My Big Whaleboner

Today while hunting for Miocene petrified whalebone from the Monterey Formation and biconoids from the Franciscan Melange in Templeton, CA, I discovered this end-piece of a large petrified Miocene whalebone, parts of which are highly silicated. This is the first such piece of I have ever found in regards to end-pieces with ball-joints. It is also one of the largest pieces of petrified whalebone I have ever found.

Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Tropical Storm Lidia Sunset

I was out rockhounding in Templeton early this evening and captured this image of the sun setting through a gathering gloam as a line of dying thunderstorms approached from the east. A bit later it rained in the area shortly after sunset. This moisture originated from the death of Tropical Storm Lidia which expended itself in the area of Baja California. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Quote of the Day - Dixon PD

I spotted this on Twitter the other day and had to chuckle:

"If anyone has the #MayweatherMcGregor fight on at their home and also has a warrant, let us know.

We're super chill.#TweetAlong pic.twitter.com/kBOFBvz8od "

— Dixon Police (@DixonPolice) August 27, 2017

Meme of the Week - California State Bird

My First Biggish Tweet

Tweet Activity

CaliforniaDisasters @CalDisasters

#WhittierFire $ #AlamoFire in one image. Alamo Fire is at 19000 ac & 10% cont'd. Whiittier Fire has closed Hwy 154. #SundownerWinds tonight! pic.twitter.com/V0n05U6caG

Impressions               10,487

Total engagements		722
Media engagements		300
Detail expands		231
Hashtag clicks		80
Profile clicks		43
Link clicks		33
Likes		17
Retweets		14
Follows		3
Replies		1

Picture of the Day - Aerial Alamo Imagery

I encountered this image on Twitter tweeted by the San Luis Obispo FD. Without dispute in my mind, the photographer of it shot the best image of today's 3,000-acre Alamo Fire blow-up east of Santa Maria, CA. It was captured from an aircraft I presume. The perspective is looking southward with the Santa Maria Valley in the background and Twitchell Reservoir to the immediate right of the base of the fire. My images of this fire taken today can be viewed HERE.

Alamo Fire Chase

This afternoon the Alamo Fire, which began in southern San Luis Obispo County yesterday afternoon just north of Highway 166 near Alamo Canyon Road, exploded in the triple digit heat making a run southwards at Highway 166 for the second day in a row. This time it successfully got established south of the highway connecting Bakersfield and Santa Maria and ran amok in the ridges and flats in the vicinity of Twitchell Reservoir. In just a few hours it jumped from 250 acres to 3,400 acres.

This view is from a parking lot adjacent to southbound Highway 101 at the south Spring Street on-ramp looking southeast from Paso Robles, CA. At this point I was en route to meet up with mom and go hunt this fire and see how close we could get and perhaps get some interesting images of it. Note the pyrocumulus cloud atop the main convection column.

This was the view southward from the southern end of the Huasna Valley as mom and I sought to get in as close to this fire as possible. A couple of miles later we turned around at a gate on Huasna River Road.

On the drive into Huasna Valley we encountered several horse trailers filled with horses rapidly been driven out of the valley headed westward with grim faces

On the drive home we encountered a fair amount of radio traffic regarding a "Tower Incident." Given how crummy the radio and cell signal strength is out in Huasana Valley and environs we had missed the initial response to a new serious fire back closer to home atop the Cuesta Grade as started by a car fire on the northbound side of Highway 101.

We passed the Tower Fire on the drive home. The traffic backup on the northbound side of Highway 101 was actually a nightmarish crawl from San Luis Obispo to the top of the grade where the causal car fire was located. By the time we actually got to the fire almost an hour after first entering the queue the fire was pretty much done. I'm still not entirely sure why CAL FIRE needed to close down two of three lanes instead of one of three lanes. 

Here is the causal crispy car that started it all with the CAL FIRE prevention officer busy  investigating why the car caught fire. The Tower Fire started explosively but rapidly lost steam when once its own convection column blocked out the sun and plunged the fire area into a rather dark overcast. The fire burned 58 acres per the air attack.

