Bitter-Sweet Vacation in Southern California (April 2018)

Cambrian College Grapgic Design 

[definition - "pleasant but including or marked by elements of suffering or regret"]

Image - David Broberg

First the Bitter: I suppose this really starts with the world being turned upside down over the past two years since my last visit in early 2016. There has been a constant barrage in the Media of social unrest and combative ideologies claiming to have the moral high ground over the other side and the reality on the ground is that both sides being dead wrong. No wonder I previously lived for 20+ years in a rural mountain environment on the edge of wilderness where TV reception was lousy and summer thundershowers were the main entertainment on the covered porched. On landing at LAX, renting an SUV and driving south to San Diego, it was clear from the start just how far down hill California has really gone into the proverbail cesspit. First indicators of course were the deteriorating visual of the area's native vegetation as we drove along. Seriously the native vegetation has gone incredible down hill, despite all the smokescreening wildflower photos by the local SoCal non-profits who try and reassure their followers on social media that all is still well in Nature because it's so resilient in the face of mass degradation. Then in almost every major city we went through, there are literally 1000s of homeless everywhere. BTW, for everyone's information, Sweden is having the same cancerous pains as everywhere else, despite the propaganda to the contrary. Homelessness and increased crime are found everywhere. My hometown, El Cajon, is overwhelmed with homelessness and the culture has become over 30% Arabic speaking. Not that, that is a negative, but like many other immigrant migrations, the refugee peoples are finding that the grass hasn't been as green as they were first promised it would be in so-called progressive industrial secular nations. Same exact issues exist over here in Sweden, but you won't hear the Media uttering a peep about this. Then came the incredibly sad news of so many friends, family and former neighbours who either have gotten Cancer, Alzheimers, Parkinsons or have simply died. This later news hung over me like a dark cloud my whole trip, much like the cool dark clouds in the SoCal weather which characterized my whole stay when I was so looking forward to a striking contrast of warm hot weather with clear blue skies as opposed to the cold wet of the Scandinavian climate.

Gardening/Landscaping is my only real therapy away from Sweden  

(generally when I return, I need a vacation from my vacation because I work so physically hard)

Image - Mine 2018

Photo - Mine 2018

The Sweet The well known familiar looking plant above is called by a number of common names. Desert Bird of Paradise, Yellow Bird of Paradise, etc, but it's science listing is Caesalpinia gilliesii. This plant is native to Argentina and Uruguay, but has now naturalized in portions of the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts in close proximity to inhabited areas. I've also seen it naturalize in some places around San Diego County in close proximity to urban areas where gardeners have installed it within their landscapes. One of it's amazing qualities aside from being a tough drought and heat resistent small tree or shrub, is it's magnetic attraction to Hooded Orioles. I'm not sure what's in the flower's nectar, but they love it. So it was pleasant to watch them spend a lot of time in my mum's yard at these small trees. Also pleasant to see them finally taking more interest in the native Fan Palms which have grown bigger, allowing them to gathering and harvesting of palm frond fibers for their perfectly woven nests. Maybe one day as the palms gain far more height, they will finally build their nests in these palms. They are shy birds and tough to get close enough for photos. The other long time favourite is the Mexican Red Bird of Paradise or Pride of Barbados whose science name is Caesalpinia pulcherrima. Very heat loving plant and easily propagated from seed and once germinated, grows faily quick with the right care. I've often wondered why folks would purchase one at a nursery when germinating seed is so easy as is the care for this plant. Once innoculate with a healthy mycorrhizal fungal blend, just mulch once a year and NEVER feed it with science-based junk food from the local Home Depot or Lowes. Just leave it alone and carefully prune and thin it once a year like I'm doing above along my mum's driveway. Of course, the strict nativists won't like these plants, but I have no problem with them and neither does it seem the wildlife.

