Day 13

photo by SLOSTRINGER

castle defense

    A modicum of good news as the Chimney fire continues to plague California's central coast, Hearst Castle is well defended. 

    Cal Fire and Hearst Fire personnel say the landmark is still threatened but precautions and fuel burns have lowered the risk slightly. In this erratic fire any help is good.

 photo by cambriacoffee

 photo by SLOSTRINGER

photo by SLOSTRINGER

     Air quality remains poor over most of the area and people are fatigued by the constant tension. Evacuation orders around Lake Nacimiento have been lifted in some areas and imposed in others. People living along a mountain road between Cambria and San Simeon have been put on alert.

   Media coverage has also focused on the appreciation of residents for the valor and endurance of the fire fighters. 3,972 are on duty at this fire. There are now 327 fire engines, 105 hand crews, 16 helicopters and 7 air tankers. The hand crews struggle against the rugged terrain as well.

    Presently we all hold on to hope that favorable weather conditions will give the firefighters a couple of days to bring more containment. 43 thousand acres have been burned. 48 homes and 20 other structures have been destroyed. The fire is 39% contained. Hot weather and more wind is expected the first of the week.

       The Chimney fire burns within view of the Pacific Ocean.
The juxtaposition of a port town just a few miles away and the raging mountain fire is mind boggling to me.

     Wild fires on the coast seem absurd, but extreme drought and untended wild land are a dangerous combination.

     The fire has given us an opportunity to examine what has been the incredible lack of judgment by local government that has refused to fund a forest management plan. We'll examine this in more depth next week.

     So we continue to watch and wait. We also find joy in small pleasures, meals with friends, being able to enjoy the comfort of our home and an occasional sight that brings a smile.

      We caught this "throwback view" in San Luis Obispo near the train depot. There was a time in Boomer lives when back yard clothes lines were a special playscape. 

      See you down the trail.

AMERICAN DIVERSIONS

Creation of Chef Giovanni at the Harmony Cafe at the Pewter Plough-Main Street in Cambria

   Summer Fun Time as the old Top 40 and Rock Radio jingles used to cheer. Memorial day signaled a nod to summer hedonism-pools, picnics, vacations, patio parties, longer days and more sunshine.

    In Indiana summer began only after "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing," the Indianapolis 500.  As a Muncie youth I put a transistor radio on my handle bars and made seemingly endless loops of a half mile route around a few blocks in my neighborhood near the Ball Brothers plant listening to the "Voice of the 500" Sid Collins.  Later we would gather my grandmother and great aunts and "decorate" the graves of departed family members. That senior generation always referred to it as "Decoration Day." That day also included grilling, hot dogs and hamburgers. It was the 1950's, our future was before us, everything was possible and life was good.  

     Years later I would work as a colleague with Sid Collins and even cover the legendary Brickyard. I was never at the track nor can I watch coverage without thinking back to those years when summer began as I raced by bike from South Ebright Street. 

     Hope you have a wonderful summer, full of the stuff of youth.

For Exotic Lovers Only

    The Annual Succulent and Cactus Show in San Luis Obispo is another signal summer is here.  

 See you down the trail.

VIOLENCE-APPROVED, SENSELESS, CONTROLLED

    The terrible loss of Alison Parker and Adam Ward is more tragic because of the senselessness of it. A malcontent and troubled former colleague robbed the life of two young journalists denying them a future.

     I used to hire and manage people like Parker and Ward. Those of us who worked in broadcasting can picture our own young colleagues and their families and loved ones. And we can recall versions of the accused from our own experiences.

    In reacting to the tragedy national organizations have cited the increase of violence to journalists who have become a new target of terrorists, criminals and the deranged. I know what it is to be a victim of violence intended to intimidate or stifle reporting. In two car bombings, being bound and robbed in my home, being roughed up or shot at I was doing investigative reporting. Parker and Ward were doing a light feature in a morning news cast. My attackers had a motive and were not merely unbalanced or evil. Journalists in war zones or doing investigative work are willing to take the risk. Injury or loss in those instances is still heartbreaking, but not so senseless. A San Francisco crew was robbed and pistol whipped earlier this year, simply for being on the street and reporting. 

     Too often people with gripes or vendettas go off. I don't know how that can be prevented, but there is a stain of violence in our culture and it has many faces.

FOOTBALL THUGGERY 

trained violence

     A local case is more sinister than the all too frequent NFL thug crime report-spousal abuse, assault, murder.

     A high school senior and his parents have been given judicial approval to seek punitive damages from a well respected San Luis Obispo High School, its football coach, a former captain and his parents in a case of violence made even more disgusting by the "logic" of a couple of lawyers.

