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Sand and Shadow ~ Port San Luis ~

...In every curving beach, in every grain of sand, there is the story of the earth...

~Rachel Carson          

Dia de los Muertos - Celebrating Life and Afterlife in Santa Barbara

Life and afterlife mingled together in Santa Barbara last Saturday.

Each autumn, the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a fun and educational  celebration and family crafting day at Casa de la Guerra in Santa Barbara. On Halloween,  October 31, 2009, families gathered at craft tables and displays set among the bright white adobe walls of the Casa, to learn more about the important Mexican holiday of Dia de los Muertos.

Since ancient Aztec times, Dia de los Muertos has been a way for friends and families to share a celebration with those who have passed on to the next world, separated by death from those who love them. 

Altars are created featuring a picture of the loved one, as well as "ofrendas", or offerings, that were especially dear to the deceased.  You'll find candles, incense, favorite foods and possessions that were treasured in life, along with flowers, music, and photographs. 

In Mexico, many towns have processions to the local graveyards.  Townspeople enjoy a picnic feast while sharing song and laughter, stories and memories - all set among headstones and crosses that mark the final resting place of dear relatives and friends.

Dia de los Muertos is an annual  reminder  that we are here only a short time - and that we should savor our time among the living.

Amid the colorful flags, surrounded by pots of marigold flowers (whose scent entices the dead to return for a visit), kids were able to create masks, special holiday banners, and colorful paper flowers, all under the watchful gaze of the skeletons who warmed their bones in the autumn sun. 

It was another great Santa Barbara Trust event - a place for kids to take a time out from trick-or-treating on State Street and learn about the Mexican holiday of Dia de los Muertos.  They were able to use paint, glitter, ink, crayons, colored paper and other art supplies to craft beautiful souvenirs and keepsakes to take home. It was a wonderful day to feel vibrantly alive, while honoring the dead. 

That afternoon, I also met local artist, Sevenmoons  who was exhibiting her own works of art, created in honor of the Mexican holiday.

Her sugar skull creations took my breath away.  Sevenmoons decorated each of  her sugar skulls with vibrant, sugary frosting flowers and flourishes.  Each of them seemed touched with sparkle and magic.

Sevenmoons is a local artist who also paints, makes jewelry, and fashions a variety of fabulous mixed media creations from her home studio.  You can find more of her sugar skulls online at her Etsy store.

 Etsy is a global showcase/marketplace for artists, as well as for those who procure beautiful vintage items from around the world.  You can search for local artists from our area, and find fine art, jewelry, vintage goods, photography, clothing, textile art , and more - all inspired and influenced by life on the southern coast of California, in a town named Santa Barbara.

To find more Etsy shops whose proprietors live here, just go to Etsy's  Shop Local link, and enter "Santa Barbara".    

And remember, if you are in town toward the end of  October next year, visit the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation website to obtain more information about their Dia de los Muertos event.   You won't want to miss it!

Harry Hawcroft Still In Residence at Home He Built In 1888

In 1852, just two years after California was admitted into the United States of America,  Santa Barbara greeted her first resident physician, Dr Samuel Brinkerhoff.   Samuel Brinkerhoff was born in New York in 1824, and lived in Santa Barbara, his beloved town, until his death in 1883.  For several years, he remained the only physician for many, many miles in every direction.

Dr. Brinkerhoff had the privilege of watching the fledgling community grow and prosper,  and he asserted his encouragement and  influence in its development.  He was  a respected civic leader  and was known as  "a man of great public spirit and character," one of  "God's own men."     He imagined the Santa Barbara of the future:   "It was his ambition to see Santa Barbara linked by railways with the great overland roads of the continent." He dreamed of a college here, one day, as well.

Dr. Brinkerhoff was gifted in the  healing arts, caring for both body and spirit.  He  was  known to be   "more than a physician, he was a good Samaritan....He was found at the bedside of the poor at all hours and all seasons....and remuneration for services was never a feature."  

"His life has been a ministry of good," his widow wrote in 1885.

And when the town turned out for his memorial, Santa Barbara had the "largest funeral procession ever seen....the line of carriages was fully half a mile long." 

Mrs. Brinkerhoff wrote to Samual's family in New York several years after his passing.  She wrote, "in the community where he practiced medicine he was unusually esteemed...his name has gone into local history as 'the poor man's doctor'."  (From the publication, The Family of Joris Dircksen Brinckerhoff, 1638, printed in 1887.)

His legacy remains, even now.  One of the most picturesque and historic streets in Santa Barbara is named for him:  Brinkerhoff Avenue.