The smoke from the Alamo Fire veered northwestward and northward from the fire contrary to the predicted Sundowner Winds tonight. This created an ominous smoky sunset over the North County. I shot this image from the northbound Highway 101 park & ride at Curbaril Avenue in Atascadero. All images by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).
*NOTE: to view a professionally-photographed image of today's fire action go HERE.

Picture of the Day - Muh Limoncello

A week ago, with the major assistance of a dear friend of mine who is a master of making a great many different sorts of things, most importantly, limoncello, I produced a large batch of final stage limoncello which I brought out into the light of day earlier this evening for your perusal. Now begins the wait for this to mature. I plan to roll out each bottle over different intervals of time and see which is best or at what point a desirable flavor threshold baseline is achieved that applies to multiple bottles. For my previous post about this project go HERE. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Snowflakes Is No Snowflake

Yesterday, quite by accident, I found this most aurally sumptuous, haunting, dreamy and atmospheric track that is an amazing example of apparently yet another subgenre of electronica that has heretofore never appeared on this blog until now, to wit, bass & drums. It is titled "Snowflakes" and was released in 2011 by Teutonic husband & wife dynamic duo Rawtekk. Youtube deejay Suicide Sheep, one of my all-time faves, posted it on his channel accompanied by scenes from the 2007 anime film 5 Centimeters Per Second to which is not in any way related and yet strangely fits well with.

Flies Better Than A Pterodactyl

Last night at Schooners Wharf Restaurant & Bar near the end of their annual July 4th party, employee Kat acting as their in-house deejay played this tune which got the whole house dancing like no other track played all night. I was infected by it myself but managed to avoid dancing except inside my mind. I had to know what this track was called and by whom so I ascended to the second story and tracked down Kat who was on the roof which by this point acted as stage for Kat deejaying and periodic go-go dancing. I learned from her assistant who was playing it off his iPhone that it was "Flight Of The Pterodactyl" by Dirtybird BBQ-co-founder Christian Martin & Iranian-American producer Ardalan, this being the first sampling ever on this blog of yet another subgenre of electronica called "tech-house." I may need to check out more techno-house this summer and see how many more tracks of this quality can be found. A better audio sampling of this track can be heard HERE.

Picture of the Day - Schooners July 4th Partay

For the third time out of the past four years, I worked a 12-hour shift (noon to midnight) at Schooners Wharf Restaurant & Bar in Cayucos, CA. This event used to be much more wild and unruly and was once legendary in the early years of Vino Vice as it was notorious for how many people had to be kicked off the property by our guards due to fighting and drunkenness and such. Over time, the ownership has refined the process and now it is a smoothly operating machine sans any notable issues. It is still a circus (in a good way) making it an epic job to annually work as the people-watching is still top-of-the-line but there are no problems of the sort to make working it unpleasant. Each year at about 9:30 p.m. a fireworks show launched from the Cayucos Pier captivates a huge crowd who comes from all over the Central Coast (and Central Valley) to watch it. Part and parcel with that is an epic party at Schooners where a heavily local and youngish crowd come to have fun. Above is a view from below of the second-floor deck crammed with patrons watching the fireworks show. Go HERE to sample one of the tracks got had this establishment rocking. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Pepper Tree House Deck

This afternoon into this evening I worked a wedding at Pepper Tree Ranch in Edna Valley, several miles south of San Luis Obispo, CA. It features one of my favorite structures in San Luis Obispo County, certainly my favorite treehouse. For images of two other views of this concrete & metal treehouse deck which appears deceivingly organic in composition go HERE.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved). 

PC-Attack of the SJWs-by-Proxy

*NOTE: for the uninitiated, PC = Political Correctness and SJW = Social Justice Warrior.

Nothing is ever perfect even when it is fairly awesome. Such was the case with my student feedback this year in regards to my student teaching at Atascadero High School. While I got great marks from my master teacher and my university advisor, not to mention from pretty much every one of my students, two of my students chose to interpret reality in a distinctly different way and act accordingly based upon that interpretation.

Let me explain.

