Notes - Home tomorrow

        We drove through the Avenue of the Giants at Humboldt down Rt. 1 through the mountains to the coast and down the coast to San Francisco. Lots of Redwoods and while driving through stands of extremely big trees a spookiness arose in the brain as it attempted to adjust for the large and the tall.

         As you are increasingly uncomfortable in the travel log aspects you were each surprised at o dramatic diversity of the scenery on the trip through northern California.

         Mostly we were speechless beyond a Wow? Look at that! or Are you kidding me! Route 1 south is the best scenic drive I have ever driven in the United States. The camera cannot do justice. We stopped at a Travelodge on the north side of Fort Bragg for the night and the caretaker, Don, gave us lots of ‘local’ information for our stay and travels. Had a good supper of fish and chips and nearby Cap’n Flints’ on the harbor (Noyo Fishing Village). Just south of Fort Bragg (no military) after a breakfast at McD’s we stopped at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens for an hour or so. Beautiful landscapes with a mile or so walk to the coast and back.

         Arrived at the wonderful Columbus Motor Inn on 1075 Columbus Avenue (Pier 39 is three blocks to the south and Chinatown five blocks to the north – in SF from the 9^th through the 13^th. The Inn has comfortable rooms, which are moderately priced with free parking and well as dollar canned drinks in the hallways. We ate a light supper of tasty sandwiches at the Columbus Cafe, a cool hangout for college students and their laptops. Sunday, the 49-mile SF road tour, eating an early supper at the nearby Irish pub, Fiddler’s Green, also on Columbus Avenue. We all had some variation of Sheppard’s Pie served by an authentic lassie from the Isle.

         Monday. Mid-afternoon, and you were sitting in the Golden Gate Park waiting for Craig, Alta, and Carol to return from a visit to the Japanese Tea Garden. This morning was one of the purposes of the visit to San Francisco, to drive to the corner of Columbus and Broadway to visit Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Bookstore in Chinatown. You took headed upstairs to the poetry room to pick up a copy of Coney Island of the Mind (44^th edition). You also bought a copy of Ferlinghetti’s “What is Poetry” – one for you and one for Bob. Alta remembered a new book she heard about on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and she and Carol discovered a new book on DeVere, which they discovered. It is written by an historian and a descendent of the Earl of Oxford, Charles Beauclerk (who is also “founder and president of the De Vere Society and serves as a trustee of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust”). He wrote this history of the times of the Earl of Oxford and Elizabeth. The title is. Afterwards you four had a good lunch at nearby Hang Hung’s.

         Today, Tuesday we took a trip to The Rock in the Bay, Alcatraz. Most interesting ‘audio tour’ once inside. Brought up lots of existential concepts, which was a surprise at the time. Makes me think. A late lunch at a California institution, In and Out Burgers. Tonight we had an excellent dessert from Boudin Sourdough Bakery, an original bakery on Fisherman’s Wharf since 1849. Tomorrow, we get our boarding passes printed and head south on Route 1 to Monterey for one last road trip of about six hours and 220 miles. Hotel at the airport tomorrow night where I ought to get this on the blog before our trip home (Southwest to Chicago, then to Columbus) and the drive home to Mason, Thursday night. I hope to put parts of this multiversed Spring holiday trip to some use in future thought and words. Carol, Craig and Alta are wonderful traveling companions for adventures such as this.

         During your bath and shower you remembered that while at the Rubicon Estate, the woman in charge came up to make sure you were not Francis Coppola in the flesh. She said you look much like him today in terms of face, beard, build and the black beret. The others in your group found this amusing, as did you. And, tonight you were reminded that you have also been mistaken for Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead twice, once with Kim while at a Jimmy Buffet concert at Riverfront in Cincinnati during her junior year at Miami, and in 2001 while hitting the bars in Key West with daughter Kim and niece Sharon after finishing your first published book, Stuck.

