CARING ABOUT WATER & A LATE RAIN

EXPO IN THE GREEN SPACE

       (CAMBRIA) Water conservation was the center piece of an Expo

in the East Village, on the banks the Santa Rosa Creek.

       The GreenSpace Creekside preserve, near the red Temple provided a lovely setting

for discussion and presentation.

 An overview of the Santa Rosa Creek watershed provides a graphic

portrayal of our interdependence.

 Cambrians bring curiosity, concern and caring. The source and use of water 
is always news here.

       Those who filtered through found information relevant to conservation and water quality.  Presentations provided understanding of individual home owner and personal applications including water re-use. 

 There was interest across several demographic groups.

 Gray water filtration system.

 For five hours people came, heard, learned and moved more knowledge into the 

already informed Cambria constituency.  A major take away of the Expo was the undeniable value of a more efficient use of rainwater harvesting and a more

diligent push for individual use of gray water applications for irrigation.

Retrofits are relatively simple and inexpensive for laundry to landscape irrigation.

Gray water use for toilets makes enormous sense.  Those retrofits are slightly more involved, but are easier to accomplish when part of the original building design.

This is true no matter where on this planet you live.

 The path along the creek is an appropriate place to meditate on the value

of a more intelligent and conscientious approach to water use and conservation.

Conservation and wise use is more natural and less expensive than other

alternatives.

Thanks to Katherine and Rick for their concern and for the platform to learn.

RAIN IN MAY?

As one of the meteorologists said, a significant rain, this late in the season is unusual.

This pushes our yearly total on the ridge to 35.6 in a La Nina year. It is an unexpected and surprising total.  Not everyone is pleased.

Nesta and Ziggy don't like damp paws.

See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) GOOD TECH

CREATIVE THOUGHTS

       In keeping with our Weekender :) devotion to fun and imagination, here are a couple of items that celebrate creative technology.

          First is a rocking view of a unique ride.

FROM THE ECONOMIST, A FASCINATING PIECE ON A NEW WAY TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY FROM SOLAR POWER. A BRIGHT NEW IDEA. LINK HERE.

Watch, read, be stimulated and enjoy.

See you down the trail.

AFTER THE CRASH

FRIENDS, TRUST, FUTURE

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved."

George MacDonald

Scottish Pastor, Poet, Novelist

       A misfortune in the blogosphere took down this blog and all of the others in the Blogger world yesterday.  

       We all take these things differently.  It disrupted a flow of thought I was to offer on friendship. It forced upon me a feeling of helplessness.  Here again we count on systems to link us and when they fail, we feel a disconnect and frustration.

"Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present:

fear, avarice, lust and ambition look ahead."

CS Lewis 

English Novelist, Literary Scholar, Theological Writer

       A recent reunion of friends, and the struggle of other friends with health and medical problems has prompted a recent field of emotion. 

       MacDonald, quoted above, was the creative godfather of Lewis.  MacDonald, Lewis said, "baptized his imagination."

I would enjoin his thought by adding that friends provide both love and trust.  

     Grateful we are for friends, old and new. In that we cover the past and present.  And for some we worry, even fear, the battles they fight.

"The love of our neighbour (friend*) is the only door out of the dungeon of self where we mope...."  *interpretation mine

MacDonald

     Mindful of my teacher of writing Harriet Mcguire, I will try to bring this "full circle." 

     Connectivity to this world of the blog, to you as readers,

is modern friendship. There is a trust. There is gratitude and even expectation. A broken system disrupts and causes worry.

     Long time friends bring joy, comfort and a peace. A threat to them disrupts and causes worry.

"In a world we find terrifying, we ratify that which doesn't threaten us."

David Mamet 

US Dramatist, Screenwriter and Director

     A couple of new friends of friends were introduced to the Friday lunch flash mob on the Sebastians' deck below the castle today.  They are in transition, their lives are changing and they now step into the stream of friendship of others who have done like wise previously. It is a kind of ritual.  

     By sharing accounts of distant friends, a new circle of friends widens even more.  Private concerns of an old friend in a distant place are shared and woven into the fabric of the social group. This is repeated and the widening continues and the interconnectedness builds. 

    Though the values differ immensely, there is a similarity of pattern.  A diagnosis from a distance, a disruption in harmony, a break down in technology, a disconnection all encroach upon and remind us of the  "life web" that links us.

    We respond differently.  Some of us need to brood, or be pensive as we seek understanding, if not a place of trust.

"The absence of the urge to create is decadence."

David Mamet

      So in the very least, we seek to create moments of 

friendship, reasons for gratitude.

      Friends, trust, a sense of future, it is a continuum.

      See you down the trail.

       

HIGH IN THE SKY-re-posted

PALM SPRINGS TRAMWAY

       Above the oasis towns of the Coachella valley, away from the heat of Palm Springs and points east is the mountain top cool at the end of the Palm Springs Tramway.

Passengers board at the Valley Station at about 2,600 feet.

The ride up the Chino Canyon of the San Jacinto mountain range is spectacular.

The world's largest rotating tram car rides up on cables and a sophisticated engineering system first imagined by Francis Crocker in 1935.

Five towers were constructed in the canyon, and required blasting of the granite mountain  surface.  Helicopters were used to construct the towers.

Photo courtesy of California State Parks Palm Springs Tramway

23,000 Helicopter missions were flown during the 26 months of construction.

Helicopters are still used and land on the tower tops.

The tramway was opened in 1963 and modernized in 1998

The operating system is backed up with a hydraulic brake system and two diesel hydrostatic systems back up the main power.

You get off the tram at 8,516 feet and are offered commanding views of the Coachella Valley.

The entire system is an engineering marvel and a great way to add to a visit

to the Coachella Valley.

It is also a way to cool off.  When we left the valley it was 67 and on the mountain top it was 34. We watched as a bank of clouds moved through the pass.

Back down on the floor, the Jacaranda trees pointed toward the cool

See you down the trail.
Originally posted on Thursday 5/12/11
re-posted after Blogger Failure and disruption

BEST DATE SHAKE IN THE DESERT

IN THE LAND OF THE WIND MILL

       A sweet story now about a special oasis in the Coachella Valley desert, in the land of the big winds,

 the big wind mills

Where cell phone towers masquerade as date palms

where the main drag is appropriately named.
The Coachella Valley, 45 miles long and about 15 miles wide produces 95% of the dates sold in the US.
The Valley runs from Riverside County on the southeast to the San Bernadino Mountains to the Salton Sea.  It is bounded on the west by the San Jacinto Mountains and in that region is said to be the best date shakes anywhere.  

Out in the country, near the wind mills on Indian Canyon Road

the sign that is perfectly suited for the desert of dates

and the inconspicuous edifice that leads to a world of wonder

prices and items you'll likely not find elsewhere

and amidst it all the magic ingredient

and behind the counter, the gal that can work magic

and the product of her endeavor,

the enchanting Date Shake- good enough to make you feel smug

and then pucker 

The taste test proves it

Best Date Shake in the Desert!

In this enchanted land where

Dinah Shore and Gene Autry intersect

and where the clouds stop at the top of the San Jacinto mountain

and where the sun seems to shine in a way that builds a taste

for the best date shake in the desert.

See you down the trail.