In March of 76 Lana and I joined Barb and Dave for a Bicentennial drive across America. We loaded their VW Van, bid a farewell to our daughter who was being doted over by grandmothers and aunts and headed west. Barb uncovered my daily journal from that trip and this week we have recounted memories. A highlight of that epic journey was a camping trip to Big Sur's Lime Kiln. This was long before it was a state park. We had been there previously and had been captured by it. In March of 76, Barb and Dave made their first and last visit, until this week.
What a great joy it was to be there again with Barb and Dave. We had much to celebrate, most notably Barb's victory over ovarian cancer.
Frequent readers of this blog will recall several postings from Big Sur and especially Lime Kilns. It is one of our favorite places on the planet.
There is a primeval peace and a natural tranquility which breathes from the rushing stream and sun light filtered through towering redwoods.
I've posted about the fire which burned through the forest
and the natural recovery which occurred, as it has for as long as time.
Lana and I go to Big Sur frequently, but on this return trip, Barb and Dave vowed to make it more often than another 36 years. Have a great weekend. Tell good friends you love them. See you down the trail.
In the mid-west and east people will begin looking for hints of color in the maples, sycamores, oaks, hickories, and other deciduous trees, now that we are getting deep into September. Out west we spot the color in the aspen, oak and madrone trees, especially in the Sierra. As a former mid westerner one calculates the connection between color in leaves to leaves on the ground and then the arrival of snow. While we hope for a lot of snow in the Sierra, that part of the equation-snow-changes when you get to the coast. In fact autumn may well be THE season here on the central coast. We still have blooms, the sky is blue, the temperatures are moderate to warm and it stays that way. The only variance are those few days when rain allows for more blooms and a renewing greening. Nominally the rainy season, October through March, means a lot less rain than elsewhere. 24 to 26 inches is a good normal year. Spread that over a 5 to 6 month span and you see rain is a precious and indeed a somewhat rare resource. So, for now, more color from those things that don't require much water. And we'll be on the look out for color in the leaves and reports of the first snow, high in the mountains or back east.
The presidential campaigns continue to court the undecideds, especially in those key and decisive counties in the "battle ground" states. I'm not sure how someone can be undecided at this point, but this is also the age of the "low information voter, so..." BTW, does the concept "low information" voter give you pause too? Or maybe just scare you? To those who might be still undecided, we send along memories of that MeatLoaf classic Paradise by the Dashboard Lights. "What's it going to be? I need to know right now!" "Let me sleep on it." "Tell, what's it going to be? I need to know right now!" "Let me sleep on it." Etc., Etc., Etc. until, you may recall, the refrain "Now I'm praying for the end of time..." You know, for some, it may be better to remain undecided eh?
DAY FILE
DECIDING
Cloudy & Gray or Blue and Sunny
sort of stuck in the middle
If you wait long enough around here,
that California sun shines through
and the skies go blue. REEL THOUGHTS
THE INTOUCHABLES
This French film has been playing The Palm, our favorite art and foreign house, for a few weeks and continues to draw crowds and great reviews. We know why.
The story of a wealthy French aristocrat who suffers a paralyzing accident and the Senegalese emigre from a poor extended family who becomes his caregiver is hilarious, touching and true. Subtitles seem to disappear because the acting and story line are both superb. It's a great little film that will give you a lift.
AND HERE IS ONE TO WATCH FOR
It seems this has greatness written all over it.
Actors, producer, director, and the storyline itself.
We passed about 15 horrible minutes today looking at the insipidly terrible trash video that whipped fundamental Muslims into riotous frenzy. Though it is pathetically stupid and attempts to be offensive to Islam, it is also stupid that intelligent people would riot in response. Rotten is rotten so the best response is to ignore it. Fundamentalists of any stripe seem to abandon reason though and so the protests continue, giving longer life to the very thing they abhor. Duh!!
BACK TO THE POWER
At coffee after tennis this morning David, an admired and respected man, widely traveled and in his 80's, spoke of the extraordinary power of youtube and other internet videos. "It's changed everything" he said, "there is no control over what people see or how they'll react."