         At least Mr. Coppola is still alive. Jerry was already dead when I was mistaken as him while with Kim. At the concert a few college fellows came running up saying, “Hey, Jerry!” and the like. The second time a singer at a local bar on Duval Street, left the stage as we came by and hauled me to the door in front of the crowd and said, “Here’s Jerry!” People clapped. Everyone was having a good time. Carol and her sister Mary Lou stayed back at the motel that evening. Bar hopping had been Kim and Sharon’s idea not mine.

         An addendum. Wednesday. 

        You drove down Highway 1 to Monterey. Stopped for breakfast at the Ristorante Portofino overlooking the ocean at Pacifica then on to Monterey and the famous 17 Mile Drive clipping sections of the Pebble Beach Golf Club. High roller neighborhood no question about it. Pretty drive though. Stopped for an early supper at a Fire Station and Brewery in north San Jose after breezing through the Stanford University area. Relaxation at the Best Western Grosvenor for the rest of the evening, shuttle to the airport in the morning. A wonderful two week holiday with old friends Craig and Alta Brelsford of Tucson. 

         We will be happy to be home to reabsorb our trip. Beautiful days (partly cloudy or sunny) almost all the time we were away from Ohio. Knock on wood for the rest of the travel. My best to all, soon a return to the writing.   rho

Notes - N. California / The Books: Close Friends & Romance

You spent the day driving from Petaluma north on Route 29 through Napa Valley to Ukiah where you are spending the night at its Quality Inn after having a ‘senior’ dinner and shared dessert at the nearby Garden Cafe. You stopped at the Winery Tasting Rooms in the Napa Valley Corporate Park then the Rubicon Estate, which was the historic Inglenook property now owned by Francis Coppola, then Beringer and Castello de Amorosa.

         Beautiful drive. Each wanted too much money for the wine tasting so we took in the environs for free. I am not allowed alcohol anymore because of daily medicines so it didn’t bother me so much. We had a good time along with the unexpected wonderful drive and whimsical stops along the way. The Rubicon was the most stylish. Besides, Coppola’s daughter, Sofia, was the director of one of my favorite films, Lost in Translation. One of my secret loves in those days was Scarlett Johansson. It was a wonderfully realistic love story between Bill Murray as Bob Harris and Scarlett as Charlotte.

         You saw parallels between those two in the film and your continued love story between Sir Geoffrey and Lady Allowyn in the  “Grandma’s Story” selections in book three, Merlyn’s Mind:

“Sir Geoffrey’s strongest desire at the moment was to suggest Lady Allowyn take an immediate early morning walk with him, but he could not bring himself to ask. All he could think about was the memory of private moments a month ago while the last two nights they stayed over on his best friend Robert’s estate. He put the forefinger of his left hand to his lips and slipped into a secret patch of unsealed wonderment that did not conclude even unto his dying day.

            The knuckles of Geoffrey’s left hand lightly bumped and touched Allowyn’s right hand from time to time as they sat quietly waiting for the sunrise. Both rested in their separate chairs at peace with themselves no matter how many shadows the daylight might eventually bring. Life has its own way with the events of ever loving couples. No one knows the future, and these two quite close friends were no exception.

                        If coyness could talk, what whispers would prevail?

                        Modest minds may smile freshly or simply smirk,

                        With the who, when, where and the what detail;

                        A man and woman in silence are two minds at work.

                        It is interesting to discover the elements not there,

                        It doesn’t take much to wonder this story on through;

                        When a man and a woman sit close yet into distance stare,

                        Imaginary mind developments promoting tensions ensue.

                        What do you say, what do you do,

                        When the question pops up and no one knows;

                        Is it an honest reckoning, or a comedic snafu,

                        To wonder on playful sheets and a scatter of pillows.”

From: Chapter One: “Grandma’s Story”, Merlyn’s Mind

[I cannot get the four lines corrected in the second stanza of Grandma's Story. No bold. Sorry. - rho]

** **

         The romance began in book two, Running Through. Through an interesting twist both Geoffrey and Allowyn are directly related (ancestors) to both sets of twins in “The Brothers” selections. Ah, such is love between two close friends. All for tonight, orndorff. Post. – Amorella.

