December Pics

Crab boats off the Oregon / N Cal Coast 

Crab season has been starting late the last several years, but this year it started on the official Dec 1st date, which is great for our crabbing industry (they get Christmas this year), while the fresh crab should have hit the stores today (they lay their pots a few days earlier, harvest on Dec 1st).  

4th December 1971

50 years ago today wth Deep Purple.

One of the most defining moments in the bands career.

The Rolling Stones' mobile was parked outside the Montreux Casino, the venue - adjacent to the lakeside promenade - chosen for the recording of the bands new album. Deep Purple were invited to Frank Zappa's afternoon show there that day, the last gig before Purple were to move in and begin recording the album.

"So we went there, and we had this mobile studio, and Zappa was playing a concert, and towards the end of the concert someone shot a flare gun, a pistol, into the ceiling of the hall. It just went 'whoosh', like that you know. It just caught fire, and it was just panic, you know. Well, not entirely panic, but everyone went outside, and within ten minutes there was smoke out on top of the building. And within half an hour there were flames 200, 300 feet high. The whole building was completely gutted. So that kind of blew out the idea of the concert because the Swiss authorities wouldn't allow any rock concerts for some period of time in Switzerland, anyway. We had the recording unit down there, and we had to do something, you know." Ian Gillan

Claude Nobs was standing there on stage when the fire erupted.

"I was there and next to him on stage, and with his guitar (Frank Zappa) he broke a big window, and then he picked up the mic and said very quietly, “There is a fire. Please go out quietly.” With bigger bow windows, with openings to the swimming pool to one side, and people didn’t have to run, so they just walked outside. Within two minutes, everyone was out watching the show and the fire. Some people said, “You know, Frank really knows how to finish the show. Now, look what he is doing!”

"We made sure that people got out of the hall; it was done very quickly. Then I went downstairs in the cellar in the kitchen, and I was the last one to leave the casino, and brought out the mother of the manager of the casino. She was the last one in the kitchen, so, I took her by the hand and I said, “Let’s go out.” And that’s it. " Claude Nobs

Later that evening ....."We were sitting in this bar restaurant about a quarter of a mile from the Casino, and it was blazing. The wind was coming down off the mountains and taking the smoke and flames across the lake, and the smoke was hanging like a curtain over the lake. Roger grabbed a napkin and wrote on it Smoke On The Water."  -  Ian Gillan

Taken by Petr Horálek on December 4, 2021 @ Above Weddell Sea 

Mount Semeru just erupted in Indonesia (tallest mountain on Java)

Frankies take; 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=341cez2lTLk

My dear friends bought a 40 + year old deli in town over a year ago, they spent that year remodeling the kitchen and the brewery, so they'll now have a smoker, deep fryer, grill, dishwasher (all firsts), and the brewery has all new gear, etc.  A helluva a lot of money, and they were closed for a few weeks shy of a year.  I bring this up because they made a great announcement about reopening on NYE, with local musicians throughout the day (the place always had music, belly dancing, etc, they redid the stage, PA, etc, too!!!).  But they're following state rules regarding masks for the daytime eating, and the proof of vaccine requirement for the (hopefully) more crowded NYE rock / funk show (the head cook leading the kitchen remodels band, they're great too! "Citizens of the Universe").  Needless to say, the anti-vaxxers trolled their grand opening FB thread in true fashion, non of us local fans could get a post in edgewise, as they commandeered their grand reopening party message....  lots of Horseshit and bravado (perhaps from the horse laxatives?).  Nazi comparisons, etc...    

So, my buddy Paul (superb musician, soundman, and then a long list of incredible day job skills, all used in the remodel), decided to order this stamp for the NYE show, I absolutely love it!!!  Long live live music, and to hell with stupidity!!!  

https://www.facebook.com/Old-World-Deli-187552621276559

https://www.facebook.com/CitizensOfTheUniverseBand

In the cold darkness of winter, one doesn't expect to find things that make one do the jiggy piggy dance;

I was just looking out the window to see if the latest shower was of snow

A comparison pic of 2020's brightest comet Neowise on the left, vs 2021's brightest comet on the right;

>>Comet Leonard vs comet NEOWISE

Taken by Maximilian Teodorescu on December 11, 2021 @ Aliman, Romania. (from Spaceweather.com)

Comet Leonard c/2021 A1 at twilight 
Taken by Juan Carlos Casado on December 16, 2021 @ Alt Empordà, Catalonia, Spain

Wonderful weekend at the coast (Near Cape Arago / 20 miles N of Bandon).  No big wave vs rock pics this time, but we did have a frequent flier eagle, who always soared by when I didn't have my camera with me, lol...  but did get this pic; 

"My people are not threatened by silence. They are completely at home in it. They have lived for thousands of years with Nature's quietness. My people today recognise and experience in this quietness the great Life-Giving Spirit, the Father of us all. It is easy for me to experience God's presence. When I am out hunting, when I am in the bush, among the trees, on a hill or by a billabong; these are the times when I can simply be in God's presence. My people have been so aware of Nature. It is natural that we will feel close to the Creator. Our Aboriginal culture has taught us to be still and to wait. We do not try to hurry things up. We let them follow their natural course - like the seasons. We watch the moon in each of its phases. We wait for the rain to fill our rivers and water the thirsty earth...

When twilight comes, we prepare for the night. At dawn we rise with the sun.

We watch the bush foods and wait for them to ripen before we gather them. We wait for our young people as they grow, stage by stage, through their initiation ceremonies. When a relation dies, we wait a long time with the sorrow. We own our grief and allow it to heal slowly. We wait for the right time for our ceremonies and our meetings. The right people must be present. Everything must be done in the proper way. Careful preparations must be made. We don't mind waiting, because we want things to be done with care.

We don't like to hurry. There is nothing more important than what we are attending to. There is nothing more urgent that we must hurry away for.

We wait on God, too. His time is the right time. We wait for him to make his word clear to us. We don't worry. We know that in time and in the spirit of dadirri (that deep listening and quiet stillness) his way will be clear.

We are river people. We cannot hurry the river. We have to move with its current and understand its ways. We hope that the people of Australia will wait. Not so much waiting for us to catch up - but waiting with us, as we find our pace in this world.

If you stay closely united, you are like a tree, standing in the middle of a bushfire sweeping through the timber. The leaves are scorched and the tough bark is scarred and burnt; but inside the tree the sap is still flowing, and under the ground the roots are still strong. Like that tree, you have endured the flames, and you still have the power to be reborn.

Our culture is different. We are asking our fellow Australians to take time to know us; to be still and to listen to us."

~Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann

(Aboriginal activist, educator and artist)

A rare white Christmas in the PNW  

Judit, I was lucky to get that second shot....  half hour later the sun came out, a breezed picked up, gone!  So far today, the showers have been streaming just to our north, I bet Dallas is piling up in snow.  Glad you finally got some down there, be curious where tonights lines set up, could be another 6" + for certain areas.  And of course, the cold air is moving south into Cali for more wetting entertainment (snow in Sacramento?)

Mary's Peak from near the Corvallis Airport (from a FB post)