The Road

Historic and scenic Santa Rosa Creek Road

the preamble

    People lived in this area that is now half way between San Francisco and Los Angeles in pre-historic habitation. The native Chumash traveled the mountains, settling in seasonal camps in the highlands or near the Pacific shore. They ranged these mountains to hunt and gather and fed on shell fish and fish when camped by the sea.

    There is evidence some 30 thousand lived here a thousand years before the Spanish arrived. That happened when the Portola expedition camped near what is now Cambria in 1769.

     In the 700's the natives created paths, their version of roads, including a trail that ran along side the stream. Today we call it Santa Rosa Creek and the trail is Santa Rosa Creek Road.

    The settlers began to come in the mid 1800's and it picked  up in 1860 when Cinnabar, the ore of mercury or quicksilver, was discovered and then mined.

     Today's road, in the frame above that mid screen line that winds down on the left, was part of the creekside trail that ran to the Oceanic mine that opened in 1865. Later when the first of several waves of cattle growers came to the area, the Santa Rosa Creek trail was the route for cattle drives.   

    

   Santa Rosa Creek Road is a favorite for riders, motorcyclists, more adventurous tourists or Sunday drivers who want to see the beauty of the Santa Lucia Mountains. It's a 15 mile winding, climbing, series of cutbacks and turns and magnificent views. The road can be seen winding in the right mid frame above. 

    

the delight

     Lana and I were enroute home from Los Osos the other day when to our surprise, and that of a hundred other motorists, Highway 1 was closed at Highway 46, the Green Valley Road. Closed because the Tour of California bike race was speeding south from Big Sur. Someone had goofed because there was no advance warning the road would be closed. Certain exits had been marked days in advance and we planned accordingly.

     So we found ourselves in what amounted to a parking lot on Highway 46 and Highway 1. The inspiration flashed...

     We had not driven Santa Rosa Creek for a while. We used to hike there regularly and always took visitors, some of whom turned a bit green or white knuckled, for a drive. 

      On this day, what a delight!

      The road was resplendent with Sweet Peas and Lupine.

     And the sky over the Santa Lucia danced with clouds gathering a rare May rain storm.

         A good detour, this road less taken.

don't play in traffic

   One more road story here. 

    This is the scene that greeted us after dinner in the village the other night. A quiet street and there at about 3:00 is a street walker, out of place to be sure.

     Dawdling, he or she seems to be. First one way and now the other and seemingly unaware a motorist has entered the scene.

      Oblivious is this gull. Are we about to witness his or her journey to oblivion?

      No dispatch today. And the quiet settles in, the sun sinks more deeply toward the sea, and the street walker dawdles on.

      Certainly these stories left you with less anxiety than the news. But of that, it can be sure we are on the road to an historic battle of legislative rights and Presidential prerogative. 

       Cast another way, a battle between constitutional process and contaminated power. Cast yet another way a battle between right and wrong. 

        See you down the trail.

Truth is...

from Shamel Park, Cambria, Ca

zings

    Those zings that whiz by are the buckle bolts of a decent and civil process. Those flying pillars hurtling into the sky are the girders and braces of historic balance of power supports. That vibration you feel, that disequilibrium in your mind is part of a welling force. Time for that in moment. 

the faces of hemingway

     Mr Hemingway, our beloved polydactyl (6 on each of the 4 paws) entertained a recent photo shoot with his "range" of looks.

   His response to our current state of affairs is either a nap in the sun, or a nap in the shade interrupted by a few stretches. 

for the love of spring

 The Cambria shoreline is electric

the dark side of the amateur hour

     As one reads of Alabama's abortion law, and John Bolton's dangerous, ill advised and foolish faux macho saber rattling on Iran, and the administration's lack of respect for American principle, one cannot escape the fact that mouth breathers and nincompoops have entirely too much power. This should and will likely change, but not soon enough.

    We can be sure that investigative talons will clutch the ringmaster. Either as a former president or perhaps an impeached or disgraced fool, justice will come for him.

    If you doubt that, tally the number of federal investigations now open and not restricted as Mueller was. Or ponder the numerous congressional probes. He will be disgraced and perhaps even broken, but the damage he does now is itself a crime of another sort.

   Like many of you, I have quit trying to reason or use logic, or cite historical precedence with those who refuse to acknowledge the rogue president is a sick and evil man motivated only by what's in it for him. 

    It's been unbelievable though that even given the specifics of the Mueller report, and Trump's traitorous, treasonous behavior in full view, his obvious incompetence, his being made a public bitch by Kim and Putin, his ruinous impact on American farmers, his thousands of documented lies, that congressional and Senate Republicans refuse to be Americans first. We can only hope they feel the vengeful sting of betrayed citizens at the ballot box. 

