notes from the kelp

…listen
…info about the music

Some ambient music, “Plasma,” to accompany this ambience.

Rising into the cockpit from down below, being careful not to bang my head on the top of the companionway (a spatial miscalculation with which I am all too familiar), I look up with eyes attempting a rapidly adjustment to bright sunlight.
I am not even out at sea. My sailboat is still tied up to the dock. And this is an astonishing sight to take in.

Our slip is in a very special place in the Santa Barbara harbor, and one has to turn one’s head to the left to see the other boats down neighboring fingers. There is not a moment aboard when I don’t celebrate this open-ended view across the breakwater.

Our first slip here was more the norm, slotted tightly in between other vessels and most definitely part of a slightly claustrophobic but cozy lineup of masts, rigging, and jutting anchors. It was wonderful, of course, but when this current slip became available last year, I jumped at the chance to call it home.
Ahhhhhh.

…listen
…info about the music

Some film noir-ish dream music for les chats noir et blanc, with “Unhinged.”

Yes, I know that my outdoor landscape photography is far more compelling than my indoor cute kitties pix. Yet I persist every few weeks in joining the hoards of otherwise serious bloggians and exposing my inner furball.

Notice that Smudge (white) and Moses (black) indeed have a second, identical heated cat bed behind them. Yet they almost always prefer to squeeze their collective 22 pounds into one, at peace by my toes under my studio workstation. A calming presence, no matter what kind of un-calm music I might be composing.

…listen
…info about the music

Reflect with “Reflect,” from “At the Abyss.”

there are so many beautiful things to see
looking down
that sometimes I forget to look
up

…listen
…info about the music

A little new wave music for this little wave: “Dream Vista.”

I woke up oddly early this morning, to a sky filled with a good dose of what we call June Gloom: white-grey-white everywhere, typical for the season. The horizon offers no delineation between the sea and the air; all are one endless piece of paleness. Staring outside creates a kind of vertigo.

The photo above was not taken today.

Lest I be stuck listening to the dull thud of my own groggy thoughts, I flipped on the TV. It’s programmed to start at a cable channel called Fuel that features all the extreme board sports– skate/snow/wake/surf– plus motocross. There’s nothing like watching people risk life and limb in pursuit of death tempting thrills while I sit in my pajamas with a cat on my lap. I’m such a wuss.

Fuel was airing the 2006 Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards, crowning the great achievers-slash-nut cases who surf humongous walls of water… and live to tell the tale (too many don’t). The clips were riveting. This year’s winner conquered a 68-foot wave in Todos Santos, Mexico. Yes, 68 feet. Like gliding down the side of a seven story building that’s about to collapse on top of you. Check out the footage on the website.

The photo above is from a walk I took last Sunday. No June Gloom, no 68 feet, not even 6 feet (the latter is common here). Just a nice little 3-foot curl on the verge of hitting the shore. But who knows what water pushed it here? Maybe it was the final repercussion of some beautiful, threatening, alluring, frightening, awesomely powerful 68 foot wave.

And wouldn’t it be cool if some awesomely powerful surfer had conquered it.peeing movies freemovies free teen presample movies free sapphicsex free home moviesfree movie fetish smoking clipsfree torture moviesmovies free naked xxx and picssex length full moviemovies porno fullmovies cartoon hardcore sexcredit site accept for card webamazon credit account1st credit financial unionaccurate creditaccess creditcredit americu union new hartfordlay offs americreditaccredited fake verifiable degrees Map

…listen
…info about the music

Here’s a movement from my string quintet, “Current Events” titled “Rip,” to accompany these sea-based friends.

Just came back from Santa Barbara again. It was the third time I’ve had the joy of being on the boat this week, due to the happy combination of a let-up in my writing deadlines, and a special visit to the city from my dear teacher and friend, Ursula Mamlok, who was composer-in-residence this past week at UC Santa Barbara. At 83, she remains a great inspiration to me.

Her music has nothing to do with pelicans, as far as I know. But a few nights ago Charles and I were entertained as we sat in the cockpit sipping a little wine, surrounded by the unusual sound of incoming artillery in the form of birds dive-bombing the waters around our transom at full speed. Pelicans and seagulls were apparently celebrating their version of Thanksgiving, as lots of unwitting fish had unexpectedly come in with the tide to the placid harbor. It was quite a show; every few seconds another splash and ensuing shake came from a different direction; 11pm is not the normal hour of operation for this natural fish market.

The next day we kayaked by the ever-present dredger stationed diagonally across from our slip, and enjoyed some face-to-beak time with these guys, sunning themselves and digesting against the oh-so-picturesque backdrop of Stearn’s Wharf and Santa Barbara’s mountains. Comical and gorgeous all at once, they make me grin every time I paddle by, and remind me just how great it is to just hang out with friends.

…listen
…info about the music

I think that my trio, “Elegy” is an appropriate choice to accompany today’s post.

No, this is not my sailboat.
Phew.
This is… was… Lollipop.
As readers have noted on occasion in this blog, I had wondered for many months just who belonged to this little sailboat that had been left to fend for its spot not too far from shore throughout a challenging winter.
I met him today, finally attaching a face and a name to sailor and vessel.

It wasn’t a dramatic storm that pulled her from her mooring a few hours before this photo was taken, but simply a change in the swell and wind direction. Most of us knew this was going to happen at some point, but had assumed that it would have occured during heavy weather, not a balmy June evening with a few gusts.

