TINGES

A PARTING OF THE SEASONS

     In the mid-west and east people will begin looking for hints of color in the maples, sycamores, oaks, hickories, and other deciduous trees, now that we are getting deep into September.  
    Out west we spot the color in the aspen, oak and madrone trees, especially in the Sierra. As a former mid westerner one calculates the connection between color in leaves to leaves on the ground and then the arrival of snow.  While we hope for a lot of snow in the Sierra, that part of the equation-snow-changes when you get to the coast. In fact autumn may well be THE season here on the central coast.  
    We still have blooms, the sky is blue, the temperatures are moderate to warm and it stays that way. The only variance are those few days when rain allows for more blooms and a renewing greening. Nominally the rainy season, October through March, means a lot less rain than elsewhere.  24 to 26 inches is a good normal year. Spread that over a 5 to 6 month span and you see rain is a precious and indeed a somewhat rare resource. 
    So, for now, more color from those things that don't require much water.  And we'll be on the look out for color in the leaves and reports of the first snow, high in the mountains or back east.

DAY FILE

Tinges of Pink 

& other shades

See you down the trail.

DECIDING & WOULD YOU VOTE FOR HIM?

WHICH IS IT GOING TO BE?

     The presidential campaigns continue to court the undecideds, especially in those key and decisive counties in the "battle ground" states. I'm not sure how someone can be undecided at this point, but this is also the age of the "low information voter, so..."  
     BTW, does the concept "low information" voter give you pause too?  Or maybe just scare you?
     To those who might be still undecided, we send along 
memories of that MeatLoaf classic Paradise by the Dashboard Lights.  
     "What's it going to be? I need to know right now!" 
     "Let me sleep on it."
     "Tell, what's it going to be?  I need to know right now!"
     "Let me sleep on it."
      Etc., Etc., Etc. until, you may recall, the refrain                       "Now I'm praying for the end of time..."
      You know, for some, it may be better to remain 
undecided eh?
     

DAY FILE

DECIDING

Cloudy & Gray or Blue and Sunny

sort of stuck in the middle

If you wait long enough around here,

that California sun shines through

and the skies go blue.
REEL THOUGHTS

THE INTOUCHABLES

     This French film has been playing The Palm, our favorite art and foreign house, for a few weeks and continues to draw crowds and great reviews.  We know why.

      The story of a wealthy French aristocrat who suffers a paralyzing accident and the Senegalese emigre from a poor extended family who becomes his caregiver is hilarious, touching and true.  Subtitles seem to disappear because the acting  and story line are both superb.  It's a great little film that will give you a lift.

AND HERE IS ONE TO WATCH FOR

It seems this has greatness written all over it.

Actors, producer, director, and the storyline itself.

Do you think he could be elected today?

See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER

THE POWER OF A MESSAGE

   We passed about 15 horrible minutes today looking at the insipidly terrible trash video that whipped fundamental Muslims into riotous frenzy.  Though it is pathetically stupid and attempts to be offensive to Islam, it is also stupid that intelligent people would riot in response. Rotten is rotten so the best response is to ignore it.  Fundamentalists of any stripe seem to abandon reason though and so the protests continue, giving longer life to the very thing they abhor.  Duh!!

BACK TO THE POWER

   At coffee after tennis this morning David, an admired and respected man, widely traveled and in his 80's, spoke  of the extraordinary power of youtube and other internet videos.  "It's changed everything" he said, "there is no control over what people see or how they'll react."

    In his youth, radio and newspapers were the predominant 

carrier of attitude and information.  Those media, like television, represent structure, organization and a process that touches and shapes the information at least.  The internet of course gives all players equal access to your eyes, ears and brain.  It is without an inherent balance, establishment of significance or quality control. And it is pervasive.

     With that as a full disclosure disclaimer, allow me to put a piece of propaganda before you this weekend.  This is a short trailer about a growing issue and a likely problem across the land.  This is a one sided teaser-but it's about something we all need to think about.  Note my emphasis on think...something absent in all aspects of the first item posted today.

Our thought for the weekend then is just that;

Think about something.  Exercise those gray cells.

See you down the trail.

TEAPOT TEMPESTS AND MORE

PROPORTIONALITY

     The best information to date is the Innocence of Muslims  was a badly made and cheap film that attracted only a handful of viewers at a screening in LA.  It could have died there and never been heard of again. But social media changes all the old rules.

      Clips of the film circulated on YouTube and fanned Muslim anger.  Strains of fundamental Islam take little to work them into a frenzy.  Those who hew to a rigid line of never thinking critically about their own faith, or even thinking in an open minded and rational way are quick to foam and be seized by manic anger.  What apparently is a piece of trash with mysterious origin has now become a pivot point of anger, foment and a genuine foreign policy issue.  For all that is good about a wired world and communication power, an incident like this points to its dark side.

