HOW WOULD YOU HANDLE IT? plus EVENING and GOOD WITH POPCORN-THE WEEKENDER

THE GLOAMING

WHEN STARS AND/OR POPCORN ARE ENOUGH

    A buddy, a former FBI agent and leader of a television investigative team said his lovely bride had to drag him "kicking and screaming" to SAVING MR. BANKS. He raved about it.  I understand why.

      We expected something else than the intricate and well woven back story to Walt Disney's making of Mary Poppins. First the 20 year courtship of the author P.L. Travers, and then her history as magnificently played by Emma Thompson, worthy of an Academy nomination at least. Tom Hanks was remarkable, as always, as Walt Disney.  Colin Farrell deserves a lot of applause for his Mr. Banks. Bradley Whitford and Jason Schwartzman were terrific in their supporting roles and Paul Giamatti was nomination worthy in his.  This is a touching, entertaining, fascinating and memorable film. First class in all ways.

HEY, DA BOYS MIX IT UP

    The GRUDGE MATCH is not for everyone, but if you are a De Niro, Stallone, Alan Arkin or Kim Bassinger fan, or if you simply like popcorn and cliche, you might enjoy it.  I did, even though it was reminiscent of a Rocky re-tread and the popcorn was outrageously expensive.

     I guess I was curious to see how a couple of old boys-my age-could handle the boxing gym and ring scenes. BTW Arkin stole a few scenes, as he does so well.  Bassinger need only show up. She remains a stunning beauty as she ages, not so De Niro and Stallone, but then how could they?

   This is a guys film probably. Jim Lampley's presence made me think I was watching an HBO boxing match, set up. I enjoyed the almost two hours, but then I like boxing, pop corn, De Niro and seeing how make up artists can help make Stallone becoming increasingly a punched up, punched out punchy old puncher.  

REAL LIFE COURAGE

    I hope you'll take 7 minutes to watch this exceptionally well done piece on an extraordinary person. This is real life heroism, just in getting by.  You'll feel better about almost everything after you've seen it.

WISH YOU COULD HAVE BEEN THERE

    Cambrian Tess Wright, prevailed again as Mistress of the Salon as she moderated a fascinating discussion about where a couple of Cambria artists fit into the modern art milieu. Full disclosure here, one of those artist is Lana with whom I have lived and who's art I have enjoyed for longer than you need to know.  The other is Bruce Marchese, a displaced Brooklyn lad who was hailed as an exuberant colorist.  Tess has presented a series of lectures on art and artists and I hope someday they'll be available for a wider distribution. Her research is superb and her rapport with artists is a treat to behold.  Thanks to the Wise Owl for a great venue.

    See you down the trail.

SHADOW PLAY and DOES THIS SURPRISE YOU?

SHADOW PLAY

     Wherein a recent walk over a bridge spanning a now dry wash offered a chance at a dimensional portrait.

    You can see the effect of the now historic drought along the central coast.  We need rain.

IS ANYONE REALLY SURPRISED?

    In reviewing data from four states, the Associated Press has learned you can't trust what the oil and gas industry says about ground water contamination.

     Records from Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia find many more problems with well water contamination than what industry sources say, that such problems are rare. 

     There are serious problems and they are spreading as gas and oil drilling and fracking spread.  Too bad there isn't a law to crack down on lying corporations and public relations officials. Too bad too that Dick Cheney got away with his criminal conspiracy to allow the lying corporations to skirt clean air and water standards.  And while we are lamenting, too bad the justice department hasn't gone after crooked Dick for any number of his corrupt practices, many of which are now documented by authors, historians and the Inspector General's office.  

     Cheney has lived long enough to see the truth made public about how even George W banned him from the oval office and close contact. I hope he lives long enough to see criminal charges brought against him.  He can totter off into the sunset assured that historians will rip his heart out-that would be his original heart, mechanical heart and the one he got when others, more critical and more in the target profile, continued to wait.  Too bad no one has investigated how the old buzzard got that new heart.

     See you down the trail.

