BLUE AND WHITE OVERHEAD & THE BIG SUR SAGA

NO PROBLEM, IT'S PARADISE MAN

       We've been in love with Big Sur since 1969.  It was our first trip to California and our friend Jim told us we needed to get an early start from LA so we could get up this "special place" by sunset.  It was the Lime Kiln campground, south of Big Sur. If ever a place can throw a switch in your brain, Big Sur did and still does.  

        Living only hour or south of Big Sur is one of the great joys in our life.

       It is one of the planet's most beautiful places.  As our friends who visit learn, there is a special charm to the region, and the drive is probably the best in the United States.

       If you've been paying attention you know about the slides and road collapse that has isolated Big Sur from the rest of the world.   
       Julia Prodis Sulek of the San Jose Mercury News has written a marvelous account of how things are going with that.

A FASCINATING AND ENJOYABLE READ WITH SOME MARVELOUS IMAGES. LINK HERE FOR A TRIP TO MELLOW!

WHEN YOU LOOK UP

       A joy of California living is the blue, the shades of blue of the sky, almost year around.  And there is usually something always blooming.

And sometimes those blooms are over head.

Clouds are another great show.  There is something special about clouds in a California sky.

Some look like they may have inspired movie makers.

Hmmmm.

And clouds and mountains are a great combination.

Keep looking up.

See you down the trail.

SPRING THE RANCH AND A BLUE NOTE

A MORNING WALK

A VISUAL TREAT

        The Fiscalini Ranch is a 430 acre preserve with about a mile of coast line in Cambria.  It is place of wildlife, endangered plants and other fauna. A recent morning walk at the Ranch yielded a bonanza of spring blooms and pretty sights.  Here is a replay for you.  Enjoy.

The Lupine are looking good.

and there is a another variety of Lupine

The California Poppy is always a beauty

Even "stickers" have a beauty

The iceplant is vibrant and multi colored.

and closer to home-

the echium upate

FINALLY, FEELING BLUE ABOUT BUTLER

       The University of Connecticut won the national championship in what was called an ugly game. Ugly for a couple of reasons.  

          Both teams struggled with offense, but what many of the experts seemed to miss, is that  struggle was because both teams played hard nosed and in your face defense.  U Conn. was the better team last night because Butler had an off night.  They shot only an 18% on field goals and you can't win with that kind of offense.  U. Conn played a good defensive game to be sure, but Butler just had one of those nights when they were cold.  It happens to basketball players and teams and it is sad that it happened last night.  They are a better team than they looked or played.  Sad that Matt Howard leaves a great NCAA career with such an ugly loss.  Too bad that a team that had never won a national championship had to lose to a team that has won 3.  Too bad that in a Hollywood manner Brad Stevens could not become the youngest coach to win a national championship, along with another Indiana coach, Branch McCracken of IU. Instead the oldest coach to win, won another championship. Too bad that a small school that featured an academic All American and with a spotless NCAA record could not defeat a big school with lots of money and a coach and program that will be on NCAA suspensions, again. Too bad, but that is the way ball bounces.

        The Butler kids may feel terrible today, but with time they will look back on two back to back national championship games, their empowering of small or mid major schools to achieve the heights, VCU being a case in point, as an extraordinary accomplishment. They will find a pride in their improbable run with a team no one thought could make it as far as they did. No one but themselves!  That too is a victory.

 See you down the trail.

GONE GREEN AND GOING GREEN $$ & GO DAWGS!

THIS IS THE SEASON

       The extraordinary rain season on the Central Coast has painted a lush green world.

I've measured more than 34 inches in what was said to be a "La Nina year," a colder Pacific meaning an expectation of less rain than last year's "El Nino" year that produced 25+ inches. The reasoning, a the warmer "El Nino means" more rain. So much for the forecast and the prediction models.  

          It will be green in the Sierra as well and lakes the like one above, vital to California's water shed, will be replenished. More than 61 feet of snow has fallen in the Sierra Nevada High Country, second highest to the 1950-51 season when 65 feet fell.  Governor Jerry Brown declared the state's three year drought is officially over.

          ANOTHER MEASURE OF GREEN

$

       Nick Wilson writes in the San Luis Obispo Tribune that San Luis Obispo County's crop values reached $713 Million in 2010.

       Last year's ample rain fall contributed to the good news.  Grapes were the top value crop with a record value of $173,558,00.

TOP VALUE CROPS

             Grapes             $173.5 Million

             Strawberries     $123.5 Million

             Broccoli           $ 55.8  Million

             Cattle&Calves   $ 53.3  Million

        A variety of other vegetables and produce rounded out the top 20 but were significantly lower in individual value than the top 4.

