WHAT WOULD TWAIN SAY?

BLUE CHARGE AND RETREAT

Moonstone Beach, Cambria

      The rhythm and sound of the Pacific enhances any day.

"I do not like work, even when someone else does it."

Mark Twain

SNAPS OF THE PROS

   Tennis champion Rafa Nadal taking a practice break in 93 degree heat at Indian Wells. 
   The BNP Paribas Open offers this blogger a chance to indulge his sports photography fantasy.

   The great Serena Williams during a practice session.

      Wimbledon Champion Andy Murray with a power drink.

   Nadal's eyes laser focused on the ball.

   Exercising his tick of putting his hair behind his ear.

   Eugenie Bourchard and shadow in a post shot single leg stance.

   Bouchard arching on a serve.

 Alize Cornet finishes a backhand.

   Andy Murray ready to deliver on a serve. His is one of the games best.

 Murray and shadow are airborne after a return. Notice the ball at his knee.

 Grigor Dimitrov in two phases of a great backhand during practice

   The fourth ranked Caroline Wozniacki going for a shot in a game and match she would loose.

   Canadian Star Milos Raonic demonstrates the intensity of waiting for a shot.

    When discussing careers my high school guidance counselor missed a couple of options-Tennis and Winemaker. Wonder what Twain would say about those lines of "work?" 

      See you down the trail.

SEEING INSPIRATION

REFLECTIONS

   Mark Twain, Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson and Ernest Hemingway all found refuge and inspiration in the Hawaiian Islands. 
    The abounding beauty is but one of the captivating influences that engage the mind and put the muse to dance. The melding of Polynesian culture with indigenous history and native personality is rich. Add to that, color,   aroma, food, and a special relationship of people with nature all playing out in the unique light of a Pacific Island and you have a blend for reflection, appealing to writers and countless artists.
      William Faulkner said a writer needs experience, observation and imagination. Twain, London and Stevenson found it here.  
       On a previous visit, working on a documentary, a helicopter pilot with whom we worked told me the land and the Hawaiian people are connected in a special way and he said the land is alive. There is an energy and power to life that abides on land that has emerged from the sea by power of the ring of fire. Observing and experience life here stokes the imagination with volcanic power.

SEEING IT

     These frames are works of reflection in degrees of intricacy. If you have a moment, decipher how reality is bent by reflection.

  The following are a trio in tribute to the dancing palms.

   The following frames may take a moment to determine how up is on the bottom.

   Wishing you moments of reflection and inspiration.

REMEMBERING THE DREAMER

    

     See you down the trail.

MEDITATIONS ON MEN, WOMEN & EROS

A PRAYER FOR PETRAEUS

" LORD GIVE ME CHASTITY-BUT NOT YET"
Saint Augustine  354-430

     It's too bad for the whole cast that any of this is now front page and 24/7 news.  

"Deceiving others, that is what the world 

calls a romance"

Oscar Wilde

     How does it begin?  A touch, a look, a playful flirtation that goes too far?

      Sad that a good man with stellar service to his nation is deposed by private actions and sad too that we are denied his capable skill.

"The surest protection against temptation is cowardice."

Mark Twain

      We are right to question though, why a chief of intelligence would leave the kind of trail that investigators have chased.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave...when first we

practice to deceive."

Walter Scott

Quoted by Senator Sam Ervin during Watergate

"And thus I clothe my naked villainy

with odd old ends stolen out of holy writ;

And seem a saint, when most I play the devil."

William Shakespeare, Richard III

  As editorial cartoons and pundits have noted, Petraeus is not alone in his submission to lust.

"I've looked on many women with lust. I've committed

adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will

do this and he forgives me."

President Jimmy Carter

"We are never like angels till our passion dies."

Thomas Dekker  1572-1632

   And so our national soap opera turns.  But I wonder, 

should we really care?

"The saints are sinners who kept on going."

Robert Louis Stevenson  1850-1894

DAY FILE

CALIFORNIA TEXTURE

   See you down the trail.

A THANKFUL TURKEY TROT

GO AHEAD AND COUNT THEM-

Your blessings.

Gratitude is good for you

On November 2, 1800 President John Adams

wrote to his Wife Abigail.

I send his words to you on a personal level

about your home.

And  they are issued here again as

Adams meant them, as he was a new occupant

of the White House.

I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings

on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it.

May none but honest and wise (men) ever rule

under this roof."

I count friendship as a great blessing.

Long and lasting friendship is a cause for 

great celebration.

"The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet

and steady and loyal and enduring nature that

it will last through a whole lifetime,

if not asked to lend money."

Mark Twain

:)

And again today, our neighbors on the Top of the World

ridge top, made their parade, terrorizing our cats.

If anything feels lucky today, it should be

these messy cretins from a prehistoric age.

but we are glad to see them

and thankful to share one of

their commercially raised cousins.

(organic of course)

GOBBLE GOBBLE

See you down the trail.