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).

Another Kim Day At San Simeon

Today I needed another break from everything going on in my life. I had the privilege of sharing this second Kim Day of the year to date fellow members of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Unlike last month's excursion which ended up at San Simeon Creek Inlet after visiting other localities down the coast, today we solely visited San Simeon Creek Inlet. A strong Pacific storm had just gone through and churned up the beach, making beach-combing and rockhounding much more productive. What follows is my report in pictures.

Dennis the Menace

I found this brecciated jasper with chalcedony and quartz banding cobble.

Rockin' Ron and the E-man.

Brecciated Jasper with quartz and a small quartz crystal-lined cavity partly sanded down by wave action on the beach.

Highway One bridge

Sea Gulls pre-disturbance

Sea Gulls disturbed

This is probably a Hearst Ranch cow (#51) who ended up in a creek during the last storm and got swept out to sea and drowned during the last storm. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Red-Tailed Hawk + Orange Clouds

This evening Paso Robles witnessed an unusually colorful sunset. I was out of position to capture its full glory but did manage to catch this scene from the street in front of my house. Note the bird of prey at center. It is also worth noting these clouds were rapidly drifting from right to left (in a south-southeasterly direction) caught up in the Sundowner Wind pattern afflicting the Central Coast tonight. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Newborn Baby Cockatiel Feeding

This was the scene today as my friend Janet fed one of her newborn baby cockatiels. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Aloha Ke Akua

My dear friend and sister by another mother, Erin, sent me this tonight just a short time ago and I'm still internalizing it and mentally-emotionally downloading it. Needless to say I am blown away by it's beautiful musicality, weighty lyrics, clever wordsmithy, and striking visual imagery. I am honored to share this with you in this space. Below the music player are the lyrics.

Note: I noticed while watching this that it has many stylistic and thematic similarities to the video for "That Place In Your Heart" which I shared on this blog last year and to which I have hyperlinked the title of it here. As it turns out some of the footage is identical so it follows that the same people did the footage for both videos and probably produced them both as well. 

Visual production by The Mates Group for Estrellas Del Bicentario.
Shot in Mexico with Phantom & Red One Cameras.

Aloa Ke Akua

Lend your ears, lend your hands,
Lend your movement, anything you can.
Come to teach, come to be taught.
Come in the likeness in the image of God.
Cause, you can be like that.
With all that humbleness, and all that respect.
All of the power invested in me,
be it hard to love my enemies.
All of the black bags over the heads of the dead and dying.
The more I understand about the human race,
the less I comprehend about our purpose and place
and maybe if there was a clearer line
the curiosity would satisfy.
Time based prophecies that kept me from living,
in the moment I am struggling
to trust the divinity of all the guides
and what the hell they have planned for us.
I cry for the creatures who get left behind
but everything will change in a blink of an eye
and if you wish to survive,
you will find the guide inside.
I go back and forth every single day,
the clarity that comes to me in a choppy way,
as the feelings and the places
and the seasons change,
the galaxies remain.
Energy fields cone the body in space.
The angels that are coming from a spiritual waste.
The hate that gets me distant from my spiritual pace.
Ten fold the manna when the planets are in place, in polar alignment.
We're on assignment.
Bodies on consignment.
Return them to the circus.
And what is the purpose?
What is the purpose and would you believe it?
Would you believe it
if you knew what you were for
and how you became so informed?
Bodies of info performing such miracles.
I am a miracle made up of particles
and in this existence,
I'll stay persistent,
and I'll make a difference
and I will have lived it.
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.
Each day that I wake,
I will praise, I will praise.
Each day that I wake,
I give thanks, I give thanks.
Each day that I wake,
I will praise, I will praise.
Each day that I wake,
I give thanks, I give thanks.
And the day that I don't wake up
and transcend the holy make-up,
I am capable, I am powerful.
And the day that I don't wake up
and transcend the holy makeup,
I am on my way to a different place....
I'm not a leader, just a creature,
seeking the features of a teacher.
Whether you follow or whether you lead
All mysterious ways of nature and I'm into it.
Changing management.
And there are various ways to conquer this monotonous metropolis,
my stubbornness is bottomless,
my fearlessness is talking shit
and I'm wide awake and I'm taking names.
I am not a leader, just a creature.
Seeking the features of a teacher.
Whether you follow or whether you lead
All mysterious ways of nature and I'm into it.
I'm into it.
Changing management.
And there are various ways to conquer this monotonous metropolis,
my stubbornness is bottomless,
my fearlessness is talking shit
and I am wide awake.
And I'm taking names.
And there are various ways to conquer this monotonous metropolis,
my stubbornness is bottomless,
my fearlessness is talking shit,
and I'm wide awake and I'm taking names.
Do you speak to me like you speak to God?
All of the love and understanding between the father and the son?
Do you believe in the perfectness of where you are?
These are my people, these are my children,
this is the land that I would fight for.
My solidarity is telling me to patiently
be moving the musical medicine around the planet in a hurry,
Cuz there's no time to waste.
Got to wake up the people time to stand up and say,
we know what we are for
and how we became so informed.
Bodies of info, performing such miracles.
I am a miracle, made up of particles
and in this existence,
I'll stay persistent
and I'll make a difference
and I will have lived it. ........
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.
Each day that I wake,
I will praise, I will praise.
Each day that I wake,
I give thanks, I give thanks.
Each day that I wake,
I will praise, I will praise.
Each day that I wake,
I give thanks, I give thanks.
And the day that I don't wake up
and transcend the holy make-up,
I am capable, Hm that's right,
I am powerful.
And the day that I don't wake up and transcend the holy make-up,
I am on my way to a different place!
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.

