Adventure in the Pacific

 

         The surf and warm sun had worked me toward a meditative trance when a flash of red, ripping through my view had me ambling for the camera.

        The kite surf rig was in free drift. We had noticed a couple aloft just up Highway 1 north of where we parked to walk across a bench of land to the beach.

    In a moment I saw the rest of the gear, the pilot, ocean swimming in a steady surf. I thought he must be exhausted as he alternated between a back stroke and breaststroke. We wondered if we should alert beach rescue as we trained our attention on him.

        He stood up, saw his rig traveling south in a stiff breeze so it was back into the swim.

        He caught a kind of break- the rig was headed toward a cove further south.

        He was able to walk the shore watching as the gear moved toward a landing. What he may not have expected was playing the game of chase amongst a few elephant seals snoozing on the shoreline. 

        I thought he must be drained. Keeping the kite aloft while surfing would be demanding enough. The extra output of ocean swimming and then a long beach walk may have been more than he bargained for.

    The frame below is from his relative position as he came ashore. The rig was heading for the cove at the end of the beach in this shot.

        If you look carefully you can see it nestled to the left of the frame below.

        Below he has his back to one of the larger elephant seals who is letting loose with one of their snort roars.

        Sorry for the soft resolution and fuzziness of the shot, but it places the red rig in the collection of molting elephant seals.

In the frame below you see him at the far right retrieving something. 

        In the shot above a couple of the elephant seals appear to be taking an interest in that new red visitor to their domain.

            I was trying to decide what to do as we hiked back to our car, thinking I'd drive up to where I had seen the other rigs.

        We met a guy in a wet suit heading toward the beach. He said he was there to help a friend. I told him we had been a bit worried as his buddy had been stroking and chopping hard in the surf.

        "Oh, he's not happy, I can tell you that," he said smiling.

        "That's a lot of hard work for a sport" I said.  He just chuckled as he continued his long hike. 

                I suspect the story will be told a few times.

          Stay safe.

          See you down the trail.

THIS YEAR, MORE THAN EVER

 

      There's a little magic in this story and I want to share it, especially if this December finds you a bit wearied; amazed at how rapidly the year has flown, crestfallen by the state of the nation, or world, wrestling with health, worried about loved ones or other complexities in the messiness of life.

      This is our little story, but there is something in this for you, a portal to a place where you can lift your spirits. Simply, immerse yourself in the peace of musical artistry as expressed in Christmas music and search your mind for a piece of your childhood.

        Full disclosure. I enter this Christmas season struggling to find that sweet balance where I can be rid of the anger I carry, a disgust that is renewed with each new headline or word of another friend being depressed, troubled or stressed by Washington. Worried about the loss of reason and civility. Saddened by that and news of diagnoses, or the indignity and labor of an aging generation.

     Frequent readers may recall my seasonal ecstasy over Strings in the Chapel.
You can read these love notes beginning here with 2016
Or 2015 Where the title Could it Last Forever gives you a hint.
Over the years the photos and post celebrate a connections to something deep.
      This year I entered into the historic Santa Rosa Chapel and its place in the slipstream of time with a different mind set. But I'm here to say music is indeed therapy. 

     There is a timeless and expansive joy in the music of Christmas, the origin story of the Christian faith. The rich beauty of the music soothes and enlivens that place in us in need of nursing. 

      A cappella vocals with chapel bells, magnificent strings, harp and guitars combining for Low How a Rose, Mary Did You Know, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, O Holy Night and a stunning Ave Maria performed by violinist Brynn Albanese and guitarist Eric Williams lifts one above worry and fretting.

Wandering Shepherd with Molly Pasutti's vocals, accompanied by Eric with Ron Poulos on mandolin sears into your heart. So too was Robin Covey's O Holy Night accompanied by Jill Poulos on Harp, Ron Poulos on mandolin and Bob Liepman on Cello.

     There is also a power in reaching a memory and the images of childhood. It invigorates. Each year at these marvelous concerts Judith Larmore invokes an exercise that awakens the images of Christmas past. She animates our world with the tinsel, winters, family moments, excitement, tastes, sounds and sheer joy of that time in our lives when the magic of Christmas was real. This years reflection, entitled Abundance was a massage of the soul. Much needed. Much appreciated.

     Bruce Black recounts hilarious Christmas adventures with his grandmother as a lead in to his spirited recitation of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

      Between Molly Pasutti's ethereal opening,  Let all That Are To Mirth Inclined, and the closing Sing-A-Long, Christmas invaded my heart.
       And so there is a pass it along moral here.

