Los Pescadores - The New Album from Rochester Slim

Slims many fans are abuzz with he news that Slim has released his first new album in more than two years - Los Pescadores.  Now available on Itunes for a mere $9.99.

Visit Rochester Slims website to find out more.

The Miami Herald Song 2011

A new Youtube video based on an old song, updated and revised - watch the video of The Miami Herald Song 2011 by Rochester Slim.

Along the Coast - Southern OC

The southern coastal part of Orange County is always beautiful in Summer. The days are moderately warm and the nights are cool.  The beaches are usually crowded, but not terribly.  

San Clemente is the southernmost town. 

I am always associating Richard Nixon with the town - San Clemente and the Winter Whitehouse. Or was that Key Biscayne?

Beautiful beaches and a pier that juts out quite a good ways into the Pacific Ocean.

I like any town that has trains.

Sunset.

Along the California Coast

Another hot day in the desert, so another cooling trip to the coast was in order. Our destination was a spot along the coast between Laguna Beach and Newport and the Crystal Cove State Park.  Might as well enjoy the park while we can before our country, in its boundless wisdom, ends all public spending and we are all left to fend for ourselves.

From the cliffs looking south.

In the historic district.

Part of the old road down to the beach.

Debris from years gone by. One gets a odd reminder of old California. Many of the old cottages are being renovated and are available for vacation rentals.  There are some great old photographs at the Cove Alliance website.

Playing on the beach. The incoming wave took us by surprise.

A few of the old beach cottages. Quite a remarkable sight.

More Summer Travels

Sunset in North Park, San Diego

Sunset cliffs, the edge of the known world - Point Loma.

The back of the restored North park theater. 

In training. Or running to Mexico, I'm not sure which.

Summer Travels

The extremely hot summer weather has settled upon the desert, so we try and head for the coast as much as possible at this time of year. The temperature difference can be 20 or more degrees. I never tire of the beauty of the California coast. And, our dog likes it, too.

Trains still run right along the coast in places.

The beach at Del Mar can get quite crowded.

The fabled Pacific Coast Highway - or the PCH.

There are lovely places to watch the sea.

Looking north from Del Mar.

Both Amtrak and Coaster trains run along here.

Well, We Are Out Here having Fun

....beneath the warm California sun.

A great 1960s pop song by the Rivieras, for those of you too young to remember.

Dana Point. Part of the harbor area. 

Beautiful morning glories in San Juan Capistrano.

A little bit of heaven.

Too nice a day to go to a movie.

Boats in the harbor.

San Juan Capistrano

It was a beautiful early Summer's day, late June. Quite hot in the desert, so we drove down to the Coast, stopping first in Dana Point, then San Juan Capistrano. No sign of swallows.  I'm swallowing much better, though - I've been having some problems with my throat of late and was worried that it was something serious. Turned out to be fairly innocuous, for which I'm grateful. So it was nice to enjoy the beautiful weather.

It just so happened I was wearing my old Tootsie Roll shirt. What were the chances of coming upon this?  Slim to none would be the correct answer I believe.

Cactus in bloom.

More beautiful cactus.

The wall outside the Mission.

The historic Sante Fe Railroad train depot.

After a Break

Been busy with the cooking and cleaning, minding the debris of life, as it were.  I can hopefully state that Slim has recorded some pretty good songs that you can hear on his Reverbnation page.

A few pictures from this year that I like:

Laguna Beach, below Bette Davis' house.

Laguna Beach

Another from Laguna near the Davis house.

What we saw eating lunch, Laguna Beach.

Things sitting around our back patio in Palm Springs.

Our new cool shark thermometer is on guard in the pool.

Rep. Giffords 2010 Opponent held June Event to “Shoot an M16" to Remove Her from Office

Giffords Opponent, Jesse Kelly, Held June Event to “Shoot

Today is a very sad day for America.  Target lists with crosshairs. 2nd Amendment remedies. Shooting M16 with candidates

The only bright spot I can find is that Sheriff Dupnik of Tuscon is now one of my heroes. At a news conference in the wake of Rep. Gifford's shooting, he said, among other things:

"All I can tell you is that this individual may have a mental issue, and that people who are unbalanced are especially susceptible to vitriol."

“When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

“It’s not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. And that’s the sad thing of what’s going on in America. Pretty soon, we’re not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people who are willing to subject themselves to serve in public office.”

"Let me just say one thing, because people tend to poo-poo this business about all the vitriol that we hear inflaming the American public by people who make a living off of doing that. That may be free speech. But it’s not without consequences."

Amen.