Situated two blocks west of State Street, between Haley and Cota Streets, you will find Brinkerhoff Avenue.   Tall old pine, redwood, and liquid amber trees are interspersed with palms and eucalyptus.  They cast a light  shade over the sidewalks, and the sun filters on to the lawns and gardens of the Victorian homes that retain their original style, charm, and colorful mien.

Dr. Brinkerhoff's home still stands today, in the middle of the block on Cota Street.  From the upstairs porch, Dr. Brinkerhoff might still look south toward the old neighborhood he loved so much when he was alive - the street now known as Brinkerhoff Avenue.

Many of the homes on this street are still single-family residences, with casual and loose flower gardens facing the street.

The porches and doors and gates are painted in a variety of colorful schemes.  Some of the buildings house art galleries...

or interesting little shops, like this one - Loop and Leaf - a knitting shop/tea parlor.  It's a wonderful street to visit for anyone who wants a glimpse of Santa Barbara during her Victorian phase - before the big earthquake of 1925 that inspired the metamorphosis of the town into a Mediterranean-style mecca.

Also located on Brinkerhoff Avenue, is the Ogle House.  Purchased by the Ogle family in 1973, the Ogle House is purportedly still the home of Harry Hawcroft, the man who built his abode in 1888.

Harry Hawcroft was an impeccable gent,  who was known throughout town for his immaculate and fashionable appearance.  He immigrated to the United States from England, and made his living as a blacksmith. 

He owned his own blacksmith shop at what is now the corner of Brinkerhoff and Cota Streets.   Blacksmiths were very important men in their communities  as they made and repaired farm machinery, kept carriages and buggies on the road, and forged many of the tools used in daily life at that time.  He married, built a home, and started a family.

And Mr. Hawcroft became known around town as "Lord Harry", for his stylish appearance, his English accent, and the fact that he wore white shirts while working at the forge  - and kept them clean and pristine, despite the hot and dirty work.   He loved bow ties, bowler hats, and fancy threads.

Lord Harry was a family man, fully rooted in his community.  In 1889, he entered the California State Agricultural Show, 18th District.  People from all over the Santa Barbara County area gathered to share and show their best produce, home crafts, livestock, and their finest skills, in a variety of categories.  The roster of categories and winners tells us much about the Victorian Santa Barbara.

The honor of "Prettiest Baby Over Six Months"  went to  Mary Barnett;  the "Next Prettiest Baby Over Six Months" was awarded to Eunice Hiller. 

There were floral exhibits and arrangements.  The famous plantsman, Joseph Sexton, won the prize for his "Parlor Bouquet".   N. Lambert took the prize for his "Taxidermy Display".

There were other winners, too, for "Pampas Plumes - FH Kingman";  and horses:  "Best Family - Don Patricio and four colts", owned by  IK Fisher; the " Draft Team - Mike and Lewis", that was owned by  JR Thurmond; and under the category, "Buggy Animals", the winners were "Aurelia and Kellick" a fine pair of horses.  Another winner that year was  Harry Hawcroft, who took home the silver medal for his work in "Blacksmithing".    State Agricultural Report for the Year 1889, page 985.

By all accounts, Lord Harry had a perfectly contented and wonderful life in his city, Santa Barbara.  He was a business owner, a family man, a man who loved to build, garden, and create beautiful things that would last long after his time on earth.  He lived in this picturesque little home until his death in 1932.

The home that Harry Hawcroft built is still strong and beautiful, located at 519 Brinkerhoff Avenue.  George and Mary Anne  Ogle purchased Harry's home in 1973.   They were delighted with the historic ambiance and quaint little street.  However, they got a bit more than they had originally bargained for. 

According to a Santa Barbara News Press article written by Maria Zate, published on October 31, 2004, Mr. Ogle claimed that Lord Harry was still known to put in a day's work - at night. 

Mr. Ogle reported that he, "was adding a third-story bedroom to the attic space a year or so after moving in.  Several wood panels were nailed into place after Mr. Ogle...went to bed.  'I didn't believe in ghosts...but when this happened three times, it made me reconsider.'" 

In addition to his fondness for late-night carpentry, he has been known  to wander about after dark.  A friend who was staying with the Ogles went into the kitchen late one night and saw Harry's ghost -  "a man dressed in a tuxedo standing in the kitchen...he turned and vanished....I was not dreaming."

Through the years, there have been  other reports of a shadowy, dapper ghost who appears on Brinkerhoff Avenue - the description matches that of our friend Lord Harry.  He has been seen walking along the sidewalks in the moonlight, dressed in his finest attire. 

