rose'.

GOOD NIGHT KITTIE KIDS

  This week Joy and Hemingway have decided to bunk on the top of the washing machine! 

    See you down the trail.  

       

CUTE UGLY AND FROM CUBA

CUTE UGLY

    How can you not love a face like this?

     Little junior or sissy turkey is out for a walk and test flight. Wild Turkeys are among the population of abundant wild life here on the ridge in Cambria. The practice surface in this case is our roof.

REMINDER TO THE DONALD

   Dear Mr. Trump,

       It is an ancient wisdom and is also a Biblical lesson, "Reap what you sow."  Or if you prefer consider Newton's law or the law of Karma-for every action there is a reaction.

       Or closer to your own idiom, don't say stupid things or people may begin to think you are an egotistical idiot. That would be more people may begin to think that.

CUBA

    If you like to travel I hope you'll get to Cuba now that we have begun to normalize relations. As a toast of celebration here's a post from June 2011. Enjoy your Daiquiri. A further exploration of the extraordinary island follows below.

THE DAIQUIRI- 
AND THEN,

THE PAPA DOBLE 
Popular history affixes the creation of the daiquiri to a group of American
mining engineers who were working near Santiago Cuba.
The Daiquiri beach is near Santiago.  A bartender at the Venus bar in
Santiago is credited with making the first of the rum drinks and giving it the name of the beach.
But then the Daiquiri moved to Havana
and the Floridita Bar.

It was here where the Daiquiri met Ernest Hemingway and
where the story gets interesting. And where the Daiquiri grows up.
But first a little back story.
The paintings below hang near my kitchen.
The top painting, if it looks familiar, is a study of a Monet painting in London, 
painted by my eldest daughter Kristin.
She is a superb artist and created the piece as a student.  We like it, hung it
and often explain it to people who think it looks "familiar."
The painting below is a watercolor that I purchased from a street artist
in Havana.

This is the Havana corner as it is

and this is the water color.

The Floridita was a Hemingway favorite.  It was here

the bartenders followed the writer's directions and created

what some call the Hemingway Daiquiri.

At the Floridita they call it the

Popa Doble

2 1/2 jiggers of white rum

juice of 2 limes

juice of 1/2 grapefruit

6 drops of Maraschino cherry liquer

NO sugar

served frozen.

These descendants of Hemingway's bar tender friends can still build a 

great Popa Doble. According to legend, Popa or Poppa would pop
quite a few in one sitting.

The writer spent a lot of time at the Floridita.

His original bar stool, a the end of the bar, near a wall, has been

preserved and chained off.

Hanging above the stool is a bust and an Oswaldo Salas photograph of 

Hemingway and Fidel Castro the day Hemingway left Cuba for the last 

time.  One of my prized possessions is a copy of the photograph

signed by Oswaldo Salas.

Getting the photo and getting it out of Cuba is the story
for another post.
Cheers!

   If you are interested in Cuba, here are links to previous posts from that amazing Island nation.

The Cuba File Archive

• The Old Man and The Sea-meeting Hemingway's Captain
• Cuban File-Street Scenes
• Cuba File-The Shrine of St Lazaro
• Inside Hemingway's Home

   See you down the trail.

CAITLYN JENNER AND ISIS

FAR FROM THE MEDIA CENTER RING

     Caitlyn Jenner deserves the life she seeks but has media saturation made it exploitation and a side show? Why are so many so curious when other matters are pending.

      Here's a story of a transformation far from the celebrity of "reality television."  He was an engineer at the television station, a quiet brainy sort I thought. He reminded me a bit of Tom Petty. He kept to himself, often spent his break time in the cafeteria reading. My interactions were limited but I thought he was probably one of the brightest members of a large television staff.

       There was large crowd around the bulletin board in the break room one day and I was greeted with "you've got to read this!" Posted there was an extraordinary personal letter from the young man. He detailed how for most of his life he believed he was a woman in a man's body. He announced he was in the process of a gender change and for the next year, before medical procedures, he would live as a woman and preferred to be called by the feminine iteration of his name. He announced he would use a restroom facility on a corner of station's back lot.

