devil's gulch the last day of 2014

It was cold and damp but the earthy smell is a reminder of my childhood and always a good sendoff of the year. We did not spot any salmon, but they have been there. And the bouquet of bay leaves I brought home will scent the evening's activities. I gathered the buckeye crop for 2014. They are potted up, waiting for the spring.

the best gift of the season

 

We finished up our usual produce shopping, loading the bags into the back of the car when our favorite produce man ran up to us and gave us these. We will eat them for dinner.

the light returns, winter solstice 2014 3:03 pm....

taos door october 2014

We celebrated with friends and crabs last night, and we celebrate again tonight with more friends. The absence of writing has not been absence of thought, but absence of time. Light brings energy to time. Welcome Yule!

pie, building 14, second annual

The first entry, under cover

 

 

assigning numbers

douglas stands by ready to serve

leon gives instructions on scoring

luke and elliot pay careful attention

advice is given

waiting to be tasted

when can I eat?

getting down to serious business

should we talk about this?

scoring is taken very seriously

now this is more like it

these two maybe become my new co-workers

And the winner was Benny, father of 4 year Luke and Elliot, with an exquisite Alice Waters butter crust, filled with apples and dried bueberries. Second place, Liz, with a pecan, hazelnut, bourbon with a cornmeal crust.
Third, JP, with a concoction of pecans, caramel, whipped cream and chocolate, that was the 8th entry and we all thought we might die if we ate another bite of pie. But we all took that bite and said, hmmm, this is good.

veteran's day and the walk home from work

I noticed these driving back to the shop from lunch and made a point of walking by them on the way home. Are those really mad bomber hats on the lions? In fact a closeup revealed the straps said Cal on them.

To me it was a Veteran's Day display. Further down the street I noticed this birdhouse up in a street tree.

I do like a good walk home in air that is getting crisper.

dia de los muertos and the past two weeks

It was a minimal altar this year, but perhaps because the last two weeks in October were certainly not minimal. Normally November begins and I go into a bit of decline as the days shorten, camping season is over, the holidays are coming up, and the sports page holds no major interest. This year however, I'm looking forward to some quiet, and perhaps book reading in the early evening darkness.


October 16th found Mike and I heading to Point Area for Oz Farm and the wedding of our neighbors and friends Mike and Michael. We had signed on to the core group, staying at the farm, and hoping to be of some assistance. We were joined by a small but enthusiastic crew. The first major task was setting up the tent. And then setting up the tent again: the bubble of love When it came down on the first attempt, we crawled out from underneath and said, let's think this over. But this was a group to persevere, and we had a schedule. There were flowers to be arranged, and napkins to be folded. Decorations needed to go into place. A hardy soup dinner was prepared for us by Michael's mom. We all went to bed tired but happy.

And then came Friday, and cloudy skies. And then cloudier skies. And then rain. Hmmm, barbequing chicken could be difficult. Undeterred Mike and Jamie made provisions.

