LIMITED BLESSING-A POLITICAL THROWBACK

LIMITED MERCY

    A blessing of this area is the coastal fog, especially so in this third year of California drought .

     The marine bank begins to thicken and roll when temperatures rise on the eastern side of the Santa Lucia range.  

   Here on the western slopes, fog trickles around sunset and begins to billow into valleys.

   During the night it may remain in the valleys and cling to the slopes,

 or fill the sky and obscure the pristine star field over the mountains and pacific. Some nights it hovers thickly as though written into the moors by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but  will quickly wisp away revealing an ocean of galaxies. Coastal dreams are woven beneath this dance of misty gossamer.

  Morning will dawn under a damp blanket of moist relief and cool.

   It is a dose of mercy.

    By late morning sun angles on the grazing slopes, orchards and vineyards.

     The great golden light and saturated color returns.

     Tender shoots nurtured by the fog and the cool are quickly gone. A dry land and its inhabitants await the start of a rainy season.

     And we hope.

THROWBACK CLASS OFFICERS

    Ball State University Sophomore Class Officers 1966. John Yount, Joe Peach, Joy Novak, Sally Staley, Tom Cochrun.

     See you down the trail.

SERVING TRUTH-TOPPING MORRO ROCK-EATING IN A BARN

WISDOM FROM A YOUNG MAN

   "The highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is to remain true to himself…In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation."

                     John Kennedy October 25, 1963

MORRO BAY TOPPING

    Morro Rock is perpetually fascinating in an infinite variety of light or cloud.

     It is one of "seven sisters-" tectonic/volcanic mounts that ridge the central coast from Morro Bay to south of San Luis Obispo.

   On our first trip to this area in 1969 we stopped to pick up fish and oysters on the docks of the fishing port next to what we called "the big rock."

   The cars and people in the foreground give you a perspective to its size.

BLUE DUTY

BARN DINNER

     In coaxing brother John and I into the world of good manners Mom would offer "Mind your table manners. You're not eating in a barn" a variation of "Close the door, you weren't born in a barn" which made sense as she was a farm girl in her youth.

     Mom would get a delight in this. I relied on those manners, including which fork and knife for what course, recently in a barn!

   Hope you can read the menu, because the Halter Ranch Wine Club Ancestor Dinner was first class.

   The lemon-pine nut pot de creme' desert, that I failed to photograph, was served with vin de paille.  The frame below is vin de paille in the making. Vin de paille, or straw wine, is similar to ice wine.  The grapes are permitted to dry for an extended time, building up the sugar content.  

    Another Paso Robles wine maker uses a syrah grape, dried in the vineyard.  La Vigne's Amerone is a superb wine too. The Paso appellation is rich with creativity and great wine.

   Lest those of you in other climes come to think that Epicurean delights are all Cambrians pursue, here's an update.

    Sunday morning a group presented a personal account of a recent back packing adventure across an 11 thousand foot passage on the John Muir trail in the high Sierra.

     The trek was not without incident, some got lost which raised the very real thoughts of life's fragility. It all ended well and each of the team presented personal insights, observations and reflections. It was a meaningful and enlightening time.

                              HOME TOWN POLITICS

                                           

   A standing room only crowd filled the Unitarian Universalist Community meeting room to see the six candidates for the Community Service District board of directors election. Two of the incumbents are up reelection and face 4 challengers.

  The CCSD board serves as the government in this village where everyone has an at least one opinion and where everyone is correct and knows the absolute right way things should be. Just ask anyone!

   Water is a big issue in year three of a drought. So too is growth in this village, the last population of significance on the Pacific Coast Highway between here and Carmel. It's good of these neighbors-everyone is a neighbor in a village of this size-to put themselves out there.

    Stay tuned. In the meantime my favorite Cambria heroes are the artists in this enclave of originality.

   See you down the trail.

LIGHT and A VERY SPECIAL COUPLE

BREAKFAST LIGHT

BEACH LIGHT

DAY MOON

 NIGHT LIGHT

A VERY SPECIAL COUPLE

    Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader may have created a new format or genre of film relationships-the Sibs. Couple films, bromances, action adventures, chick flicks, women pals have found ways of creating ideal combinations.  Wiig and Hader as sister and brother are brilliant and have created a relationship that is as nuanced, textural and entertaining as any screen coupling.

   In a recent interview they said their time together doing Saturday Night Live gave them a bonding, based on experimentation and hanging it out there in character sketches. It was marvelous training and they bring an extra element to their portrayal of twins.

    Hader and Wiig are another testament to how superbly comedic artists can bring to life dramatic characters. In large and little ways these two infuse credibility and power into Milo and Maggie who reunite after years after both cheat death on the same day. There are moments when the SNL talent shines and you are amused and there are tender and vulnerable moments as both contend with the affects of their beloved father's suicide when they were kids. Wiig and Hader connect in a very special way and the power of that relationship is strong enough to make you want to see this duo again in those roles.

    It took writer director Craig Johnson a couple of years to get this independent film done.  He's created a unique piece that serves as a platform for this new kind of relationship film.  Luke Wilson, Ty Burrell and Boyd Holbrook are perfect in their roles. Wilson especially so.

    There is more to this story than comedy and mirth, but the full emotional range opens great performance from the SNL alums. Wiig and Hader are very special.

See you down the trail.

   

A FAN'S SNAP COLLECTION-CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH

CSN AT VINA ROBLES

   Some evenings you never forget. From the moment David Crosby rated the new Amphitheatre a good venue and barefoot Graham Nash invoked the private joke when he said hello to "Paso Robles, or however the fuck you pronounce it," the magic was loose beneath the wine country stars.

   The two set evening was a chain of performance highs, virtuosity and fervid appreciation.

   There were plenty of CSN classics-Carry On, Questions, Military Madness, Southern Cross, Just a Song, Delta, Don't Want Lies, Cathedral, Deja Vu and more.  Our House became an audience participation moment.
   Stephen Stills reached back to his Buffalo Springfield days and rendered a greatly muscled up version of For What It's Worth. He remains a preeminent rock guitarist.
  

  There was some great new work as well.  Crosby said he was terrified as he sang his new What Makes It So.  

   Graham Nash unveiled his powerful new and complexly rich Myself At Last, only his second performance of the multi-layered anthem written with band guitarist Shane Fontayne.  
   Another emotional high point was Cathedral, preceded by the back story emanating from a youthful journey to Stonehenge and Winchester Cathedral, taking LSD, wandering into a cemetery, feeling a tingling in his leg to notice he was standing on the grave of a young soldier who had died on Nash's birth date in 1799. 

    Crosby and Nash took moments to talk politics and peace and as Crosby said a "piece of my mind."
    Nash led the highly charged Burning the Buddha which he wrote with keyboardist James Raymond, pictured below. 

 It was inspired by the self immolation of 128 Buddhist priests in the last year, their action in protest to the Chinese occupation of Tibet.  

 Raymond is a Paso Robles native and is the son of David Crosby.  The political charge remained high as they transitioned from Burning the Buddha to Almost Cut My Hair Today.

   Nash dedicated a song to couples in the audience who appreciated the touching  refrain "here for you." 

      Touching also was Back Home, a tribute to Levon Helm of The Band.

 There was a controlled hysteria when they asked to audience to stand and sing along with Love The One Your With.

   Other players in the band, who Nash said was the best they've had, are Stevie DiStanislao on drums, Kevin McCormic on bass, Todd Caldwell on Organ along with Fontayne on guitar and Raymond on keyboard.

    I've never heard CSN sound so good.  Many others were saying the same thing.  Masters, at the top of their game.

A night to remember.

    See you down the trail.