       A television commercial talks about California cows being happy cows.  Well those cows grazing maybe happy about the spring green, but their owners are as well. Grazing this season will be very healthy, and the concluding rain season is likely to produce even better numbers for vineyards and farmers next year.

       When most of the US is under winter's gray and drab, California comes alive. The green season provides a special visual delight and is good for the bottom line as well.

GO DAWGS!

       Pardon my partisanship, but I simply want to express admiration for a favorite basketball team, the BUTLER BULLDOGS. I grew up in an era when Paul D. "Tony" Hinkle took the small Indianapolis university to national prominence.  In the last few years the  basketball program has again proven itself to be a force.  Back to back national championship appearances is a victory in itself.  

       This years team struggled early in the season having lost a great kid and super talent to the pros.  But coach Brad Stevens and his charges adjusted and surprised even die hard fans.  As a good friend, a Butler Alum and former University employee said "...not supposed to be a final four team, but they just refuse to lose.  Why stop the train now?"

        Butler boasts a high graduation rate of its student athletes and this years squad features an academic All American.  They evince team work and spirit.  Coach Stevens, one of the youngest in Division 1, joined the Butler program as a volunteer.  He has now guided a team to the national championship for a successive year, a fete very few achieve.

       In an age of "one and done", "face time" players, NCAA violations and sanctions, it is good to see a championship calibre team with the off court class of Butler.  On the court these guys are tenacious, disciplined, hard working and have been giant killers.  Here's to hoping they get one more win-tonight.  

      See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) HUGS, CHEERLEADERS AND A PAINTED SKY

SMILE

YOU'LL FEEL BETTER

       The local recording studio and venue for many wonderful intimate "house style" concerts is called the Painted Sky.  We were not here long before I discerned the origin of the name.  This is a recent "masterpiece."

       NCAA Final Four weekend is here.  Enjoy.  If you are not a hoops fans we've got a couple of items for you in keeping with our young "Weekender :) tradition" of fun.

THIS IS LIFE AFFIRMATIVE, FEATURES LEONARD COHEN'S GREAT WORK AND WILL MAKE YOU FEEL YOUNG. BE JOYFUL BY LINKING HERE.

and we've got cheerleaders!

MORE SMILES HERE AND FOR A GREAT CAUSE. THIS ALSO ANSWERS THE QUESTION "WHAT HAPPENS TO FORMER NFL CHEERLEADERS?" LINK HERE, ROCK ON AND BE WELL.

Remember to SMILE.

SEE YOU DOWN THE TRAIL.

DRIVING CALIFORNIA & BEING DRIVEN CRAZY

NOT CONNECTED

       I'm sorry for not posting yesterday.  Internet problems!!!! Just finished crawling around under the desk, connecting and disconnecting and reconnecting for the umpteenth time.  Finally the automated service on the other end of the phone was able to do whatever he/she/it did and now we are back on the information highway.

       These kinds of service interruptions bug me but they also worry me.  It demonstrates just how dependent we have become on a technological infrastructure.  Not being able to process email, browse and interact with social networks exposes a vulnerability and induces  a kind of withdrawal.  True, life continues.  I even went to the beach and enjoyed a gorgeous California day, but not before fretting about, what I was not "getting done" or "missing."

        Modernity requires this kind of fragile connectivity, though there is so little we can do to exercise power or influence over it, its service or reliability.  That feeling of helplessness angers me. It also worries me about forces of nature or man that can disconnect us.  Oh well-Off to play tennis and happy to be back in the world. 

       What a great segue to thoughts about kind of connectivity- commuting.

MORE THAN A COMMUTE

      French and Italian drivers can be aggressive-one finger in the air and another on the horn.  Mexican and Brazilian drivers can be fast and daring-who is going to back off first on a two lane road?  African drivers are heroes, because of the condition of African roads. But California drivers are in a class of their own. They can put up with the "commute" everyday.

      And California drivers are creators of what I call the bubble jams.  

      There you cruising the freeway and suddenly things jam and slow, even if there is no on or off ramp, no repair, no accident.  Stop and go and lane hopping until you hit a another bubble of open space and return to high speed until another mystery jam.

       Naturally you expect it when the (5) (10) (210) (405) (101) (etc) splits from the 

(5) (10) (210) (405) (101) (etc). But I am mystified by what causes some slow downs. They disappear as rapidly as the brake lights begin flashing on.

Now, what would you prefer.  This

or this.

It is the same road. The first scene in LA, the second, just a little further north of LA.

I've live and worked urban but I much prefer these scenes for a commute.

Here are a few successive "road scenes" as we head further into the Central Coast

Almost home and feeling peaceful.

It is more than a commute. In LA it is a kind of battle.  Up here it is a kind of therapy.

AND IN FACT, THIS BEAUTY IS A THERAPY FOR 

INTERNET INTERRUPTION AS WELL!!

See you down the trail.