In his youth, radio and newspapers were the predominant
carrier of attitude and information. Those media, like television, represent structure, organization and a process that touches and shapes the information at least. The internet of course gives all players equal access to your eyes, ears and brain. It is without an inherent balance, establishment of significance or quality control. And it is pervasive.
With that as a full disclosure disclaimer, allow me to put a piece of propaganda before you this weekend. This is a short trailer about a growing issue and a likely problem across the land. This is a one sided teaser-but it's about something we all need to think about. Note my emphasis on think...something absent in all aspects of the first item posted today.
The best information to date is the Innocence of Muslims was a badly made and cheap film that attracted only a handful of viewers at a screening in LA. It could have died there and never been heard of again. But social media changes all the old rules.
Clips of the film circulated on YouTube and fanned Muslim anger. Strains of fundamental Islam take little to work them into a frenzy. Those who hew to a rigid line of never thinking critically about their own faith, or even thinking in an open minded and rational way are quick to foam and be seized by manic anger. What apparently is a piece of trash with mysterious origin has now become a pivot point of anger, foment and a genuine foreign policy issue. For all that is good about a wired world and communication power, an incident like this points to its dark side.
Ignorance is just that, whether in a film, or in a response to it. Ignorance is rampant in the world, and it wears Muslim, Christian and Jewish garb. A decentralized, non aggregated, free-for-all communication web can simply add fuel to a fire. It obviously can also set sparks. When so much ignorance plays in the tinderbox, the world is more dangerous.
This is the kind of world where the US foreign policy and national security apparatus must operate. It reminds me of muddy and muck filled rivers populated by crocodiles and snakes. I was glad to have a veteran at the helm. Hysterics in this climate can be lethal, but they abound.
ROMNEY'S DANGEROUS MISTAKE
Now before my Republican, conservative or Romney backing readers have apoplexy, this is not about politics.
Indeed even right leaning or right wing commentators as well as old fashioned mainstream Republicans have criticized the Republican candidate for his opportunistic and political attack on the administration. He was accused of speaking too early, or looking weak among other non presidential qualities. The Democrats were more pointed, but since this is not about politics, we leave the comment to his own kind.
From a center court seat and with an historic perspective, his desperation to score political points reflected a lack of judgement, seasoning, sense of depth and class. At a time of international crisis, the US speaks with one voice. And Romney's sense of timing was bad, at the very least.
When Americans and diplomatic personnel are under attack, politics has no place. When those personnel die, any attempt to score political points is not only repugnant and offensive, it is a stupid miscalculation in a grave moment. It was a cheap, stupid and tactless thing to do. Romney and his advisers should be ashamed and are rightly being criticized.
So there you have it. Stupid X's 3. Stupid film, stupid fundamental reaction, stupid politics. What should have been a tempest in a teapot reveals fatal flaws and fault-lines in a dangerous world.
Photo Courtesy of Coast Guard, California Highway Patrol and the Associated Press
It sounds as though the 77 year old pilot and his son were pretty cool as they waited two hours to be pulled from the sinking pontoon plane.
The AP reports the son says his dad landed it well, in the Pacific, a mile off shore of San Simeon, north of Cambria.
They were on their way for an annual Alaskan fishing trip when the engine died. Their locator beacon worked and in a couple of hours the Coast Guard chopper was at work pulling them up, just as the plane was beginning to sink.
What do you think a dad and son would have to say to each other as they bobbed amongst elephant seals, great white sharks and took the waves in a dead plane? Few conversations get that kind of setting.
COACHING YOURSELF IN OUTBURSTS
AND OTHER OATHS
It was amusing to hear what came from other tennis courts as our group took a break between sets. Guys were being vocal with them self, berating their own play or lack of control. Since the courts are on a school campus there is a club policy against profanity. In that context I heard a few God Bless Americas! being hurled in that voice that seems as if it struggles with control. Mostly, guys talking to themselves, like a coach; keep your eye on the ball (insert name), stroke it, don't poke it (insert name), oh!, where were you going with that shot (insert name)?
In a few minutes I was back on the court, and probably