         Tomorrow, up to the Humboldt Redwoods then back on Route 1 to Fort Bragg for the night.

         Looking forward to another great day in Northern California.        

         

Notes - Travel & Thoughts / Mars & Xenon 129

In the air at 1135. Good breakfast and morning. What to use? Contact with the other Dead is similar to contact with the Dead being alive. The connection is via a directed unconscious stream and it is uncontrollable in most instances. You are wondering where this is going relative to the scene six.

         Second flight, San Diego to San Francisco. In the air 1416 hours. Let’s go to the scene. . . . as it seems to be jammed on large letters correct it or just relax. – Amorella.

         These few words are quite unexpected as I do not see things as the Supervisor might.

"State of being verbs are existential whether imagination or reality. Verbs that are the acts of circumstance surrounding theatre of human perception, that’s how I see it. The circumstance evolves causing the human species to evolve with it." (continuing scene six)

         The species evolves at its own pace in its life cycle, I can see this but the circumstance is natural though seemingly controllable, is this correct?

         Back to the igniting of nuclear devices – as you said, the Germans were going to do their own igniting if the Americans had not. Nothing could be done to change this reality, which had begun hundreds if not thousands of years earlier. Another perspective would be that of genetics. No one alive would be so if the potential were not caused thousands of years ago.

         Destiny, therefore, is not so dynamic as theatre would have it.

         Yes, in here the tragedies are caused by circumstance not by individuals.

         But what of moral choices? Hamlet’s tragedy is not to act.

         That is his circumstance.

         He can chose to act.

         He cannot and be true to who he is. It is not a tragedy to know who you are and to act accordingly.

         It appears tragic to humans. He has no choice.

         You know who you are too. You also have no choice. You are free to be yourself or to be dishonest to yourself. You have chosen to be yourself as far as the books and blog are concerned. – Amorella.

         I will have to think on this.

         Of course you will but you will see this through on the books if you live long enough. You had good flights and a good day. Applebee’s for supper, Quality Inn in Petaluma, California for the night. Wine country tomorrow as you head north. Post. - Amorella. 

         It was an excellent day to cross the Golden Gate. Wonderfully clear view. Tight landing in San Diego. Pilot really drops and puts on engine reverse and the brakes. Fun climb taking off too. Great view of SF area on a slow approach landing. Love Southwest! Thankful for the day.

         No doubt. – Amorella.                  

         Doug sent me a note about a possible nuclear blast on Mars eons ago. It was on Fox News (not one of my favorites) so I validated it with BBC (my favorite source).

         Place it here and then call it a night. – Amorella. 

** **

Tech News : Was There a Natural Nuclear Blast on Mars?

(BBC News Blog) 

About 180 million decades ago, a planet-shattering still normally happening nuclear reaction might have wiped out every little thing on Mars, sending a shockwave that turned the planet into dry sand.

A lot more outstanding: A normal nuclear reaction could have occurred on our own planet — and could happen once again, reported Dr. John Brandenburg, a senior propulsion scientist at Orbital Technologies Corp.

“The Martian surface is covered with a thin layer of radioactive substances which includes uranium, thorium and radioactive potassium — and this pattern radiates from a hot spot [on Mars],” Brandenburg told BBCNewsBlog.com.

“A nuclear explosion could have sent particles all throughout the planet,” he reported. “Maps of gamma rays on Mars demonstrate a large red spot that would seem like a radiating debris pattern … on the opposite side with the planet there exists a different red spot.”

According to Brandenburg, the pure explosion, the equivalent of 1 million one-megaton hydrogen bombs, occurred within the northern Mare Acidalium area of Mars exactly where there is certainly a serious concentration of radioactivity.

This explosion filled the Martian environment with radio-isotopes in addition, that are found in current gamma ray spectrometry information taken by NASA, he claimed.

The radioactivity also explains why the planet looks red. 

Brandenburg mentioned gamma ray spectrometry taken above the past few years shows spiking radiation from Xenon 129 — an increase also noticed on Earth soon after a nuclear response or possibly a nuclear meltdown, together with the 1 at Chernobyl in 1986 and also the catastrophe in Japan previously this month.

