This is my surfboard from High School
I never was a good surfer, LOL… I tended to ‘purl’ the nose into the water, stopping the board and pitching me in front of it where the wave and the board would both pummel me. But I was pretty durable back then…. cuts and scrapes from rocks didn’t bother me too much, although I sometimes wondered of the wisdom in hanging my bloodied feet in the water from a board in the ocean for hours.
I really do think that surfing is one of the best sports there is…. it is usually an individual endeavour… just you and the sea….
Some of the beautiful and memorable events in my life happened from the top of my surfboard…. I’d spend a long time in the water…. all that rowing is good for the shoulders and back…. and the regular beach activities are healthy and clean. On ‘flat days’ we’d sometimes just paddle out to and beyond the kelp ‘fields’.. far out at sea, such that the cliffs along the shore were only visible at times when the swell raised you up a bit. Ah yes, the rash impetuousness of youth… but it was all good clean fun.
It’s always fun until someone gets hurt.
Many of my friends still surf.. even now that they are in their fifties and some in their sixties…. those who still surf have retained flexibility and stamina… it’s good seeing folks getting older nowadays and still staying kids in many ways… with the added smarts of being older.
This is my old surfboard from high school. It was made about 1967 by a shaper in Santa Barbara named John Bradbury. He eventually became a well known shaper, but unfortunately he passed away nearly twelve years ago. You can see this board had part of the tail break off before I got it, it was repaired with some fiberglass and resin. There are also a few small dings I (inexpertly) repaired with resin.
He built this and other similar boards for the waves at places along the Santa Barbara area… the Rincon… The Ranch… Jalama…. I still have the board… but don’t surf anymore.
One photo has the logo he put on this board.
His logos changed through the years as you can see at Stanley’s Surfboard Logos
(a huge site with a large number of surfboard logos)
Good-bye Joe, me gotta go, me oh my oh
Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou
My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou
Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file’ gumbo
‘Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou
Thibodeaux, Fontainenot, the place is buzzin’
Kinfolk come to see Yvonne by the dozen
Dress in style and go hog wild, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou
What does this all mean?
A French-Cajun interpretation….
I’m no expert.. but I’d think this is pretty dangerous.. but yet quite ingenious.
When I was in the Army, we used to break the beads on our Jeep tires by jacking the Jeep up, and then lowering the frame of the Jeep down with the tire under it. We didn’t have to worry about seating the rim, because we had tubes in our Jeep tires.
When I see something like this video… I am impressed with the ingenuity of some folks.. yet also a bit apprehensive.
Some surfer friends of mine were down in Baja… they saw some guys driving an old truck down a level stretch of road. The engine coughed and died… but their starter was non-op. So quickly all three guys jumped out, and in what must be a common task for them, they jacked the back end of the truck up into the air, they then wound a long rope around the tire, and while one guy sat in the truck ready to ‘pop’ the clutch, the other two guys took off running with the rope spinning the tire and allowing the engine to turn and fire when the fellow inside released the clutch. Then they pushed the truck off the stands, hopped in and took off before the thing could die again.
Another bit of ingenuity is found in modern Cuba. In general, it seems the cars there are the holdovers from the forties and fifties…. and many of them are still running using mainly home built parts. One day, if we ever ‘normalize’ relations with Cuba… some bright entrepreneurs will be running over there and buying old cars, bringing them back here for sale as ‘classics’.
Speaking of old Cuban vehicles… remember the fellows a few years ago who modified a truck to go to Florida over the sea? I think they were steaming away just fine, when the Coast Guard intercepted them, took them off (for repatriation to Cuba I believe), and then they scuttled that marvelous bit of engineering… engineering that should have been placed into a museum to show the human spirit, and also to show how people will do so much to escape a brutal oppressive regime.
The new HBO series ‘True Blood’ has become a weekly favorite program in our tiny household.
I also like the great variety of music showcased on the program… last night’s episode had an episode name taken from one of the songs by the ‘Cowboy Junkies’, one of my favorite bands.
Cowboy Junkies have such beautiful words to their lyrics… the poetry and depth of feeling drips with tears.