    Those who refused to call out this degenerate administration will be handled by history and they will be seen as the cowards and quislings they are. Their children and grandchildren will be embarrassed. If anything might bring these dead Republicans to life it is the sheer incompetence of Trump as commander in chief with a sneering and once marginalized Bolton at his side.

     There are many congressional and legal challenges ahead. What may be the most pathetic is that a draft dodging, military school flunky, a non reader, a man who knows almost no history, a bloated punk of a daddy boy liar is in a position to commit American troops to warfare. That is such a cosmic injustice the universe itself would be correct to smite the fool.

     Until the Russians rigged the election-and I don't mean merely influenced, this nation had a pact wherein Iran was on a leash, closely monitored, their weapons program was on ice and we were building favor with a growing percentage of Iranians who were growing discontent with the old fundamentalist zealots who controlled them. 

     Now America's biggest money looser and tax fraud, con man and reality TV show star and his failed and rejected advisor are talking war talk. If this doesn't motivate Senate Republicans to admit they are in bed with the devil, then perhaps the universe should smite them as well.

     That, or a few Sons of Liberty legacy patriots could do so.

     See you down the trail. 

     

Left Coast View

Ragged Point overlook

Big Sur

     A visiting 3 year old got her first look at Big Sur from what she called the "roof deck." She was mesmerized, as I was all those years ago.

     As written here previously, the theater of mountains meeting ocean fired neurons that gave polarity to the navigational tides of my life.

     Years ago one of the smartest people I know, a Harvard Law graduate corrected something I said about people and provincialism. He reminded me a provincial mindset can be authored by wider parameters than I cited. 

a left coastist

      This left coast has pulsed my gyroscopic tendencies. 

Yes, there is the cultural affinity that is comfortable. Creativity seems most compatible with open mindedness. Artistic pursuits seem to breed enthusiasm, joy, and a delighting of the senses. 

      But there is also a primordial resonance and power of pure nature. It massages the soul.

      And here, on this left coast, there is light that provides clarity for the eyes and for the mind. It infuses life with color and dimension. It has shaped me, kneaded me. I've become a provincial, a left coastist!

 A "Bottle Brush" tree dressed in spring finery

 A flirtation with the setting sun

An exquisite composition, this spring lily.

      There is something to observe about being a left coastist, this assumed and self proclaimed provincialism, especially at this time in the struggles of our Republic. Imagine a new program-that follows below, but first.....

    The biennial Petals and Palettes art show has been judged and is hanging at the Cambria Center for the Arts (CCAT) Gallery.

     It is a cooperative venture of the CCAT, supported by the working artists in this historic colony and the Cambria Garden Club. 

      Art and floral arrangements in symphony...

      This Blue Ribbon of floral arrangement with art is the work of Lana, both the artist and floral designer. 

          The painting, Bonnie's Garden is the work of one of Cambria's best, Pat Wilmott. 

        Lana was painter and arranger.

             She also created this floral arrangement for the stunning photography of an extraordinarily talented Judith Skartvedt.

         

             Tom Gould's masterful photo realistic rendering is matched by the floral work of Donna Hoppe

           Another award winner is the painting by one of Cambria's great, Jeanette Wolff. 

           Kathi Rippe, another popular artist and award winner.

       This award winner, both painting and arrangement by Holly McCain.

          An honorable mention here for Lana and master water colorist Steve Kellogg, also a tennis master. 

                 A mixed media offering by Sheri Parisian.

 

        A lily painted and paired by mother nature.

        If you have an opportunity to be anywhere near Cambria in the next couple of weeks, the show will be up in the CCAT Gallery, but the floral arrangements are on a shorter time schedule.

        that coastal view

         Our little coastal enclave is half way between LA and San Francisco. We are about an equal distance from the cultural and political landscape of Bakersfield and the central valley. We are about as far from Washington as one can get, our backs are at the Pacific. 

         We are in the waves of energy and thought that come from the Bay area of San Francisco, San Jose and the Silicon Valley and those from the vibes of entertainment, rocket science and diversity of LA and southern California. Over the mountains, past cattle ranches and through wine country and over the high desert is the world of agriculture and culture of the Valley. 

         We see diversity of all sorts. We take our measured view, with the bias that this is not like anywhere else and attitudes here are sometimes the butt of jokes back east. Well, we can joke back. Just pretend that after this season of Game of Thrones brings the series to an end, a programmer begins a new series-

if this were a just world...

(a creative overview)

        The occupant of the White House is bound and gagged and marched to the US Capitol by way of visiting the memorials of WWII, the Korean War and the Viet Nam wall.