Dr. David Beaty, Mars program science manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told BBCNewsBlog.com that he finds the idea intriguing and fascinating. But to demonstrate the science, the agency would have to prepare a mission to check out Mare Acidalium on Mars.

And you will discover extra pressing issues, which include missions to find extraterrestrial daily life. “You need to evaluate the importance of the question relative for the cost of answering the query,” he reported.

However, Beaty expressed doubts, stating the geological problems on this planet and Mars have existed for millennia — what exists has existed for some time, and there are number of sudden improvements. “Rocks are what they can be. [A pure nuclear reaction] could transpire in a further billion a long time, however it is just not something to create you would like to go home to your loved ones and move towards the mountains straight away,” he mentioned.

Dr. Lars Borg, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore Nationwide Lab, termed Brandenburg’s conclusions unsurprising — and section of acknowledged geological processes, not a nuclear reaction.

“We’ve looked at Martian meteorites for 15 decades, and looked in detail in the isotopic measurements .. and not a single person out of hundreds worrying about this have imagined there could have already been a nuclear explosion on Mars,” he told BBCNewsBlog.com.

An additional possibility is usually that the reaction occurred in mid-air and didn’t leave a crater — that’s precisely what occurred on the Tunguska function in Russia in 1909, presumably by a considerable comet.

Harrison Schmitt, a geological skilled as well as the very last man to phase from the Apollo spacecraft on the moon, advised BBCNewsBlog.com that there is “general validity” to Brandenburg’s theory. He reported the nuclear response might not have already been brought on by an explosion, having said that, and might have occurred with time.

Edward D. McCullough, a science and space consultant, agreed that the Mare Acidalium region of Mars does exhibit some unusual colours and terrain formations that seem unexplainable.

“There seems to be a realistic closure concerning the number of fissions necessary to supply the Xenon 129 enhancement as well as the level of energy demanded to toss materials to that point on Mars,” he mentioned.

From: BBC News Blog

** **

I have never thought such a thing. 

You love such considerations you have never had. It is who you are, boy. - Amorella. 

Notes - Brain malfunction & Trinity photo

Last night about ten o’clock you screamed. Carol said you screamed but you did not hear it. You followed a ‘blip’ back to the real world. Carol said, “You screamed,” and “Are you all right?”

         I said . . . I don’t remember what I said. I have forgotten. It is all a blank. At the time I thought I was someplace else and returned, I followed the blip as you say. It was very odd, even afterwards the feeling was one of being jerked out of hypnosis. Without consciousness the mind does nothing. Coming into consciousness, that’s what it felt like. I do not think unconsciousness is a part of this experience because ‘automaticity’ a function of unconsciousness, did not work. The mind did nothing, no automaticity.

         This appears to be a brain malfunction not mind. You are reminded of a near-death experience only you were coming out not going in.

         I agree, I that did come to mind, a return from a near-death experience. No tunnel though, no light at the end of the tunnel. It was like a train engine running along a track in complete darkness; a part of the brain being that engine.

         Here I am back analyzing my head. I remember, I said to Carol, “I was someplace else.”

         Where were you?

         Nowhere, I guess.

         You said it was a place, a noun.

         I do not know this.

         Could you use this to describe a “dimension” in the story?

         I cannot see how. Don’t put words in my head, Amorella. – Well, that was a stupid thing to say. Later today we are taking a tour of a smaller copper mine, then an early dinner at a local gambling casino. Tomorrow, flying to San Diego and from there to San Francisco. Whenever I get to a wireless station I’ll send this out. I hope Amorella returns, I’d be lost without her.

         Tomorrow, old man. Let’s place a photo here, I’ll choose. – Amorella.

         The plaque on the monument at the site of the first human built and exploded nuclear device, 16 July 1945. 

Notes - Lesson? / self-reflection added

Up at seven. You are thinking about how it is. How I wrote “526” as the beginning of a sentence yesterday and how it should have been spelled out, that it is a rule of grammar that should have been caught and changed.