‘To Love is to Bury’
~Cowboy Junkies~
I buried him down by the river
’cause that’s where he liked to be
and every night when the moon is high
I go there and weep openly
He and I were married
By this river ‘neath this willow tree
and with God and friends witnessing it
He pledged his life to me
To me he was Earth
and I rooted in his soil
I to he was Sky vast and free
of the burdens from which he toiled
Then one night a terrible fight
Words spoken better left unsaid
With his wedding vows ringing in my ears
He gave his life to me
They say to love is to bury
Those demons from which we all hide
But tonight by this river ‘neath this willow tree
Becoming one of Earth and Sky
We just buried my Uncle Bob this weekend in Los Angeles. He was a fun loving guy.. always joking and messing around. I suppose when people have lived through horror, they tend to swing to one extreme or another. And Bob had seen his share of horror…. he was in WWII and spent time during the war in Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and Italy. He was awarded four Bronze Stars for bravery… this was a surprise to all of us. He never ever really spoke of the war, and even the fellows closer to his age (92) did not know of the Bronze Stars.
As I roved by the dockside one evening so fair
To view the salt waters and take in the salt air
I heard an old fisherman singing a song
Oh, take me away boys me time is not long
Wrap me up in me oilskin and blankets
No more on the docks I’ll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I’m taking a trip mates
And I’ll see you someday on Fiddlers Green
Now Fiddler’s Green is a place I’ve heard tell
Where the fishermen go if they don’t go to hell
Where the weather is fair and the dolphins do play
And the cold coast of Greenland is far, far away
Now when you’re in dock and the long trip is through
There’s pubs and there’s clubs and there’s lassies there too
And the girls are all pretty and the beer is all free
And there’s bottles of rum growing on every tree.
Where the skies are all clear and there’s never a gail
And the fish jump on board with one swish on their tail
Where you lie at your leisure, there’s no work to do
And the skipper’s below making tea for the crew
Now I don’t want a harp nor a halo, not me
Just give me a breeze and a good rolling sea
I’ll play me old squeeze-box as we sail along
With the wind in the riggin to sing me a song
Yeah, ever since that first time I saw Endless Summer, so many years ago, I’ve wanted to just chuck it all to the sun, and follow my whims and the currents.
I saw this in our local edition of Craigslist…..
Surf Trip October 20th through November 20th (Baja, Ca)
Two camper trucks will leave Oct. 20 and surf down Baja to Cabo. The trip has two people per camper and there is one seat left. Your need is to share fuel ($2.00 per gallon in Mexico) and food. On Nov 20 fly home for the Holidays from Cabo.
Interested Call: (805) 773 3259 OR Email: pperry3879@aol.com
Location: Baja, Ca
it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
No, it’s not coffee at all. It was just named that due to its resemblance. It is a wild shrub in California, and has an attractive foliage all year long, and at times has these very attractive berries that are food for much wildlife. We have many of these plants on our property, they are one of the plants I resist removing or cutting.
This is not a plant to eat… the berries will cause intestinal problems that can only be resolved by sitting on the toilet for many, many, many hours…. and you might wind up in the hospital… so don’t eat these!
~David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Paul Kantner~
‘Wooden Ships’
If you smile at me, I will understand
‘Cause that is something everybody everywhere does
in the same language.
I can see by your coat, my friend,
you’re from the other side,
There’s just one thing I got to know,
Can you tell me please, who won?
Say, can I have some of your purple berries?
Yes, I’ve been eating them for six or seven weeks now,
haven’t got sick once.
Probably keep us both alive.
Wooden ships on the water, very free and easy,
Easy, you know the way it’s supposed to be,
Silver people on the shoreline, let us be,
Talkin’ ’bout very free and easy…
Horror grips us as we watch you die,
All we can do is echo your anguished cries,
Stare as all human feelings die,
We are leaving – you don’t need us.
Go, take your sister then, by the hand,
lead her away from this foreign land,
Far away, where we might laugh again,
We are leaving – you don’t need us.
And it’s a fair wind, blowin’ warm,
Out of the south over my shoulder,
Guess I’ll set a course and go…
