Wordless Wednesday

Lake Tahoe, 1976.

" I had the mark just as plain as day-could not be denied."

It's You I Like

With my brand-new baby boy and my friend Gail at Donner Lake ~1982

Its You I Like - Fred Rogers

Ocean Breeze

I'm feeling good. Honestly, it's been a while since I have felt this good. All the same bullshit exists to some degree. But I have coping skills again! Maybe I'll even get some writing time in. The election madness has most certainly sabotaged my quest for Nano.

So, not much to rant about. Just another weird love/music flashback. There was a band that was momentarily popular in the 1970's, called Pablo Cruise. Sort of schmaltzy, and a bit too pop for my taste, but they had a few fun tunes. One of them popped into my head a day or two ago, and I've posted it below. It's dated and mushy. It reminds me of Gary Shapley. Nowadays, he is a CPA in Iowa. In 1976, I was shacked-up with Gary on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. He played a 12-string Takamine guitar and drove a red 1965 Buick Wildcat. He was a chef and I worked at the Ponderosa Ranch. Really! I wore a white cowboy hat and a gingham shirt and sold crappy souvenirs for big bucks.

We didn't last long, but we had some fine times. Gary had the deepest blue eyes and the world's sweetest smile. He got homesick for Iowa, and opted to return. On his drive back to the mid west, he called me crying at regular intervals. He deeply regretted his decision, but kept on driving. That was 32 years ago.

Now he is a 52-year old accountant, living and dying in the town where he was born. I can't help wondering if he remembers his days in California.

Say It With Dead Flowers

6/27/07
Golden Gate Park
Photo: J.R.



"Dead Flowers" The Rolling Stones/Live in Amsterdam 1995



The fact that I've visited some morbid themes recently has not escaped me.
Maybe it's the whole almost-a-half-century-thing. Whatever.

Off to San Francisco for a few days tomorrow, and seeing my dearest Gem. She lives near Seattle, and we get together yearly. If we're lucky.

This year marks 30 years we've been best friends. We met on a gondola at
Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe. Which is, coincidentally, involved in a
massive wildfire right this minute. (Tahoe, not Squaw Valley.)
Gem and I were young ski lift operators together, back in the proverbial
"day". We've shared countless wild adventures.

We're (much) older now, and (somewhat) wiser. The adventures continue, despite those changes. Thank goodness.


The change will do me good. Like many, I am so fed up and angry about this fucking government that it borders on complete irrationality. The latest Cheney bombshell only made me crazier. Angst overload.

Break time!