         It is odd twice, once because of the rule and second because you usually spell the numbers.

         Perhaps there’s a lesson in this, boy. – Amorella.

         Alta just came in and mentioned more Southwest planes are being inspected, but that by tomorrow all should be set. Our tickets are for Wednesday morning so we should be good to go.

         That’s not the lesson, boy.

         I am trying to understand the particulars; a rule and a habit are involved. I should have changed the spelling at the time but did not, I was conscious of it, but it appeared secondary to the number of miles that had been driven. Five hundred and twenty-six miles is a lot of miles in one day. I experienced many ‘existential-like moments’. Particles of experience – now is time imbedded in experience or is experience imbedded in time?

         That is not the lesson either, old man.

         Well, that’s how I see it. So, what is the lesson?

         You and Craig are sitting in Starbucks waiting for the ladies and you are ready for a lesson?

         The personnel are friendly and all but the Naked Berry Blast was expensive. I think it was two dollars cheaper at our Kroger’s back home.

         Carol and Alta are present and you are now at a shaded table outside. Spring has popped out across the area with an Arizona blue sky above. Is this an existential moment?

         No. No life changing decisions are being made. However, the experiences yesterday are working in my head and although they are not life-changing, the decisions are related to thoughts and their uses and/or purposes.

         Take a break and enjoy your company. More later. – Amorella.

Existential is the wrong word.

         You said this, not me. Everything anyone does can be the part of the existential moment at physical death. You mentioned Southwest Airlines. Can you imagine all the moments that lead to people buying tickets for that particular flight. No deaths, but being on a plane when the hole suddenly appears in the ceiling, certainly becomes an existential moment for those who are living the experience.

         Early afternoon, you saw the lawyer drama Lincoln Lawyer which all enjoyed. Then to north Tucson to La Enchantada Mall for an excellent Mexican dish at Blanco with shared gelatos nearby for dessert.

         Relating to the number “526” I think I have taken on some of your characteristics. I am sure you have not taken on mine. This brings more reassurance to me that you are a mostly separate personality. Your otherworldliness is wishful thinking. While at the VLA I was reminded of the film Contact, which was partially filmed at the place. Looking back in my life, I had a longing, a wish for such an unearthly contact.

         You can better accept the fact that I, Amorella, am indeed fictional.

         Yes, of course. I am surer that you are today. I let you write because I never know what to say.

         Don’t you wonder why that is?

         No. I used to but who cares? I can only learn so much from myself. It should be arrogant to think that there would be anything to learn at all. That is the lesson for the day. 

         This is reinforced by my personal identification with the atomic bomb. I invest my inner self in matters much larger to give me an internal sense of being. Even teaching literature reinforced this. I am next to nothing but the literature is something much more and it gives me a sense of being a ‘reality’ more than my physical self. In this perspective, each moment is existential. Concepts give me an identity as they clothe me much as my beret does. I’ll have to add this in the morning. Not yet twenty hundred hours and I am tired and ready for bed.

         Insert in today’s blog tomorrow. Later, dude. – Amorella.

Notes - Saturday: Trinity Site + trip + Today

Sunday morning. Under a bright Arizona sky with a few high clouds and with a northern backdrop of Mt. Lemmon. You had a good sleep after arriving home about twenty-two hundred hours last night. A quick synopsis of yesterday: motel breakfast at six, headed to Trinity Site, sat in line until, drove and parked, got on the bus to the McDonald House first (a key to a good day), then returned by bus to the site itself. Wandered about looking for Trinitite (green glass formed from the heat of the blast), took a photo or two, had a Dr. Pepper (only one dollar a can), back in the car, had green chile cheeseburgers and onion rings at Owl Bar and Café (instead of Manny’s Buckhorn as it was further) in San Antonio and headed east on Route 60 to the VLA (Very Large Array Radio Telescope). (They are in the process of building a new Long Wavelength Area consisting of fifty separate stations spaced throughout southwest New Mexico.) Stopped for photos and checked out the Visitor’s Center. 

