Christmas in Palo Alto

AN EARLY CHRISTMAS...

Diana and I went up to Palo Alto last weekend to celebrate Christmas with Erik, Rachel, Ronan, Baby #2, their family and friends. We had a terrific time with one and all.

Erik and family are going down to Del Mar to celebrate Christmas with Holly. Allison, Danny, Drew, and Lexi will have made the trek from Texas. Todd and Melissa will round out the festivities, having just arrived back in the United States this week after spending a year in Indonesia.

I hope and trust everyone will have a safe and happy Holiday Season!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Labyrinth

"Through the act of trusting the path, of giving up conscious control of how things should go and being receptive to our inner state, we can be opened up to a whole new world.”

Cambria Is a Spiritual Place

Among other wonderous things, Cambria is a deeply spiritual place.  I mean in the universal sense of the word--not in the religious context. One of the most spiritual places in town that I've discovered is the Labyrinth just behind St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

 

According to a brief explanation found at the site:  "The Labyrinth is a sacred place, a spiritual tool meant to awaken us to the deep rhythm that unites us to ourselves and to the Light from within. Walking the Labyrinth becomes a metaphor for our journey through life and builds a sense of relationship....to people, to creation and to the Divine."  The Labyrinth in Cambria is modeled after  the eleven-circuit design that was embedded in the floor of Chartres Cathedral near Paris, France around the year 1220. Cambria's Labyrinth is an open resource  for the Community to serve as a tool for residents and visitors alike on their quest for the path on their life's journey.

During Di's recent reunion with high school chums in Francisco they visited Grace  Cathedral    in the downtown area.  This Episcopal Cathedral has two labyrinths; One inside as in Chartres the other outside.  She and her friends spent much of an afternoon there, then went and partied!

"Walking a Sacred Path--Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice" by Lauren Artress is a great book for more in-depth information on labyrinths.

The Labyrinth at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Cambria, CA

One of the Labyrinths at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA

Another Teetzel Being Baked!

Di and I are thrilled with the news that our son, Erik, and daughter-in-law, Rachel, are pregnant!  Ronan, their first child, is blissfully unaware that he will have a new sibling sometime in mid-April 2010--right around his own birthday (April 16, 2008).  Leave it to a software engineer and doctor to have meticulous planning!  Below is one of Baby Teetzel's (the gender purposefully unknown) first portraits:

FIRE!

FIRE!

The Cambria Crises Intervention Team (TIC) was called out early one morning last week to respond to a fire at the Castle Inn on Moonstone Beach in Cambria.  TIC’s roll in a fire incident is to support emergency personnel and motel guests with food and drink.  We also assist the guests with any other problems that may arise (like finding other accommodations, rescheduling of appointments, contacting family members, etc.) as a result of a fire.

A team of six was assembled about 5:30 AM and we headed to various Cambria restaurants, stores, etc. to gather supplies.  We picked up plenty of coffee, water, Gatorade, breakfast burritos and an assortment of baked goods.  Local Cambria establishments went above and beyond to assist us with outstanding quality food, to the detriment of their own businesses (opening prep was delayed).  All of it was donated.

As team members arrive at the scene, we coordinated with the fire chief where to establish our “CIT Dining Hall.”  This was soon done  and the food and drink distributed to all those in need.  The firefighters know how good the food is and came over in waves.  A few Inn guests wandered over and couldn’t believe all this stuff was free!  And good!

The fire started in a storage building (cause unknown as yet).  Fortunately, Cambria, Cayucos and CA State Fire personnel were able to contain the fire before it had spread into the living unit area.  No guests were hurt and just one firefighter was injured and transported to the hospital; his injuries were fairly minor.

I feel really fortunate to be a part of a community that cares about its residents and visitors, and will step-up to the plate when there’s a need rather than just talking about it.

 Below are some photographs I took at the seen (remember, to elarge any photo simply click your cursor on it):

Dateline: Cambria, California

The Earth's Climate is Rapidly Changing.         The Animals Tell Us So!