        Before he ends up in the well of congress, he is forced to take a full briefing by the CIA including about the intentions of Vladimir Putin's Russia and Kim's North Korea. 

        Before he is tried as a traitor, he must endure the forced reading by Mitch McConnell of the full Mueller Report. 

      Then Speaker Pelosi reads to him, the Constitution of the US. 

      Said McConnell is  then named as a co-conspirator and bound back to back with the president.

      And then children will present causes of indictment--reports-

       --about the national security consequence of denying climate change and of pulling out of the Paris accords, 

       --recitations of each of the thousands of lies he has told,        

       --analysis of the consequence of his undermining of the national security apparatus 

       --replay of his Helsinki appearance with Putin, 

       --the reading of transcripts of his private conversations with Putin, 

       --reports on the nature of his business relationships with Russian mobsters, 

      --replay his grandiose statements about Kim, 

      --video of the most recent missile launches.

    After the children complete their presentations, all US citizens will vote; thumbs up or thumbs down. 

       Talk about must see TV!  And maybe it could be serialized on Twitter. 

        See you down the trail. 

       

A Statesman

 Richard Lugar and Birch Bayh

1980 AP photo

Two legendary US Senators

     Richard Lugar was a great man. There is a reason he served one of the longest terms ever in the US Senate; he was a thoughtful, analytical intellect, he was a devoted public servant with a drive to make things better, he stood his ground, he chided and pushed even Presidents, and he worked as hard as anyone to make this world safe from nuclear weapons.
   Lugar's passing at 87 is reason for you to spend a few minutes reading some of the cascade of coverage about this remarkable man from Indiana. 

       Tom and Senator Lugar at Richard Lugar Fitness Fest and Run

Lugar was an early advocate of fitness and was a runner.

      I was fortunate to meet and begin covering his political and public service career in 1969. He was the young mayor of Indianapolis and I was a reporter assigned to cover city government.
     At one of our first meetings, Mayor Lugar, who was organizing an international conference of cities, got down on his hands and knees and worked through an overflowing book case, looking for a manuscript by a scholar. He was an habitual reader, voracious consumer of information which he worked to integrate into his public service.

an historic save

      Lugar's work on Nuclear Disarmament and Agricultural reform were his long suits in the Senate where he was respected by both sides of the aisle. 
      Lugar was at the center of one of the most critical and dangerous tipping points in history.
      The Soviet Union had collapsed and Generals from the Red Army showed up in Washington wanting to talk about life and death matters.  
     Secretary of State Baker and the HW Bush White House were being careful, but to a fault and spurned the contact.
     Lugar took the meeting and along with Democrat Sam Nunn heard this message-The Soviet power structure is gone, so is the command of the Soviet Army and Navy and that means we no longer have control over nuclear war heads that have US addresses on them. The same is true for chemical and biological weapons. 
        Diverse locales, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and other nations that had been under the Soviet boot heel, had weapons, bases, ports and stock piles in their now independent nation. Who controlled them? That was the million dollar question.
      Lugar and Nunn were quick. Lugar, a former naval intelligence officer and Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee knew rogue players and terrorists soon would be bidding for control of the old Soviet nukes and chemical weapons and material.
     With in hours he and Nunn had worked legislative handles and had millions of dollars to essentially save the world. Soon they were flying off to the old Soviet empire and "buying" war heads, and paying military officers to stay in place and guard the nukes and subs, paying to house Soviet troops who were ready to desert since the empire was no longer in place and could not or would not pay the troops. The troops had families at home and they needed money. Command control was breaking down.
     What Lugar and Nunn saw would raise the hairs on the back of your neck. They returned to the states and crafted what was known as the Nunn-Lugar act. The US would buy weapons and take them down. It eventually became known as the Cooperative Threat Reduction plan. The two of them built a legislative consensus and kept the program funded. After Nunn retired, the work was Lugar's to do.
     This period of Lugar's work was one of the great diplomatic plays of all time. It is in the echelon of the Marshall Plan.  
    As a documentary maker I developed a project to tell the story. It didn't get made. As we were fundraising 9/11 happened. The focus shifted.

Senator Lugar and Lewis Stiner at the ceremony of Stiner's retirement

    Lugar was a progressive and creative mayor who was the godfather of revitalization of rustbelt cities. The halo around Indianapolis as one of America's great cities, was drafted and   the work began under Lugar, with the assistance of his dynamic staff, especially the visionary Jim Morris. The new Indianapolis that followed became guide light for other cities reinvention. 

     Morris was one of the brilliant young thinkers Lugar brought to public service and there were many.

