FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP

   Dessert first. Pleasure before brain bruising. Let's party.

    It is a delightful evening-Twilight on the Terrace-sponsored by Friends of the Hearst Castle. A fund raiser with emphasis on fun.

   When the California June weather is perfect, WR Hearst's Castle is a perfect venue for fine wine, delicacies, music and dancing on the plaza.

   The scenery and setting is story book.

    Up here at San Simeon, the warm glow of the sun, the majestic reach of the rolling coastal mountains, the grand pacific on the horizon it is easy to cocoon and forget, for a while, the lunatic games in Washington.

a devalued America

       Reaction to our nincompoop president's withdrawal from the Paris accords proves a couple of things. The US has lost its status as the leader of the free world. World leaders are laughing at the camera hog with orange skin, bleached hair and fried chicken for brains. They've made it clear the US no longer leads nor can be trusted.

       What may be worse for the trump gang is that corporations, cities, states, and business alliances are saying sorry bozo-we'll do the work of the Paris accords on our own.

       It has been an historic sequence to watch these facets of the American culture step up to say, "be the bonehead you want to be mr idiot, but we are going ahead and skip right past you and do exactly what we should-which is flip you off and work to control greenhouse gasses."

      There needs to be an accounting if you are one of those disenchanted, forgotten, angry Americans who supported the sexual predator, liar, business failure, cheat and reality television star. What is it about the fact that almost every major corporation and every other nation on earth, except Syria and Nicaragua (even North Korea and Russia) endorsed the accords that is lost on you? What makes you think this blundering amateur bozo knows what he is doing? What? What keeps anyone but the most numbskulled loyal to him?

resist

     History will record this as a season of idiocy and fever. Unless politicians and people renounce the bozo and his corrupt ways, they will be recorded forever in history as being spineless, stupid, corrupt, or all of the above. Trump leads only to the ash heap and ignominy. No one of intelligence,  integrity or morality follows. 

     These remain days that require judgement and voice. The majority of Americans need to be heard.

     See you down the trail.   

Where are we headed?

    In an age of innocence it doesn't matter. Someone is watching out for us. These are not times of innocence nor is someone watching out. But first, let's ponder beauty before dissecting the latest from the beast!

     It's been a special year for Lana's heirloom Orchid Cactus. It was her mother's and since then offspring have been propagated. As if to celebrate the end of the drought,  it has been prolific this year.

    Bloom laden, this proud mother has been a source of wonder. There are relatives in the neighborhood-around front.

     Our fellow occupants of this blue planet create such pleasant moments. The frame below is a kind of "mixed media."

throw out the beast 

     Donald Trump cannot quit, be impeached, abducted by aliens, eaten by a Venus fly trap or turned into a fried chicken soon enough. The nincompoop is a menace to humanity. He has led us beyond the tall grass, to a place of danger. 

      As heads of state, scholars, analysts and historians have said in the past few days, the US is no longer the leader of the free world. Putin's man-toy, Russia's chief stooge, has created an opening for bully boy Vladimir to take advantage of. The US has lost credential, power and influence in the months since the sexual predator took office. It just got worse.

      Withdrawal from the Paris Accords-part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is dangerous to our children and grand children. It came after 195 nations signed the accord, after many lobbied the US to retain the high ground and after the Pope personally lobbied the nincompoop to continue to work on greenhouse gas emissions. The stooge said he didn't want other nations laughing at us. What? WTF?!  That is exactly how nations will respond to him. We are now in league with Syria as being opposed to the accord. 

     Here's a clue as to how out of touch he is. His primary advocates to vacate the accords were reichminister Steve Bannon and the friend of polluters and EPA opponent, now EPA chief, Scott Pruitt. Secretary of State Tillerson and first daughter Ivanka argued that to leave would be a mistake. The outsider creeps trumped the ultimate insiders. 

     These policy blunders are serious but so is the social carnage that has come under the beast. The outrage of the Portland train violence and the racist slurs being directed at LeBron James are only two of this week's examples of how  trump's world works. He empowered the worst of America to act out their evil. 
      Did you see where 16 White House staffers have been given dispensation to work on policy matters they handled as lobbyists or to work with former private sector colleagues. Conflict of interest? It's a foreign term to a real estate hustler with a history of screwing partners. 

      Nick Kristof said it well in the New York Times

"Today's White House seems to stand for noting loftier than crony capitalism and the scapegoating of refugees, Muslims and immigrants. To me, Trump "values" are primarily narcissism, nepotism and nihilism."