Some months ago a particular student of mine who has been rather wayward at times and challenged my authority albeit mostly by way of going right up to the line but not entirely crossing over it, was rough-housing and being disruptive one day. I was alone as my master teacher was elsewhere which further emboldened this student. Given I do have a good rapport with this student and with the students with which he was being unruly and this behavior had been an ongoing thing albeit to a much lesser extent than the day in question, I elected to playfully needle this football athlete. I pointed out to the close how cute he and this other student are together as they flirt with each other adding the caveat "not that there's anything wrong with it" which could be taken literally or sarcastically. This ploy ultimately had the desired effect with much laughter and the student in question was clearly not offended or harmed by this but he did settle down.

A month and a half or two months later on the day of the final for the class in question (Period 1) I passed my yearbook around for students to sign if they liked while other students finished their final. There was much confusion near the end of class as I signed student's yearbooks and they finish signing mine. When I finally got alone I realized there was an envelope on my computer addressed "Mr. Noyes". Inside was the letter above. The author signed it as did a second student. Both students are A-level students. Both students did not sign my yearbook despite my having a good rapport with them in class.

Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

I really do hate Political-Correctness and Social Justice Warrior-dom. This letter reinforces those feelings. If this had come from an adult(s) directly, I would bother to even dissect it here and certainly would have challenged the author(s) to a respectful but blunt discussion about its contents. However, since it was composed by 15/16-year-olds and merely parrots what they heard or read PC SJW adults say or write, therefore I do not hold it to the usual standard nor do I take it personally. These kids are being unduly influenced by snowflake adults in their lives who are teaching them how to alienate the majority of other fellow-Americans who not only don't share their worldview but also don't like being patronized and condescended to by people attempting to shame others into agreeing with them or elsewise shutting up.

These girls should have come and talked to me the very day this event happened or at least shortly thereafter. Leaving me a snotty and judgemental letter as a parting shot the last day of school, months later, is not a good way to win hearts and minds. Worse yet, they did this instead of, not in addition to signing my yearbook. They also made many factual and interpretive errors in their critique of my comments that day in class. However, these are kids, not adults and they are incredibly vulnerable to being brainwashed by those with agendas seeking to control their malleable young minds. I was the subject of a minor social attack in the Culture War by proxy of the adults who originally instilled in these girls the vocabulary and cultural worldview found in the note.

To me, all students are special and to be protected, not merely tiny special interest groups within the broader student body. I'm everybody's ally, not just gay students' ally. I also will joke with my students about most human behaviors most of which are subject to being referred to in my humor. I later had the opportunity to talk briefly with one of the girls and thanked her for taking the time to put the letter together and for having the courage to stand up to a teacher. However, I gently informed her it would have been more useful had they simply talked to me a the time of the event as I would have welcomed a dialogue on the subject. I also informed her that the door is still open to such if they see me on campus in the coming school year.

To view a nice surprise I was given by another student go HERE.
To view 20 awesome comments in my yearbook from my students go HERE. 

Picture of the Day - Jigsaw Puzzle Gift

One of my awesome students this past year at Atascadero High School where I was a student teacher, created this jigsaw puzzle for me in one of her classes and gave it to me as a going away gift. She even signed it and left a message on it and the puzzle itself has a cute message. Jearon was an awesome person to have in my class and it was my privilege to have met her and honor to have taught her. I store this gift in my yearbook which contains all my other student's comments written therein. To view my favorite such go HERE. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Parkhill Fire Country

Last Sunday the latest wildfire began out in the Parkhill Country of San Luis Obispo County. It is the latest in a series of serious and destructive wildfires that narrowly fell short of becoming major historical wildfires. The 2017 installment of this story is the Hill Fire which began along Parkhill Road this past Sunday afternoon and consumed 1,598 acres and 4 homes, including a log cabin and other structures owned by Big Bang Theory actor Johnny Galecki whose 360-acre ranch was destroyed.

A birds-eye view of the early stages of the Hill Fire from the perspective of the air attack orbiting above the fire.
Image courtesy of CAL FIRE (all rights reserved).

The Parkhill Country area due to a convergence of climate and terrain and fuel types and the way people live out there is a firefighting nightmare and has a noteworthy history of wildfires. It is a maze of spur ridges overlain by extensive fuel beds of mature chaparral which region is prone to afternoon northwest winds during the summer fire season. Fires can run uphill almost constantly no matter which way they burn or where in particular they start within this region. This has lent and continues to lend itself to a busy fire history.