Continued west through Pie Town and eventually, once in Eagar, Arizona, down Route 191 through over seventy miles of huge Ponderosa pine in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. High point on the road of 8500 feet. Somewhat frightening hairpin turns much of the way (straight down on the right side heading south with no guardrails), taking two hours to go sixty miles (six miles at 15 MPH and another six along the way, at 10 MPH). Saw some live animals along/on the road – seven feral cows (two calves), one bull, and a badger. Drove through (several miles), stopping periodically at a huge copper mine (Morenci Mine) at Morenci that is being dug from top to bottom out a mountain (Route 191 runs through the whole operation with huge fully running conveyer belts. Stopped at the Manor House restaurant (Rubin sandwich) in Safford for a late supper then continued on Route 191 on to I-10 for the seventy miles further west to Tucson. 526 miles for the day. - Amorella

         What a great yesterday! Had lunch at Five Guys and are visiting Barnes and Noble this afternoon. This morning we worked on San Francisco and Craig and Alta got their tickets to Cleveland for our September trip. Awesome that we have our next trip planned and have a house for the eight of us (Jim and Jeanne and Sharon and Bill) at an older saltbox styled house near the Arcadia National Park above Bar Harbor, Maine. Then Craig and Alta and Carol and myself will head to Salem and Boston for a few days before they catch a plane from Logan and we drive to Cleveland to pick up the cat, spend a day or two, then drive home to Mason. Craig and I are relaxing at a table outside B&N waiting on the ladies. Beautiful mid-afternoon. -

         Good way to end the post. Tomorrow, dude. – Amorella.

         I have had a wonderful life.

         Understood, boy. – Amorella. 

Note - Reflection for tomorrow

         You four just had very good dinners at the pleasantly decorated El Camino Family Restaurant in Socorro, NM, and you are staying at the Comfort Inn less than a mile away. An earlier comfort breakfast was at Michael Palatiano’s good and relaxing restaurant off I-10 in Benson, AZ less than a hour out of Tucson. A range of terrain along the way but most of it was hills and mountains in the distance and winds dusty dry and quite warm outside the closed car windows. Once in New Mexico you stopped to visit Steins, now a ghost town. A great travel day. Early tomorrow to Trinity Site about twenty-five miles away.

         I have been thinking about it. Along the way we saw the flat testing grounds to the east. We will absorb some of the radiation from that first nuclear bomb ever detonated. A weak amount, but it will make nuclear weaponry much more personal to me. People go to visit the remains of the World Trade Center in New York and pause sadly, many of them, but this event shook the world much more than any other event ever accomplished by human beings, at least in written history. This first event killed no one and changed the world of human beings forever nevertheless. It changed our concepts and our perspectives. I wonder at the historical accomplishment. The making of and denotation of bomb was inevitable. If we had not tested it the Germans soon would have.

           I feel tied to it via my father’s work as a scientist and to having the first bomb dropped on a city and its citizens on my third birthday. Carol and I met a Japanese woman at a party in Sao Paulo, Brazil (I think – or in Buenos Aires, Argentina) who survived the blast while her aunt and cousin did not. She said they read the warnings dropped by the Americans before the event and were on their way out of town, facing away from the blast when it happened. Her mother dropped her to the ground and fell on top of her to protect. Minutes later they got up and looked to see the mushroom cloud live. Her aunt and cousin did not believe the warnings and stayed. It was as simple as that. This added another personal dimension to speak to an eyewitness. Knowing we were North Americans she was still kind and polite in her speaking and manner. How these things affect me within is unknown, but they do. Tomorrow I will do some more thinking and try to better absorb how the world is with a little more radiation entering my physical system, one that in the fifties absorbed (like every other growing milk drinking child in the Northern Hemisphere) a bit of strontium 90 from the above ground nuclear testing programs of a variety of countries. 

         You ‘feel’ your personal history and presence, orndorff. Makes life more real to you, but it is real, as you well understand, without so much as a trace of a thought from me or yourself. All for tonight. Post. – Amorella.