Video - Osprey

My friend Stan in England sent me this amazing video of an Osprey in action.  Here is the description that accompanied the video which lasts about 3 minutes.

...I've never seen a bird shake water off like a dog does - wouldn't want to get in the way of him when he's got his eyes locked and his talons in the "load"
position!

There are 3 sequences in this one video:

1st sequence he catches half a dozen fish in one strike.

2nd sequence he plunges talons into deep water right to the bottom to
grab his prey.

3rd sequence he captures a big old fat fish that looks as if it weighs
more than he does!

This is incredible to watch (best viewed in full screen mode)...enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/nA3LtXnNIto?feature=player_embedded

Sunday's Column - Cabo San Lucas

This Sunday's column is about Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.  If you go to the bottom of Southern California and then travel another 800 further miles, you will reach the bottom point of Baja California and Cabo San Lucas.  This was once a sleepy, small town resort with donkeys in the street and dirt roads.  No more.  Today it's full of "gringos" with fancy yachts and motor cars.  It's full of Burger Kings and IHOP's and you have to look around to find some of the old charm.  Nonetheless it's still an interesting and colorful spot.  Also in these troubled times, it's safe.  You can read the entire column at www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels

New Sponsor

Today we welcome a new sponsor - The Mill Creek Cattle Company and Diamond Lil's.  Run by Damon and Cindy this is a wonderful place right on the lake, where the Vintage used to be.  Those of you familiar with Mentone, will know Mill Creek as it has been a firm favorite down there for a long time.

With easy access off the boulevard, this fine place, with its great atmosphere will soon be up there as a favorite for locals and visitors alike to enjoy themselves.  http://www.diamonlilsbigbearcity.com/

Music Track - Bill

My son, Michael and I both like the Tarantino movies, but we're sure that the music he chose for them makes them great.  Here is one.  I like the Mexican trumpets in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUcD03ovTSk&feature=related

Favortie Works of Art - Manet

Edward Manet is often thought of as being the leader of the Impressionists in Paris.  This is considered to be his masterpiece, The Luncheon on the Grass, painted in 1862.  At the time it shocked an easily shockable audience with the blatant nakedness of the woman and the two well dressed "dandies" with her.  The lighting and the clothes suggest that it is in fact not an outside picture at all but one that was staged indoors.  The arrangement of the woman's clothes and the picnic basket in the foreground also adds to the feeling of it being posed inside.

Favorite Book List

For the last ten weeks, I've posted my favorite books.  It was quite a labor of love, but now I'll show the entire list rather than one at a time.
1 - 1984 - George Orwell
2 - Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
3 - The Reason Why - Cecil Woodham Smith
4 - Lark Rise to Candelford - Flora Thompson
5 - Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
6 - Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
7 - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch - Alexander Solzhenitsin
8 - Smiley's People - John Le Carre
9 - Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
10 - Bomber - Len Deighton

In Defense of Poodles

Poodles get a bum rap!  Now I know the stereotypical Poodle is a small yappy little dog bouncing around, or sitting on its owner's lap, but I would like to explain a little of the breed.
Firstly they always score very highly on the list of intelligence in dogs.  Usually just behind Border Collies.  (The bottom in this group is usually the Afghan Hound!)  And it's true that they are very smart.
But they are also sporting dogs having been bred to hunt in water areas.  The name Poodle (Pudel) is actually German and means "splashing in water."
Poodles don't shed their coats which means regular visits to a dog groomer - we have a mobile service and Harvey comes once a month to do our two boys.  The cut that you see on show dogs does little to promote their sporty natures.  But it has a reason.  The blobs of fur around the hips and shoulders are to help with buoyancy, and to hold in some warmth in cold water.  We have ours clipped in the puppy cut which is smooth all over apart from the ears and the feet.  The one above has it's moustache but we prefer ours clean shaven.  It's all a matter of choice - our boys don't seem to care.  Finally if you see a Poodle clipped very short you will see it has a perfect frame; long legs, large chest and strong hips.  It will also likely be very friendly.

Video - Belgium

I was sent this little piece of fun by my friend Jim in Pasadena.  At the start of the video, it says: "In a little square in Belgium where nothing happens." http://devour.com/video/push-to-add-drama/

Sunday's Column - Panama

This week my editor kindly published a piece on our transit through the Panama Canal.  He said to me before I went: "It's bad enough that you keep going off, Trevor, but then you come back and write about it!"

