Day 9 in Big Sur- Stars at Eye Level

This morning spoke with a writer from The Carmel Pine Cone newspaper, Chris Counts. He's preparing an article about the residency. After the interview I checked my email to find that nobody could read my last two journal posts nor view any photographs.

Computer frustration feels the same, whether you're wasting your time in L.A., Big Sur, or Kalamazoo. Consequently, I've dedicated the entire day to setting up a new system for sending journal entries: a "blog" for my website, something I've been intending to do all year. Hopefully time spent today will mean less hassle tomorrow. My internet connection kept quitting so each time I reconnected, I was again regaled with the pressing news about Tom-Kat's wedding and Britney's divorce. Is our government planting this gossip to avert attention from real issues? Or scarier, do people really care?

I took a walk this afternoon to the edge of Garrapata Ridge, this time with a camera and some water colors. I sat on one of the zen benches along the bluff, dedicated to a Land Trust donor. (So much cooler than a headstone or even a statue.) Down the coast, the infamous black rock formations that protrude from the deep, splinter waves into formidable explosions. You can hear the sound from miles away.

Back at the studio I'm entertained by the daily light display. The shadow cast by the ridge my house is on, crawls up the side of the mountain to the east. As the sunset intensifies, the top edge of this creeping shadow looks like Spanish lace, and then just before dissappearing the lace begins to grow legs, morphing into a line of great stone soldiers. And then they're gone. (Can't even imagine what I'll be seeing one month from now.)

One last observation from Big Sur. The moonless night sky is so illuminated by stars, galaxies and constellations it looks like granite, glowing. And.... from where I stand, late at night, looking west toward the ocean, I can see stars at eye level. Need I say more?

P.S. Jade, I'm so sorry I'm missing your Cal Arts photography show.