MAKING EXTRAORDINARY MUSIC IS OBVIOUSLY VERY HARD, VERY INTENSE WORK, but somebody's got to do it. Dr. Stanley Wicks, Director of Music at First United Methodist Church in San Diego, does it well. Blogging can be about anything the blogger wants it to be, so today my blog is a statement of appreciation for Stan. As I watched him rehearse the Chancel Choir on Sunday morning, I was reminded again how fortunate the community is to have in it this outstanding musician and very fine man.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIAThis old barn near the levee at the Sacramento River in Knight's Landing has been falling apart for as long as I can remember. California reinvents itself continually with a process of deterioration coupled with constant development and rebuilding. I especially like the old reminders of earlier days.MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA
PLAZA HOTEL ACROSS FROM MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTAA BUILDING IN LINCOLN LEFT OVER FROM GOLD RUSH DAYSGLADDEN MACBEAN IN LINCOLNBIG SUR SOUTH OF CARMEL

DIXON












Jason Miles and his family live in Dixon. So do Margaret's sister Colleen and Brother-in-law Stanley. Missy is a stray cat that has made her home with them. If there is anything to reincarnation, I want to come back as Stanley's cat.

With its water tower, grain silos, and windmills, the town of Dixon would be as comfortable in Kansas or Iowa as it is in California.

FAMILY NIGHT
Last week Margaret and I spent the evening with my nephew Jason and his family. They remind me that, with such people in it, the world will be O.K. after all. Jason works with World Vision, a relief organization that is responding to the needs of people all over the world. Jordan is a responsible big brother. Libby was getting ready for a dance recital. They are fortunate to have Makenna in the middle. She is a sweetheart. And Cinnamon is the Mother Superior who makes their house a warm, wonderful home.

ALOEALOES AND AGAVES
While we’re on the subject of aloes, it might be a good time to point out that the century plant is not an aloe; and although both are succulents belonging to the lily or amaryllis family of plants, they aren’t closely related. Neither agaves nor aloes are cacti. The “agave americana,” blooms only once; the blooming spike is so large and grows so fast that it saps all the resources of the plant, which then dies, leaving a tall wooden seed stalk. The flowering stalk can grow up to 40 feet high. It’s called the “century plant” because of this “once a century” bloom (actually the plant lives an average of 25 years). Native Americans used agaves for medicines, fiber, needles, weapons, soap, and food. The plant is used commercially in Mexico as a source to produce the liquors tequila, pulque, and mescal.AGAVE

EUCALYPTUS

SUNFLOWERSMOTHER NATURE

Some people say it isn’t a comfortable way to live,
But if you want to avoid being overwhelmed
By too much or too little of something
You didn’t really ask for in the first place,
You’d better always be prepared for Mother Nature
To show up on your doorstep
With her bottomless bag of tricks
Demanding to be let in.

There she stands one day when you least expect it
With mud, or is it blood, all over her boots
After having wiped out your cornfield
To say nothing of your herd of cows
That you haven’t paid for yet,
But what can you do
When, at best, you’re just a sharecropper anyway
Hoping to make a buck off the land you lease from Her.

Just about the time you convince yourself
That there isn’t any way you can clean up the mess,
She slips back into your yard and your heart
With the sunniest day you’ve seen since November,
And you find yourself swearing
There isn’t anyplace in the universe
Where life is better than here,
And you know you’re right.

MISSION VALLEY Starbucks Clientele

RUTH'S EPIPHYLLUMThe last white epiphyllum photo is homage to Georgia O'Keefe. The red one continues to bloom on our back porch.