The area's biggest largest fire was the Highway 58 Fire which started August 15, 1996, at Black Mountain RV Park on Blue Road. This occurred when a tenant/resident working for reduced rent while clearing out old abandoned vehicles from the property started an old International Harvester parked in tall grass. He was sitting in the driver's seat when he noticed a glow on the grass adjacent to the open driver's side door and realized there was fire underneath the automobile. Things quickly went downhill from there.
The Ackerson Complex was going on in Tulare County and other incidents in the state so aircraft availability was limited during the first hours of the initial attack. In fact, as I recall there were only one or two S-2s dropping on it initially and no air attack so for a time the CHP Air 70 fixed-wing unit did what it could as an aerial observation platform to inform the IC what was happening during the first hour or so of the fire. When the afternoon winds kicked in and combined with where it was headed and the resource availability, the IC fairly early on informed SLO that this was going to be a "major fire incident".... kind of like we have heard on this incident today. It went on to burn 106,668 acres, and about a dozen homes in private inholdings in the LPF and consumed the Machesna Wildnerness Area and threatened condor nesting in the area.

In 2002 there was another Highway 58 Fire started just east of Highway 229/58 intersection which burned east and consumed 1,000 acres and 2 homes.

In 2003 there was a Parkhill Fire which started nearby off Parkhill Rd which burned eastward and consumed 1,200 acres and 3 homes.

In 2012 there was the Calf  Fire which began in private land west of Parkhill Road just west of the community of Parkhill and consumed 640 acres at one point briefly spotting across to the east side of Parkhill Road.

In 2015 there was a Park Hill Fire which started on Las Pilitas Road and burned in the general area of Las Pilitas x Parkhill Road and eastward and consumed 1,791 acres and 6 dwellings of various types.

And now in 2017 there was the Hill Fire which started on Parkhill Road and burned 1,598 acres and 4 dwellings including the aforementioned Galecki ranch. 

Speaking of Las Pilitas, in 1985, a fire began on Las Pilitas Road further west closer to the Salinas River Bridge and burned southward jumping Santa Margarita lake and Pozo Road and ran up into the Santa Lucia Mnts. and the Los Padres NF. A week later a katabatic wind drove it off of Cuesta Ridge down into San Luis Obispo. Aggressive firefighting house to house kept it out and saved SLO. The Las Pilitas Fire scorched 74,6400 acres and 12 homes and closing US101 over the Cuesta Grade for days.

Another Las Pilitas Fire in 1950 killed 4 firefighters (1 CDF & 3 DoD FF's) and charred over 22,000 acres.

Picture of the Day - Hill Fire

This afternoon while I was over at the coast having my first "Kim Day" in months, a serious yet short-lived wildfire erupted in the Parkhill Country of northern San Luis Obispo County. The "Hill Fire" as it was christened, destroyed an unknown number of structures and charred at least 1,200 acres. I captured this image from a parking lot on South Vine Street in Paso Robles looking southeastward. As I took a series of images at this location, a strike team of two crew buses of CAL FIRE handcrews passed by me southbound on Highway 101 en route to this fire. I do believe they were Gabilan Crews from Soledad State Prison in Monterey County. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

June 2017 Kim Day

Today, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen convened for a "Kim Day", a day in which I get out of my cage quite intentionally and don't answer the phone really or make any commitments aside from doing my own thing to decompress and perhaps invite some friends along to partake in my geeky revelry.

This Kim Day took me and my mates to Van Gordon Creek behind San Simeon State Park for some rockhounding in the creek for whatever we could find of interest that is eroding out of a Chumash trash midden located further up the creek to which point we have never found. We did find some over-sized abalone shells of size and thickness rarely found alive in modern times but common during the pre-contact period.

Our next stop was to visit San Simeon Point by way of William Randolph Hearst Memorial State Beach.

Two of our crew had never before been out to this magical place. We wanted them to experience it and to again experience it ourselves, those of us in the group who had been to this place before.