I am a guide at the Piedras Blancas Light Station on the Central California coast. The largest section of our tour is not the lighthouse and supporting buildings, but is the wide variety and abundance of wildlife that habitat at Piedras Blancas. The marine mammals
and sea birds are, by far and away, the most enjoyed section of the tours.

Wildlife is abundant at Piedras Blancas because of the relatively unscathed environment along the Central California coast. As a guide and volunteer over several years there, I've had the great fortune to observe the numerous and varied marine mammals which populate the area; either as full time residents or as visitors passing through this stretch of the coast at the same times every year.

One thing that we've noticed are new animals that show up unexpectedly. This is particularly true of blue whales and sperm whales--it's hard to miss those guys! Both these magnificent animals rarely came this far north--their range usually ended several hundred miles south of Piedras Blancas. Over the past several years, however, we have observed more and more of these whales in the area.

Both these species of whale have diets of organisms and squid that are in abundance only at certain water temperatures. It is undeniable that the warming of the waters of the Pacific Ocean is pushing the Blue and Sperm whales further and further north along the California coast in search of a food supply that is directly effected by the Ocean's temperature.

Listen to the whales, they'll tell you that our climate is rapidly changing!

The Beauty of Piedras Blancas.....

Dateline: Cambria, California

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

True Californians rarely notice the hundreds of earthquakes that occur every year. That includes Diana and me.

A couple of Saturdays ago, we woke up and got going on the projects for the day. After I returned from my usual jaunt with the dogs on Fiscalini Ranch, I discovered that the door to the deck from our kitchen was impossible to close. Strange; but I wrote it off to humidity or something equally benign. A bit later Diana came up from the bottom floor and said that the bathroom door in the guest room wouldn’t close! I noted in the kitchen that some of the joints between the fake beams and wall had separated slightly.

Very weird. But being the curious fellow that I am, I contemplated these telltale signs in our home. Earthquake was the only logical conclusion for what caused this type of damage. I went on the USGS Earthquake tracking site and, sure enough, there had been a 4.1 earthquake nearby in the early morning hours of Saturday. We didn’t feel a thing and it wasn’t reported in the press.

We are thankful that this is the only damage we’ve ever had from an earthquake.

The Great Unwashed Swim

Last week we had great experience swimming in the Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle in San Simeon. I am a docent at Hearst Castle and Diana and I are both docents at The Coastal Discovery Center at the William R. Hearst State Beach across Highway 1 from the Castle’s property. As a “ reward” for volunteering at these two venues, we get to swim at Hearst Castle once a year in September.

Both Di and I were able to bring a guest along; Di brought her sister Marlene who was visiting from Wyoming. I brought along good friend PJ Webb.

I put together the video below documenting the fun we had in a rather unique (as well as very beautiful) setting! Hope you enjoy!

PINEDORADO

Small Town USA

Every Labor Day weekend the town of Cambria holds a three-day festival called Pinedorado. Organized by the Lions Club of Cambria, Pinedorado features a parade on Saturday which kicks-off the festivities; followed by three days of games for big and small, a nightly show featuring local talent, a car show, arts and craft fair, and food, Food, and more FOOD!

Pinedorado is the quintessentially small town activity—it is no small deal! Well over three to five our town’s entire population shows up from all over California, America, and the World! The parade this year included 81 floats and the auto show had to cut off at 75 entries due to lack of space!

It’s a great way celebrate the end of summer (or the beginning of the football season!) while raising a pretty good sum of money for local Cambria charities.

I have put together some photos and video from the weekend; including the “building” of the Friends of the Elephant Seal float, one of Di’s projects, and a small bit of the parade. Hope you enjoy!

OMG! WHAT IS IT?

FIND OUT AT THE END OF THIS POST...AND NO CHEATING!

dumb. Dumber. Dumbest!