     I met a young Mitch Daniels as he worked in that era and with Lugar's first political chief, Keith Bulen. Daniels became his Senate chief of staff for several years and later worked in the Reagan and W Bush administrations as well as being twice elected Indiana Governor. He is now President of Purdue University.

    The coverage of his passing reprises the extraordinary record of his 36 years in the Senate. Consider the sweep of history from 1977 to 2013 and ponder that Lugar was often a pivotal player and was revered and respected by politicians from every point on the spectrum.

     Praise came from former Presidents, current candidates, Democrats, Republicans and foreign leaders. They respected his depth and they liked the man. 

     When my fraternity brother and long time friend retired from Naval Intelligence, Lugar was there. He respected Lew's service. Lugar had been a legendary intelligence briefer for Admiral Raleigh Burke. He said that had been a shaping experience.

     A lot of people think Lugar would have been a good President. He gave it a run in 1996. One of his chief operators was Mark Lubbers, another of the brilliant people attracted to service by Lugar. 

     His campaign was themed on fiscal sanity and nuclear security. He was a brainy and non flashy candidate but what was the death knell for his campaign was the day it launched, April 19, 1995, the day of the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City. Millions of prospective voters didn't get to see or hear what would have been his moment in the spotlight.

      Amongst those who knew, worked with or covered Lugar there was always discussion about what might have been, how might the world have been different.
      Lubbers has advised Governors and lawmakers and has leveraged his own creative approach to policy issues, mentored by the Senator. Lubber's wife Teresa has spent her life as a multi term State Senator and Commissioner of Education. Her path to public service was inspired by Lugar who she interviewed as a high school journalist. He had a twinkle and spark and a way of motivating.
       There is a cadre of politicians and public servants who were inspired by the former school board officer, innovative mayor and towering 6 term US Senator.

      

      I've been ruminating on lots of Lugar reflections. 
      One that makes me laugh is when my first historical mystery-thriller novel was published. I was on Sanibel Island vacationing and doing a series of book signings. Lugar's staff reached me to say the Senator was also on the Island, one of his favorite break spots and that I should take a book around to him.

      When I arrived I was directed to a location near the pool and beach under an umbrella. There was the senator in a polo style shirt, Bermuda shorts, with dark, to the knee socks and I think wing tip shoes. They may have been loafers.

      I've written before about some of the greatest evenings.

When I was president of the Indianapolis Press Club we hosted dinner and conversations with Senator Lugar and Representative Lee Hamilton. Those men were among the most knowledgeable on national security, intelligence and foreign relations. They held ranking positions in the Senate and House. Sitting there and listening to their state of the art information and analysis, and seeing the respect they had for each and the marvelous byplay was a good as it gets.

     And so was Lugar. I didn't agree with all of his votes, but I respected him and the intelligence he put into his public service. He may have read more than anyone I know. He certainly did more to keep the world safe than probably anyone else.  
    If you don't know much about this man, read a few articles. He deserves the attention due a genuine and historic "Statesman." There are precious few.

       See you down the trail.

Take It In....

    It's been a vibrant and colorful spring on the California central coast and our Iris has been resplendent.
    Spring has a way to bump us, to revive our outlook and to pay attention to life, often so beautiful and always moving on.
    The loss of Judy, a life long friend, and a golden anniversary bumped us too, and sent us looking through shots of the old days.

    We picnicked in a clearing in the southern Indiana woods where we would soon build a home. We were practically kids, I think,  as I look back...

    Tucked away too was a photo of our first garden. It was planted when we lived on the Indianapolis east side. Lana came from gardening stock, I did not, which explains why I did the sod busting and she did the skilled work. 
   It turned out to be quite a good garden and gave us the itch for "land," and getting closer to nature.

   We're old boys now. Terry in the red cap is in North Carolina, Dave is on Sanibel and we're on the west coast.
   Back in our more hearty days, even Indiana winter didn't stop us watching grill master Dave and his red weber.

    No doubt you are struck by how impossible it all seems, this advance of the calendar. So, as my dad used to say, "make the most of each day," indeed, take it all in, and with a sense of joy.

speaking of taking it all in

   I wish all US citizens, regardless of tilt, would sit and read the Mueller report. Forget the shill you've heard from you know who and his apologist. Read the report, read the details, read the facts.

   It's clear federal prosecutors and members of the house have. The investigation has legs, and no amount of bs or lies will change that.

parting beauty

     With the color, the return of longer days, a brighter sun and the sense of rebirth, it's clear why spring has been, since ancient days, a time of celebration and renewal.  So, take it all in. Take it deep within. These are days to celebrate life.

       See you down the trail.