       As you might expect the reaction varied and her life for the next year was challenging. Though she had always been a rather private person she announced part of her transition was to be open about the change.  We were often on the same hours so I made a point to ask her about the complexity of her life and the huge change. I never saw many people with her, but she was gracious and frankly more witty and at ease as a woman in transition than he had been. Her answers to my questions were honest and instructive.

      Eventually the medical procedure and hormone treatments had been achieved and the person who had been shy was now vivacious, buoyant and transformed. She was an attractive young woman. Some new employees were seemingly quite taken with her femininity. In my layman's sensitivity she had blossomed as a human being, and was comfortable in her skin.

      A couple of years ago she shared a limousine with a few of us who had been flown back to the mid-west for a documentary in which we appeared. It was serendipitous that we had a chance for a visit, but she was stylish, witty and said her life in the ensuing years had been great.

       Her journey was no less important than Caitlyn Jenner's though it and others were made far away from cameras and reality television. As a man Bruce Jenner seemed to thrive on attention. Caitlyn's life has begun in the same way.  My friend made her transition not for celebrity or fame but for being who she was. I trust Jenner has done likewise, but before a nation "celebrates" her bold and courageous act, we should recall there have been many like my colleague who have transformed without magazine covers and reality shows. I hope Jenner can be at peace, free as she says. 

        It is her right to continue to be a person who desires the spotlight. But I question why for example 46 million Americans have flocked to Internet connections and coverage. What is the attraction? Is the Kardashian mania the true "Zombie apocalypse?" I wonder how many of those 46 million have taken the time to follow the National Security legislation debate, or have given more than passing thought to the implications of ISIS funding and strategy or have considered what Americans can and should do about a food industry that routinely consumes a disproportionate amount of water. For that matter I wonder how much media time, print, space and attention has been devoted to those matters as compared to what they have given the Caitlyn story. And I wonder why and what it means?

      

       TRANSFORMATIONS OF ANOTHER SORT

   We have a new front door, which for the record Lana and I both like. We wanted to go more deep red, but were told with our direct sun exposure it would fade, terribly. Instead we went with a shade called Hot.

    Several friends have been through it. One likes it. Others express a kind of amazement or amusement. So it goes.

    There is one denizen who is totally unimpressed. For that matter he cares not about media matters, transformations, international diplomacy. He only seems ruffled, when I disturb his nap. My boy Hemingway!

   See you down the trail.

NO WET PAWS & WHY BOEHNER IS A BONE HEAD

NO WET PAWS, PLEASE

Neither Hemingway nor Joy like wet paws.

But Hemingway is especially reluctant. Our recent light rains gave him plenty of reason to stay on the chair.

EMERGING SPRING

BOEHNER IS A BONE HEAD

    Some of our founders must be spinning over the jack ass moves of John Boehner.

     The constitution gives exclusive powers to the President to receive ambassadors and public ministers of foreign governments. Boehner violated that historic and important principal by inviting Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu to address congress. His vindictive winner take all style of opposition politics might earn him applause from the far right and anti Obama forces, but it is dead wrong. It could be a disastrous precedent in an increasingly dangerous and complex world.

    The US Congress is an independent body of course, but historically partisan politics end at the shore. In foreign policy and diplomacy, the US has and must speak with a single voice. The reasons are obvious and borne out by history.  

   The US cannot deal with other nations with more than a single voice and intent. That is not to say we cannot have robust internal debate, but in bilateral relationships, only the Chief Executive has the power to engage foreign officials and especially heads of state. 

    Boehner is an inept Speaker and now he becomes an historic blunderer.  Even if you are a conservative, Republican, or not a fan of Barack Obama, you must still respect the institution and history of the Presidency and its exclusive role in bilateral relationships. Boehner is a fool and a mean spirited one at that.  His move on Netanyahu, meant to embarrass the President and to boost Netanyahu in his own political race, is wrong and indicative of how low the Republican party is stooping. As a matter of fact I suspect Ev Dirksen, John Foster Dulles, Teddy Roosevelt, William McKinley, Henry Clay, Robert Lafollete, Robert Taft and many other Republicans are spinning as well.

    Boehner should spend the remainder of this term of congress with a bright yellow A emblazoned on his forehead.

    See you down the trail.