NEW SOLAR FLARE

MAJOR SUN ACTIVITY
Scientists says this flare on June 7 is the second highest level of solar flare. It is expected to give the earth only a glancing blow.
We are entering a period of expected increased solar activity.
The images are amazing.

THE DAIQUIRI AND HEMINGWAY

THE DAIQUIRI- 
AND THEN,

THE PAPA DOBLE 
Popular history affixes the creation of the daiquiri to a group of American
mining engineers who were working near Santiago Cuba.
The Daiquiri beach is near Santiago.  A bartender at the Venus bar in
Santiago is credited with making the first of the rum drinks and giving it the name of the beach.
But then the Daiquiri moved to Havana
and the Floridita Bar.

It was here where the Daiquiri met Ernest Hemingway and
where the story gets interesting. And where the Daiquiri grows up.
But first a little back story.
The paintings below hang near my kitchen.
The top painting, if it looks familiar, is a study of a Monet painting in London, 
painted by my eldest daughter Kristin.
She is a superb artist and created the piece as a student.  We like it, hung it
and often explain it to people who think it looks "familiar."
The painting below is a watercolor that I purchased from a street artist
in Havana.

This is the Havana corner as it is

and this is the water color.

The Floridita was a Hemingway favorite.  It was here

the bartenders followed the writer's directions and created

what some call the Hemingway Daiquiri.

At the Floridita they call it the

Popa Dobble

2 1/2 jiggers of white rum

juice of 2 limes

juice of 1/2 grapefruit

6 drops of Maraschino cherry liquer

NO sugar

served frozen.

These descendants of Hemingway's bar tender friends can still build a 

great Popa Doble. According to legend, Popa or Poppa would pop
quite a few in one sitting.

The writer spent a lot of time at the Floridita.

His original bar stool, a the end of the bar, near a wall, has been

preserved and chained off.

Hanging above the stool is a bust and an Oswaldo Salas photograph of 

Hemingway and Fidel Castro the day Hemingway left Cuba for the last 

time.  One of my prized possessions is a copy of the photograph

signed by Oswaldo Salas.

Getting the photo and getting it out of Cuba is the story
for another post.
Cheers!
See you down the trail.

ERUPTIONS-SOCIAL MEDIA-TECH CURRENCY-NATURE

 BLASTS INCOMING

Photo by Daniel Basualto/EPA

       The photo capture of Chile's Puyehue Volcano at that precise moment expresses extraordinary power.  It evokes an ominous sense.

       My sense of life and the world changed profoundly as I stood on the lip of a volcano caldera.  The ground shook, a noise like a jet engine surrounded me and Donald Swanson of the USGS, and we were rapidly enshrouded in a thick, dark cloud of acrid sulfurous

gas, much like the cloud above.  I knew in that moment that Mother Earth was alive and still cooking.  Power and forces larger than human scale remain at work on and in this planet.

HUMAN ERUPTIONS

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images
DO WE HAVE TO GO TO WEINER WORLD?

       After this you may wish to write me off as a Luddite or a "church lady" style moralist.

          Even the idea of cyber sex is stupid, sad and probably forgivable only for a teen suddenly ripped with hormones, strange new feelings and a computer or smart phone. For a public official it is idiotic!  

           First sexual intimacy should be intimate, as behavior of and for consenting people in the same room.  Anything involving a computer, phone, pad or transmitted by a camera or long distance can not be complete and seems to me it would be singularly unsatisfying.  Anything without human touch is not intimate, and seems to me without pleasure.

          I suppose kids, or congressmen, who do "sexting" consider me old fashioned. 

Well my dears if sexting is what does it for you, you don't know what you're missing.

          My attitudes aside, I am dumbfounded by why any one in a position of influence, and subject to the whims of voters, would play such stupid games.  Sex and politics is an old story and as a journalist I know it happens.  But as a journalist I often wonder why have we-the media and it's consuming audience-become so fixated on stories of sexual

dalliance.  I've spent enough time abroad to know that Europeans think Americans have a real hang up.  I understand that if a man or woman of power gets exposed in a sexual scandal there is some obligation to examine it.  But we have in recent time crossed from a 

powerful man bedding someone other than his mate, to goof balls sending pictures of themselves to fantasy lovers via cyber space.  Can't they at least have the common decency to do the real thing?  Or maybe even better, adhere to a code of behavior that we old fashioned sorts would call honor. You ought to know that an honorable person can still "get lucky" to coin another old fashioned phrase.

SPEAKING OF COINS

      Do you know about Bit Coins?  While in the previous section I may not be hip enough to understand cyber sex, here I am certainly not tech savvy enough to figure how to do the mining.  But the idea of a unregulated, non government, cyber currency is an intriguing topic.  Especially in light of the "Arab Spring" and the power of social networks to mobilize political action.  You may have to noodle on this for a while.

