FOUNDER'S GARDENING

DOING IT LIKE

THOMAS JEFFERSON

An idea launched itself in Lana's head

as she read Andrea Wulf's Founding Gardeners.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams used

kelp to enrich their fields.

 We now had a mission-collect

kelp from the shore.

 Chinese kelp harvesters worked these Central
California shores with great productivity.

 We didn't mind being the only modern

shore harvesters.  The Abalone farm in Cayucos

uses a harvest boat to work the beds in regions

for which they are licensed.

 We found a practical purpose for those

noxious plastic bags that never seem to go away.

 There was something else the Founders

used on their gardens. To collect it

we made a quick dash just up Highway 1 to a side road.

 In about a mile and half we were

entering a new micro climate as we drove

 into the Santa Lucias along San Simeon Creek.

 The road took us into sun and to

 the area of our next hunting

 with the prize being just

 across the cattle gate.

 The founders used manure and we knew of a

great field of cow chips.

 With a collection gathered, 

 we headed back toward the ridge

 and the awaiting compost

 about to be recharged,

first with the chips and

then with the kelp.

 I asked Lana if she thought TJ used a garden hose

to rinse his kelp.

 Now we have an enriched compost heap

thanks to offal of Pacific kelp beds,

 grazed open range cattle

and the Founding Gardeners.

See you down the trail

EVENING IN THE VALLEY, THE DEBT & POOR COLTS

REEL THOUGHTS

THE DEBT
I've been a Helen Mirren fan since I first saw her work.
Prime Suspect, which PBS aired in the US sealed the deal, so  I start with a bias. Despite that, and even if you were to
replace Mirren with another actress, the Debt is still
an intriguing and intricate story.  The directing by BBC veteran John Madden (Shakespeare in Love)
 weaves a story through a pattern of past to present unraveling and is superb.  The wrestling with truth and how to deal with it is powerful and searing.  The honor and 
well being of a nation, as powered by a deceit, is a
strong mind game that will probably have you pondering.
Well acted, taut pacing and suspense, great script,
Tom Wilkinson and Helen Mirren.  Two thumbs up from here.
DAY BOOK
EDNA VALLEY EVENING

POOR COLTS
Regrets for my Indianapolis friends and fellow Colts fans.
After weathering the uncertainty of a football season and thus Super Bowl, which the city hosts, now they've lost
Peyton Manning, maybe for the season.  I know folks who were dreaming of Peyton leading the Colts to a hometown Super Bowl, which would have been a first. Now I just
hope Peyton will recover so he can continued his historic 
career.
See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) CALIFORNIA THINGS

A JAM

It is just one of those "California things."
Rick Auricchio, THE Mac Man of Cambria and a great
bass player as well pal to many, let us know his new
band RUMBLE was making its debut at the
historic CAYUCOS OLD TOWN TAVERN.
Cayucos is one of the last of the old ungentrified beach towns and just minutes down the coast.  The Old Town Tavern is historic and heaven only knows what its walls have seen and heard over the years.
After a great dinner at Hoppes, only a block away, we sauntered in as the sound check was wrapping up.
The Old Town Tavern is also known for it's Card Room in the 
back and we watched an interesting parade of players file past.  There were a couple of wedding parties in town and
they looked like they could have been from separate planets.
Then RUMBLE started to rock and from the first rip of the guitar, blast of the sax and trumpet and vocal from Katrina it was clear that a tight, skilled, band was laying out a great funky mood.  Soon all the wedding participants, a few of the card sharks and a couple of seasoned  local hullabaloo style dancers were creating their own show.
But the band, wow!  I was stunned to learn from Rick, during a break, they only recently met.  All seasoned players, they immediately found a groove where each of 
their considerable skills combine into a great new
north coast band.  If you are on the Central Coast
and see that Rumble is playing near by-it will be a good show and will get you bopping.
AFTER ROCKING
TRY ROLLING
THROUGH SAN FRANCISCO BAY
THIS IS AMAZING
ENJOY

See you down the trail.

