Monday, September 28, 2009

Half Moon Bay Surf Club @ Santa Cruz Meet








































1) Men's Long Board Finalist - Michael takes 2nd!
2) Sean Rips and Burns
3) A Santa Cruz Jump Start

Photo album HERE Courtesy Duke and Marty

Message from Coach Phelps:

Surfers and Parents,

Yahoo!!! What a fun day!! I’m so proud of our whole team, and all the support from all the friends and families that showed up to cheer our kids on. I want to express a huge thanks to Kaitlyn for being our first alumni to return as an assistant coach. Her commitment to give back to her community is very inspirational to all of us!!

I was so impressed by the sportsmanship displayed by our teammates throughout the day. All of you kids encouraging each other and acknowledging each other’s accomplishments. I was very impressed with our veteran Audrey (our new recruit from MA) and how she took Hannah under her wings. Again, a true display of teamwork! Honorable mentions go to Skylar for taking 4th overall in Men’s Shortboard, and Michael for taking 2nd in Men’s Longboard. This was a great display of our teams depth of talent!! Also to Tom for the fantastic “TomBurgers”…. Hmmm… I think he’s stealing my thunder..As for Hannah….. Wow! Taking 4th place in Women’s shortboard in our very first contest!!! What can I say. We’re all so proud of you!

Core Interscholastic Surf Contest Results: Team Event: HMB 59 over Harbor 54 Skylar 4th Shortboard Finals Michael 2nd Longboard finals Hannah 4th Girls Longboard Finals
Complete Results HERE

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

St. Louis Story



A Rosalinde Block painting











A delightful thing happened on the way to my email server - I looked at my Facebook account and there was Roz Block mentioning the completion of a section of her St. Louis memoir. I haven't kept up with Roz but I certainly remembered Block's Books, her dad's great bookstore at Skinker and Millbrook. Many a happy hour of mine was spent there and I remember the shock when it closed down because of repeated hate attacks and vandalism, both against the store and the Blocks themselves.

So, seeing a chance to learn something about Block senior and the story of the store I wrote Roz and asked for a copy. " To the Old Block From His Oldest Chip" is really great as is another piece she sent me on the same period called "The Dog Who Didn't Keep Kosher." In learning about Rosalinde and her current work I discovered she is a one women fountain of creativity - music, writing, art, children's books - you name it! If you have minute take a look at her site HERE and
HERE. Pretty cool!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Kings Mountain Art Fair -again!















Sarah Facepainting with Mac in the Mirror
The annual labor day weekend Kings Mountain Art Fair is quite an unusual event. This year it was fantastic -again! It is amazing for the art - absolutely. The quality and variety is stunning. None of the junky trinkets & crafts that characterize many art fairs. Year to year there are many artists who return to be enjoyed anew, but there is also usually an infusion of new artists too. Of course the outside setting under the redwoods with all the variability of weather and nature make the experience unusual too. But what really sets the event apart is the community support. It is hard to believe that everything - really everything -is planned organized, staffed and pulled off by neighborhood volunteers. I've never seen the figures, but I'd be willing to bet that 50% or more of the households on the Mountain have a least one family member who volunteer a day. And many show up to work the whole three day fair as well as inputting tremendous levels of sweat both pre and post fair. I challenge anyone to find that level of involvement in a community for a fun raising event, anywhere!

You know where to find me next labor day weekend - bunnin' and baggin in the cookshack! More cookshack oriented pictures HERE

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Estivate Now!

Okay. We all -sooner or later- estivate. It's natural. No shame. This is the 21st century, and we live not so very far from Esalen. Even so, to discover (stumble upon would be more accurate) an honored house guest who though an adolescent, is from a (presumably) good family, well brought up by positive role models, abandoned to a biological imperative right there in our ivy like some…some mammal for goodness sake! The air temperature was about 90, but I mean, really! All I can tell you is that it was a quite a shocker. Thank goodness Beverly wasn’t home. Of course I didn’t make a scene that would embarrass our guest (Roxie is her name) but just as though such things happened every day and were in the normal household routine, I calmly approached her without being noticed and in one fluid motion pulled her from the dirt and gently carried her to bed, placing a blanket over her whole body including her head. (I had been instructed by her parents as to the appropriate response, though I never dreamed I would actually be called upon to react to this situation which I had regarded as a highly unlikely contingency.) She then proceeded to sleep the whole night through and was up the next morning as though nothing had happened at all. No mention was made of the previous afternoon and I placed her in the morning light and brought her a breakfast of fresh strawberries and a little left over sweet potato (which she loves and never gets at home.) We’ve never spoken of it to this day although I see her with some regularity since her parent’s live one street over. In every other respect she was an ideal guest and I look forward to her next visit.



Roxie and Her Parents Tim and Katy