LIGHTS AT THE CASTLE and BETWEEN TAKES ON THE TODAY SHOW-BACK THEN

YULE NIGHTS

 We had the good fortune of an invitation to see the Christmas decorations at San Simeon, the Hearst Castle.

   It is a visual blitz of texture, detail and history.

 Halls are decked.

 The juxtaposition of the tapestries hint at multi dimensional story lines.

 The kitchen is a world unto itself.

  It was a windy and foggy night on the mountain as we moved around the massive grounds.

   

A visit to the indoor pool, beneath the tennis courts, 
before our drive down the mountain to reality.

Some nights as I stand gazing at the deep star field arching from the coastal mountains to the wide sea it's easy to imagine that six miles up the Pacific coast the Hearst Castle is a door to another world. Crossing the threshold is magical.

THROWBACK 

JANE PAULEY & TOM

   The Today Show broadcast live from Indianapolis in the mid '80s.  As the local NBC affiliate anchor we did live reports around the NBC Today Show live telecast.  During a break Jane Pauley and I chat.  We were friends from her pre television days in Indianapolis.  We shared a high school speech and debate instructor as well.  Jane remains one of the most authentic people who have achieved great celebrity. 

HUNGERING FOR MORE?

    The Hunger Games Mocking Jay is not as good as the first two films in what has now become a franchise. Jennifer Lawrence is still exceptional as is Donald Sutherland as the contemptible character President Snow. Julianne Moore was especially good in this installment. Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Elizabeth Banks continue in their well portrayed character roles. Same for Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. Acting is not the issue, it is the thinning of impact and weakening of integrity that happens when a good idea gets overplayed.  

    Hunger Games was always about being a commercial success, but the narrative theme and social comment woven into the dystopian drama had more impact in the first book and films. Now it is beginning to feel like serial and as good as she is, we know Lawrence is capable of more than the script is giving her.

    Still, there are moments. The frightening politics of a too powerful state, of huge economic gaps, of surrendered liberties and a manipulative media are still vivid. I also thought of Syria, Iraq and Libya when viewing the affect of war on communities.  

    It's time to resolve this conflict, for liberty and justice to prevail and for Donald Sutherland/President Snow to get his smug face and well coiffed beard stomped in the muck, at least. On further consideration, it may be those widening economic divisions that undergirds the sense of justice that flys with the Mocking Jay.

   See you down the trail.

URGES, FORCES OF NATURE AND HOPE IN "EVERYTHING"

JADE SEASON

  Seasonally appropriate, one of our Jade plants is looking festive.

DEER ROMANCE

   This young buck, one of my transitional neighbors, attempts to be low profile.

  It is just after the rutting moon, earlier this year and he's in the rut frame of mind.

  These fawns, out for a stroll are driving Mr Young Buck  crazy.  They decide to cross the road and head down slope,

  and he takes note.

AND, WE COULDN'T BE HAPPIER

 The solar panel and battery-converter box are soaked in the first wave of what promises to be a rainy week on the California central coast. 

   Irrigation rain barrels tied into the downspouts fill quickly though by photo time the rain amounted to just .2, an amount of little consequence in many places but a valued two-tenths here. 

REDMAYNE AND HAWKING

     Eddie Redmayne's extraordinary portrayal of Stephen Hawking should earn him an academy nomination though it is even more significant in its imprint. In adopting the physical manifestations of Hawking's disease Redmayne helps to make even more prominent the unprecedented accomplishments of Dr Hawking. 

     Redmayne is nothing less than brilliant, as it should be in  giving screen life to one of the leading minds in history. In his tortured poses and when he can no longer speak, Redmayne projects an indomitable spirit and magnetic personality. Hard to do as an actor, but then again it underscores what a towering accomplishment it is that Hawking has achieved by A) staying alive, B) expanding scientific thought and theory, indeed The Theory of Everything as the film is called.

     The story is taken from the book by his first wife Jane Wilde, played magnificently by Felicity Jones. They met in University and she persisted in staying with him through the early agony of the diagnosis of ALS. Jane was his partner until they separated in 1990. They are the parents of three.

