the state is concentric and the individual is eccentric

Rock & Reggae on the River

2009-07-31T16:40:00.000-07:00

It actually rocked - but just once, in 1985...

Monster and the Dead

2009-07-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

My Monster with the Dead

@ Head-to-Head

Area 101

July 11th, 2009

Baby Gramps @ the Mateel

2009-07-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

It was really nice to see Baby Gramps again.

oh yeah...

and the Yard Dogs Road Show too!

Clematis bloom

2009-06-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

Looking down on 6 feet of Clematis in full bloom.

Discoball and Petunias

2009-06-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

and Calibrachoa.

It's starting to feel like summer.

tree

2009-05-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

taken in Del Norte County

In case you had any doubt

2009-05-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Capitalism kills...

the glow of springtime poppies

2009-04-17T16:07:00.000-07:00

No longer a tulip virgin

2009-04-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

My first attempt at growing tulips wasn't exactly flawless, but they pulled it off in the end. Now I'm looking forward to the Ranunculus...

New Moon tonight

2009-03-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

It's amazing the things you can see into darkness

vast herds of Turkeys

2009-02-13T12:47:00.000-08:00

They scare me a little - the fog creates a horror movie type scene.

I heard that Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the Turkey the official American bird. I wonder if that's true or just folk lore? It seems to go with his Quaker sensibilities.

snow topped

2009-02-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

Don't be fooled - winter isn't far away

A storm is a brewin'

2009-02-10T12:14:00.000-08:00

Getting lost on the coast

2009-02-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

From outside Petrolia...

My favorite part of today

2009-01-20T19:26:00.000-08:00

Praise Song for the Day
By Elizabeth Alexander
(Recited by the poet at the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack H. Obama.)

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer consider the changing sky; A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.”

We encounter each other in words, Words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; Words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, “I need to see what’s on the other side; I know there’s something better down the road.”

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

Movement over water

2009-01-14T19:36:00.000-08:00

We're no longer in Jamaica mon

2008-12-15T13:35:00.000-08:00

Sunrise

2008-12-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

A Winter Garden like no other

2008-11-24T18:00:00.000-08:00

With special thanks to the Tin Can Luminary

The Last Salsa Harvest

2008-10-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

Marigold and Moth

2008-10-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

Wine

2008-10-21T13:00:00.001-07:00

Check back in 6 months...

Hammymon's campaign

2008-09-29T04:20:00.000-07:00

I stopped by the EarthDance bar to get a glass of Frey's fine Petite Sirah. There I found the Rastafarian Hamster soliciting a pig in lipstick for campaign contributions. I asked Jah Hammymon what his campaign promises to the public were and before I could finish my question he insisted that he was going to crack-down on bogarding offenses. He also expressed his eagerness to take the White House back to it's roots by growing some indica in the rose gardens.

Vote Nobody for President in 2008!
Vote yourself for Vice President!

This message brought to you by the Guns and Dope Party

Full Moon at EarthDance

2008-09-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

the other side of the street

2008-08-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

For me, this picture holds a lot of metaphoric value...
On one side of the street, a live oak on an open hillside.
The other side of the street, freshly planted landscaping and new track homes.

Tao of asphalt

the Sun sets on the Mad

2008-08-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

Summer Solstice - 2007, after Nyk killed herself

2008-07-26T04:34:00.000-07:00

I am ready to build
I am ready to breath
I am ready to burn
... So long as I’m alive

I can no longer see
anything of myself
Please don’t try to stop me
this time, before I regress...
Into a dream
... Is this a dream?
Surely this life line has been
going far too long
... to still be asleep

So I can still dream
and I can still breath
I can burn this place
... to the ground

And howl at the silence
of how nothing changes

... So long as I’m alive.

pink sky

2008-07-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

at least there is something lovely about mornings...

abandoned in the alley

2008-07-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

My former roommate, Patrick, and I found a pot with dead sticks poking out of a pile of trash in the alleyway. Patrick looked at the tag identifying this seemingly dead plant, and recognized it as a keeper - something worth nurturing back to health. He had an eye for ornamental plants, whereas my inclination is for an eatable garden.

Since that dreary winter day, the plant has sprung back to life. Patrick is on his way back to upstate New York to be with his family while he undergoes chemotherapy through the next year. He's the same age as me - let's say, not-yet-30. He is a solider of fire and reminds me of Shiva like that - and he is waging war with his body.

