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    February 20th, 2017

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         The two of us wrestled a long time this morning. Intense and frenetic, the way dogs do after several days of rain. Then I lay down, a flat-on-the–floor dog, worn out.  He went over and lap, lap, lapped at the water, and then came and stood over me, his snout dripping wet. I let him have his moment of mock triumph, and he let me lick the water from his chin.
         I want you to meet him. My best friend., my co-dog, my littermate-after-the-fact. He’s thirteen pounds to my eighty-five, with butterfly ears and an in-your-face manner.
         He’s my brother. My responsibility. My friend.
         This is Gadget.

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  • Published on

    Creativity, an Exposé

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    Looping and strange, that’s how I’d describe creativity.
     
    Looping because it isn’t linear, though bursts of it arrive straight out of nowhere, and produce something, start to finish. But looping means its always moving towards you or away from you, and that you can always catch the thread of it, or hop on the next time around.
     
    Strange because, well, it isn’t “regular” or “normal”, even though it is utterly common and every human has experienced it. But it has an oddness, a peculiarity. A weird sparkle, which produces a reciprocating shimmer in its audiences. It's contagious.
     
    Back to that hopping on next time around business. Just like sometimes you have to get on the wrong bus because it’s the only one running at that hour, and later you can transfer to the one you really want, sometimes with creativity you need to be a bit less particular. If your grand scheme has been thwarted, or has come to a disappointing, premature stop, you just hop on whatever’s running –a poem, a dance, a garden- and you ride that one a while. You’ll see, you’ll get where you’re going.
     
    Creativity is the enemy to some. Some who weren’t allowed, or who were made fun of. Kids told not to sing, or who watched other, more openly creative types called “freaks” or no-good, jobless hippies. You can understand their caution. And all of us fall prey to those oppressions of the mind. Those ferocious insinuations that we should be doing something “real.”
     
    Art is real. Craft is real. Creation is real.
     
    But our connection to it can be evanescent. Tenuous. Short-lived. Fickle. Succumbing to an inflated vanishing whimsy or a diabolical internal persecution. Because The Creativity Killer lurks around corners and in alleyways waiting for all of us. Even those born in the land of the flower children. (Secret Encoded Message: the Killer is called Judgment.)
     
    That’s why the first grab at the thread must be done gently, and maybe with a bit of stealth. Simply reach out slowly, and take the nearest loose end. Then, using a light squeeze between thumb and forefinger, ever so amiably, just give it a little tug.
     
    Creativity.
     
    It’s cousin is called “Magic.”

    L.H.
  • Published on

    Dolly La's Bedtime Biscuits

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    They sure smell done to me!

    Dolly La's Bedtime Biscuits

    Preheat Oven to 375 degrees

    Ingredients
    Two cups high protein flour, like millet.
    One cup other type of flour, (whole wheat if you don't care about gluten free, rice flour if you do)
    One cup peanut butter
    1/2 cup rolled oats if you like
    ​1 tsp baking powder 
    1 cup water
    Optional: add 1/4 cup of ground flax seed to replace some of the flour and/or replace 1/2 of the water with a 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin or yams

    Mix it all up, roll it out, and use a cookie cutter or a cup to form into biscuits. 

    Bake on a greased sheet at 375 and make sure to turn over halfway through baking to cook on both sides.

    Cool on cooling rack before they find their way to happy doggy mouths!



  • Published on

    Noir Movies for Dark Times

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    I just got over the flu, and while I was sick, I found some good free movies to watch online. The slow pace and dark mood of most of these films is a good fit for a pensive mood, a tired body, or a weakened spirit.
     
    I’ll start with two famous films by Hitchcock that are free online:
     
    “The Paradine Case” (1947) is a slow-paced legal drama, a good, long movie that’s easy to watch when you’re tired. Great score by Franz Waxman, and a super cast including Gregroy Peck, Charles Laughton, and other great actors in smaller roles. Louis Jordan’s film debut. For some reason film played twice at this link. It’s really only one hour 54 minutes. Watch Movie.
     
    “Rebecca” (1940) Joan Fontaine drives me crazy in this movie. She’s so mousy I fear she will crawl away into a hole in the wall. But oh, I love this film. Lawrence Olivier of course, but for me, Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers is one of the all-time great film performances. Waves crashing on the rocks. So Goth. Love this one. Watch Movie.
     
    “The Suspect”(1944) is a good Victorian era noir with Charles Laughton. I think you have to like a no-frills noir to like this one, but I’d watch Charles Laughton read the phone book (yes, I’m old enough to remember when we had phone books) and there are some surprises here, on top of Laughton’s terrific turn as a conflicted husband. Watch Movie.

     “Where the Sidewalk Ends” (1950) is more of true, dark noir. It’s a tough-cop drama with Dana Andrews, who’s one of my all-time favorite actors as the cop.  Opening credits missing, but better quality than other full versions here. Watch Movie.
     