     Here's the background-In a practice last year a player bested the team captain. The suit contends an assistant coach then ridiculed the captain. The San Luis Obispo Tribune reports on the next play "the captain used his helmet to smash into" the other kid. Apparently the captain continued to smash into the other player repeatedly. The victim was diagnosed with a concussion, a brain stem stroke and sensory deficits.

     Where were the coaches and the other players? 
     After the injured boy went to the hospital, the law suit says he was bullied by the captain and others and taunted including in social media until he quit the team. 

      The high school has refused to talk to the media but the lawyers for the captain and his family say he was only playing aggressively.  They say "this type of gamesmanship is an integral and inherent part of football."

      Even more disturbing these legal aces say "football is a game that requires players to assault and battery to play the game." Let that one sink in for a moment. Required A&B. The Superior Court Judge Martin Tangerman said the lawyers argument was "misplaced."  Amen!

WARRIORS TO GUARDIANS

     A ray of light in this tome. The LAPD is being told they are to be transformed from "Warriors on Crime" to "Guardians" of the city.  The word is going out from the top brass to all new officers. 

       It is an attitude thing. Officers are being told they are to "watch over" the community.  The shift in thinking is to make the department more empathetic. The brass believe it will affect how and when officers use force or their weapons and the attitude they evince.

       It will take time to see a difference, but the LAPD has continued to reform. This is the kind of mind set that local police departments should adopt. Out here in the old west they used to be called "Peace Officers."  "Guardians" could be a good start to something.

      See you down the trail.

    

THE WEEKENDER-PRETTY AS....

WHAT IS NOT TO LIKE?

   The Italian street painters are back in San Luis Obispo. Pros, amateurs, hobbyists and students fill the Mission Plaza with energy and art under the brilliant, if not hot, California sun. This year we take a peek at works in progress.

    We arrived in San Luis Obispo late one Sunday evening, flying back from a trip, but made a midnight swing through the Plaza to behold the art that disappears rapidly.  

YOUR TICKET TO THE SOUTH OF FRANCE

   During a particular six year period I went to Cannes France twice a year to attend the Television and Documentary Market and festival.  As you might expect I loved the time in Provence and this little video prompted memories.  It's a unique look at Cannes.  Enjoy.

See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER-EURO STYLE

FRENCH, OR ITALIAN, OR CALIFORNIAN

    Admiring what I call the old "buck board bench" at Giovanni's Harmony Cafe, warmed by the coastal sun, reading a note from our pal Bruce about recipes from Provence' as we await the latest offering from our local master chef, the aromas of the kitchen mixing with the roses, my cocoon of well being is bumped by a realization. 

    Lana and I have been chatting about the joie d'vivre of the Susan Loomis book ON RUE TATIN as she recounts her move to France to write a cookbook as her husband rebuilds a centuries old home in a northern town.  It strikes us that our life here in what some have called the "American Provence'" is authentic provincial joy itself. The cafe for example, guests reflect that with the alfresco setting, the climate and cuisine they could be in Tuscany or Provence.  Indeed! The culture here is younger than Loomis's Louviers in Normandy, but it is unique, as in 

ART ON A LADDER

    Art Van Rhyn that is.  Artist, gallery owner, musician, founder of the whimsical 927 art show, cartoonist of the weekly From the Beach cartoon in The Cambrian and personality unique is one of the pantheon of  "Cambria Characters" this village is known for. Emphasis on "character!"

CAN YOU GUESS WHAT THIS IS?

     30 minutes down the gorgeous Pacific Coast Highway is the beautiful small city of San Luis Obispo.  Truly Mediterranean in look and temperament, S-L-O, as many call it, is a university town, full of playfulness, as in the scene above. Bubblegum Alley.

   Yep, that's all gum.  It's a changing work of art, as generations have created their own morphing images, words, messages and etc. Bet they don't have one of these in Normandy.

    So later I'll slip into my easy chair, crack open ON RUE

TATIN, peak out the window at the Santa Lucia mountains and start thinking about what we're going to do for dinner.

The whir of the mixer as I write this is the reminder Lana is making pasta.  We'll probably pick a few tomatoes from one of the raised beds and likely find the other items to round it out at the Farmer's Market underway in the village. Many of the characters will be there. In fact the longer one stays here, the more we all transform, or aspire to our niche in the ways of eccentricity.  

    Oh yea, we'll be using olive oil, but then, which type?  While this region produces great wine, we have a burgeoning olive oil market as well.  So, perhaps, there is a place for our version of this fellow---enjoy.  

Have a fun, delicious and sexy weekend!

   See you down the trail.