For Mother’s Day weekend, we joined the Tor House Foundation for a poetry evening at Point Sur with the full moon. A wonderful place. A beautiful evening. Great views of Pico Blanco and the Pacific.
Author Archives: kaweah
Tor House Garden Party
On the first Sunday in May, I attended my second Tor House Garden Party. This one was special because it was the first event I attended as a docent. It was a hit and miss affair for yours truly. I had a great time chatting with guests in the guest room, but when I’m not chatting I suddenly get to feeling out of place, whether it was standing around on break or standing alone with Thuban (which for some crazy reason wasn’t very popular).
The High Peaks
Went on a pleasant day-hike with the daughter, this once from the west entrance of Pinnacles, up to the High Peaks. Had a wonderful time.
Soberanes Point and Canyon
Had a great time hiking with the family, up Soberanes Canyon and out to Soberanes Point. A place for no story and for many stories.
Ventana Creek
This last Saturday, I celebrated the arrival of spring with a day hike up Ventana Creek and Doolins Hole Creek.
I hadn’t got a very early start, so I didn’t have much time. I was also hiking solo, so I wasn’t about to try anything particularly adventurous. I wasn’t able to find the Doolins Hole albino redwood. Perhaps it didn’t survive the 2008 fire, or maybe I just didn’t go far enough up the creek. More likely I simply overlooked it. Ventana Creek was as bad as its reputation: deadfall upon deadfall. I was ultimately turned backed by a pile of several redwood logs. I didn’t have time to go much farther. I’ll have to find another fool to try this with me for an overnighter some time.
––––––––––
Photos by Dan Jensen, 2014.
Post Hole Diggers
This weekend, the Bioscouts joined Americorps for some cleanup and habitat reinforcement. Our task was to dig a post hole just above the bank of Coyote Creek. Hard work and good fun!
Mount Manuel Trail
The kid and I headed up the Mt. Manuel Trail for a peek at Ventana country Sunday. The trail is there, but it’s washed out in spots, sometimes presenting hazards, and the poison oak is a bit too think for a kid hiking in shorts. We did get a decent view of what I believe to be “Lonely Rock.” (Not “Lovely Rock.” I prefer the descriptive term to the cliché). There is only rock that meets Jeffers description, but even this rock doesn’t quite fit the rock in the poem. Was Jeffers exaggerating?
––––––––––
Photo by Dan Jensen, 2014.
Touring Carmel
After shadowing a Tor House Tour (docent training) I paid a visit to the Altar Stone, and afterward I finally rediscovered the old Richardson Cabin (1903–) that the Jeffers lived in from 1914 to 1916. I recall finding it back in 1993 after a tour of Tor House, when I lived in Carmel, but this time, 20 years later, it took me a couple of tries to find it. It is well hidden behind some palms, but it is there. I assure you.
––––––––––
Photos by Dan Jensen, 2014.
Jeffers and Fire
Here’s the presentation that I delivered (in part, having run out of time) at the 20th conference of the Robinson Jeffers Association in Carmel, California on February 16, 2014. It might interest anyone into Robinson Jeffers, the Central Coast of California, fire, Moby-Dick, Heraclitus, Zoroastrianism, etc.
Fire as God in the Poetry of Robinson Jeffers
Several assertions are made:
- Jeffers was a fire poet,
- Jeffers’s fire-muse was the place that he lived, and
- Jeffers’s god was a god of fire.
RJA 2014
As of this time a year ago I’d never heard of the Robinson Jeffers Association, but this year I actually presented on fire in Robinson Jeffers’s poetry (not exactly on topic, but I’d been obsessing over the topic so I submitted a summary and it was accepted). It was a truly eye-opening experience, and yes, in a great way. The family, complete with dog, came by on Sunday afternoon, and we stayed Sunday night in Carmel, then on Monday we got in a tour of Tor House and Hawk Tower, and we also paid a visit to Trethaway Cottage. Not a bad weekend!
––––––––––
Photo by Dan Jensen, 2014.