     “The Man Who Cheated Himself “ (1950) A scratchy old print here, but watchable and a total treat for San Franciscans, as it has some absolutely fantastic footage of the old city, including rooftop chase scenes and neat locales. Wonderful. Also, I’m a big fan of the star, Lee J. Cobb, who plays a detective with a moral dilemma. Watch Movie.

     Lastly, I’ll sneak in a light comedy. "Sitting Pretty" (1948) I put up with this silly premise here because I love Clifton Webb and Maureen O’Hara is so very lovely. Plus it’s a fun movie. A family comedy that was the basis for the TV show "Mr. Belvedere," this is pure cotton candy. Great supporting cast with some of Hollywood's best character actors of the era. Watch Movie.

    I hope you don’t get the flu, and that you enjoy these old flicks.

    L.H.
  • Published on

    Photo Essay: A Different Kind of Release Party

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    In an average year, The Marine Mammal Center of Sausalito, California takes in around 800 sick or injured animals. This past year, due in part to decreased food availability caused by global warming, they took in more than twice that number. Suffering from malnutrition, sometimes pneumonia or bacterial infections,  the animals are fed and treated at the center's facilities, which include its headquarters in the Marin Headlands as well as field operations in Mendocino, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo Counties.

    The survival rate for the animals they take in - some of whom are victims of boat strikes, trash entanglement, and even gunshot wounds - is around 50%.

    If it feels unbearable to dwell on the ways in which these creatures are harmed and even destroyed by human actions, don't despair. The 45 staff members and over 1,000 volunteers of the forty-year-old Marine Mammal Center provide an antidote to that hopelessness, offering us a clear example of how an organized, well-meaning group of individuals can make the most fundamental difference: the difference between life and death.And that is something to be celebrated. This past Saturday, June 25th, 2016, I was lucky enough to be present for such a celebration, as several of these animals were restored to their birthright of freedom, released into the water at Drake's Beach, about sixty miles north of San Francisco. 

    A few facts:
    • The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC)was founded in 1975 by three locals. The location was a former Nike missile site, which means that now, a place once devoted to tools of war is dedicated to saving lives.
    • TMMC published its first scientific paper in 1979. The title was Nursing Care of Stranded Northern Elephant Seals. Today, forty percent of all scientific literature on the topic of marine mammals worldwide is generated by the center.
    • Over its forty year history, TMMC has rescued and rehabilitated over 20,000 animals, including the humpback whale, "Humphrey," who swam into San Francisco Bay in 1985, and then traveled 69 miles through fresh water up the Sacramento Delta. 
    • If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, you've heard the cries of the pups from the 2000 season, who were recorded at the center by the film's sound engineer, as a basis for the voices of the Orcs.
    • In 1993 the center opened a store and center on Pier 39, so if you can't make it out to the headlands, you can stop by Pier 39 to learn about the sea lions you're seeing around the docks, and maybe while you're at it, do some supportive shopping!

    Now, on to the party...

    The mid-morning sun burns in a clear blue sky as the vigorous wind scrapes away a layer of sand. A hundred or so spectators gather. Anticipation builds.
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    In pairs, arms stretched downward by the weight of their precious charges, the volunteers carry the animals down in crates and place them on the sand.
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    Mitch Fong, the center's Individual and Planned Giving Officer, has a gift of his own, for public speaking.  With charm and passion he welcomes us and explains the three tenets of the center's mission: Rescue and rehabilitation, scientific research, and education. In this photo, he reminds us that these are wild animals, and instructs us to keep our oohs and ahs to a minimum, and to back away from the animals if they decide to take a detour on their way to the water.
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    Out the sea lions come, stopping just briefly for a conference before heading quickly to the water.
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    Last one in...!
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    The seals, unlike the eager sea lions, take their time. Once out of the crates, they find their way into a kind of scrum at water's edge, where they linger for minutes before entering the surf.
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    Volunteers called "boarders" stand between the animals and the spectators, helping to keep the animals moving in the right direction.
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    Even after the animals are in the water, the boarders make their way down the beach, just in case any animals have second thoughts.
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    Soon, all we can see is a lone head bobbing in the distance. Our eyes scan the blue. He's gone. No, there he is! And then he's gone again.
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    The crates stand empty. 
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    One of the crates is labeled "Sea Rider" and "Wun Wun." Wun Wun is a male California sea lion pup who was rescued April 30th from Sunset State Beach in Santa Cruz County. Sea Rider is a female California sea lion pup. She was rescued on May 23 in Monterey County. Both were successfully treated for pneumonia and malnutrition.
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         The midday sun reclaims Drake's Beach for its own.
         We have been allowed, as those who stand at the shore have been for millennia, to eavesdrop on ocean and earth's perennially shifting conversation. But now we wander off. Towards home. Or a hike. Or a Saturday lunch in nearby Point Reyes Station. 
         A momentary loneliness passes over, anonymous and obscure until it abruptly identifies itself as the truest indication of a job well done. Namely, the absence of any trace that the job ever needed doing in the first place.
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    www.marinemammalcenter.org