At least a sort of sweet surprise in Idyllwild California - Western Redbud

Photo mine in Idyllwild California 2018

Image Mine 2018

I purchased this Western Redbud from Lawson Valley Native Plant Nursery (1983), donated and planted this one gallon Redbud (Cercis occidentalis) which was about 10" tall, in front of the Kingdom Hall in Idyllwild California in 1983. It's amazing how large and wonderfully healthy it has become with little to no care. It's actually one of the few healthy living things in Idyllwild. I neglected to bring my camera from Sweden, so all photos are from my wife's phone. Most of the pines up there are sickly and dying. I've previously made mention of my conversation with former US Forest Service, Wildlife Biologist, Tom Roberts, back in 1983, who told me that one dat all the pines in and around Idyllwild would eventually die out and their best replacement would be Giant Sequoia (Sequoia giganteum). Well that doesn't seem to have worked either since all the Giant Sequoias in Idyllwild are in steep decline now. (HERE) is a 2009 photo in Wikipedia where the decline of Seqoias in downtown Idyllwild is evident. The newspaper there, Idyllwild Town Crier, however has written an article about the decline back in (2017) and appeared encourage by improved health, which may have come from the higher than normal rainfall after the drought the five years previous. But the Sequoias in that new Park (with restaurant now gone) didn't look at all healthy and vigorous when we were there. As of my visit in April, I'll predict next year that some will most likely be taken down. I've already posted about the massive old Ponderosa that finally had to come down in Fern Valley (HERE). On a bright note, La Casita, our flavourite Mexican Restaurant is still there with great food and atmosphere. Now look below here.

Photo was taken by Frazier Drake  (June 1, 2018) & publiched in My-Idyllwild

Thomas Roberts

More Bitter This is the worst photograph I've ever seen of Idyllwild, California. The entire ecosystem up in the San Jacinto Mountain is collapsing before our very eyes. Actually, this is what I saw on the ground while driving through all the community backroads and streets, but it becomes far more dramatic when a view is taken from a drone by Frazier Drake from Idyllwild Elementary School playground. You can clearly see at the bottom of the photo all of the Giant Sequoias are dying, not to mention 1000s of the Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pines. So much for everyone's Mountain getaway paradise. Garner Valley and Anza Valley are not much different just southeast of here. Tom Roberts was both right and wrong at the same time and that's doubly sad. Well, in a bit of an update, here is Thomas A. Roberts obituary from last year, November 27th, 2017 in Legacy.com. I seriously do not know if there is even anybody left in Idyllwild California who would even remember Tom Roberts. Most of the people I remember from there are dead or gone elsewhere.

Okay it's official, you really can never go home again

Image is mine from 2012

Image Mine 2013

More Bitter Went for a visit on the way to Idyllwild and stopped by my old place in Anza on 60180 Burnt Valley Road and to visit two old neighbours. The first neighbour is a French couple from Paris who moved here before I left and they're doing fine. But the long time Anza postman, Charles Confer, isn't doing so well. He is bedridden and has a terrible time with Parkinsons. He was always such a tall strong man and well liked by everyone. He's so frail now. Standing at his place and looking back up the hill at my place, the property has been stripped of most all of it's native vegetation (Old Growth Chaparral) and numerous greenhouses have been installed for the purpose of growing Marijuana. It made me sick. They did leave all the pines, but the entire perimeter now is giant chainlink fencing with black heavy greenhouse shade fabric to prevent anyone from viewing inside the property. Some Asian investors from Los Angeles bought my old place and they have someone else living and caretaking the plantation now. Dobermans run loose everywhere. It's like some kind of military build up and fortress compound. Amazing how rapidly down hill everything has gone in California. After the amazing documentary "Weed" on Marijuana by CNN's Dr Sanjay where they showed the almost miraculous change effect of children with over 300+ epileptic seisures a week and no normal life or speech making complete turn arounds with a single dose or two of cannibis oil (not the THC junk that makes stoners high), I wrote a post about the amazing effects of the Cannibis Oil parents placed on the child's food. Three months ago I deleted that post because all manner of annonymous dope sellers were posting comments with their filthy website links to sell weed. So Colorado was the first State to legalize and others have dominoed ever since. 

Image from Google Maps

Above is my former acreage and house presently turned into a disgusting Marijuana Farm where most of the manzanita and native pines have been bulldozed for the greenhouses and other side plantings. The disgusting thing about the legalization, especially for the kid's sake, is that during all the petitioning and activist movement towards legalization, all the recreational marijuana using stoners refused get on board unless their addictive recreational use habit could be included in the new regulations and laws. And it was all rammed thru with no real world forethought of things like dangers of driving under the influence, etc. Oh well, that place above and the photo below are no longer mine and ultimately none of my business. So they have the right to do with it as they will. But they did leave a few trees around the house.