We were expecting close to 100 people for dinner, and we needed to move tables and chairs into the tent. Troops were called. Tables were decorated, chicken was cooked, vegetables were grilled, salad and baked beans were prepared  Somehow we managed to get it all into the tent. And then came dessert. The two who were in charge were delayed flying in from Dallas and Portland, meeting in Oakland and getting stuck in horrendous traffic. So they were seven hours late. And this was no simple dessert. There was ganache to be made, and melted marshmallow and caramel from scratch. And crushed biscotti and some form of nuts. And ice cream so solid from being on dry ice we just about needed chainsaw to cut it. Somewhere we found cups and spoons to put this all in, but by now it was raining in earnest, the tents was 150 yards away in the dark and with puddles. The dessert crew made a talent show all of their own, flinging ingredients, singing loudly, and with the help of someone I do not even know managed to carry and serve. The rye whiskey helped a bit, but I left the kitchen with a fearless sister-in-law Dolores attempting to manage the chaos of the aftermath. And then it rained steadily through the night.
Saturday morning, the day of the wedding, fearful of what the kitchen might look like Mike and I made our way back into the fray. The ever wonderful Jamie, had beat us into the kitchen, coffee was started, and we were soon joined by Kari, Barb, and the soon to be wed Mikes. A plan B was needed. Even if the tent wasn't a soggy mess filled with sugary leftovers, there was no way the increasing crowd would fit inside for the after wedding dinner. The Manchester Grange had been a backup plan, but in fact it had never been seen. So the Mikes took off to look at it with Kari and Barb, and Jamie, dessert Mike (who's name became ebola Mike, which will happen if you are specialist with the CDC) Mike and I set out to control the trash and a bit of carnage from the night before. I must say I do feel better about ebola in this country having met Mike Bell. He is a man of action. When the party returned from the Grange it was pronounced a lovely place, quite suitable for the evening meal. The caterer was called and again the troops we called in and all the tables, flowers, plates, glasses, and decorations were moved en masse  and setup at the Grange Hall. We returned to Oz with the final task to setup some chairs and tables for the ceremony. Assigned this task I completed with my inner drill sergeant coming out.

The gods then finally aligned with us. The ceremony took place in redwood grove, when the cello began playing a hawk called. The rain stopped, the sun came out, we were honored to give one of the seven blessings at the wedding:

"In the spirit of a cross-cultural ritual and hedging your bets, we have brought our personal Shankha horn, the emblem of the Hindu god Vishnu.

Vishnu is the giver of longevity, prosperity, fame, and the cleanser of sin.

With the sound of this horn, we ask all listening spirits and deities to bring our wonderful friends, Mike and Michael, long, happy and prosperous lives."
And then Mike sounded the conch.

We ate dinner with some other neighbors and left the Grange to be in bed at 8:15 pm exhausted. Up at 7:00 am we skipped out early, we had another adventure ahead of us. But there are memories and friendships that will last us well into the future.
We returned home for to unpack, and repack for a Monday morning 7:00 am flight to Albuquerque and onto Taos for yoga. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how I made it through Monday, but I did, and after a stop in Santa Fe at Cost Plus for wine we were at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House. Our group of 26 was great. Monday night we put down a bottle of wine at the table, with a couple of others adding. Tuesday night the table was full of bottles. My friend Nancy turned to me at dinner and said this isn't a yoga retreat, this a party with yoga on the side. The noise level increased and we all laughed our way through the week. Taos worked it's magic on all of us, the Rio Grande yielded a few trout for Mike. I walked the labyrinth everyday.

And then there was baseball.
I grew up in a family that followed sports, especially baseball. My father planned his fall vacations around the World Series. He would take a week off in October to be able to listen to games. Radio was the medium of broadcast. The seasons were shorter then, the system less complicated. Baseball was always a connection to a late older brother. At the very tender junior high age I became the scorekeeper for the junior league team my brother coached in Fairfax. Our major competition was the Point Reyes Station team. Those farm boys were strong and hard to beat. I have a memory of a triple play happening once and going over to Mary Giacomini who was doing the scoring for Point Reyes and asking her how do we write this in our play book? I can not remember whose team executed the triple play but I remember notations were not easy. So enter the Giants in 2014. Back in July is seemed impossible that they would find themselves in the world series. But come October and miracles were playing in front of me. When asked at the opening Taos yoga practice this year what our inspiration was, I answered "the Giants". There were laughs all around, but in truth it was not something I meant as a joke. I was inspired by the way they played as a team without egos. And an the unbelievable ability to not give up. But now I am wondering what I am going to do in the morning without all of the articles to read in the sporting green. And will they sign the Panda?

october roses

October roses are my favorite. They are an unexpected bonus of the growing season.