CATS IN BOX, PENTATONIX, ARTS BUILDING MEMORIES & A BEACH WARM UP-THE WEEKENDER

THIS IS MORE THAN CURIOSITY

    Hemingway and Joy love boxes. A container from a trip to our "big box" store was temporarily put in the garage, pending it's filling with Christmas lights.  We didn't move quickly enough.These two rascals decided to encamp there, together! Put a box in the garage and immediately a curious cat is inspecting it from the inside.

DAYS OF MEMORY

    Our friend Lew sent along a summer scene of the Arts Building Terrace at Ball State University. It's a place of special significance to Lana and me.  Her art classes were in this hall as were my political science courses. I addressed a

throng of students who filled the lawn at an early Earth Day celebration and spoke to another crowd while running as a class officer candidate.  

    This was also a green that filled with sun and nap takers, lunch breakers, and romance makers.  It is also a gorgeous building and sits as a boundary to what was once the center of the campus. Could it really have been that long ago?!

                             A PARTING MELODY

   Charles Dickens was right.  Regardless of faith or belief, we should keep Christmas in our heart all year.  Here's a unique take on a seasonal classic.  Enjoy

Cheers!
A TRIP TO SHAMEL BEACH

    As many of you suffer through winter's icy blast, we offer

a few moments of light and sea from California's central coast at Cambria's Shamel Park beach.

   Hope this warmed you a bit and perhaps evoked memories of land without snow and ice.

    See you down the trail.

PUZZLING AND PLAYING

LEFT OVERS

   It's become a self imposed ritual to begin a new year by cleaning out something.  In recent years it seems to be computer or photo files.  This year I unloaded and deleted a lot of stuff from computer and phone and feel better now!

IT IS NOT TEDIOUS

   When we arrived to visit friends they were in the final stages of finishing a puzzle, but finding the going very slow because they were dealing with a section of sky and the pieces were similar.  Lana is a dedicated puzzler so she, Marcos and Bill, put an end to the challenge.

   Were it up to me, I might have framed that puzzle or laminated it so that it's completeness could be kept and celebrated forever.  But it was not up to me and all too soon I thought, they were off on another challenge.

 There appears to be a kind of mania that seizes puzzle workers in the grips of a new 1000 piece challenge.

 So many pieces this time, they had to be spread around the room.

 The theme was comedy and as I started looking at some of the jigsaws I was captivated by old TV and movie memories.
Soon I was doing my best to add an ear, or eye, or hat or some such.  I'd hit a dead end and go back to reading, saying that is tedious work. 
  "It is not tedious to someone who enjoys it" Marcos observed, "it is part of the challenge."
   I took note that part of the challenge is also working up an appetite for sweet, or a drink.
   Eventually, again, with assistance from Norma Jean, not pictured here, our champs, solved another one.

 A SO CAL TOAST

The mid west is so deeply imbedded in Lana and me that we excite, like a kid on his or her first trip to Disneyland, when we are around fresh fruit trees.  Especially so for Lana who loves fresh OJ.

Cheers! 

Happy New Year.

I feel good about getting these snaps off my phone.

And I'm happy for the great memories.

See you down the trail.

THE WAY IT LOOKS-THE WEEKENDER

WAITING & HAPPY

    It is a bitter sweet time of year isn't it, this emotional roller coaster of late December?  The end of the year comes as a definitive statement of either gains or losses, joys or regrets, but it runs directly into that grand and waiting portal of hope, the new year, where and when all things are again possible. Dreams and aspirations are birthed when we arbitrarily mark the turn of the calendar. Happy beginning indeed.

      Noted below in a powerful video is the chronicle of California people just an hour north of us in Big Sur. They enter this new year with an urgent need.

WINTER

CENTRAL COAST STYLE

   Stolo Winery-Cambria

   Mission Plaza-San Luis Obispo

                      Fiscalini Ranch-Cambria

    Such things are unofficial of course, but these may be the first of the California poppies of the season, and it is not yet spring.  Nor has it been wet, but here they are, on the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve in Cambria.

    Katherine and Lana-Bluff Trail-Cambria

AFTER THE FIRE
Heart felt video of Pfeiffer Big Sur fire

See you down the trail.