Image Mine 2018

This is the view looking up at my old place from Burnt Valley Road at Jim and Margarite Saunder's old place. This view is looking west from the new owners (nice couple from Paris), place at the Geodesic Dome house on Burnt Valley Rd. The smaller Coulter Pines which were not visible from this spot when I left have now risen above the Chaparral (Redshank) and looking quite healthy with five and six years old growth of pine needles still hanging onto the tree and amazingly all that through the worst 4 or 5 years of drought the State has experienced. Through all the negatives I saw however, these native trees I experimented with (Torrey, Coulter, Jeffrey, Tecate Cypress and Aligator Juniper) are still successfully surviving with zero supplemental watering through all those years of horrible drought is a real bonus. Their success provides proof of the value of utilizing native Chaparral to provide hot summer period hydrological services by means of the natural phenomena known as Hydraulic Lift and Redistribution.

Nice Friday evening at Barrett Junction Cafe near Mexico

Image, Elisabet and Mum 2018

Image - Barrett Cafe

More Sweet Barrett Junction Cafe is quiet location away from the insanity of all the cities to the west in San Diego county. All points east from Barrett Junction Cafe on the Hwy 94 drive are Tecate Mexico and the Railroad Museum in Campo and eventually ending in the towns of Boulevard and Jacumba and then back to Interstate 8. The Cafe hasn't changed it's decor nor menu from the day of it's opening. It's like stepping back in time to the 1930s or 40s. I mean the Cafe counter and furniture still look early 1940s. It's loaded with antiques of all sorts, some of them for sale. In the old days it was more packed out on a Friday evening to where the overflow room in the large old military styled Quonset Hut was used more often than now. My wife and I took my mum there to get away from El Cajon. It was truly relaxing. We often vacationed in the past with a month or more to do things, but this time we had less than three weeks visit. So every day we had things to cram into our itinerary. But the Barrett Junction Cafe trip was perfect. Nothing changed.

"I wish there was a way to know that you're in "The Good Old Days" before you've actually left them.." Ed Helms

Image - Barrett Junction Cafe

Yup, Barrett Cafe's Menu's signature plate hasn't changed in decades one iota. And it's not just what is on the menu, but the flavours are exactly the same as I remember them from my very first visit in the 1960s. But it was nice to do something for my mum and sprucing up her landscape. Getting back to Sweden is always a let down weatherwise, but believe it or not  the weather every single day from May 1st to June 6th today has been hot and dry (temps - in the 80s F - 30C), with the except of one day of thunderstorms. The plants here in Scandinavia cannot take heat and they are so entitled (which requires life-support), because it generally rains almost every other day here and is most often cool or cold. They simply wilt and die in prolong heat with no rain, often with many of the forest trees dying. It's pleasant today, work has picked up incredibly, so hard to finish posts like I wanted. The Media over here is still pimping their usual lousy new reports. A recent Gaza Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony news video yesterday was posted over here in Europe, in which the school authorities in Palastine had the kids stage a mock military attack and hostage-taking play. I watched not even 30 seconds of the 5:00 minute video which was all I could stomach. How in all good conscience can mature adults do this with children ??? It's amazing and we keeping hearing about how things are improving and getting better. Yeah boy, "Peace and Security" just around the corner. So anyway, how's your summer vacation going ??? 😆😎

Image MovieStillsDB.com

Text Messaging My African Brothers in Gothenburg

Sending Text Message to the African Brothers in Sweden:

"Greetings, wish you were here"

image: Kevin Franck

Sending greetings to all the folks at Gothenburg Engelska Församling. Seriously, this is real communication. Even a child gets this, take a look below at this cute one minute video of a father and his one year old son.

image: Kevin Franck

The Kumbu Kumbu Market Cyber Cafe. I know, it should be Kumbi Kumbi Cyber Cafe, but the setting is east Africa, not the Congo!

image - uncharted101

This is the WaTuTu village. Notice those familiar Acacia trees ? And notice below some familiar animal friends ? I belong in areas where Acacia and Mesquite thrive. Reminds me of a post I wrote of the African Prosopis tortilis trees of the Savanna.