Of all of this post, I remain moved and fascinated by the Chilean Volcano and Daniel Basualto's remarkable photo.

See you down the trail.

ROCKY BUTTE FROM BOTH SIDES NOW

A MOUNTAIN WITH A LONG VIEW

This communications tower sits atop a high bluff near the summit of Rocky Butte.

It will take especially good eyes to see the tower in the frame below, but it is there to the right of the summit in the middle of the shot.

The shot is from the deck of our house on the ridge.

Rocky Butte is about 3,250 elevation.  I spotted the antenna using a set of field glasses.

The frame below gives you a better sense of the distance from our ridge.

Rocky Butte is one of the taller peaks in this area of the Santa Lucia ranges which gains in altitude to the north.

I've followed the data captured by the Rocky Butte weather station which I assume is located with the antennae next to the summit.

So, remembering the view of Rocky Butte from above, here is what it looks like from the little plateau slightly behind it.

I'll remember how the peak looks from up close as I see it from my home in the distance on the other side. I'll also recall the magnificent view offered from the peak next door to Rocky Butte.

If you look closely you can see Morro Rock, the stacks and Hollister Peak.

This is San Simeon Cove from afar.

This is more of the Santa Lucia Range, north and east of Rocky Butte.
What a difference an altitude can make.
RAIN UPDATE
We received another .1 over night and that pushes our yearly total up here on on the ridge to 37.9. That is extraordinary.
See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) PLAYING INSIDE

IT IS HISTORIC

June rain on the Central Coast is rare. Forecaster David Hovde says it has rained on this date only once in 10 years and only 3 times in 85 years.

It is a drenching rain with the potential of more than an 1 inch and half . The Parade and Rodeo in Santa Maria, the Paella Fest in Paso Robles, the Tennis Tournament in Cambria, graduation parties, weddings and a lot of other outdoor activities have been drenched or some cancelled.
So on a rainy weekend we have some inside diversions for you.
INSIDE DIVERSIONS
I have always loved kaleidoscopes. Today's a perfect day to play.

AND HERE IS A LINK TO A MOUSE ACTIVATED KALEIDOSCOPE

AND THERE IS ALWAYS FOOD

Here are the main entrees from a recent dining club
Spanish Fest-the center piece is Paella

Estefado Cornejo en Tomate
Spanish Rabbit in Tomato

Chicken with garlic and saffron in wine

Spanish vegetable casserole

Spanish Home fries

Tapas-mushroom, Serrano Ham, frittata, tapenade

Panna cota with compote and Polvernodes


So, a feast for your eyes.
Enjoy.
See you down the trail.

DECORATIONS ON THE COAST & AN UPDATE FROM BOB

MOUNDS OF LUPINE REIGN OVER THE COAST

The coastal lupine, which grows in a bush, has benefited from the wet winter and spring.

 From a distance the lupine bushes look like frosted cup cakes.

 A isolated bush provides a perfect sea side roost for a black bird.

AN UPDATE FROM BOB

Dear Friends,

We now have a more definitive schedule out of Mayo Clinic. There are 
chemo treatments Thursday (6/2) and Friday (6/3) (Bendamustine) to 
attempt to push the CLL below 50% bone marrow involvement. This is 
necessary in order to proceed with a reduced intensity transplant 
protocol. The pre-transplant outpatient schedule is spread over several 
weeks. Actually, that is a good thing. We may live at the transplant 
house in Rochester some of the time, but I can maintain a semi-regular 
work schedule around appointments. A couple of flying sales trips are 
possible, if needed. The intravenous catheter (port) goes in on 7/14. 
The first TBI (total body irradiation) treatment is 7/19. That's when, 
as "Coach Mac" would say, we "start earning our scholarship". I have 
gained 7 pounds over my personal preferred weight in anticipation of 
chemotherapy and radiation. An  exercise regimen has resumed to 
strengthen my heart. The doctors don't seem to believe my physical 
condition is an issue. The Lord is blessing us in many ways: support 
structure, provision, timing, friendships.

Energy level? Excellent.   Mind? Clear.   Attitude? Always.

Foster

We wish you the best on your courageous journey.

See you down the trail.

RED TAPE?

IS THIS THE ORIGIN?

    We know "red tape" is administrative or bureaucratic procedure that delays progress.  On a trip to the California Capitol in Sacramento we may have come upon the origin.

There in the historic office of the late Secretary of State Charles Curry is an example of what well could be the source of the phrase.

Here a stack of documents, tied together, awaiting signature or distribution.

Our curator told us that when the office was swamped with business and when backlogs occurred, the awaiting official papers would be "tidied up" by being tied up with

red string or tape, the kind winning runners would break at a finish line.  

 That red string kept things from moving forward, through a final processing or disposition.  

"It's caught up in red tape," our curator told us became the phrase.

The concept stuck, but I wonder if any one still uses red tape?

See you down the trail.