STABILITY? AND CAT PLAYS

WHO IS DISSIN' WHOM

PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
As of this posting, American officials say they've heard
from several sources that Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal
will be released soon. As I noted earlier this week, I feel
connected to the two free lance journalists. In
this post we also featured an interview with Sarah Shourd, who was captured with Bauer and Fattal.
What is troubling is that Iranian officials are playing power games with each other, using the freedom of the hikers as a pawn.  President Ahmadinejad said earlier they would be free, but since then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini  said not so fast. The unpredictable President and the Supreme Leader have been engaged in a power struggle.
The significance of that is for other analysts, but the 
off shoot is that troublesome Iran has inner political struggles.
In the meantime I hope American diplomacy, public 
and otherwise, is successful in getting Bauer and Fattal
free and on the way home.
AS THEY SAY,
NOW FOR SOMETHING
ENTIRELY DIFFERENT
DAY BOOK
KITTEN TIME

It seems to be bath time

beneath the jade.  I'm

wondering how long until

they are too big to fit.

Also wondering how long until Luke realizes he's getting
too big to fit here.
See you down the trail.

A SEAL COAST MYSTERY

A STROLL THROUGH SCENES

       They mystery writer switched on as we began our 

hike from the elephant seal beach.

        A marine haze shrouded the coast as the Pacific pounded the ancient rocks.

      The Piedras Blancas light station barely pricked the gray
that blanketed the slumbering elephant seals.

       Visitors from around the globe were ignored by the napping hulks.  We left them all behind as we headed north from the viewing platforms.

       Walking the isolated trail, our only companion was the churn of the surf and the snort of elephant seals who had 
found their own isolation.

      Past caves, flora, and smaller wild life.

       The scale of gray and subdued light, mixed with the 

windy coast, coaxed me into countless English mystery memories.

      Tales of lighthouse keepers and northern shores.

     Even without a writer's imagination, it is a wonderful hike that parallels the meandering path of the Pacific Coast Highway toward Big Sur. 

      We found others who had made it to an isolated beach.

Two of whom practiced battle

       As others napped.

      They too had made the effort to find more space, isolated beaches and to get away from the throngs.  

      And through the steel gray, a flight line, steering toward

          an opening in the sky, where the first hints of change

    begin to lift the morning shroud.

   Hints of sun begin to peek and brighten the scenes.  

The daily ritual of burning the haze to reveal California blue sky begins to play out.  And the parties to these coastal mystery scenes

     head back to unravel the mystery of the remainder of their day.

     Thanks Susan, Lana, Debbie. Enjoy the mystery. 

     See you down the trail.      

AN OLD FASHIONED SKILL

CANNING

       Daughter Katherine moved her mother when she said one of her great memories of childhood was the aroma, sound and sight of her mother canning tomatoes.  Lana learned from her mother and so the tradition continues. Our eldest
Kristin says she remembers summer naps hearing the canning jar lids pop sealed.

       Katherine and friend Dennis rounded up tomatoes and with Lana's assistasnce created sauces, juice and canned tomatoes.

       It is a labor intensive process.  A stop action is helpful to see what is in the blur.

      Who knew that as Californians an old Indiana tradition would be carried on.  Including the use of some Ball jars!

        BTW, I have plans for some of those sauces.

         See you down the trail.

FREEING THE HIKERS & THE TENNIS AUDIENCE

GOOD NEWS FROM IRAN
News from Iran indicates that American hikers 
Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal will soon be released
after two years in prison.
Bauer and Fattal were arrested with Sarah Shourd in July 2009 when they crossed the unmarked border between Iraq and Iran.
I don't know Bauer, Fattal or Shourd, but their case is
close to my heart.  They are free lance journalists and I
have assigned free lancers to get into tricky locales, in two cases crossing unmarked borders in South East Asia. 
  I have been across tricky or unmarked borders in conflict zones in Africa, the middle east and Central America.
I'm glad these young Americans will soon be free of 
an Iranian prison.
Recently Amy Dwyer of Sierra Magazine interviewed
Sarah Shourd about the incident.
Here's the video.

THE TENNIS AUDIENCE

The first time my friend and tennis foursome player

Phil said "Hey we got an audience today!" I 

thought he was daft.  The small bleachers by the 

court were empty.  

"Up on the hill," he said.

I've begun to notice now they 

will take a mild interest in our play on the 

courts across the road from their ranch.

And often they register their disdain 

with our quality of play by 

simply moving on.

See you down the trail.