Acacia tortilis: Poster Image of African Savannas

image: Kevin Franck

Even Mama Bettan says hello among her new friends the Jumping Cholla Cacti.

image: Kevin Franck

Now see what some of you Swedish born African descent kids are missing from living in Sweden and not living down in Africa ?

See you back in Göteborg 😆😉

Roast Turkey, Pumpkin Pie and Other Thanksgiving Traditons I Rejected back in the Late 1960s

This is merely a commentary on a personal decision I made back in 1969 after reviewing some historical truths about the American traditional holiday which had always been a time of warmth and fond memories. This is also not a judgement on others who choose to celebrate. Frankly it's none of my business what others do or don't do. But if you actually study it's origins it is an eye opening revelation of information tutitorial of sorts and something I was reminded of after reading a piece this morning from Allen Juell's blog "Horsetronics"  

'Thanksgiving....no, let's rephrase that.......'

Kids Reenacting the First Thanksgiving

Of course if you look at the theme photo above, growing up this was the common story theme I experienced at Pepper Drive Elementary School as to the history of the Thanksgiving Celebration. Never once was there any admission or revealing of the truth that mattered that ultimately followed this neighbourly dinner event between different cultures. Of course as the official historical narrative tell us, the first Pilgrims to arrive in New Plymouth and conclude a mutual peace agreement treaty with Chief Massasoit, the paramount chief of the local Wampanoag Indian tribe. In the treaty the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag promised not to harm one another, and they formed a mutual alliance for each others protection in case of war with outsiders. Without Chief Massasoit’s friendship, it is highly unlikely that any of the Pilgrims would have survived. These Indians (Native Americans) gave the first settlers native corn to eat and to plant, and the alliance with them helped to prevent the Pilgrims’ perishing at the hands of other tribes.

In the early days, the colonists received much help from the Indians. In the words of then Governor William Bradford, an Indian named Tisquantum taught the colonists:

 “how to set their corne, wher to take fish, and to procure other comodities, and was also their pilott to bring them to unknowne places for their profitt.” 

(the spelling as in original document - American Colonial Prose: John Smith to Thomas Jefferson (1607 - 1865) by Mary Ann Radzinowicz ) 

The first harvest of Indian corn was good, and the Pilgrims had success in hunting game birds. They (Puritans) were grateful to their God and decided to hold a three-day harvest festival. Massasoit and 90 of his braves came, bringing along five deer to add to the banquet. This is the most common historical version and this part is true. Unfortunately, these previously persecuted Pilgrims (Puritans) from Europe had mistakenly believed that it was their God had given destiny and God-given right to take over and occupy these lands in this New World. This same justification of course was played out over the next few centuries by Europeans seeking fame, fortune and looking to provide ligitmacy of the most horrific actions taken against other human beings during the height of Imperial Colonialism across the planet. Even Darwin provided a twisted version of scientific justification behind the white European foreign land aquisition and occuptation. Seems there is enough inconvenient truth to go around for both sides.

Like the colony itself, the celebration had strong religious overtones. Although the Pilgrims did not hold the festival the next year because of poor crops, Thanksgiving Day later became an annual national and religious holiday in the United States, Canada, and a few other countries. Today, Thanksgiving Day in North America is typically an occasion for a family banquet of turkey, potaties and gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, but in principle, it remains “a time for serious religious thinking, church services, and prayer.”—The World Book Encyclopedia, 1994. Interestingly, Thanksgiving is actually rooted in ancient pagan (not Christian) harvest celebrations that honored various gods. Over time, “these ancient folk traditions were taken over by the Christian church.”​ >>> says, "A Great and Godly Adventure​—The Pilgrims and the Myth of the First Thanksgiving.

(see also: An American Thanksgiving)

The Granger Collection, New York

For me however, probably the most shocking thing was what happened to these very same Native American Indians who participated in that original iconic feast and to their descendants some years later. The artwork to the right here is of Chief Metacom, (c. 1638 - 1676), sachem of the Wampanoag people in a coloured engraving by Paul Revere, 1772. This next link is from the Encyclopedia Britannica and is the historical account of what took place between Chief Massasoit's second eldest son and the white colonialists. 