Diana and I went on our what’s-coming-to-be annual whale-watching trip on the R/V Fulmer with folks from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Although the day was overcast and cold, we had a great trip. Except…for a gigantic brain fart on my part! For some reason I got it in my head that taking video of the trip would be way cool, especially to put here, on my blog. With foresight like that, it’s hard to believe I’ve survived in this world as long as I have! Checkout my resulting video; keep in mind I shot 1.5 hours of video and could only fudge enough for this clip!

Pathetic!

THE AMERICAN DREAM IN CAMBRIA
 
This one is of a semi-derelict house on the street Di and I take to go up the hill to our home. A certified nut case, who threatened a deputy sheriff with a 357-magnum revolver (which, not surprisingly, brought out about 20 more deputies with shotguns M16s, etc) owned it. This man was concerned because the authorities were going to shut off his water for non-payment of his bill for a year. After about an hour the standoff ended peacefully (I’m not sure how). It did create quite a stir in the neighborhood!

This person had other troubles-both legal and mental-which necessitated a surreptitious disappearance for him. But before he went bye-bye, he managed to destroy a perfectly good house in the short time he lived there.

Obviously some entity other than Mr. X now controls the property and has put it on the market. I’m assuming they’re selling it “as is”. What strikes me as funny, though, is the name on the for sale sign: “American Dream Realtors”!!!

AND THE ANSWER IS... 

You guessed it...the photo is of my pineapple upside down cake! More precisely it's my birthday cake. Yes people, although I try to ignore is annual anniversary, too many people seem to enjoy sensing my general feeling of doom and gloom! This year was special: I awoke to Abbey licking my head's bald spot telling me it is 4:00 AM--time to get up! Arise I did and dutifully feed our three malnourished Brittanys. When I did, I noticed a greeting card envelope leaning against a Betty Crocker Cake package in the pantry where we keep the dogs' food.

Abbey, Max, and Bandit were enthusiastically scarfing down their breakfast, so I slowly tore up the greeting envelope--I knew it was a dreaded birthday card. Sure enough it was a "funny" birthday card with the usual copy intended to make one feel even worse than you already do about this particular day. Yes indeed, Diana got in the first dig of the day; she wrote that the cake mix was for me to make my own favorite birthday cake, pineapple upside down cake!!! Believe me, my first thought was NOT "oh, how sweet, how thoughtful of her." No indeed, it (that first thought) was something very different, believe me!

But, as all of you well know, I take up the challenges with enthusiasm and gusto. So what if I had to make my own birthday cake--it's the usual treatment I get everyday. I got to work crafting my own birthday cake later in the morning. It took awhile to read the direction on the box because the print was so small, but I persevered. The “cake” was ready to come out of the oven a couple of hours later. As is usual with all upside down cakes, I had to immediately flip the hot cake pan upside down on a plate. It literally made a big splash; evidently I wasn't supposed to add the entire juice of the pineapple can to the concoction, just a tablespoon full!

Oh yah, my birthday cake turned out nice and juicy! It wasn't pretty, but it tasted great!

FAIR AT SAN SIMEON

The third annual Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary’s Coastal Discover Center was held last weekend on an overcast, but cool afternoon at William Hearst State Beach on San Simeon Bay. As usual the Fair attracted both locals and visitors from afar. Kids took advantage of expanded interactive exhibits to while away their afternoon. All agreed that this year’s fair scored another success!

Roger Spielberg setting up video camera equipment with good friend, PJ Webb. What I really needed was advice!



BLOGGER’S SNAP SHOTS…..

I wish I could take credit for teaching and developing my three children's emerging photography skill and art. But I can’t. The best I can claim is constant encouragement in their photographic endeavors. I am absolutely thrilled with the stride Allison, Erik and Todd in photography. And I am very proud of them!

All the photographs below were taken by one of the three; I wanted to make sure to give credit where credit‘s due.


TEXAS SWELTERS IN THE HEAT

Allison reports that the daily temperature this summer usually rises past 100 degrees with very high humidity. Despite all that, she and the family love living in Texas and their home in Copperas Cove. The heat must have gotten to them!


Drew perfects his diving techniques at their local pool.


Lexi getting swimming lessons from one of the pool's life guards.

