“It was the dream of returning to those simple pleasures that inspired thoughts of S.C.A.M.P. (Small Craft Advisor Magazine Project). That and a persistent desire to go over “there” – that place we often see but are unable to reach. It seems to happen on every cruise. Never mind that we’re usually sailing the smallest boat around for miles, we always come upon some ultra-shallow lagoon or serpentine tidal stream that disappears into the reeds, trees and rushes. To get in there – to really commune with nature – a boat needs to be light, shallow and easily propelled – and preferably flat-bottomed in case we decide to stay right though the ebb.” https://shltr.net/XiEEvv
There was a piece of smoked salmon in the frig that sat there too long and went moldy. As I buried it in the compost pile, I thought about how, in a short time, the worms and microorganisms would turn it into black, fresh smelling soil. Every food scrap from our kitchen for over 40+ years has now been incorporated into garden soil.
A few weeks ago, I buried some freeze-dried packets of food and an apple inside a paper bag in sand dunes, so that I could get to it on my hike. Just 2 days later, when I dug it up, something had chewed through the paper bag and eaten about 1/4 of the apple. I looked out over the 4-mile long sandy beach and realized that there is life beneath the surface as far as the eye could see, based on the life I found in that one square foot of sand.
On the subject of gardens, I’m often amazed that when you plant seeds, the plants shown on the seed packet sure enough do grow. The seeds are instruction packets for the elements, telling soil, sun, air and water what to form.
I got about 4 hours of sleep last night. I’m pretty comfortable in the back of my truck. I sleep in neighborhoods away from street lights, never at the beach or other cop-patrolled areas. It’s a beautiful sunny fall day in Santa Cruz, I’m down here to go to a surprise birthday party for an old and dear friend.
After the reunion, which I really enjoyed, I went out to Ocean Beach and ran for an hour on the sunny sand. (October is really our best time of the year.) Fiddled around in SF until 10 or so, called my son Will in Santa Cruz (where I was heading for the next day) and asked him who was playing at Moe’s Alley, one of my all time favorite clubs. “Charlie Musselwhite.” Whoo! I hot pedaled it to S. Cruz and caught Charlie’s last 2 numbers, which included Christo Redemptor, and Charlie and band were in fine form. Then Will and I had an beer in another tavern. It’s now, ahem, 3:09 AM and I’m at Ferrell’s 24-hour donut shop with wi-fi and preparing to go sleep in the back of my truck for the few hours until sunrise. I love Santa Cruz for a lot of reasons. I was conceived here. I was a beach lifeguard in the mid-50s. I surfed here when there were no wetsuits and surfing was not crowded. When I was at Stanford, I arranged my classes so I was through for the week at noon onThursday, and would ride my Harley 45 over to SC and stay until Sunday night.
Boy, how do I describe the last 16 or so hours? Got up at 5AM, went to Cafe Roma In San Francisco, then around noon to the 60th reunion of my class of Lowell High School, SF,1952 at the St. Francis Yacht Club. Here are a few pictures of people, and a few pages of Roz’s scrapbook. In the group at the bottom, I’m at the right with my date, Bobbie Brazier, totally cute sister of my best friend, John Brazier.
Finally back to work on Wheels & Water book, after two trips. Today doing 4 pages on a young woman living on (and sailing) her own sailboat. I’ve got about 15 or so pages lined up to lay out now. Such good stuff.
Just got their new catalog. This is an amazing school on the banks of Lake Superior, with classes on boat building, blacksmithing, basketry, sailing, building, foods and a lot more. If you (or your kids) want to learn some of the almost-forgotten skills and crafts, I recommend checking them out: https://www.northhouse.org/
“It was the dream of returning to those simple pleasures that inspired thoughts of S.C.A.M.P. (Small Craft Advisor Magazine Project). That and a persistent desire to go over “there” – that place we often see but are unable to reach. It seems to happen on every cruise. Never mind that we’re usually sailing the smallest boat around for miles, we always come upon some ultra-shallow lagoon or serpentine tidal stream that disappears into the reeds, trees and rushes. To get in there – to really commune with nature – a boat needs to be light, shallow and easily propelled – and preferably flat-bottomed in case we decide to stay right though the ebb.”