We all had better visit this place now before the Hearst Corporation executes its approved development of this magical place sometime in the not-too-distant future.

In my judgement, there are few places on Earth more magical to nearly a mystical order of magnitude than this San Simeon Point. I dread what is going to happen here in development.

San Simeon Cove always looks so rather tropical due to the sublime coloration of the ocean here.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

Terrible Beauty in Slow-Mo

My current musical obsession is the piece below from the soundtrack of a new dystopian sci-fi fave of mine which I re-watched a few nights ago and has become my latest cult favorite movie, to wit, Dredd. This second go-around watching it, was in super 4K HD. Not only did I notice how much more of a great movie it is the second time around but the sound and video quality were stunning at times, none more so than when this music is playing when people are using the fictional futuristic drug Slo-Mo which makes the user experience time at 1/100th of reality in a very hazy dreamy euphoria. The movie is set in an environmentally and socially post-apocalyptic dystopian future where life is rough for the urban-bound denizens of the super-cities where the survivors try to eke out a soul-crushing existence, many of them in "tower blocks", 200-story apartment tenements designed to house many thousands of people. This movie centers around a conflict in a tower block named "Peach Trees". To see this Paul Leonard-Morgan-created haunting atmospheric ambient musical score played to scenes from the movie in which it is played go HERE.

Picture of the Day - Friendly Falcon

This afternoon into early this evening I worked the Sixth Annual Atascadero Lakeside Wine Festival at Atascadero Lake Park. While conducting alcohol control on the spillway approach to the park I noticed this falcon lingering around the edges of the crowd utterly unperturbed by human proximity and perhaps even somewhat drawn to it. I wonder if this animal was once rehabilitated at a facility for injured/abandoned wildlife. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Quote of the Day - Emerson

Periodically my mother quotes this great Emerson line sans the "Thou must bleed for me" part. It is great but each time I intend to look it up and find the author and share it here I can't remember enough of it accurately enough to find it, even with the help of the Google monster. Today, she mentioned it again in conversation and this time I made a point of recording it verbatim in the notes app on my iPhone. With that, here it is:

"Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Favorite 2017 Yearbook Student Comments

Last year when I could not really afford it, I purchased an Atascadero High School 2016-2017 yearbook. At the time I wondered if I made a mistake doing that. I do not ponder that possibility anymore as it has been proven untrue. That same yearbook has become one of my most precious possessions. It is filled with comments and feedback from my tenth-grade world history students at Atascadero High School where I served as a student teacher in Cal Poly's single subject teaching credential post-baccalaureate program. What I found in my yearbook inspires me to want to further pursue the teaching career provided I do not subsequently find God taking me down a different avenue. Some of these comments make me want to burst with pride for these kids and gives me an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and satisfaction as they reveal I reached these kids and even positively affected their lives in some measure in a few cases. Below are my favorites.