       Ignorance is just that, whether in a film, or in a response to it. Ignorance is rampant in the world, and it wears Muslim, Christian and Jewish garb.  A decentralized, non aggregated, free-for-all communication web can simply add fuel to a fire.  It obviously can also set sparks. When so much ignorance plays in the tinderbox, the world is more dangerous.

       This is the kind of world where the US foreign policy and national security apparatus must operate.  It reminds me of muddy and muck filled rivers populated by crocodiles and snakes.  I was glad to have a veteran at the helm.  Hysterics in this climate can be lethal, but they abound.

ROMNEY'S DANGEROUS MISTAKE

     Now before my Republican, conservative or Romney backing readers have apoplexy, this is not about politics.

Indeed even right leaning or right wing commentators as well as old fashioned mainstream Republicans have criticized the Republican candidate for his opportunistic and political attack on the administration.  He was accused of speaking too early, or looking weak among other non presidential qualities.  The Democrats were more pointed, but since this is not about politics, we leave the comment to his own kind.

     From a center court seat and with an historic perspective, his desperation to score political points reflected a lack of judgement, seasoning, sense of depth and class.  At a time of international crisis, the US speaks with one voice. And Romney's sense of timing was bad, at the very least.  

     When Americans and diplomatic personnel are under attack, politics has no place. When those personnel die, any attempt to score political points is not only repugnant and offensive, it is a stupid miscalculation in a grave moment.  It was a cheap, stupid and tactless thing to do.  Romney and his advisers should be ashamed and are rightly being criticized.

     So there you have it.  Stupid X's 3.  Stupid film, stupid fundamental reaction, stupid politics.  What should have been a tempest in a teapot reveals fatal flaws and fault-lines in a dangerous world.

AND NOW SOMETHING DIFFERENT

A Kitten's First Climb

See you down the trail.

VOCALIZING

MEN AND THEIR OATHS

Photo Courtesy of Coast Guard, California Highway Patrol and the Associated Press

     It sounds as though the 77 year old pilot and his son were pretty cool as they waited two hours to be pulled from the sinking pontoon plane.

     The AP reports the son says his dad landed it well, in the Pacific, a mile off shore of San Simeon, north of Cambria.

They were on their way for an annual Alaskan fishing trip when the engine died.  Their locator beacon worked and in a couple of hours the Coast Guard chopper was at work pulling them up, just as the plane was beginning to sink.

      What do you think a dad and son would have to say to each other as they bobbed amongst elephant seals, great white sharks and took the waves in a dead plane? Few conversations get that kind of setting.

COACHING YOURSELF IN OUTBURSTS

AND OTHER OATHS

    It was amusing to hear what came from other tennis courts as our group took a break between sets.  Guys were being vocal with them self, berating their own play or lack of control.  Since the courts are on a school campus there is a club policy against profanity. In that context I heard a few God    Bless Americas! being hurled in that voice that seems as if it struggles with control.  Mostly, guys talking to themselves, like a coach; keep your eye on the ball (insert name), stroke it, don't poke it (insert name), oh!, where were you going with that shot (insert name)? 

     In a few minutes I was back on the court, and probably 

fully engaged in that "hybrid coaching" well.

     We love our games don't we?

     See you down the trail.

ON HANDS AND KNEES

ARTISTS AT WORK

The annual I Maddonari Italian street painting

festival in San Luis Obispo provided these

frames of artists at work.

They are beautiful if fleeting pieces. It provides a great weekend on the Mission Plaza. But what backbreaking work, to say nothing of the hands and knees.

See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER

WONDERMENT

     INTELLIGENT IDEAS

              John Muir appreciated wonders of nature. 

        His sensitivity points us to behold the power and even mystery of life beyond or beside human parameters. 

             Out there, up there, even in there are forces and natural occurrences that form the basis of science and dumbfounds rational tools.  We theorize.

              Watching star populated night skies over the Pacific and lightless mountains propounds the dazzling concept of interstellar space.  Seeing depth in a star field lends credibility to the vast distances of space and time. Out there are perhaps dark holes, worm holes and theories  we can't fully explain.  And now the little Voyagers are about to pass the limits we biped's have postulated to in up there. 

              Learning about in there is accelerating in a post DNA gene sequencing world. Medicine is getting more precise. The closer we look, the more we see forces beyond our making and which influence destiny.

           And there are spirit, heart, soul, religion and philosophy which bind an alternative in there. Wisdoms, truths, transcendence and riddles are pondered yet they too  stand in the face of mystery.

           

           Let something give you a sense of wonder.

           See you down the trail.