ONLY THE BEST

THE BANZAI PIPELINE

       The north shore of Oahu is one of the world's premiere athletic venues.  Only the best dare try it here.

  Before the sun was over the mountain, surfers were in the

 Pacific, looking for a ride before the "Backdoor Shoot-out" Championship, part of a 50th anniversary tribute to Duke Kahanamoku.  Kahanamoku is the Olympic champion swimmer who created modern surfing.

 As the sun finds the line, it turns the Pacific from gray to blue.

  Team surfing competition begins at 8 AM. The professionals tune up.

  On this day conditions are near perfect and the waves are 20 foot tall.

   The power of the ocean is thunderous. The danger is underscored by the deaths of 21 surfers and photographers at the Pipeline.

    In this sequence we see a shooter deploy for his spot in the big water to capture dramatic footage of the champion surfers inside the shoot or tunnel of water.

   Here he is cut loose where he will attempt to survive the swells as he watches the board artists take on the sea.

 As only the best ball players make it to the all star game, only the best surfers in the world have a chance to survive here.

 At the pipeline, the beach rumbles and explosions roar when some of these 20 foot walls collapse. 

    If you look closely in the frame below you will see a surfer emerge from the curl of the back wave. This perspective reveals how solitary and fragile these athletes are as they compete against a primal force of nature.

MELLOW ON THE BOARDS

   A few miles away in Kawelia Bay, inside the reef, the board work turns to yoga.

ALOHA EVENING

   See you down the trail.

Atmospherics

CHANGES IN ATTITUDES

North Shore Oahu 

Edna Valley, San Luis Obispo County California

Sun play with branch and window

 SKY QUILTS

 HORIZONS

 The view from here

Find the artist?

THROW BACK JIM

Jim and his beloved Linda in the Paso Robles appellation

  An early visit to the Central Coast by Jim and Linda. Jim introduced us to the Central Coast and Big Sur a few moons ago. Now he makes introductions to the North Shore of Oahu.  He knows his ocean views.  Stay tuned.

   
    Jimmy Buffet had it right about changes in latitude-even if only a frame of mind.

   See you down the trail.

"That's the way it was…" and Colorful Fungus Among US

THE LAST '15

     Fewer of us write checks or letters so there is less need to annotate the date. Artificial intelligence via phones and computers do it for us.  But there is always that hump of getting over the correct last digit. 

      As you slide into acceptance that we've reached the midway point of the second decade of the 21st century, consider our blue marble 100 years ago.

       World War I raged. The British ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine. 1,195 died. Woodrow Wilson was President, the New York Yankees wore pinstripes for the first time, the Boston Red Sox won the world series, "Typhoid Mary" was finally arrested, Lassen Peak in California, seen here, exploded in a volcanic eruption with debris still evident, 

Ralph DePalma won the Indianapolis 500, fire destroyed most of Santa Catalina Island, the one millionth Ford came off the assembly line in Detroit, a court in Georgia accepted the official formation of the new Ku Klux Klan, City Hall in

San Francisco was dedicated, Cornell was the NCAA Football Champion with a 9-0-0 record, Wimbledon was cancelled due to WWI, Regret won the Kentucky Derby, William Jennings Bryan resigned as Secretary of State, a mob lynched a Jewish man in Georgia, unemployment was 8.5%, the Germans first used poison gas as a battle field weapon, DW Griffiths The Birth of a Nation was released and created the foundation of modern film making, Audrey Munson, portraying a model, became the first actress to appear nude on screen, the Nobel Prize for Literature went to Romain Rolland of France, the Vancouver Millionaires won the Stanley Cup, 600,000 to 1 Million Armenians were slaughtered by Turkish soldiers and the cost of a first class stamp was 2 cents. 

     Do you wonder what this new year will be remembered for 100 years from now?

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

   Welcomed rain, warm days and more recently cool evenings have prompted the local variety of mushrooms, toad stools and fungus to arrive.

THE LESS COLORFUL COUSINS

AND THE WEE TINY LAD
These are growing out of a pine cone-notice the thumb?

   Wishing you well being, mindfulness, celebration of the moment, light, happy adventures, and good hours in the blogosphere in 2015.

2014 THROWBACK

"1-9-6-4-We're the class of '64" fifty years later.  Warren Central High School Class Reunion-Milano Inn, Indianapolis, June, 2014.   

    See you down the trail.