Who is handsome, who is an axe to the tree of the universe,
To the One with a terrifying face.
-Liṅga Purāṇa I.32.3-

When I met Patrick he was preparing to go back to South Dakota for his annual conservation work in starting controlled fires. There was a spark in his eye that told me he thrived on the exhilaration of it all. He loved land and nature by burning it, pushing it to it's breaking point before it turned on you. So he knows what he's about to do to his body with chemotherapy.

Every flower from this plant is the color of hope and the green of the leaves are strength and love that will see him through.
This is a picture of survival - the plant left for death in the alleyway and the man who saw hope.

Hazardous smoke conditions today

2008-06-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

Very smokey today...
Word is that more lightning is on the way - no rain predicted.

As reference, this view can be seen in it's smokeless, apple-blosoom filled form here.

southern fire

2008-06-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

The valleys have been filled with smoke all day. Finally when the winds started to sweep some of the lingering smoke out - this fire became apparent in the South.

For Adult Eyes Only!

2008-06-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

I present to you, Redwood Moth porn...

Night before the Full Moon

2008-06-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

you heard it from the mothership

2008-06-14T23:11:00.000-07:00

George Clinton's presidential endorsement and transcendental algebra..

Dusk at Summer Arts and Music Festival

2008-06-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

Benbow, California - 2008

Peeple Powered...

2008-05-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

Praise "Bob" for such a Glorious Weekend! It was truly filled, no, heaping full with slack - like an all you can eat buffet of slack and glory. I started on Saturday and slacked right into - what is this? Tuesday.

Did you know that you can spell "Bob" from only 2 letters of Hobart's name? It's a sign...

my pet snake, Yama

2008-05-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

Yama likes to frolic in the grass on a warm day.

jesus hates...

2008-05-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

Patrick in WonderLand

2008-05-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

Fowers on the table

2008-04-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

"I'd rather have roses on the table, than diamonds on my neck." -Emma Goldman

Edge of the Earth

2008-04-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

just Trinidad.

Apple Blossoms are finally here

2008-04-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

Sephia Forest

2008-04-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

Sunset over Hillcrest (San Diego)

2008-04-02T22:56:00.000-07:00

The day he was cheated upon...

2008-03-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

What he was really angry about what the fact that Dorrito(tm) didn't bring the Ranch dressing home to share.

you put out that fire now!

2008-03-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

Burning down the house

2008-02-22T22:24:00.000-08:00

Sheep grazing on the Lost Coast

2008-01-27T15:03:00.000-08:00

Alderpoint Road

2008-01-21T18:27:00.000-08:00

2008-01-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

oh yeah... I almost forgot about that silly little thing called War...

Rastafar-hammy-teshvara

2008-01-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

Lake Henshaw

2008-01-13T13:54:00.000-08:00

A view of Lake Henshaw in Feburary.

2008-01-07T17:32:00.000-08:00

This was taken in Trinidad in January of 2006.

Hello 2008...

2008-01-05T21:59:00.000-08:00

I went to the city for New Years.

Goodbye 2007 -

It was good times.

Hello 2008 -

waiting for the mail to come

2007-12-31T23:33:00.000-08:00

This was taken in Anza Borrego, December 2006.

December mail stop

2007-12-31T23:11:00.000-08:00

This was taken in Anza Borrego - December, 2006.

How to Dissuade Yourself from Becoming a Blogger

2007-08-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

What a buzz all the bloggers are making these days! It seems like just about everybody is pouring their musings into a text box. Are you feeling tempted to start a blog of your own? Here are some ways to bypass the trend.

Find five completely random blogs, and read them daily for a month. After thirty days, you will absolutely dread your self-imposed requirement to read all that dreck. Any blog you create will most likely be on par with what you've been reading. Don't put anyone through that.
Consider that your voice, even if it is truly a good one, is a tiny peep against the massive wave of tripe out there. The odds of anyone you don't already know finding your blog are low.
Write on a regular basis in Wordpad instead. If that doesn't satisfy your urge, and you feel that you must post your blog online, then you might just be craving attention and validation--which you'll never truly find in a blog. If you give up on your Wordpad journal after about three days, you'll do the same with a blog that just takes up server space.
Ask yourself if you really have the time to commit to a blog. What about that treehouse you wanted to build? Or the book you wanted to write? Or the car you wanted to fix up? Or the restaurant you wanted to take your wife to? Or the new career you wanted to pursue? Instead of writing about pretty much nothing, or whining about all the things you wish you were doing instead, start doing something that'd actually be worth writing about. And if it's really worth writing about, you'll be having too much fun doing it to tear yourself away from it.

from wikiHow