• "Mr. Noyes, Thank you for being a great history teacher. This class has made me realize my love for history and has helped me decide that I will major in it in college. Thank you for the great year." - Alicia R. 
• "Mr. No-yes, It was a fun semester with you this year. I like your teaching style where you integrate the media with our classes (showing us videos like documentaries or movie clips). I think it's important (especially in a history class) for students to be able to connect the real world to the classroom. I hope you have a successful teaching carreer and continue to reach the mass # of kids with lessons that actually matter." - Summer L. 
• "Mr. Noyes, If we are going to be honest, you are my favorite teacher this year. Thank you for putting our education over everything else, and for always finding a way to make us happier and laugh, a lot! Hope you have a fricking amazing summer." - Sydney M. 
• "Mr. Noyes, It has been fantastic being in your class. At first I was worried about going from an "experienced" teacher, like Tomasini, to someone who has never taught before, but what surprised me is that I looked forward to coming to this class because I learned a lot and had a great time while doing so. So, thank you for an amazing year. It has been an honor being one of your first students." - Cooper H. 
• "Mr. Noyes, It was absolutely amazing having you teach me history. Having someone as new and chill like you was just what the class needed. You have a perfect balance between chill and informative. Have an awesome summer and I'll see you next year. - Tristan M. 
• "Mr. Noyes, Thank you for being one of the kindest, most understanding teachers. I really appreciate all the help you have given to not only me, but all the students you have come to know. Good luck with your career I know you will do amazing things!" Camryn B. 
• "Mr. Noyes, It's been great getting to know you through these couple of months. You are definitely one of the nicest and coolest teachers I have had. I hope to see you after this school year. And thanks for having all those cool talks with me after class and during lunch. Your first favorite student." - Kyle S.  
• "Mr. Noyes, I appreciate you taking over this semester & trying very hard to help us! You are an amazing teacher, definitely believe you were meant to teach! Thank you for being so patient and caring!" - Camille T.
• "Mr. Noyes, You have always been such a compassionate and fun teacher to have. Anyone can tell that you love teaching and any class would be lucky to have you: Thank you for such a fun and amazing year!" - Katherine L.
• "Dear Mr. Noyes, I am so very glad to have you as my history teacher. It was the light of my day seeing you every odd day. It's been a great pleasure having you here to teach us. You're going to be a great teacher when you have your own classroom. Please come to visit us and when I make it to the WNBA I'll make sure to mention you in my dedication. Have a freaking great summer!" - Zandra F. 
• "Noyes, Tbh your pretty dang cool, keep up the good work, your a great teacher and I love how you really try to bond with us. I hope your summer is bomb. See you next year!" - Cameo C.
• "Mr. Noyes, You are the best teacher ever thank you for being here and helping me with so much good luck with your career I know you will be an amazing teacher" - Jared B.
• "Mr. Noyes, You're such an amazing teacher and I'm glad I've had this opportunity to learn from you. Your future classes are going to be lucky to have you. Thanks for always showing us dank memes. P.S. Period Five is the best." - Katherine S. 
• "Mr. Noyes, Your the best teacher this year! Wish you teach longer caused you would touch their hearts like you did to mine. I'm gonna miss you." - Trinidad M.
• "Mr. Noyes, You have been an amazing teacher and helping hand in the classroom. You have a great personality and connect well with the students (which is not a skill a lot of teachers have.) Keep up the good work and don't ever change. You're amazing!" - Kenny N.
• "You made history a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be! Also you made me have a genuine interest in history and I thank you for that! Keep teaching the way you are and thanks for dealing with our class!" - Dalexi D. 
• "Mr. Noyes, this was my favorite class since you started teaching you're very understanding and thank you for throwing in some humour." - Norma A. 
• "Mr. Noyes, It was great having you as a teacher. This class was my favorite. You were the only teacher that actually said my last name right ha! Have a good summer." - Josy T. 
• "Mr. Noyse, It was cool meeting you this year. It's definitely been one interesting year in Period 1 history! I appreciate you publicly proclaiming your faith. Never stop looking up & seeking Him! Good luck with your teaching career! Joshua 1:9" - Sarah Beth P. 
• "Thank you so much for being such a positive teacher and always cheering me up when I came to your class. You were a great student teacher." - Ava T.

Scripture of the Day - Jeremiah (Jer.9:23-24)

I opened my Bible randomly to Jeremiah chapter nine and this jumped off the page at me. It has been highlighted in my Bible most of my adult life and I certainly know it but I must say I sort of forgot about it until reading it this morning jogged my memory. This further illustrates to me just how urgent it is I get back into the habit of opening God's Word each and every day, something I am guilty of neglecting all too often as I get caught up in my lifestyle and my time management habits, some of which are bad habits.

"The Lord declares, "Wise people should not boast in their wisdom, nor yet powerful people boast in their power, nor yet wealthy people boast in their wealth. Rather, let the person who boasts boast in this: that they understand my ways and know me, that I reveal myself to be kind, fair, and righteous in the earth. For in these things I take delight." ~ Jeremiah 9:23-24 (Kimicus ad Absurdum translation)