Source: http://vimeo.com/55191854

Eclectus Arcania - Bird Is The Word

Today I worked for my buddy Susie Christian, a notable local photographer and bird author, in Morro Bay, CA, for the second time in three days. I did so at this particular time not coincidentally in regards to the ongoing heat wave that has seen Paso Robles (where I reside) hit triple digit temperatures for a week not to mention most of the rest of California.

Susie breeds a type of parrot I have never noticed before and knew nothing about until this week. This form of parrot is called an Eclectus and lives in various location scattered across the Western Pacific Ocean including northeastern Australia, New Guinea, the Moluccas Islands, the Soloman Islands, and Sumba Island in Indonesia. Susie owns more than one sub-species of this beautiful type of tropical bird as evidenced in the images below which show two different female types.

Five arcane eclectus facts:

1. Eclectus are sexually dimorphic which is not a perversion but merely means that the male and female look quite a bit different from one another. Males are green with yellow beaks and the females are red and blue/purple with sometimes some yellow/orange on their tails but always have black beaks.
2. Eclectus are considered a pest in some regions as they have a tendency to eat folk's fruit off their trees, particularly papaya and pomegranate.
3. The average lifespan of the Eclectus is not currently known with any certainty given how recently they became actively held captive and bred in captivity; 30-ish seems like the best guess as this point.
4. Eclectus are polygynandrous which is to say they are dirty birds; both males and females can have multiple partners (please pardon the anthropomorphism there). 
5. Prehistoric Pacific Islanders hunted one now-extinct sub-species of this parrot called the Oceanic Eclectus. It seems to have gone extinct about 3,000 years ago around the time the Tongans settled what would become Tonga.

After spending the better part of two days with the Eclectus I'm beginning to really fall in love with them. Aside from being beautiful they are quite personable and are gifted with oodles of personality. I now officially desire to have one someday and given the name of this bird (and this blog) it seems apropos that this bird become the official mascot here.

This female eclectus, the second one I encountered in the enclosure, was the most spectacular-looking of the three females.

The lone male eclectus was very upset by my presence and needed calming by Susie.

This was the first female I encountered; she seemed to really take to me and wanted to be in close to my face.

My friend Susie trying to calm the male eclectus - to no avail pretty much.

This was the third female I encountered.

Two of the three females in the enclosure (#2 and #3 respectively). This duo is of differing sub-species.

The male was trying to warn his bitches about me, all of whom pretty much ignored him although at the end #2 seemed to respond to him and when over to him.

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

Of Vultures & Terriers

A little while ago I was working at my friend Janet's place out on a ridgeline in the countryside west of Paso Robles, CA. My little dog Tequila went nuts barking at something above me which I found to be this Turkey Vulture sunning itself on the powerpole above me.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

That Place In Your Heart

The very first time I ever heard Ronan Hardiman's hauntingly gorgeous "That Place In Your Heart" I was shunpiking (driving the side roads to avoid the freeways) as I was oft wont to do during that period of my life. I was in the Manteca-Tracy area in the northern San Joaquin Valley area near where it merges with the California Delta driving home to Atascadero from a visit to the Gold Country. It was during the rush hour late one afternoon/early evening in January 2001 and I was listening to 105.5 FM "The River" when it came on and quickly transfixed my heart and blew my mind. I perceived its beauty at that time as transcending most other songs I had ever heard to that point as it really seemed to resonant with something in my then-wounded heart and mind and soul. I made a note of the radio station and the time and upon my return searched the internet for and found the phone number of the station. I called them up and asked them to check their playlist using the info I provided them and we quickly narrowed it down to the correct song. I then proceeded to order two copies of the CD Anthem which contained the song, one copy for me and one for Sally, the extremely nice and helpful lady I talked to on the phone who worked for the radio station (who later sent me a sweet THANK YOU card) as a token of my gratitude for her helping me find the song.

Until I viewed this song on Youtube tonight (last year I checked and none of Hardiman's songs were there) I had not seen the visually sumptuous music video for this song which does the song justice. 

On a side-note it is worth noting this happened at the time in my life I started listening to music again after a dozen-year hiatus (which is another story altogether). That very month of January 2001 I made the transition from analog music (cassettes) to digital music (CD's). This was my very first ever phone order/mail order of CD's as I had just that very month also purchased my very first CD ever (at the now-defunct Wherehouse music store in Atascadero where Cowgirl Cafe is now located) as described in my previous blog post Melancholy Rose by Operatica. Ah, those were the days! I'm now poorer and older but wiser yet I think.



I have included the lyrics below for your edification (courtesy of Justsomelyrics:

walk with me
break some bread here with me
Enemy Why can’t you live with me?
Who are you?
what did i do to you?
Wish i knew Why can’t i live with you?
We are all born the same
Then we seperate
Then the world falls apart
and blame turns to hate
we must not contemplate
how far apart we are there is always a way
to that place in your heart.
Hated one Just put down your gun
done is done
why can’t we live as one?
feel no shame
the air we breath is the same
heal the pain
why do we live in vain?
We are all born the same Then we seperate
Then the world falls apart
and blame turns to hate
we must not contemplate
how far apart we are there is always a way
to that place in your heart