""Peace cannot be achieved through force, peace must be achieved through understanding" Albert Einstein

I have been working for Hostelling International for almost a year now. It was always something that I knew I wanted to do "someday" and someday arrived last June. The first hostel I ever stayed in was in Portland , Oregon in 1986. I was living in Austin, Texas at the time. I had made my first "roadtrip" on my own and flew into Portland to hitchhike and walk out to the coast. I am not sure who exactly was the catalyst for my exploration into the world of hostels, but I am thankful to this day.
They have an inspiring history, that I you can find by going to www.norcalhostels.org or www.hiusa.org.
The mission and purpose of HI hostels today is as timely as it was in the 1930's and 40's. Back then folks saw a need to provide low-cost or work-exchange lodging to those who travelled under "their own steam" via hiking and bicycling. They had seen some of the hostels in Europe and wanted to create something like that here in the USA. They also understood that if people of different cultures come together in a place such as a hostel, cultural understanding would occur, in turn causing Peace to prevail. Now the mission statement is something like this :
" To help all, especially the young, gain a greater understanding of the world and it's people, through hostelling". We Americans are the last to find out about the hostels in our country.
Well, over this past year I have met loads and loads of just really incredible people . Yesterday I was inspired to start photographing "The Willing" with the tiny digicam and some fun stories.
These guys stayed with us a few days ago and inspired this new portion of my blog . The two on the left are a couple of long-time friends who grew up in the bay-area and stopped here along their "reunion" way. The other picture is Paul from Hawaii. Paul is a delightful spirit on a new path. Over this past year many more highlights are etched into my memory.
Everyday, I mean EVeryday....I see, up close and personal....that we all really are, just different parts of each other.

Coloma Staff 2006

There was Gold in them thar hills....

So, I took the other picture off and put this one on. This is what I looked like in the spring of 2006 working with kids, hiking on the American River in Coloma. It was our job to teach them about the Goldrush. It was a powerful lesson for all of us about what greed can do as well as an amazing glimpse into the cultural diversity of a town where it all started. The greed that is....'cause the Miwoks and Maidu and various other folk who had their own names and labels, were there for quite some time.
We are all dressed up to try and look like 1849-50 era goldseekers. Read the works of Dame Shirley, of Rich Bar for more on that. I had alot of fun with kids there and the river, music,people, laughter, rocks and stories transformed me.
For those of you who know me, you know which one I am, and for those of you who are related to me but I have not yet met face to face ( thanks to genealogy and the internet), you can probably guess .
This was truly an extraordinary group of people for this staff and I have been so very fortunate that way in the field of Environmental Education and Natural History Interpretation.
The South Fork of the American River canyon was/is now truly a very special spot. That might sound a bit contrived, but it really is. If you ever want an amazing place to hike, stop in both the Marshall Gold State Discovery Park (whew, that's a load a'words sorry if I mis-arranged them) and the American River Conservancy. Both are in the heart of town and can give you directions and maps to the hiking on their "parcels".
Say hello for me to Zen and Smudge and Sara and Erin and John the Blacksmith and Shining Star and Mary and Sarah and Spencer and Cassie and Dana and Phil and Janelle and Howard and anyone else there really, so many touched my heart. The bakery and Sierra Nevada House and the Good Food Store (that is sadly closed, I heard) all in Lotus, truly ROCK. Gotta go sleep.

Foggy days off are good for doing stuff like staying inside and listening to public radio and doing art, and that's a cover statement for any place I have lived. I want to invent my own profile question: What public radio personalities have made the most of
a positive impression upon your life?
My short list is Maggie Brennan of Global Village 12-3 m-f (est ) and Roots and Offshoots Sunday nights 9-11pm at www.wcbe.org. out of Columbus, Ohio. My waves are not emanating from that radio you see in the picture...but my laptop.....I thank The Great Spirit for the miracle of streaming.
My second favorite and timely dj is the person who has introduced me to the most new music back out here in Cali....since I have been back....Gary Wells of alternate Sunday mornings 7-9 am at www.kvmr.org out of Nevada City, California. His playlists are a wonderful meandering river. I thank them both as well as well as John Ailey ( whose last name I cannot remember to spell) of KUT in Austin, Texas...the public radio station that introduced me to an entire new universe of music from 1983-1988. KUSP , www.kusp.org here locally in Santa Cruz has let me know in oh so many ways that I am in the right place, at the right time. How soon we forget.
I also Thank Musician, Singer, Songwriter one, Kate Wolf, whose voice and music have touched so many lives and helped to open so very many hearts. She contributed much to the world of public radio.

The Fog has moved in, the wildflowers linger and War is Barbaric!

My blog will most likely be tangental ( I make up my own words, grammar etc causing the " well dressed librarians" of the world to faint) like this , but all eddies eventually return to themselves.

Every year this time, when it starts to heat up east of Skyline Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the heat seeking fog covers all of us in a blanket of cool refreshing greyness.

We were fortunate this spring to have a summer a few months ago, sunshine for weeks.

I both love and hate the fog. On one hand it is cool and refreshing and provides us with lots of negative ions. Negative ions cause feelings of elation and happiness in humans. Waterfalls, ocean waves, fog. On the other, like the overcast of central Ohio, it starts to get to ya after a while. So I drive, to Santa Cruz, up Pescadero Rd, up the Gazos, anywhere to try to glimpse the giant star that we all revolve around. The wildflowers bloomed later and still linger. Irises, trillium, lupines, California poppies, evening primrose, California buckwheat, hedge nettle and many many others have reminded me just why I wanted to come back here.

Here's a few ironies for you: I parked my volkswagon van for many years to avoid driving and free my hands of the blood of this war. In the last year of being back in California, I have more than made up for it. How do we truly wean ourselves from this madness? Time to go "BOB"( back on bike).