Hike to Mount Baldy

Massive Mount San Antonio- or Old Baldy if you prefer- is the grand climax of the 50-mile backbone of the San Gabriels. No other peak in the range rises to challenge its 10,064′ elevation. From its summit you look over a good part of Souther California- an expanse of mountain, desert and coastal lowland. On [...]

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A phoenix cry

Isn’t it reasonable that the expression of the most intense emotions, the most powerful feelings should lead to good art? No, dear reader, it usually leads to bad writing. A hotchpotch, a conglom of crap. You wish it would move her, but it doesn’t, and how can it, when it doesn’t even move you when [...]

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Nothing gold can stay

On a stream of consciousness from my last post…one of Robert Frost’s best poems Nothing Gold Can Stay Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing [...]

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Harry Potter

Has the world ever seen a phenomenon like Harry Potter? There are a million theories -spanning the whole gamut from writing skills to ingenious marketing- about what makes the series so mindbogglingly popular. Personally, I stand for the simplistic view that they are just outstanding books. Massive popularity quite often signals mediocrity- not in the [...]

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Random Tidbits

1. Once upon a time, I thought tidbits was spelt tit-bits. P corrected me. 2. I am hearing ‘Bheegey hont tere’ right now. There is something so intensely romantic about this song…and it affects me in a way I cannot adequately describe. It has the chill factor for me, and the line – Kabhie mere [...]

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Mozart

It is summer, and there’s not much to do. In other words, there is plenty of opportunity to feel sad. I suppose it is a season of dementors. They glide into you and take control, and sometimes they do their job so well that you think you’ll never be happy again. But eventually they let [...]

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