(Source material below)

 Encyclopedia Britannica: Facts Matters = Metacom

Metacom, also called Metacomet, King Philip, or Philip of Pokanoket (born c. 1638, Massachusetts - died August 12, 1676, Rhode Island), sachem (intertribal leader) of a confederation of indigenous peoples that included the Wampanoag and Narraganset. Metacom led one of the most costly wars of resistance in New England history, known as King Philip's War (1675 - 1676).  

Metacom was the second eldest son of Massasoit, a Wampansoag sachem who had managed to keep peace with English colonizers of Massachusetts and Rhode Island for many decades. Upon Massasoit's death (1661) and that of his eldest son Wamsutta (English name Alexander), the following year, Metacom became sachem. He succeeded to the position during a period characterized by increasing exchanges of Indian land for English guns, ammunition, liquor, and blankets. He recognized that these sales threatened indigenous sovereignty and was further disconcerted by the humiliations to which he and his people were continually subjected by the colonizers. He was, for example, summoned to Taunton in 1671 and required to sign a new peace agreement that included the surrender of Indian guns. 

 Metacom's dignity and steadfastness both impressed and frightened the settlers, who eventually demonized him as a menace that could not be controlled. For 13 years he kept the region's towns and villages on edge with fear of an Indian uprising. Finally, in June 1675, violence erupted when three Wampanoag warriors were executed by Plymouth authorities for the murder of John Sassamon, a tribal informer. Metacom's coalition, comprising the Wampanoag, Narraganset, Aenaki, Nipmuck, and Mohawk, was at first victorious. However, after a year of savage fighting during which some 3,000 Indians and 600 colonists were killed, food became scarce, and the indigenous alliance began to disintegrate. Seeing that defeat was imminent, Metacom returned to his ancestral home at Mount Hope, where he was betrayed by an informer and killed in a final battle. He was beheaded and quartered and his head displayed on a pole for 25 years at Plymouth.

Norman Rockwell Painting of Family Thanksgiving

Photo: Eugene Bochkarev/123RF

Who could pass up family get-togethers with all that other great food that goes along with the main course of Roast Turkey ? Pumpkin Pie, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Green Beans, sweet corn and whatever endless list of food goodies the woman folk can think up. I actually love all those things during any time of the colder winter months. I'm not against any of those foods, trust me. I simply don't do them on that particular day for the principle of the thing. When I was a kid growing up, I always thought this holiday should be renamed "Men's Day" !!! Seriously, think for a moment, is there really ever a more perfect day for men in the world than this day in America ? Is this day not truly the real, "Father's Day." Most of the women get up very early in the morning (maybe 4:00am) and slave all day long over a hot stove and oven. Men on the other hand basically sit on their butts the entire day, drink lots of beer, watch three NFL Football Games and then finally as the ultimate insult at the end of that day there is an announcement that  Dinner is served and they then proceed to practically gorge themselves into a coma. So much for spiritual reflection and the giving of thanks to the good Lord.

Image . Landon Nordeman

Now once again, I have no problem with others doing what they wish and the reasons why on this particular day. Ultimately it is none of my business what other folks do, but my choice is a conscience matter. So normally during this time of year I basically leave well enough alone. I do definitely enjoy that food combo at other times throughout the cold winter months. Can we all agree there is no other better food combo during Winter ? Well, with the exception of Mexican food through out the rest of the year. Mexican familes are known for family get-togethers anytime of the year and that works better for me. I get together with family and friends regularly and not just one or two special days of the year. I'm thankful every day for the positives in life now and what will be, despite the negativity brought to us by this world's Media News Reports - 24/7. On a positive note, I do have something to say about Cranberries & Lingonberries and the identical environment and ecosystem from which both came from. I've also other things to say about the Native Americans way of life which first interested me as far as our natural world and living off the land. My facination with Native Plants of the Southwest can be attributed to learning much about how the indigenous peoples used them. But in so many ways (mostly negative), the early Americans were identical to those explorer Europeans in their treatment of one another. I am well aware of this romanticized notion of the Natives as being the ultimate in conservation and land stewardship, but there is actually more to that story which has been generally exaggerated and embellished by many environmental organizations who have found the Native Americans as nothing more than a useful tool in furthering their political and worldview agendas on the rest of mankind. Again, no offense, but that's just the way our world works and always has.

Stay tuned! Here's another Myth I'm not overly fond of - Fire Ecology!

Dances With Myths: Indigenous Native Peoples and Fire Ecology