Big Skies

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Had one of the most inspiring conversations with Chrissie Brodigan yesterday.  She’s someone I’ve known only as an association for the past couple of years, and after talking with her yesterday, after she left Mozilla about ten months ago, I realized I was missing out on someone who seems to have an amazing capacity for empathy and demonstrates courage and integrity.  The deepest previous impression I’d had of her was when she approached me after I gave a wreck of a speech at a Mozilla all-hands post-Firefox 4.  She stopped me in the hallway to tell me I was inspiring.  I took her comment with grace (at least I think I did), but I was in a terrible state–embarrassed beyond anything I’d ever experienced before.

I like to think I’m able to understand and read people.  Specifically, I like to think that I can tell honest people from dishonest; however, recent experiences have taught me that my success rate is not as high as I’d like.  Chrissie is likely an example of a quick wrong judgement on my part.  Not because I thought her honest or dishonest, demonstrating or not demonstrating integrity, but rather, because I didn’t pay attention.  I should have tried harder to engage her and others around me even though I was in a terrible state.  I would have found it uplifting if I had, just as I experienced yesterday.

To top off the day, Steph was sending great messages all day about her time with the kids, inspecting obsidian knives and objects from Africa at the museum.  She told me I should be outside with my camera to see the skies.

So I did.

Huge skies yesterday reminded me of this shot taken recently, of a very similar day, down in South Bay, on an afternoon having lunch just with Steph, at Freebirds.

Things are wonderful right now.

 

 

 

Erratics and Invasives

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Acacia flowers.  A tree in our back yard, next to the tree house in an olive tree.  On the acacia:

For the same reasons it is favored as an erosion-control plant, with its easy spreading and resilience, some varieties of acacia, are potentially an invasive species. One of the most globally significant invasive Acacias is black wattle Acacia mearnsii, which is taking over grasslands and abandoned agricultural areas worldwide, especially in moderate coastal and island regions where mild climate promotes its spread. Australian/New Zealand Weed Risk Assessment gives it a “high risk, score of 15” rating and it is considered one of the world’s 100 most invasive species.[24] Extensive ecological studies should be performed before further introduction of acacia varieties as this fast-growing Genus, once introduced, spreads fast and is extremely difficult to eradicate.

Earlier this week I was inspired by a blog I discovered which includes a compilation of what the artist calls Erratics and Invasives–Glacial erratics, invasive species, and other erratic and invasive things.  A simple concept.  Pictures of rocks carried by glaciers throughout North America and invasive plants.  Things that are just out of place.  It really clicked with me as it’s in the same vein as what I’ve been experiencing lately.  Specifically, we’ve visited many interesting geological sites, studied them, and also learned about the plant species in the area, often seeing things that aren’t supposed to be there, if that’s even possible.

I’m particularly interested and inspired by geology due to the vast time scale represented.  Time too big to comprehend.  Throw in things like unconformities and erratics and it’s like salt and pepper on a juicy steak–it gets more interesting.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve encountered a boulder that just didn’t fit the scene.  I’d stop, look around and see there’s no other thing like it nearby, and ask myself, how the hell did this get here?  As a kid in Wyoming, I’ve seen plenty of this.  Now, such experiences are even more interesting because I’ve the maturity to know the value of the pause involved when hit with these discoveries:  It’s a moment to stop and think about just how short our time is here in relation to all that’s happened before we existed.  A boulder that traveled sometimes hundreds of miles on a sheet of ice, thousands, if not millions, of years ago, only to land here of all places?  And, it was just waiting here to be seen by me?  Right now?  Surrounded by shitty shopping malls and mouth breathing motorists?  It’s enough to turn one into a solipsist.

As mentioned in an earlier post, this weekend was beautiful.  Amazing weather enabling us to hang out in the tree house and work in the yard.  Here Jolene adds some sparkle to said tree house:

We originally planned to head up to the mountains, but the masses cut us off, taking up all possible places to stay.  We didn’t plan ahead.  Second choice was to visit the Western Pinnacles–the other side of Pinnacles we haven’t seen.  However, we became distracted and had other work to finish first.  Not enough time.  Instead, we took moments here and there to enjoy a great morning, have a good breakfast at the Southern Kitchen in Los Gatos, and play in the park.

Chas downtown:  “Jolene, are you listening?”

And, on the walk home, Chas takes every detour possible:

There will be time for another day out in the countryside, scanning for erratics, and in the meantime, there are plenty of invasives around to catch our attention.

Babyland

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Babyland 1

Several years ago I used to ride my bike to work, and sometimes I’d take the train to San Jose and bike from there to home.  It was just a little shorter that way, and it added some variety to what was usually an hour and fourty five ride.  Once off the train, I’d sometimes take San Carlos–a street lined with strange, at least to me, stores out of a time warp.  It’s very California.  Once you hit the corner of San Carlos and Bascom you will see Babyland, or what used to be Babyland.  Back when I was on the bike, it was open.  Now, it’s a shell of a building.  In its day, it appeared to be a great place to buy baby furniture; however, there’s just something about the place that’s a little off.  It’s from another time.   It’s a roundish building that resembles an auto dealership from yesteryear.  Most striking is it’s BABYLAND sign and it’s skull faced clown baby logo-thing.   Once I noticed they went out of business, I promised myself I’d photograph it before it disappeared forever.

Chas called it when he asked me, “Dad, why does the baby have a skull head?”  Ford piles on with “Yeah, and the place is right next to a strip joint.”

No wonder they closed.

 

Acacia Skies

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Enjoying an amazing very Spring day.  Even cleaned out the tree house with Chas and Jolene.  The acacia trees are in full bloom, everywhere.

The Acacia is used as a symbol in Freemasonry, to represent purity and endurance of the soul, and as funerary symbolism signifying resurrection and immortality. The tree gains its importance from the description of the burial of Hiram Abiff, the builder of King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.[18]

Egyptian mythology has associated the acacia tree with characteristics of the tree of life, such as in the Myth of Osiris and Isis.

Several parts (mainly bark, root and resin) of Acacia are used to make incense for rituals. Acacia is used in incense mainly in India, Nepal, and China including in its Tibet region. Smoke from Acacia bark is thought to keep demons and ghosts away and to put the gods in a good mood. Roots and resin from Acacia are combined with rhododendron, acorus, cytisus, salvia and some other components of incense. Both people and elephants like an alcoholic beverage made from acacia fruit.[19] According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, the Acacia tree may be the “burning bush” (Exodus 3:2) which Moses encountered in the desert.[20] Also, when God gave Moses the instructions for building the Tabernacle, he said to “make an ark ” and “a table of acacia wood” (Exodus 25:10 & 23, Revised Standard Version). Also, in the Christian tradition, it is thought that Christ’s crown of thorns was woven from acacia.[21]“