I was with friends for a late morning stroll at low tide, and turned the last curve down to the sand that brought this sad sight into view. Three men were diligently hauling everything they could get from the vessel onto a couple of pickup trucks on the bluff above. I smiled at the grizzled fellow in the red shirt who looked the most resolute, and offerred my condolences. We chatted quietly for a couple of minutes, and I pointed to where I live in case he needed an extra hand when high tide and Baywatch came to try to coax his baby back to the sea at the end of the afternoon. We later found out that this was not to be; although her hull was intact, Lollipop’s keel was badly damaged and her sailing days were over.

Neither beautiful nor well kept, she had become a fixture on our horizon this year; I will miss her silhouette against the next sunset.
Perhaps she will miss my ever-wondering gaze.

…listen
…info about the music

A duet for cello and piano, “Of Wood and Touch,” for this duet of cormorant and sea lion.

An hour or so after my first visitation with the damp and furry creature you see in the sunshine below, I returned as twilight neared. I watched in amusement as a cormorant began making friends. Given how well they were getting along, I suspect the pair stayed together and enjoyed the view from that rock long after I snapped this photo and finally walked home.loan payday advance online applyadvance loan arizona paydayloan advance cleveland cashloan cash advance directory paydayalabama shop cash venture loan advancealaska student corporation loana of amortization car new loanssavings certificates and loan $100home victoria australia 100 loanscheck 10k loan credit no unsecured

…listen
…info about the music

Here’s a little jazz by the sea, to entertain this tourist.

Paradise Cove doesn’t get too many of these visitors on shore; occasionally I spot a lone sea lion’s head bobbing through the nearby surf, but this is the first time that I’ve seen one hauled out on this beach to catch some rays on a rock. This cutie is about six feet long, and weighs hundreds of pounds. Hey, watch out for that that wave!

Took this photo on Monday, late afternoon. Just the day before, we were leisurely kayaking around the Santa Barbara harbor for kicks, saying hi to neighbors and keeping up a running commentary on every vessel of interest we paddled by. A sudden whoosh in the water at the bow was immediately followed by the large, whiskered head of a harbor seal who came up for air inches from my toes. We said hello to each other and off he went to explore some of the same sailboats I had been checking out. But he had a more interesting view, diving under the hulls and amusing himself with the variations of life that insistently cling to rudders and keels despite the wishes of their owners. Left uncleaned, every idle boat’s underside quickly becomes a makeshift reef for barnacles, limpets, sea stars and forests of algae. The harbor seals seem to enjoy this peculiar aquarium as much as I do.

…listen
…info about the music

A little bit of “Water Crossing” accompanies this photo of some that’s very ready to be traversed.

This is the lovely scene that greets us each time we leave the coziness of our sailboat and walk back up the dock. The Santa Barbara Yacht Club building stands guard over the incoming tides and outgoing day racers; in winter the sand is plowed 20 feet high, creating a berm to protect those spindly legs from the power of the sea.

But it is no longer winter, the berm has disappeared, and in its place is flat kelp-strewn shoreline that is about to welcome a lineup of Hobie cats ready to take up informal residence for the summer. The first of many is in the distance.

My own internal shoreline is seeing a similar shift. I’ve come to a welcome cadence in the back-to-back deadlines I’ve faced over the past eight months, delivering a number of pieces with tight performance dates attached to them. And now I have the luxury of using my time toward completing some music projects for myself this summer, until the next round of deadlines comes in like a fresh tide. I’m exhaling as I type this.

Memorial day weekend gets busy here by lunchtime, but I snapped this shot about 10:30 Sunday morning as Charles and I made our way to meet a good friend for coffee and banter. I think we finally may have seen the last of the rain in this unusually rainy season, and I’m looking forward to these waters seeing a lot more of me.500 payday loans miniumum$2000 payday loanaccounting expenses accrual loandown 0 loans property commercialloan of amortizationunit home services mortgage american loanamoratization car loans for$5000 loans autofees loan amortizing457 loans plan

…listen
…info about the music

Click on the blue music icon above to hear some of “Unabashedly,” my newest quartet.

The path I walk to the sand from the front door has spent all of May lined with thrilling outbursts of yellow blooms: canyon daisies and ice plant here; a few yards forward, mustard and dandelions. As dizzying as the sight is, the smell is twice so. Pungent sages are everywhere in between, and I cannot pass by without wrapping my palm around a stem and gliding my hand upward to attach the scent. Like the euphoria of the stroll, it stays with me long after I return to the studio.

…listen
…info about the music

Click on the blue music icon above and hear a little of my jazz tune,”Waltz for Parker Wilson.”

Smudge, coming and going. At least, in his mind.

…listen
…info about the music

To accompany this dancing pair, click on the blue music icon above to hear a clip from my flute and basssoon duet “Re:pair.”

4:53 a.m., 5/24/06.
I finished my work/procrastination/work/puttering for the night and walked into the living room to place a few packages of orders by the front door for the next day’s mail pickup.
A bright light caught my eye.
Turning toward the east-facing windows, this is what I saw: our moon and Venus, in a lovely pas de deux above the Santa Monica bay.
The thin crescent of what’s left of that green cheese couldn’t hide the rest of its orb: this wonderful sight is called earthshine. Sunlight bounces off our planet and reflects against the face of the moon. And then back again, to my face. Beaming.
I padded out to the deck and, lacking a tripod, placed my little camera on the top of the hot tub cover for steadiness.
Snap. snap.
Ahhhh.
Dancing the morning away.