Done That (As of Yesterday)

1. Saw a whale

            Note: I captured a photograph that shows the whale as a smallish black spot in the Pacific Ocean…not worth posting 

2. Drove right through a giant redwood tree

            Note: Definitely a bit hokey…but if you have an opportunity to drive through a tree you must take it (after you wave the Japanese tourists out of the way)

3. Collected sea glass from a beach near the crashing surf

            Note: More fun than I expected and the stuff is pretty…the glass is from an era when people used the ocean as a garbage receptor

4. Walked deep into the redwood forest to find a waterfall

Note: A shaded and quiet place…the ancient redwood trees are awe inspiring in a deeper and more thoughtful way than most tourist attractions

5. Saw a banana slug

Note: These slugs have a weird sex life…more on that in a later blog

6. Found the Lost Coast of California near Shelter Cove

Note: the Lost Coast is a long stretched of undeveloped coast, so named because the engineers who designed Highway 1 could not find a practical way to build the highway near the coast and were forced to push the highway many miles inland…we can see mountainous coast from our room at Shelter Cove

--Mitchell Hegman

Mendocino Sunset

Yesterday, Helen drove that girl and me up Highway 1 along the California Coast.  The coast is a mix of rocks and cliffs and the occasional beach pushed against the cliffs.  Only small towns greeted us on the ever-twisting drive.  We stayed just outside Mendocino, which is one of the more scenic places thus far.  Posted are photographs from our last walk along the Pacific Ocean just as the sun sliced against the sea.

--Mitchell Hegman

Outside/Inside

Posted today is a photograph of what filled the room outside of my mind as I sat in my daughter’s San Francisco apartment thinking about the entirety of my life to this point.  You will note the soft quality of light and an overall “feeling” of serenity.

Not so inside my mind.

Inside my mind, years and images and pinpricks of emotion clashed together.  This what happens when you see a loved one after they have been detached from your daily life for a long while.  It is sometimes difficult to reconcile the intelligent professional woman my daughter has become with the little girl that once ran to find me with tears in her eyes following some small infraction that occurred while playing with others.  The small girl I reprimanded.  Your children achieve a wholeness of life when they separate from you.  They push ahead.  They sometimes push back.

I have learned to accept and enjoy my daughter as an adult.

I am proud of her.  I truly mean that.

She has inherited her mother’s perfect smile and her mother’s calm.  I have learned how to become my daughter’s friend.  I have learned how to become her guest.  That’s what occurred as I sat in the serenity of her apartment.

At some point, friends and loved ones need become the same thing.

     --Mitchell Hegman

Flogging Molly

Yesterday, we attended the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at Golden Gate State Park.  The festival is free (thanks to the generosity of now deceased Warren Hellman, the billionaire investor and grandson of a Wells Fargo Bank founder).  Each day, for three days, a host of bands play on six stages set up throughout the Cyprus trees and grassy bowls in the park.

 

During the course of the day, that girl and I saw The Brothers Landreth (we have previously seen them on PBS), The Milk Carton Kids (one of the musicians is a born comedian), Lera Lynn (she sounds like Chris Isaack as a female), Joe Jackson (remember the hit Is She Really Going Out With Him?), and Boz Scaggs (no explanation required if you are near my age).

We closed the night with Flogging Molly.

I heard estimates that anywhere from eighty-thousand to one-million people attend the event.  There were tens upon tens of thousands of people gathered for Flogging Molly.  What I mean by people is young, slam-dancing, beer-throwing people and one young man with a large Sesame Street sign held above the sea of people.

I have been listening to Flogging Molly—and other modern Irish Folk bands for many years.  That stuff makes me, and everyone else, move.  I had a great time surrounded by youthful thoughts, youthful intentions, and general mayhem.

Posted is a photo of Flogging Molly on the Swan Stage and a photo of the swell of people beyond where we stood.  If you have never listened to Fogging Molly, try the song Float.

--Mitchell Hegman

San Francisco

That girl and I arrived in San Francisco yesterday afternoon and are now staying my daughter’s apartment located on a beautifully inclined dead end street just below Corona Heights Park in the Castro neighborhood.  Sets of cascading stairways will take you from street to street here.  The two and three-story homes and apartments all teeter over the narrow streets, the buildings seemingly held there by the splays of service wires and trees extended between them above street level.

Last night, we went out to dinner at a Peruvian restaurant—a new experience for me. We ate Ceviche, which is raw fish cured in citrus juice.  In our case, we sampled both ahi tuna and halibut prepared with a lime-based sauce.

That girl and I both loved the Ceviche and are determined to learn how to make it for ourselves.  

Posted are some photographs I captured with my smarter-than-me-phone.

--Mitchell Hegman

Family Tree

More than a few family trees exist where I would prefer apples instead of the family I know fell from the tree when the tree is shaken.

--Mitchell Hegman

More Importantly

You cannot permanently ignore gravity.

--Mitchell Hegman