Sometimes I imagine that Lord Harry and Dr. Brinkerhoff are friends now, and get together to walk through the neighborhood they loved so much in life.  Perhaps they stop to admire the fragrance of the gardenias that grow near the old wrought iron fence....

So if you find yourself face to face with Lord Harry, or the good doctor late one night, don't be afraid. Some ghosts linger among us not because they are angry or frightening....but like Lord Harry, they still enjoy a stroll through old neighborhoods, maybe a friendly conversation, and the opportunity to  stop and smell the flowers.

Taking A Break On Hollywood Boulevard ~ Behind Grauman's Chinese Theater

I can't talk about Hollywood.   It was a Horror to me when I was there and it's a Horror to look back on.   I can't imagine how I did it.  

When I got away from it I couldn't even refer to the place by name.   ''Out there,'' I called it.

~ Dorothy Parker

Japanese Persimmons - Diospyros kaki

Persimmon trees are garden sculpture.  No matter the season, they are dazzling.

In the winter, their languid  branches shimmer with taupe bark -  silvery and bare. 

The springtime brings bright eager leaves of chartreuse.  Their attitude is dramatic and tropical.  

The fruit forms during the summer months, tight and bright green.  It grows, hidden by the wide, leathery leaves - now aged to a deep green - that offer a dense shade. 

Then in autumn,  the leaves turn to yellow, red, and orange - bright primary colors.   The fruit starts to ripen to a carnelian orange-red, and appears firm and  waxy.

  In late fall, the leaves drift down to form a painterly carpet on the ground.  Only the fruit remains - now a rich, jewel-like, Japanese-sunset orange  - scattered along the bare branches. 

I take them from the tree when they are still firm, and deeply colored.  I line them up on the yellow kitchen counter,  near the window.   In only a few days, they are fully ripe and ready to eat.

Then, they are sweetly, syrupy, stickily sublime.   They can be eaten, simply, with a spoon.

But I also like to cook with them.   I collect cookbooks, and one of my perennial favorites is entitled, Generation to Generation, A Family Cookbook.  It was written in 1984 by members of the Orange County Buddhist Church in Anaheim, California.   It has a wonderful recipe for persimmon bread that I make every year.

The Generation to Generation cookbook contains lots of recipes - for appetizers, breads, main dishes and salads, as well as desserts.  There is a special section of Asian recipes, as well some Polynesian foods, too.  I even found Lithuanian, Jewish, Swedish, Italian, Chinese and Mexican recipes.  

One entire chapter is devoted to strawberries.  Before the California's Japanese-Americans were placed in internment camps during World War II, they were virtually the exclusive owners and growers of strawberry farms in California.  Japanese-Americans have always been leaders in California's agricultural industries.

The National Park Service website has a section entitled  History of Japanese Americans in California,  which tells the story of the arrival of the Japanese in California, their  contributions, adversities, and triumphs as California citizens.

The cookbook,  Generation to Generation,  features not only recipes, but  vintage photographs of California's early Japanese-Americans, the Issei, Nisei, Sansei, and Yonsei, (first, second, third, and fourth generations) - family members of  the congregants of  the Orange County Buddhist Church.

From this very special book, I have selected one of the best recipes I have ever found for persimmon bread.  It is dark, rich, and fragrant.  It is the perfect autumn treat.

Persimmon-Nut Bread

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

3 eggs

2 cups persimmon

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all -purpose flour

1/2 cup oatmeal

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup chopped nuts

~ Mix all ingredients.

~Add nuts last.

~Bake at 360 for one hour. 

~Will make two 9" x 5" loaf pans, or five 6" x 3.5" pans.  Wrap in foil after cooled.  Best 2-3 days after baking.

The Orange County Buddhist Church was founded in 1937.  The early members of the church wanted to:

"establish a temple where they would be able to practice the basic teachings of the Buddha and to create a gathering place for community and cultural activities....Since then, the Orange County Buddhist Church has become one of the largest Buddhist churches in the United States."

Santa Barbara Don Riders - Lowrider Bike Club

This weekend, I had the privilege of meeting some of the members of the Santa Barbara Don Riders who were selling raffle tickets on State Street.  

The Santa Barbara Don Riders  is an Associated Student Body (ASB) club made up of students  who attend Santa Barbara High School.   Students build and maintain fantastic lowrider bicycles and participate in community service activities.  They also show their bikes at public events and parades.

The Santa Barbara Don Riders was formed as a way for students to connect with each other and their community in a positive way, and to help them prepare for post-secondary education and career training.  Although the other ASB clubs require a 2.0 grade point average for membership, the Don Riders must maintain at 2.5 grade point average to belong.   The Don Riders are committed to building beautiful bikes - and a bright future for themselves.

