Painted-Bone Dry and A Short Throw

ENCHANTED EVENING

   Marvelous summer sunsets are a California positive, helping us to survive historic drought.

IT HAPPENED BEFORE

    By 1863 the drought on the central California coast was so severe, ranchers drove starving and dehydrated cattle off bluffs into the Pacific. 

    Today ranchers have alternatives, including thinning herds. A recent walk brought all of this to mind

  It's difficult to see what the cattle may be grazing on.

DRY CREEK BEDS

   San Simeon Creek should be rushing through this. Now only traces of a flow.

  So now all of us, quadrupeds and bipeds adopt the attitude of the above lady-what's up?  In the meantime we wait for El Nino.

A FIVE YEAR THROW

    Five years ago this summer-the Journalism Hall of Fame induction. The ceremony was in a magnificent Tudor hall in one of the historic buildings on the campus of Indiana University which now houses the Hall of Fame in the Ernie Pyle Center.

  You can link here to learn more about the particulars.

  This summer my thoughts are with former president Ray Moscowitz who presented me with the Crystal plaque. A great newspaper editor who oversaw operations for 14 papers in his career, Ray is battling a brain tumor. He faces the challenge with the same zeal and forthrightness that he practiced journalism. Ray is a 2002 inductee.

  Also proud of my former colleague and longtime friend Kevin Finch. Kevin is now a professor at Washington and Lee University. You can link to his blog in the Rich Blogs column to the right of this post.
   Time certainly does fly!

   See you down the trail.

PASSIVE-NON AGGRESSIVE-WAITING

CATCHING LIGHT

    It's the time when the sun's angles are harder and fleeting
but the light bursts.

     Fog ghosting out of valleys at sunrise

   or clouds surfing on the setting sun offer themselves.

   Disappearing afternoon rays offer Hemingway a patch of warmth.

 In the east a moon pokes above the mountain top.

   In the west, the nightly dunking.

   On this evening a crescent moon presides over the afterglow.

A DELETION

   The earlier post regarding Lindsey Graham's destructive comments and their legacy have been removed.  They do not warrant your attention as we watch the evolution of events resulting from the grand jury report in Ferguson.
  The posturing of Graham and other Senate Republicans may derail hopes the party could return to more practical, pragmatic and traditional positions and leadership. There will be more appropriate times to wade into that. 

    See you down the trail.

THE NIGHT LIFE-BISTROS-DALE HANSEN ON GAY IN THE NFL----THE WEEKENDER

BEFORE THE STARS 

meditations on a setting sun

  THE START OF EVENING  

    Bistro workers in the last of the sun's rays. Quiet before the crowd.

   The bistro exudes invitation as the darkness falls.

     A quiet moment before the hum of diners and merry-makers. The scene below conjures romance or intrigue.

     Musical venues abound on the central coast.  Below, virtuoso Keith Saunders shows why he's beloved in New York, LA and San Francisco. He was appreciated by Jazz Artists Series listeners at D'Anbino Wineries' music stage.

A COMMENTARY WORTH NOTING
Sportscaster Dale Hansen on an openly gay NFL player

FINDING THE MOON

    See you down the trail.