       Even if you are not a person of faith or even someone 

who eschews religion, let the purity and joy of the origin story's music, some of the most beautiful ever written, wash over you this year, especially this year. Hearing these beautiful songs, performed by strings, is magic.
And surely there is a Christmas or winter fest story from your own childhood that can kindle your heart.

         In a Scandinavian custom, candles were lit at the graves behind the historic chapel.

         We are reminded that life is fleeting. Christmas comes every year, with a purpose, to put light into our life and joy in our hearts. It is an advent. It is also an adventure in lifting ourselves beyond despair or gloom. If you are like me and  really need a dose of this, listen to some of the music listed above-it was employed to spread magic over Cambria this year. Lift your spirits!

       Thanks to the Players and Singers

The Vocalists

Robin Covey

Molly Pasutti

Mark O'Bryan

Eric Williams and Guitar

String Quartet

Brynn Albanese 1st Violin

Sonya Lanzen-Castellanos 2nd Violin

Peter Liepman Viola

Bob Liepman Cello

Ken HJustad Bass

Jill Poulous Celtic Harp

Justin Robillard Guitar

Ron Poulous Mandolin

And a special Thank You to Judith! You made Christmas arrive.

  See you down the trail.      

SWEET & SOUR...ALLURING PLACES, BAD NEWS ON RACES

     Since the first reading of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, palm trees have had a special place in my heart, symbolic of something exotic.

      They represented escape from the Indiana landscape of my youth.  In time palm trees became synonymous with vacation retreat, away from snow, ice and gray.

  Years later there is still a special pleasure evoked by lounging under palms.

  Places with palm trees also provide natural color.

Race in America
A Failing Grade

     Segregation in America is getting worse according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The GAO report find the number of racially and financially segregated schools has doubled in the last 13 years.

      The report finds that 61% of schools with high concentrations of poor students were racially segregated-schools that were at least three quarters black or Latino.

      The US Secretary of Education says fixing it must be a priority.

      This finding on top of the growing economic disparity in the US speaks legions about the ineffective response to what is a dangerous fault line in the American body politic.

Celebration of the Mediterranean spirit

Food and wine pairings are special. Stolo Family Vineyards in Cambria features a great barrel room tasting. 

   Le Vigne in the Paso Robles Appellation saluted Wine Festival Weekend with a charming dinner. 

  Vineyards abound in beauty.

  
   Between palm trees and vineyards, life provides good reason to say Cheers!

   See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER-Zero Dark Thirty & 180

SEEING

ZERO DARK THIRTY

     This is an important film to see, not only because it is superbly directed-(Kathryn Bigelow should have been nomimated for an Oscar) nor because Jessica Chastain turns in a stunning and riveting performance as the CIA tracker Maya, but also because it is important history.

     It provokes, in fact it confronts you, in your face, on a couple of aspects of real life that are too easy for too many  to put out of mind.

     The war against terror requires warriors. We ask countrymen and women to step into the breech and do the awful work to keep us safe and then hamstring them with policy, bureaucracy, politics and the intrusion of career minded weasels. This film tells that story. It also tells in vivid detail the horrible and dangerous work that we ask our public employees to do. And the toll it can extract. 

      It captures, for public history, the search for Osama Bin Laden and the resolution of that quest.

      Some have knocked the film, accusing Bigelow and writer Mark Boal of being apologists for torture.  That is simply not true.  This is a fictionalized account but it tells with, in my opinion, an honest appraisal of the human toll that is taken and the demands that are made on those in our employ. 

      I remember sitting in a secure room in the dome of the US Capitol as the ranking member of the House Intelligence Oversight Committee said that some of the things we must do to protect our liberties don't always look so good in the light of day, but they are necessary to give the President and our security apparatus, options.  

      Zero Dark Thirty is a film that provides an opportunity to remember a real search and to ponder that dilemma. I think it is important to see this masterful, though gritty and at times heartbreaking and painful work. It is also a tribute to those Americans who do the hard work of intelligence, counter terrorism and security.

MASTERFUL ADVENTURE 

OF ANOTHER SORT

       Some of you may feel a tinge of envy in viewing this 

trailer.  Talk about a great adventure.

A GREAT BLUE HERON GOES TO SCHOOL

Have a great weekend.  

See you down the trail.