TODD FINALLY REUNITED WITH MELISSA IN INDONESIA

Having had an extremely busy June, Todd flew to Indonesia in early July to hook-up with his bride. Melis (as Todd fondly calls her) is on a Fulbright Scholarship and has already been there for six months. They will live in an apartment in Yogyakarta until they return to the United States in December.


Todd at the summit of Mt. Rainer in June. The altitude is 14,410 ft.


Erik and Todd at Lassen Volcanic National Park in northeastern California.They spent several days climbing, hiking and camping in the wilderness.


I love this photograph by Erik during their trip to Lassen NP.
It was taken at Rainbow Lake in the Park.

CALIFORNIA SEA LION MALNUTRITION PROBLEM IDENTIFIED

On my last post I did a piece on severe California Sea Lion mortality this summer due to malnutrition. NOAA scientists have identified the lack of food is due to "El Nino", a weather pattern that develops every 5-7 years and last up to 18 months. El Nino conditions also effect tides and storm patterns. The net effect is for traditional feeding grounds to shift drastically or disappear altogether. Just one of those quirks of nature telling mankind who's boss!

Who’d Have Thought?

Wine grapes are by far and away the largest cash crop in San Luis Obispo County. Cattle, strawberries and broccoli are next in line. On the bottom of the economic rung are cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and abalone. That’s right: Abalone!

Recently I toured The Abalone Farm with fellow volunteers at the Marine Mammal Center. The Farm was founded in 1968 and is situated on 18 acres adjacent to Estero Bay, between Cayucos and Cambria on California’s Central Coast. It has the distinction of being the largest abalone farm in the United States.

Red abalone spawn just like fish: Eggs and sperm are released into the water where fertilization occurs, Offspring hatch within 24 hours in a nursery tank where they live for at least eight months. The brown things at the bottom of the tank are the developing abalone.

When the abalone the large enough, they’re moved outside to floating baskets in concrete tanks. At this is where they begin feeding exclusively on kelp that is harvested in the Pacific, just off the coast from the Farm. The tanks water conditions must be pristine which, requires a sophisticated filtration system.

After two years the red abalone grow to 2 inches and they’re ready for one of the 700 grow-out tanks at The Abalone Farm. Again the animals subsist on plenty of tender, juicy kelp.

Finally, by year 5 the red abalone is 3.5 to 4.5 inches in shell length, which is the most efficient size to send red abalone to market. The Farm ships live abalone all over the world. A smaller segment of their business is producing pre-tenderized abalone steaks for many high-end, West Coast Restaurants.

Bon Apetite!

Lilliputian Surfer Dude Invades Cambria!

Erik and Rachel took Ronan on his first extended road trip several weeks ago to visit Grandma Di and Grandpa Roger in Cambria. Rather than describing the action (and I mean action!) in words, I thought it would be much more appropriate to use a captioned slideshow to describe the vivacity of the weekend!

California Sea Lions Are Taking It In The Flippers!

Seemingly ubiquitous on California’s Central Coast, California Sea Lions are perishing in record numbers in 2009. This is especially true of yearlings. Unfortunately, I’ve had first-hand experience with this cataclysm. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, I was called out on five strandings in the Cambria-San Simeon area on one day alone; all were younger California Sea Lions (CSLs). And I wasn’t even scheduled to work that day!

To add further to the grim statistics, in The Marine Mammal Center’s area of responsibility alone, there has been over a 300% increase in the CSL stranding. Additionally, the annual count of dead CSL yearling during the annual survey of recovered CSL has gone from a norm of 1000-1500 CSL pups to over 6000!

The root cause of these problems seems to be a severe decrease in the food supply. According to Bob DeLong of the California Ecosystem Research Project, water temperature changes, water current changes and ocean upwelling changes have all contributed to the paucity of available food supplies. Other marine mammals and sea birds are also being adversely affected, but to a lesser extent.



In 2009, some California Sea Lion yearlings make it.....many do not.



LOVE AND RESPECT OUR PLANET!