"That's the way it was…" and Colorful Fungus Among US

THE LAST '15

     Fewer of us write checks or letters so there is less need to annotate the date. Artificial intelligence via phones and computers do it for us.  But there is always that hump of getting over the correct last digit. 

      As you slide into acceptance that we've reached the midway point of the second decade of the 21st century, consider our blue marble 100 years ago.

       World War I raged. The British ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine. 1,195 died. Woodrow Wilson was President, the New York Yankees wore pinstripes for the first time, the Boston Red Sox won the world series, "Typhoid Mary" was finally arrested, Lassen Peak in California, seen here, exploded in a volcanic eruption with debris still evident, 

Ralph DePalma won the Indianapolis 500, fire destroyed most of Santa Catalina Island, the one millionth Ford came off the assembly line in Detroit, a court in Georgia accepted the official formation of the new Ku Klux Klan, City Hall in

San Francisco was dedicated, Cornell was the NCAA Football Champion with a 9-0-0 record, Wimbledon was cancelled due to WWI, Regret won the Kentucky Derby, William Jennings Bryan resigned as Secretary of State, a mob lynched a Jewish man in Georgia, unemployment was 8.5%, the Germans first used poison gas as a battle field weapon, DW Griffiths The Birth of a Nation was released and created the foundation of modern film making, Audrey Munson, portraying a model, became the first actress to appear nude on screen, the Nobel Prize for Literature went to Romain Rolland of France, the Vancouver Millionaires won the Stanley Cup, 600,000 to 1 Million Armenians were slaughtered by Turkish soldiers and the cost of a first class stamp was 2 cents. 

     Do you wonder what this new year will be remembered for 100 years from now?

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

   Welcomed rain, warm days and more recently cool evenings have prompted the local variety of mushrooms, toad stools and fungus to arrive.

THE LESS COLORFUL COUSINS

AND THE WEE TINY LAD
These are growing out of a pine cone-notice the thumb?

   Wishing you well being, mindfulness, celebration of the moment, light, happy adventures, and good hours in the blogosphere in 2015.

2014 THROWBACK

"1-9-6-4-We're the class of '64" fifty years later.  Warren Central High School Class Reunion-Milano Inn, Indianapolis, June, 2014.   

    See you down the trail.

WAS IT THE MUSHROOMS & A PRO MOVES ON

DIDN'T WANT TO READ THAT

     I was sorry to read that Bob Cuddy a reporter and occasional columnist at the San Luis Obispo Tribune is retiring.

       It was obvious to me from the first time I read his work that he'd been around the block and was a solid journalist. Over the six years we've been on the central coast I've appreciated his skill, balance and good reporting.  His columns offered insight, good sense and posed questions when they needed pushing.  

      In the column announcing his retirement he quoted a John Steinbeck character who questioned if he had contributed to the Great Ledger. Cuddy questioned if all of his years in journalism mattered.  I think they did.

     Journalism is a tough job where you make few friends but can anger many simply by trying to get the facts.  From my view of his last six years, he did a great job. At a time when there are fewer experienced journalists who care enough to ask such an introspective question, the departure of an old pro like Cuddy is a loss.  His work had worth indeed.

                      RIP TO ANOTHER PRO

     Pulitzer winner Anthony Lewis died at his home in Cambridge Mass. at 85.  The former New York Times columnist was must reading for young reporters of a certain age in the late 60's.  He redefined legal reporting and court coverage.  Reading his column Abroad at Home or Home Abroad, depending on his location at the time of composition, was enormously helpful to those who cared about journalism, the judicial system and democracy.
                                       

WAS IT THE MUSHROOMS?

A DAY AT THE BEACH
A moment of relief for those of you still afflicted by winter.

   See you down the trail.