Like every other community in America, Santa Barbara struggles with youth violence and gang activity.   The Santa Barbara Don Riders provides young men and women with positive role models, the opportunity to participate in community activities, to develop the skills needed to be successful academically, and the ability to prepare for a positive and productive future.

Students design and build their lowrider bikes - and each one is a singular work of art.  Students weld, paint, modify and embellish their bikes - each according to his or her own dream.   It requires that they learn how to envision, and create; they must learn to follow instructions and use tools; they have to work together as a group; they learn how to take an idea from inception - to fruition;  they learn to become mentors to others. 

Here's a short video showing the Don Riders in action....

Don Rider Video

The stated mission of the Don Riders Bike Club is:

To keep local youth out of gangs and give them the appropriate mentoring to attend a four-year university, vocational school, or community college.

The students also participate in community service projects, and have worked with the Sierra Club in the past.  Soon, they are going work with the United States Forest Service on several projects.  And of course, they will continue to build and show their bikes - their art. 

If you would like to learn more about the Don Riders, visit them on the web: 

Santa Barbara Don Riders

Santa Barbara Cemetery -

All goes onward and outward. . . .and nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and
luckier.
~Walt Whitman

As autumn claims the landscape and the world is drawn inward, temporarily, it's natural for us to think of life and death, of light and dark, barren and harvest.  

 

Here and Gone.

 

We move with the cycles of living, and during the autumn season, we prepare ourselves for the coming darkness of winter.   During the season of Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, we imagine that the veils between the worlds are thinning.    We hear stories of ghosts and hauntings, of spooky, unexplainable things.   Things seen and not seen.

 

Here and Gone.

 

This is the perfect time of year - and the Santa Barbara Cemetery is the perfect place - to contemplate the big, eternal questions, such as, "Who am I?", and "What does it all mean?" 

 

The Santa Barbara Cemetery, located at 901 Channel Drive,  began internment in 1860.   It was a simple, sparse plot of land used for burial of Santa Barbara's citizens.  It has undergone a transformation during the past century that has made it among the nation's most beautiful cemetaries.  According to CaGenWeb ,  a genealogy  website, there are now more than 46,000 names of people listed who have been buried in the cemetery.

There are grave sites, mausoleums, and urn gardens on the 60-acre property. The land is perched atop a tall hill bounded on the south by  the  Pacific Ocean that lies just below the sandstone cliffs...

From here, you can watch pelicans search for fish and dive headlong into the water for their catch.  There are gulls and other shore birds, and at times, you can hear the bark of sea lions who lie on a barge tied just off shore - sunning themselves. 

Turning northward, there is a breathtaking  vista of the lagoon and bird refuge below.   You can see the Montecito Country Club and the tall, blue Santa Ynez Mountain Range from here, as well. 

On this side of the cemetery, there are grand old oak trees, and flocks of red-headed woodpeckers that flit among the dark leaves. There are mockingbirds, and squirrels.  A soft and  steady river of sound travels up the hillside from the 101 freeway, below.  

And here is were our veterans lie....representatives from every American conflict since, and including,  the Civil War. 

According to an article published in Forbes magazine in 2007, eternal rest on the bluffs above the ocean  will cost the better part of $83,000.  In other parts of the cemetery, or in the mausoleum, you may still rest in peace for much less. 

But for those of us still living, the cemetery can offer a place for an afternoon of contemplation,  philosophical meanderings, metaphysical meditations. 

All around you are grand, dramatic vistas, immaculate lawns, and wide trees that spread their shade on those who rest below.   It is an elegant, beautiful place to wander, above the sea, below the mountains;  between the expansive blue heavens and the soft, receptive earth...

There are historic figures, captains of industry, and old-time actors who are buried here.  But for me, the beauty is in walking among the thousands of stones and plaques of regular people, families, those forgotten, and those still remembered.   With every step I enjoy a silent reverie....imagining.

Here and Gone.

This one reads, "Our Darling".

There are monuments and plaques made of granite, marble, and soft, local sandstone.   Some are very simple, some are dramatic and poignant, like this faux bois wooden cross with winding strands of ivy and a fallen dove.

This marble monument features an enormous urn whose flowers will never fade - although they are spotted with age and lichen.

The age of this cross is evident; the soft sandstone is disintegrating with time - the earthly effects of wind, rain, and decades of sun are slowly reducing the carved stone back into rubble.

I can still feel the sting of loss felt by those who loved "Baby",  "Mother", "Father", or "Son".

There are reassurances to the living that the dead have arrived at their eternal home - that they have awoken from "the dream of life".

There are sweet encouragements stated on behalf of the departed, like this prose from a young father to the family he had left behind....