hepatic tanagers

These slightly fuzzy images are a male (top) and female (bottom) hepatic tanager. Here's what Cornell says about their range: "the Hepatic Tanager is a bird of the pine-oak forests of the southwestern mountains". So not an Alameda bird. We first spotted the male, thinking we were seeing things. But when both of us saw it, we got out our bird books and searched the internet. The female is a more recent arrival. My birder friend says the bird world would be envious of having these two in their backyard.  I'm just happy my dogwood berries are going to good use.

the other side

Oriskany, the other side, as counted this am: 7 total, 4 disposable, 2 left, 1 right.

lost and found

Walking to work this morning, entering the air station, I decided to count of all the  gloves I see discarded, run over, always single. Some are the disposable type, especially outside the fence line of what used to be Nelson Marine. The count was ten. Now this is probably in a distance of less than half a mile. And it is only one side of the street. When I brought the subject up at lunch, my workmate Steve asked "were they right or left"? A good question. So on the way home I did a more thorough inspection. I have to admit I only found nine. Five disposable (and therefore not handed) and four left. Perhaps next week I'll look at the other side of the street.

yellow creek august 2014

I wrote this the morning of August 11th, sitting on the edge of campsite number 2. I usually like to write directly on my computer, but hard to take that technology camping so my notebook had to do. It was a somewhat magical trip, and seems like long ago.

Mike's birthday
raindrops falling
electric air
harder raindrops
stopping, starting

empty campground
host swings
grass soft focus
rain soft sound
now heavier
take cover

sun comes out
host still swings
flies buzz
squirrels call
wind in the trees

The idea was to come for the Perseid meteor showers, somewhat wishful knowing there would be a full moon and the threat of evening thunder showers (thus cloud cover). The full moon shines in the tent door through the clouds. The first morning all the other campers leave giving us the campground to share with only the young hosts and their dog, Nellie, Dustin, and Maple.
Humbug Valley has not lost all of it's green. Summer rains have been kind, keeping a certain verdancy. Many of the birds have left, but the sandhill cranes still call in the morning. The squirrels are actively collecting pine nuts. The falling green cones land heavily on the ground at first light. There is a peacefulness that can only be felt, not described. If no meteors are seen, it is all right, the trip has accomplished it's purpose.

The evening of the 11th gave us an incredible sunset. I just wanted to lay in the meadow and soak it in.

only you!

Smokey

Commemorating Smokey's 70th birthday.... I was a junior forest ranger at age 5.

on turning 63

I just completed 20 hours of yoga in four days. Not bad for a 63 year old with bad knees. Before this morning's practice I managed to popup into a handstand. Handstands are my measure of how I am feeling. I was quite pleased that being a year older, and having done 15 hours of yoga in the three previous days I still had one in me. It has been a great day day. My yoga buddies bought me lunch in between sessions today. And I am about to go out to dinner. I do have to include a closeup of the card my sister sent me.

The inside reads: they'll never notice the whiskers..... happy birthday

the latest tams

Lately I have been in a frenzy of tam production. I have another one completed but not blocked and two new ones on the needles. I have been trying to perfect, well come close, to devising the perfect pattern and getting my bands to stay on the head, but not cut off circulation. I've become tenser in my knitting lately, not entirely sure the reason. I don't seem tense. I am in the middle of a four day, 20 hours of yoga, in-town retreat. I probably shouldn't try knitting, I might be loose again.

what is art?

We spent three nights at this wonderful house in Moss Landing. Nancy's art covers the house inside and out. Her garden a feast of color.

It was a rather foggy and grey time, but somehow I didn't mind.

Yesterday afternoon we attending a Building 14 potluck, with not only my fellow building mates but also a group from the Bauline Crafts Guild. The food was fantastic, best potluck spread I've ever been to. We met a woman who makes shoes from pig gut as sculpture. The question posed to her was why? I was glad someone other then myself asked the question because I was quite puzzled by this choice of medium.  Her reply was she had to. I'll stick to wool and tams as my creative outlet. At least you can wear them when it's cold and they are quite nice to touch. Maybe I'm just not ready for the world of art.