Picture of the Day - My Bumblebee Jasper

In my previous POST I stated that in my next post I'd show what Diana March original wire-wrap necklace pendant I acquired last weekend at the 2nd Annual Spring Cambria Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show and here it is. This is not the best image I can take but I got a wild hair to take this as the sun was setting using the sunlight of that time of day. In fact, this was the last sunlight of Spring 2017 as Summer Solstice 2017 arrived at 9:24 p.m. PDT tonight. This is a gorgeous pendant made of Indonesian bumblebee jasper (which features arsenic-bearing orpiment or realgar depending upon if yellow or red-orange), my very first piece of this material to own and it is not a mineral specimen but rather in a piece of jewelry. This signifies the change in my character and tastes from purely collector of specimens to more and more a wearer of stone jewelry. Diana created this piece to sell at this show and it was the first thing in her booth that jumped out at me and it made the strongest impression of anything she brought and she brought many amazing things. What's next on my list of things I saw in her booth I'd like to later add to my nascent collection of wearable stone can be seen HERE. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - My Diana March Wish List

For several months now the idea of acquiring a Diana March original piece has grown in my mind as a higher and higher priority in life. She is my favorite wire-wrap jewelry artist and until the past year or so, I have not really been a jewelry-wearing kind of guy. A few years ago I commissioned her to create a custom wire-wrap around a stone I provided which finished product you can  see HERE. However, that is not the same as a Diana March original wherein she selects the stone or fossil or artifact and creates custom jewelry around it with her amazing eye for design and respect for the stone or fossil or artifact. Her motto is "Always honor the stone" which she does with religious conviction and faithfulness.

After missing a few Cayucos/Cambria shows, she and Max were back this past weekend for 2nd Annual Spring Cambria Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show. Nobody was happier to see them than me. In my next post HERE I will show you what I acquired today. For now, here in the photos above and below is the short list from which I desire to acquire (God-willing) one such piece (and yes, those are meteorites) when she comes back into town at the end of next October. All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Flood Line 1995

Today as I helped one of our dealers load up their vehicles following the end of Day Two of the 2nd Annual Spring Cambria Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show, I noticed for the first time this sign on the side of the western exterior wall of the Cambria Vets Hall referring to the historic flooding in Cambria's West Village in March, 1995. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Oyster Ridge View

This afternoon into this evening I worked The Big Taste At The Big Event charitable fundraiser hosted by Big Brothers/Big Sisters of San Luis Obispo County. It was a hybrid parking/alcohol control gig and ran 3:30-8:30 p.m. That means my partner and I worked in the heatwave today. Fortunately, the sea breeze arrived fairly early although it was slow in cooling down and was actually a warm wind when we arrived. It was in the upper 90s when we arrived but felt hotter than that in the direct sunlight. I captured this event sans people in the image as it was too hot to sit here and the auction was taking place nearby and everybody was there. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Four Degrees of Tobin James

This afternoon into this evening I worked parking at Calcareous Vineyard on Peachy Canyon Road west of Paso Robles, CA. While sitting in a garden chair resting in the shade near the end of my shift near the front of the operation where I commanded a view of any incoming or outgoing autos, I was met by Tobin James as he left the event. We struck up a charming conversation for a few minutes where we discussed how perfect things were in that time and place with the only thing lacking being some nice-looking ladies sitting at the table next to me (and he was sooo right). As a parting comment I jokingly yelled to him as he walked away that I would buy a bottle of TB on the way home. (Degree of Tobin James #1)

 A short time later at Smart & Final in Paso Robles, I actually purchased a bottle of his "Dream Weaver" sparkling wine as well as of his "Chateau Le Cacheflo" (a red wine "Mediterranean Blend") pictured above. (Degree of Tobin James #2)

While in the checkout line loading my groceries onto the checkout conveyor, the bottle of the red wine (pictured above) accidentally slipped out one of the gaps in the child seat of the shopping cart as I had neglected to flip up the plastic guard. The bottle shot to the floor and exploded leaving a gory mess that quickly ran across the floor towards the lowest point (under the Cosmopolitan Magazines), filling the immediate environment with a strong aroma that was "On the nose, fruit forward casis, blackberry, jammy, spices like nutmeg, vanilla, tobacco box and cedar." (Degree of Tobin James #3)

Of course, not willing to accept defeat, I grabbed a replacement bottle of the aforementioned red blend and headed home where I am currently imbibing the blend as I write this. (Degree of Tobin James #4)

Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - My Most Precious Possession

In the coming days I shall share some of the delights contained within this tome. It cost me $85 and some of my fellow student teachers were not willing to shell out that much coin for it. At times since slapping down the money for it late last year I have wondered if it was an excessive splurge on my part given my student starvation status. However, today, the last day of my student teaching career, I am so incredibly overjoyed I acquired this volume and that I invited all my kids to sign it, of which most did. There are many beautiful, charming, poignant, humorous, encouraging, inspirational, et al, things penned within its precious pages. Some of these things I intend to share within the coming days. Wherever life takes me next and for the duration, one thing will remain unchangeable: I met some amazing young people and they touched my life and from their comments it is clear I touched some of their lives. I am humbled and thankful and blessed beyond measure or words.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Last Student Teaching Sunset

Tonight was my last night staying late grading papers and inputing grades onto Aeries. This upcoming finals week won't require I do that as I have now done all the remaining heavy work wrapping up grades for the semester apart from the finals they take this week and their history notebooks. I had a ball this year, so much so I feel a bit of melancholy as the end nears and I must leave. It was an amazing experience coming back to my old high school in my mid-40s and student teaching.... the experience far-exceeded my expectations on every level.
Photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Nocturnal Wedding Carriage

Today into tonight I worked an almost 9-hour shift at a barn wedding at Santa Margarita Ranch. The concluding events of the night were rather picturesque and this iPhone-4 image captures it at least partially. The young newlyweds left the property in this carriage which was a sweet touch. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Eyewitness To Rich At Rest

Local magician/mentalist Rich Ferguson whom I previously mentioned HERE and who was in attendance to entertain at last night's San Luis Obispo High School Grad Night event at Mountainbrook Church in San Luis Obispo, CA, wanted me to capture for evidence and share this grainy image (much like a typical UFO or Big Foot image) of him actually relaxing and enjoying himself and not working for work, but rather working for fun. Grainy iPhone 4 image by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved.... and just remember that Google Images!).

Picture of the Day - Rich Tricks Kids

Tonight while working the San Luis Obispo High School Grad Night event at Mountainbrook Church in San Luis Obispo, CA, I encountered a familiar face from my high school daze, er days, to wit, Rich Ferguson who has made quite a name for himself as a magician and mentalist and is nationally/internationally acclaimed. Rich being the kind of stand-up guy he is (literally and figuratively), once again this year entertained Tiger teens in their last night of childhood and put on his usual amazing show. Notice in this image the thrall in which he holds these otherwise hip, slick, and cool teens. See more of Rich tonight HERE. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved). 

Picture of the Day - Night-Zorbing

Tonight I worked the annual San Luis Obispo High School Grad Night event held at Mountainbrook Church in San Luis Obispo, CA. The event is awesome for the kids and adult volunteers alike and went smooth as silk this year. It was nice for me to be back working it after missing it last year due to suffering from Whooping Cough at the time and having finals at Cal Poly to study for. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Quote of the Day - Emerson

I saw this posted on a high school classmate's Facebook page earlier this week and it has stuck with me since then.
"The dice of God are always loaded."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Picture of the Day - Rally Tug-o-War

Today, Atascadero High School held its first rally of the entire year. It was nice seeing the tradition return given that for several years in the recent past there were no rallies all year long which I feel is a cryin' shame. Back when I was attending this school in the second half of the 1980s there were several rallies a year. Today's rally was a proper step in the right direction and a fun time was had by all. In the above image, the four classes are competing in a four-way tug-o-war competition. The juniors won this year. The location of each class has changed from when I was attending AHS as the junior and sophomores have changed places relative to the 1980s configuration. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Templeton Biconoid Core In Four Frames

I purchased this Templeton biconoid core at the recent Rockhounds Roundup gem and mineral show in Paso Robles last April which item was amongst a selection of spoils I picked up at the show which I shared HERE. A few days ago, a friend of mine mysteriously asked me to take some details images of it and send them to him which I did today. They turned out better than I expected given I have a mere iPhone4 so I'm sharing them here as this gives more detail and a better color perspective than the image I shared of this stone previously.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).