     Think for a moment about that. Nihilism! In movie and novel scenarios vain, stupid and evil leaders gain power and lead to destruction, in some cases on a global scale. Folks, this reality TV star is worse than our bad imaginings. He is truly a destructive force. He has to go! 

     See you down the trail.

MEMORY WEAVES

      It's a fascinating riddle, how memories are seeded. Mike,  native citizen blood coursing through his body, is an accomplished flute player and basket weaver. Here he is a weaver of memories. This little one is mesmerized.

remembering

      All of us were captivated by the Cal Poly Lion Dance team. 

    They came to Cambria's East Village to help dedicate the Greenspace Chinese Temple, an historic site paying homage to an historic village presence. The Lion Dance Team has been part of the Cal Poly culture for 70 years. 

 the bad memory scrapbook

   The nincompoop is back from his first international tour. He's telling people it was a home run. Right! Did you see the faces of the NATO and G-7 leaders? Trump is toxic but he is due credit for telling NATO that all members of the alliance need to carry their weight, financially. He is correct and other Presidents have said likewise. The flip side of the trump role is that NATO and G-7 nations say they can no longer count on the US. More damaging is the assessment that trump's attitude has weakened the alliance. 

     My biggest bone to pick with the bone head is his refusal to support the Paris accords in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 195 nations have studied and determined the accords are necessary. The US is backing out because our still unfit, unqualified and increasingly idiot bully boy president ignores science, the pope's encyclical and most of the civilized world. In his world "climate changes is fake news." In a better world he would be tarred and feathered. 

woven from youth

       There is something especially civilized about a pause to remember, those who have served and those who have passed. My grandmother and her sisters called it "decoration day."  My parents and my brothers and I made annual trips of respect. I remember those days and visits that that now seem long ago.

 Karl and Mary Helen
dad and mom

 John
brother

Jim

brother

bring on summer

 There was a time when Memorial day signaled a time to move to white dinner jackets on formal occasions. Khaki or seersucker was permitted and the pools were opened. All that was a long time ago. It is comforting to reach the Holiday that marks clicking into a summer mind set...even an endless summer.

time for our annual visit from another world

    See you down the trail.

CALMING THE UNSETTLED

      It seems everyone is fatigued by the crisis a moment energy that emanates from Trumps Washington. During the foreign trip a few observers noted it almost seemed normal. Almost. There were those little quirks; Melania flipping away the donald's hand, his shoving a NATO minister out of the way to mug for the camera, the Pope's message about climate change, insulting comments about Germans-but they were oh so mild compared to the norm.
      The relative normalcy of the trip gets blown away like jet blasts from Air Force One when the trump show returns to DC. 
       The Russian intrigue did not disappear. Now son in law Kushner is under investigatory focus and there remains the president's acknowledgment he tried to obstruct an investigation. It is incredible, fast, furious, unprecedented but it is destructive not only to our tradition and pending history  but also to our mental health. It is as though an amphetamine and psychotropic have been mixed and put into our food supply. We are racing full blast through a house of torture. And we remember, kids are watching. Impressions are being made. The trump legacy is already toxic.

when will it stop?

 Photo by Joe Johnston The Tribune-San Luis Obispo 

   This is the newest problem on the legendary Pacific Coast Highway and no one knows how to fix it. The Mud Creek slide has changed the Pacific coast line as mountain continues to slide into the ocean, obliterating the highway. This is less than an hour north of our home and a reason we, like many others, have been denied access to some of our favorite hiking trails and spots in the Big Sur area.  

    This week more than a million tons of mountain slid over the road. There are 4 slide areas in a quarter mile and we are told springs also feed the motion. It is perplexing. We wait for it to stop.

prevailing

     Mark Wellman's photo from the Yosemite Conservancy has special appeal right now. The timeless beauty and power of the Sierra, the remarkable interaction of human and mountain, and the spirit of adventure and achievement are a tonic for those malady's and unsettling troubles of our day.

I find great peace in the Sierras, an abiding tranquility and perspective on the transitory nature of human endeavor and foibles. 

     

    In time trump will be gone, the body politic may scar but it will heal, that majestic Pacific Coast Highway will be re-engineered, re-imagined, and the mountains and the sea will survive long beyond our generations. The mountains will be steadfast and the pacific will continue to sing the song of this planet. Comfort in these thoughts and the boundless arc of the star nations helps me put the present human mania in focus. Indeed we are like mists in time, vapors. But we dream and hope. 

    See you down the trail.