Look West, Old Man, Look West

February 24, 2015 at 11:30 am

This poster by National Geographic really struck me. The migration to Hawaii by Marquesas Islands sailors somewhere between 300-800 AD in open sailing canoes, along with plants and animals. When you look at this map of South Pacific Islands, you see what a feat that was. No GPS.

I had an interesting talk yesterday with my neighbor John Washington, who has sailed in this part of the world. How did these guys sail 2500 miles and land on the Hawaiian islands, which are way out in the ocean away from everything else? We concluded they combined many skills: astronomy, direction of swells, winds, birds and fish; intuition…

Somewhere I read that Polynesian navigation knowledge was passed along in oral tradition from navigator to apprentice, partly in song.

It caused me to reflect on my Euro-centric education. Western Civilization was required for Stanford freshmen when I went there. Nothing about China, India, the South Pacific, Buddhism, Zen, the great Khmer civilization, the Taoists, Chi Gung, the concept of chi… (Part of consciousness-expansion in the ’60s was discovery of the rest of the world’s civilizations and practices.)

So here I am looking westward. It caused me to take another look at Henrik and Ginni’s 6800-mile sailboat journey from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico across this archipelago of islands. It’s covered with lots of photos on 6 pages in Tiny Homes on the Move (pp. 156-61).

The Tahitians arrived around 1200 AD and things got brutal. Cook arrived in the 1700s.

It’s fascinating history.

Read More …

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Wooden Topographic Model of Kauai

February 22, 2015 at 2:00 pm

This was at a ranger station/museum in the Waimea area. Looks like it was done by some sort of computer-generated cutting tool. It’s the entire 25 x 35 mile island of Kauai.

I shot this picture centered (at bottom) on Hanalei Bay—it’s that perfect 2/3-circle. Look at the way the mountains fan out in the same pattern. Na Pali coast on right. I believe the sand you see half-way up on the right is Polihale Beach, end of the road.

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Island Soul

February 19, 2015 at 7:33 pm

I don’t see any boards, but these guys gotta be surfers. Somewhere in Kapa’a, Kauai. Authentic, eh?

What I like here (aside from the soulfulness):

-hip roof, corrugated steel sheets

-porch area by subtraction. Think of it as the overall simple roof shape; then by moving walls inside, you get porch.

-up off ground on simplest of foundations.

-colors: red/green. I love the brick red color, especially window trim on Pacific west coast.

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Shots of Jameson’s and Spectacular Spider in Kauai

February 18, 2015 at 11:30 am

I had so many experiences and shot so many photos during my 3 weeks in Kauai that I could do a mini-book, but there just ain’t the time. So I’ll put stuff up in dribs and drabs. This is Jeremy Hill and his girlfriend Jen (from San Diego) at Mariachi’s bar/excellent restaurant in Kapa’a one night. They bought me a shot.

Jeremy showed me this photo he’d taken of a spider on the island, looks like a fanciful drawing.

A week later Jeremy and I ended up at the Bistro, another v. good restaurant in Kilauea and had a great visit while we ate dinner at the bar.

So much “content,” so little time…

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An Ode to Mount Tamalpais

February 17, 2015 at 11:30 am

It may be only a few thousand feet high, but nevertheless, it’s a magic mountain.  With its redwoods, meadows, creeks, waterfalls, trails, animals, birds, endless vistas and hundreds of miles of trails, there are lots of us Bay Area residents who love it insanely.

“Hello Lloyd!  You’ve enjoyed my past films about Mt. Tamalpais and when recently we finished making this short film, I thought you’d appreciate this one quite a bit.  It’s about one person’s offering to a mountaintop that had been removed by the military during the Cold War… an offering for its healing.

So… I thought you’d be interested in seeing this 8-minute film “Mountains Made of Chalk, Fall into the Sea, Eventually.”

https://vimeo.com/119016971

The synergy of creative collaboration can result in magic beyond our imagining.  Witnessing Genna Panzarella paint this 8×10′ mural of Mt. Tamalpais as it was when it was whole, literally inside of what used to be the mountaintop, is akin to stealing a peek through the kimono of mystery… the misty mystery of impermanence.

The project bears a great resemblance to the process of making a Tibetan Buddhist sand painting (and then blowing it away).…

-gary yost

https://www.garyyost.com“

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