There are many headstones of young and old, dated "1918" and "1919", the years the Spanish influenza swept the world, and claimed many in Santa Barbara, too.

I am reminded that the human experience, like the earthly seasons, is a cycle....there really is nothing new under the sun.

Edhat, a local Santa Barbara website that provides information about the city of Santa Barbara and current events,  lists a Santa Barbara Cemetery Walking Tour that will begin at 10:00am on Halloween morning, October 31, 2009. 

The host of the tour will be historian, David Petry, author of The Best Last Place: a History of the Santa Barbara Cemetery.   And whether you decide to take the tour, or just spend a quiet afternoon on your own traversing the rolling hills and pathways, a trip to the Santa Barbara Cemetery is an opportunity to remember that like all the others in human history who came before us, we are Here.

And Gone.

Autumn Morning Rain at Goleta Slough

The moon will wax, the moon will wane, The mist and cloud will turn to rain, The rain to mist and cloud again, To-morrow be to-day.

    ~ Longfellow

See Canyon - San Luis Obispo County

October is my favorite time to visit See Canyon in San Luis Obispo County. The hour-long drive northward from Santa Barbara up Highway 101 is especially beautiful now. Leaving Santa Barbara, driving toward the Gaviota coastline, verdant avocado and lemon orchards give way to hillsides covered with bleached and brittle grasses; there has been no rain here for more than six months. Autumn brings our hottest weather, and the air is dry as a bone.

Beneath  wide and low-growing live oak trees, groups of Angus and Herford cattle gather in the shade, or they meander up narrow trails that web the hills, grazing.  Soon, on either side of the highway are vineyards, their velvety green vines turning to shades of gold and russet; vintners are in the midst of their harvest season.

The highway weaves to and from the coastline, inland and back out to the ocean again.

The water is deep cerulean and cool blue.

Finally, I turn at the San Luis Bay Drive exit, just south of San Luis Obispo. I make a right on See Canyon Road.

The road is bordered by waves of bright red poison oak, and scrub oak, chapparal, and wooden fence posts that are aged and tinged with lichen in colors of chartruse and rust.

The road is narrow and curved; it requires that you slow to the pace of  this back road and little valley.

The sun bakes the hills. The blanket of oak leaves and the deep and loamy soil are fragrant and evocative of the warmth of harvest....and the coming winter.

Very soon, you see hand-painted signs that read, "Apples 1/4 mile", "Fresh Cider" "Pigs and Goats for Sale," "Tomatoes Corn Pumpkins Apples"....ranch houses can be spotted here and there among the trees.

These are family farms, with orchards and truck gardens, and wineries, and even little wedding venues beside the creek.

I found a farm with a rustic little shed and cider press. There was a haughty white rooster in the yard, surrounded by black, and snowy, and speckled chickens. A friendly yellow dog greeted me as I got out of the car.  The owner offered me  a cup of cold, sweet cider and  slices of rosy Braeburn and Golden Delicious apples.  I bought a jug of juice, and a large bag of apples. I watched the chickens scratch and murmur in shimmer of shade and afternoon sun.

Each family has developed their land and business with a unique and welcoming style.   At every stop you will find  rustic views,  little surprises,  and bits of history here and there.   Some of these farms have been here for more than 100 years.

You'll find rare and heirloom apple varieties, rich and flavorful from their  months  in the orchard with gray foggy mornings, hot, dry afternoons, and the sweet, deep, antediluvian soil.

Just a few moments' drive from the hum and hurry of  the freeway, you can savor autumn, watch the slanting rays of the sun dip behind a hillside, smell the woodsmoke from a family fireplace, and remember....what a harvest, a ripening, really is. 

And if you have the time, you can take the scenic road all the way in to the city of San Luis Obispo. Although it's only about 15 miles in actual distance, the drive will take about an hour.

Be warned - it is slow-going, twisty at times, and parts of the road are not even paved (but still easily traversed.) Not many people drive this road, so you'll have much of it to yourself.  And, you will find that there  are vistas and vantage points that will take your breath away. On a very clear day, you can even see the enormous Morro Rock, sitting at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, 20 miles away.

So if you find yourself in San Luis Obispo County in the autumn, and you have a couple of hours, or an entire day - take a drive through See Canyon. You'll finally know why Eve just couldn't resist that first beautiful bite.

Autumn...Santa Rosa Road, Lompoc

 

“Clouds of insects danced and buzzed in the golden autumn light, and the air was full of the piping of the song-birds. Long, glinting dragonflies shot across the path, or hung tremulous with gauzy wings and gleaming bodies.”

 

- Arthur Conan Doyle