NOT OUT OF THE BLUE

     While many Californians remain cut off and isolated in Big Sur, CalTrans continues work on slides, drop offs and building a new bridge. 

      These are challenging times for those who live and work in the Big Sur region. Others are also suffering a withdrawal from visiting one of the planet's beauty spots. We feature a few more frames from our Big Sur file to salve our unease especially as we begin to measure a more menacing cut off-in this case from normalcy and that dateline is Washington.

after watching the blue

      The coast was not perfectly clear but less occluded than the scene from Congress.  A point of reference here-I am  fortunate that I drive the Pacific coast.

         The sun and the big blue contribute to saturated light,  long views and a framework for clarity. It is a perfect place to let the mind ponder the madness wrought by the heathen fool who rambles in the White House eating ice-cream and watching Fox News while fouling American democracy.

the "lech" enabler

         A couple of thoughts about his enablers....

His friend and a man who must share some of the blame is dead. People will speak nicely of Roger Ailes. But his legacy deserves not a shred of respect. Ailes, who was a Trump confidant and advisor was, like the president, a sexual predator. He was forced out of his castle because his sexual harassment and tawdry behavior caught up with him. We can hope the same will be true for the dirty old man who desecrates the presidency.

       But Ailes did something else evil. He almost singlehandedly created news by flavor-political flavor. Back when he worked for that other paragon of honesty, Dick Nixon, Ailes began to dream of a network where the news was spun by party line, propaganda! When he labeled Fox News-fair and balanced-he shoved journalism into a direction that is diseased. 

        Ailes was not a journalist, he was a con man, a true propagandist. He made a fortune. He had power but in the end it all crumbled. We are sorry for his family, but his true demise occurred when the Murdoch's tossed his lecherous and deceitful presence out of Fox. 

the other enablers?

      There's a little story with a huge significance. In 2016 California Congressman Kevin McCarthy, now House Majority Leader said he thought Donald Trump was on the take, being paid off by Vladimir Putin. The tape reveals that House Speaker Paul Ryan, immediately cut off the comments and told assembled Republicans those comments were "family matters" and were never to be reported. They hadn't been, until the tape surfaced. 

      Maybe McCarthy was only joking, but in the context of everything else we've learned, how do you know? What is most troubling is Ryan's order to shut up. It is symbolic of his spinelessness in dealing with the trump madness. 

      There are many Republicans who I have known personally and professionally. They are or have been office holders, high government officials, advisers and strategists at the federal, state and local level. Many of them are troubled not only by the despicable and ruinous behavior of the president, but by the lack of courage of the men and women in the House or Senate who could begin to rein in the man child who now even the most ardent of conservative and republican analysts and writers have begun to savage.

      Some of their own party and certainly many Democrats have said the spineless will pay. This is a full season of investigation now and the facts will come out.

remembering a more vibrant time

    See you down the trail.

      

MANNING UP THE SUPERBOWL-A SHORE REFRESHER-THE WEEKENDER

HERE'S HOPING

    Peyton Manning exemplifies excellence. He is testament to the virtue of hard work, preparation and discipline. He's a role model as a leader and he could be the best, or smartest, quarterback to ever play the game.  He might be both. I became a fan of both the football player and the man when we were both in Indianapolis. I didn't like the way Jimmy Irsay, owner of the Colts, handled Peyton's employment when he was injured and fighting to recover and I've told him that.  So with all of this as preamble it is no surprise who I will be rooting for this weekend.  It would be a sweet thing if Peyton can steer the Broncos to a win, gaining himself another ring and validating the extraordinary effort he's put into rebuilding himself and proving the power of overcoming.

THE SHORE

   The Pacific Coast is forever fascinating and begging for a camera.

WEEKENDER VIDEO

     If you are feeling landlocked, suffering cabin fever, tired of winter or maybe just a little tense, this weekend's video may be for you.  Three minutes of peace by the pacific.

See you down the trail.

WOW-THE WEEKENDER

AS SUMMER ROUNDS THE BEND

   I have no explanation for this.  This summer we've been growing tomatoes with noses.  Amusing, yes, but also delicious.  As you might imagine they've prompted plenty of comment, none of which I will repeat here. 

A MIND BOGGLING REPORT

    Thanks to my friend and tennis mate, Janos for bringing this extraordinary report to our attention. This offers huge potential for all us but in the shorter run a reason for hope for those with particular disabilities.  Mind over matter and mechanics to be sure.

and finally,

A TRIP TO THE SHORE

here's a couple of minutes captured just a couple of miles from here

    Enjoy this long weekend.  See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) COOL

GETTING FAMILIAR WITH MOTHER NATURE

Grinding the Crack

    There are a lot of ways to get it done, but we offer up a 

WEEKENDER :) video sent to me by my eldest who has been

a wilderness guide, canoeist and helicopter/rafting leader.

This is something I hope Kristin is not thinking about doing,

but it does offer some thrills. Hang on for this one.

     Now we'll offer up a less harrowing way to interact with the elements.  Here's a taste of what many of us Central Coasters have been doing, watching for whales.

IT'S A NEW TRACK RECORD

     It was always exciting when the late Tom Carnegie, track announcer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, boomed those words.  The phrase was so famous in Indianapolis it became a kind of buzz word cliche for any manner of "record setting" activity.  Today the Friday Lunch Flash Mob set 

a "new track record."  We had FIVE picnic tables.

    Kind of amazing when we recall it started with about five or six sitting up on the deck.  Big kids like to have fun too!

     Have a great weekend.  See you down the trail.

GIVING US THE FUTURE

This post comes in the last hour of this day here on the Pacific Coast.  It has been a day without a post.

Had Steve Jobs never lived all days would

pass without a post on your pc, smart phone, pad or desktop.

What a strange world it would have been! 

See you down the trail.

A SEAL COAST MYSTERY

A STROLL THROUGH SCENES

       They mystery writer switched on as we began our 

hike from the elephant seal beach.

        A marine haze shrouded the coast as the Pacific pounded the ancient rocks.

      The Piedras Blancas light station barely pricked the gray
that blanketed the slumbering elephant seals.

       Visitors from around the globe were ignored by the napping hulks.  We left them all behind as we headed north from the viewing platforms.

       Walking the isolated trail, our only companion was the churn of the surf and the snort of elephant seals who had 
found their own isolation.

      Past caves, flora, and smaller wild life.

       The scale of gray and subdued light, mixed with the 

windy coast, coaxed me into countless English mystery memories.

      Tales of lighthouse keepers and northern shores.

     Even without a writer's imagination, it is a wonderful hike that parallels the meandering path of the Pacific Coast Highway toward Big Sur. 

      We found others who had made it to an isolated beach.

Two of whom practiced battle

       As others napped.

      They too had made the effort to find more space, isolated beaches and to get away from the throngs.  

      And through the steel gray, a flight line, steering toward

          an opening in the sky, where the first hints of change

    begin to lift the morning shroud.

   Hints of sun begin to peek and brighten the scenes.  

The daily ritual of burning the haze to reveal California blue sky begins to play out.  And the parties to these coastal mystery scenes

     head back to unravel the mystery of the remainder of their day.

     Thanks Susan, Lana, Debbie. Enjoy the mystery. 

     See you down the trail.