A WALKING BUNCH

A WALK UP SAN SIMEON CREEK

       "You should walk with the Walking Bunch" our new friend Ruth told us one Sunday morning shortly after we arrived in Cambria. 

        "You'll meet interesting people and see a lot of the area, beautiful places."  She was right and we have been part of the "Bunch" for 4 years.

         Today was back to a beautiful valley along San Simeon Creek, one of the primary water sources for Cambria.

Everybody moves at their own pace. 

There are several spots to check on the flow during what has been a wetter than expected rainy season.

A member of the "Bunch" grew up around here and says this was the old swimming hole.

I can remember sitting in my office over looking the newsroom to the right and looking out on the street to my left during chilly, gray winter days thinking about scenes like these.

Today, the good news is I'm here to report that San Simeon Creek has a great flow.

The fields have been prepared.

No shortage of green chow for these grass fed cows.

And San Simeon Creeks flows toward the Pacific.

The only thing this post can not capture is the many and varied conversations of the "bunch"  as we stroll along.  Lana remarked how it's interesting that you set off with one group, but may travel through 3 or 4 groups and conversations during the walk.

Our friend was right indeed.  Interesting people and beautiful places.

See you down the trail.

THE GREENING OF...

THE SPIRIT

They spoke, I think, of perils past.

They spoke, I think, of peace at last.

One thing I remember:

Spring came on forever,

Spring came on forever,

Said the Chinese Nightingale.

The Chinese Nightingale by Vachel Lindsay

THE EARTH

HOPE SPRINGS IN THIS SEASON OF

GREEN & YELLOW

And as we look, closely or in wide views 

we can begin to let life, vibrant life, seep in,

even to dry, or hurting, or longing hearts

and winter fatigued minds.

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring

The Winter garment of Repentance fling:

The Bird of Time has but a little way

To fly--and Lo! The Bird is on the Wing.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Edward Fitzgerald

THE HUMAN

Let us recline in grasses tall

and know and share our all in all

and dream, my sweet, loving mate

of a blessed time and fate

to be as an innocent child

embraced by love supremely mild

Reflections on Spring by Tom Cochrun

See you down the trail.

ON THE ROAD

A WIDENED VIEW

        The Willie Nelson song On the Road Again is an anthem for those of us who have spent years of our life working "out there" somewhere.  Part adventure, part drudgery it has the cumulative affect of stretching your view, in what you see, of people and how you think.

        I was hooked from the time my father set up a Buick Roadmaster with a folding cot between the front and back seat.  Not only were cars large in those days, but there was additional room for a cooler, water and additional blankets which would convert the expansive back seat bench into yet another bed. My brother and I had our own capsule as we spanned from the Midwest to the Rockies. I've been traveling since.

NOW HERE IS A ROLE MODEL

       Around Kings Canyon, which is roughly between Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks I saw this unit and knew, here is traveler.

       I've been remote enough to immediately recognize a well equipped unit. This one made me envious.  Turns out it belongs to a Frenchman who has been pretty much on a world journey for several years.  He's shipped his Defender over oceans and then charts a route, with little thought to "when" he will get to the last spot he has marked on the map.

       On this leg of his travel he was working toward Alaska from deep in South America. See what I mean by envy?  Take a look at where he's been so far, marked by the dark line. 

As you can see, he's traveled some tough, remote and war torn areas.

He had a serene, confident, calm about him. It is the kind of "mellow" I have 

seen in others who have seen much of this terrestrial sphere. It is the kind

of behavior I admire and respect-the product of a widened view.

SPEAKING OF A WIDENED VIEW

Here is a good piece of analytical journalism that flies in the face of some of the screeching voices you hear today. It is another sample of McClatchy enterprise reporting. This time public employee pension plans are in focus.

DAY BOOK

KINGS CANYON

      The views of the Canyon along the Kings River are majestic, enough so that our French  explorer noted above put it on his world tour.

      See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) HOT CHROME, SEXY ROBOTS & WHAT A FUTURE!

TECHNOLOGY CAN BE FUN

       One of my great aunts, born in England in the 1870's, referred to cars as "machines."

Of course she and her siblings saw a remarkable increase in "machines" of all sort.  But then so have we.

       I know some of you may still be waiting for the Tomorrow Land style world that was forecast for us in our old Weekly Readers, but we are probably closer than we realize.  SKYPE and I CHAT did bring us the "picture phone."  The new tablet iteration is taking personal computing to new levels.  It's fun to ponder the possibilities.  

       Here is a promotional video from Corning, which ponders the possible in some entertaining and remarkable ways.

BUT THERE WILL BE ETHICAL ISSUES AS WELL
AND AT CAL POLY THOSE ISSUES ARE GETTING EXAMINATION. LINK HERE FOR A STORY ABOUT ROBOTS AS SEXUAL COMPANIONS


AND THEN THERE IS HOT CHROME
YOUR WEEKENDER :) DAYBOOK
HOT RODS-CALIFORNIA STYLE

I can't help but wonder what my Aunt Martha would think of the content of this Post.
See you down the trail.

RANDOM FRIDAY

THINGS UP CLOSE

       Some of the Friday lunch Flash Mob enjoyed the warm sun down the mountain from the Castle and the talk turned to writing, literature and the new web based social networks.

       It impressed me that while comments ranged from emphasis of the middle eastern democracy movement utilizing the systems to joking derision of Charlie Sheen tweets, how we have crossed a divide.  Social networks and web transferred information is no longer leisure and optional behavior, it is vital and in some cases life and death.

Link here for the latest on a young man, comfortable with viral information sharing who now is at the center of an historic case that could have lethal outcome.

MORE ON WIKI LEAKS

THIS TIME MOTHER NATURE

Those released diplomatic cables continue to provide vital and relevant information. Link here to read about environmental policy, politics and perhaps surprising revelations.

     A few years ago it may have been just fun and socialization, but now there is a river of data, information and exchange that pulses through our exchanges.

SPEAKING OF MOTHER NATURE

FASCINATING SCIENCE

       News from Cambridge Mass. this week could change the world.  A Massachusetts bio tech firm reports it will produce fuel by utilizing a bio material found in growing grass.

       Joule Unlimited has created an organism by means of a genetically engineered process that it claims  secretes diesel fuel or ethanol whenever it finds sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.  The company says it can use the organism to produce the fuel on demand and at whatever quantity is requested.  Joule Unlimited says it can produce the fuel at costs comparable to the cheapest fossil fuels. 

        The scientific community will no doubt examine this closely, but what a potential marvel huh?  What's that about a "new world?"

HERE IN YOUR DAY BOOK

SOME OLD FASHIONED MOTHER NATURE

and our latest Cambria Ruth Rose

One of Lana's ceramic play time creations.

See you down the trail.