I've written about the trip extensively here and also posted this picture.  It's of our final exit through the locks into the Pacific, at the Miraflores lock.  As you can see, a stadium has been built so that spectators from the city of Panama can come along and watch the ships pass.  Also you can see how close we are to them.  One passenger - a Panamanian - wanted to be able to talk to a relative who was there.  She was not allowed off, but the relative was allowed up to the side of the ship where they could talk.
You can read the entire column at www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels

The Telephone

Isn't nice when you realize, "I am not alone!"  The other day I heard someone on the radio say that he hated the phone.  It was not because it distorted the voice or the discomfort of using it but because it never brought good news.  Most of my business life, the phone was an integral part of every day, and I didn't mind it at all.  In fact I welcomed it; but now in retirement, it is merely an intrusion, and rarely if ever a pleasant one.
For instance although being on the "do not call" list for telemarketers, they still manage to get through and there are always those annoying recorded messages from politicians, who naturally are excluded from such lists.  And let's face it most of the time any phone call is either wanting your time or your money.  No, like the radio guy, I'm an email man.  That's by far the most convenient way for me to communicate.  I always enjoy the moment when I open my inbox and I can deal with the messages there at my leisure. Do you feel the same way?

Music Track - Aranquez

Recently Music Tracks have been a little Spanish and this is no different, with one of the most famous of that nation's pieces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUrLvfyCTy4&feature=related

Favorite Book Number One

Choosing a favorite book out of the thousands read in a lifetime, is a daunting task.  And yet, giving it some thought, I believed that no novel could make it all the way to the top, as no matter how clever, the plot or atmosphere it was only fiction.  And yet, this book although fiction is so stunning that it almost elevates above the genre.  I first became aware of "1984" in my mid teens when a production starring Peter Cushing and Andre Morell, was shown on BBC TV.  It was an electric event.  In those days, the BBC was so bereft of material that Sunday night plays were repeated on Thursday nights as well. "1984" had such a dramatic effect on the populace - and me too - that the audience on Thursday was huge.  Those that hadn't seen it heard about it, and those that had seen it wanted to see it again, it was so magnetic. The book became an immediate best seller as well.
I have read the novel perhaps four times, once in my teens, then again in my twenties, and a few times since.  Each time it has illustrated the horror of totalitarianism, and cemented my fear of it.  Mankind is quite capable of the extremes illustrated in the book; if you don't believe that look at N. Korea, or Nazi Germany, or the Soviet regime.
Several studies have been done to see how far along the path we have traveled that George Orwell predicted.  In some cases we have come very far.  Think of Political Correctness and how it stifles thought and expression.  Are we far from the Thought Police and group Hate Sessions?
Orwell wrote his book in 1948 and it was published a year later.  He reversed the last two digits in the date to come up with 1984, believing it was so far ahead to be effective.  Today that fictitious year is long gone, but the menace of such a world is still a frightening prospect.  Each step we take to have government take away our freedom with the excuse of protecting us leads us further down the road.  Beware!

Favorite Works of Art - Odalisque

For many years I thought that this painting was called "The Peacock Fan."  But I found out that it is in fact called La Grande Odalisque.  It hangs in the Louvre and when I was there, sometime in the '70's, I bought a copy and had it framed.  It is a large painting by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, painted in 1814.  It's about 9 feet by 14 and it shows a concubine in Turkey awaiting her master.  Incidentally the difference between a concubine and a prostitue is that whereas a prositute sells sex for money, the concubine sells love.
Anatomically the woman is incorrect, and has about five extra vertibraes, according to experts; also the left  arm is much shorter than her right.  However there is something about the steady gaze and the surroundings that have always appealed to me.

April/May 1992

Twenty years ago this week we had the L.A. riots. It was a scary time for everyone.  As to the circumstances leading up to the riots, enough has been written and pontificated upon.  But as we were about six blocks away from "the projects," at the time we were very much in harm's way.

Early on in the process, I stood outside our condominium complex armed with a baseball bat.  It soon occurred to me that should problems come our way, such a weapon was not going to be much use against a .45!  I bought a gun the very next day.
To this day, I have always wondered why the rioters burned their own neighborhoods down?
Reginald Denny who was pulled from his truck and severely beaten has never quite recovered.  His main attacker, Damion "Football" Williams was sent to jail, released after half his sentence and now is serving 47 years in the penitentiary for another murder.