     It is not missed though the film dusts over the truth of his relationship with nurse Elaine Mason who became the second Mrs. Hawking. It's been published that during their 17 years of marriage Dr. Hawking was unhappy and possibly the object of abuse and injury.  The film avoids all of that and the role of Elaine is played by a celebrated Royal Academy graduate and veteran actress Maxine Peake. 

    The personal journey is rich and revealing and lends itself to a great love story, but more than anything it is a celebration of life.  As Hawking said where there is life there is hope. What he has done with a life devastated by the horrible disease is perhaps miraculous. My deepest appreciation is for that element of this multifaceted and textured film. Everything about the Theory of Everything is magnificent.  Everything is about hope!

AND IT IS THAT SEASON

   A Morro Bay oak with Holiday aspirations.

    See you down the trail.

     

CHANGING-THANKFUL-WHO ARE THOSE PEOPLE?

CHANGING

   Highway 46 overlooking Morro Bay.  Thanksgiving will be green this year.

     The tinge was prompted by three light rain events, the most significant accumulation being 1.2 inches. It is a start.

    Cattle trails appear on the slopes as lines on weathered hide.

   We are also grateful for the green of Thanksgiving and the promise of more rain.

THROWBACK GRATITUDE

   November 1976, our cabin home in the woods in southern Indiana where we continued a tradition begun years before-our Friend's Thanksgiving. It began before we were parents and when many of the friends were single or just getting hooked up. 

   By 1976 it had become a feast indeed and our little cabin was full of great and grateful friendship.

       

  After the ample meal your's truly did the best he could to fight the affect of L-Tryptophan. 

A HOLIDAY BONUS

  Frequent readers of the blog have noted periodic references to or comments from The Catalyst-AKA Bruce Taylor. Here is an early 80's iteration of said madman!

  BTW-it was on his blog this week where I raised the issue

of "authenticity" of this holiday of thanks. 

   The first Thanksgiving may have been in or near what is now El Paso Texas and in 1598. A young spanish scion of a family with Royal alliances and who had done work for the King of Spain in this New World, launched an expedition in the summer of 1597. They were to travel to a land grant holding the young man earned near what is now El Paso.

They commenced from southern Chihuahua near Santa Barbara (Mx). It was a hellish a go. Drought, flooding, hostiles, near starvation before crossing the Rio Grande. Later after a period of recuperation the young Juan de Onate arranged a feast of thanksgiving. The Spanish provided game, the Indian's provided fish, a mass was said by
Franciscans and apparently a happy event was launched. Historians have said this celebration was one of the significant dates in the history of the American Continent. 

It seems the feast we gather is identified with the English, who as you note, gave thanks more than a half century later.

    His follow up post includes a notation that some scholars believe the Spanish celebrated even earlier in Florida. Despite the historical debate, it might be good to add a Spanish, Texan or Mexican touch to your traditional feasting.

   Regardless of origin, a day given to being thankful is cool.

So too is this-VERY GOOD PRICE- for California!

Safe travel.  Happy Thanksgiving.

See you down the trail. 

PASSIVE-NON AGGRESSIVE-WAITING

CATCHING LIGHT

    It's the time when the sun's angles are harder and fleeting
but the light bursts.

     Fog ghosting out of valleys at sunrise

   or clouds surfing on the setting sun offer themselves.

   Disappearing afternoon rays offer Hemingway a patch of warmth.

 In the east a moon pokes above the mountain top.

   In the west, the nightly dunking.

   On this evening a crescent moon presides over the afterglow.

A DELETION

   The earlier post regarding Lindsey Graham's destructive comments and their legacy have been removed.  They do not warrant your attention as we watch the evolution of events resulting from the grand jury report in Ferguson.
  The posturing of Graham and other Senate Republicans may derail hopes the party could return to more practical, pragmatic and traditional positions and leadership. There will be more appropriate times to wade into that. 

    See you down the trail.