Videos from Ron Laughlin: Thinking about A Big Getaway? All about New Zealand

[Below two images of Fiordland National Park]

fiordland-national-arkfiordlandnatioanal2

 

Ron Laughlin (“Mr. New Zealand”)  says: June I did do these  videos with more to come. I will cover the entire country……..Ron

All videos by Ron Laughlin (I think of him as Mr. New Zealand===he is a New Zealand travel expert) Music by his sister-in-law’s partner.

Did you know his wife will drive you to all these places? Wow!!!

Email Ron Laughlin ([email protected]

AQueenstown to Fiordland National Park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOZvTxw4pTY 

Wanaka to Queenstown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_xtcg9jYKQ&feature=channel 

 Haast to Wanaka –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TZRW334o3s&feature=channel

Mackenzie Country –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w0djssH0cA&feature=channel_page 

Travel Guide # 1 –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz0K7jXYjsE 

Travel Guide # 2 –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gYCUuNv6X4 

West Coast part One –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4yPeOjhe5Y 

West Coast Part Two –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V57mad9o1kY&feature=channel_page  

    Arthurs Pass – 
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KFCTFr_hTc&feature=channel 

Thank yous to Sam’s Chowder House & Carol’s Princeton Bookstore

Sam’s Chowder House on Highway One is very “hot,” by  which I mean if you are a people-watcher, this is your kind of place. I knew the owner, Paul, from other restaurants he was involved with in Half Moon Bay. Everything Paul touches turns into a success. He’s got the formula down.

Sam’s was the location of Ida’s  Seafood Restaurant, unforgettable for its merry band of characters, and Ida’s had moved her popular place several times from locations around Princeon, ending up where Sam’s is today. But Paul has done such a remarkable remodeling job that Ida’s image has been buried and Sam’s Chowder House has made its mark. The views are bigger than life, the scene youtful and upbeat. Often, you can’t even get in, but you could walk on the beautiful beach below and wait for a reservation to open up.

Here’s what I’m getting around to:  Sam’s has opened a gift shop and my book, Princeton by the Sea, published by Arcadia, is available for sale. Wow. Thank ou. I’m a local author and it’s great to know that my work is in Sam’s Gift Shop. Thank you again; I practically live across the street. Go—you’ll love it.

At the new indoor mall at Princeton-by-the-Sea there’s  a bookstore owned by artist and bookstore lover, Carol Bremmen. (Carol, I hope I spelled your last name correctly. Please let me know if I did not.) I love this bookstore. She has books, obviously, including my Princeton book, of course, but she also displays local art, including her own. I loved buying a couple of her pieces and talked to Linda Montalto Patterson about acquiring her work, which was also on display. Linda also does “wedding vows” at her beautiful home overlooking the sea in Miramar.

At Carol’s bookstore, there are unique cards made by local artists ,and it’s fun walking around the harbor area, where fishing boats and fancy yachts stand shoulder-to-shoulder.

Yes, it’s not the old Princeton we were used to. It’s changed with the times. That’s what is happening now. Crab Landing Restaurant is a delightful place to introduce friends to, What some of my more critical friends have objected to is the look of the restaurant from the outside, but once inside they appreciate  the detail work put into Crab Landing.

Me, a lover of good architecture, has to admit that all of it, is much better than what we all feared. Locals, please take a close look and realize that somebody put their money into this project. It’s quite impressive.

Crab Landing, followed by coffee and homemade gelato at Mezza Luna Cafe and a walk through the mall, which isn’t filled yet, but it has such a desireable look that it will b soone. The mall opens onto the Oceano Hotel, which has a cozy bar and other interesting details.

And you can aways toward Mavericks and discover more of what’s happening in Princeton which will be a big success.

Personally, the weather around her become too sunny for my tastes: I do long for the fog that used to be hallmark. It’s sunny almost the time ow.

——-

June Alert: There are a lot of sick people near you….

I am at home now all the time. But when I run into people at the El Granada Post Office, with the friendliest clerks honestly, (they make you laugh),  I hear about other horrible illnesses—-and the death of a 16-year-old teenager recently, with his whole life in front of him.

I remember being 16, they used to call it “Sweet Sixteen.” I thought when I reached that age,  I was such a big “girl” ….I didn’t realize how many summers and winters were still  coming along with love, pain, and the great disappointments  perpetrated by human beings. To be balanced, there were a lot of good things to come, of course. 

I’ve experienced some of it but managed to dodge the heavy duty love, pain and disappointment because I am anti-social. Yes. I am a writer and  a lot of writers like to do their work without someone else sitting next to them. I don’t know about the famous writers–they probably hire help and have an entirely different lifestyle. 

I also managed to dodge the heavy duty bad stuff by not going “out there” to find it. I’m the type you have to give a couple of glasses of wine to before I talk about my projects. Which any writer knows is dangerous, as ideas are often taken that way. Other real writers will know exactly of what I speak.

The sudden shock of the death of the local teenage boy is indeed shocking, and I don’t know who the young man was, but I send warm love to his family. I send love and I hope you get more than enough from others.

I also hope Joanne (from the Ketch Joanne Restaurant in Princeton-by-the-Sea)  is okay. Nobody seems to have seen or heard from her. She’s such a great gal….one who went “out there in the world,” and experienced life “full on” and took it like a woman! She wasn’t afraid of anybody or anything. What she created from the bottom up is truly amazing. How did she do it?

But back to the sad death of the teenage boy. He reminded me of a young woman, about the same age, the daughter of Michelle whose last name i can’t remember. Michelle, if I even got the first name right, had something to do with an antique store located in what was then the early beginnings of the  San Benito House on Main Street in Half Moon Bay.  So this would be the early 1970s which sounds like ancient history now, doesn’t it?

This young woman ran across Highway 1, just south of HMB, and was struck by a car and  killed. It was a traumatic event for our very small community, different from the one I see here today. Then, HMB and the Coastside was a landscape in search of itself,  so to speak, to find a new personality, if you will. Today, the Coastside is half- suburbia with, thank goodness, a lot of artists working here.

Today I identify the Coastside  as an artistic/surfing community–but it is also a dog and baby friendly place with broad strokes of what I’d call unoriginal  touches of suburbia. At one time the Coastside was a big empty place. To give you a stronger image,  imagine a blank canvas on which to paint a beautiful picture, a place that was new in an original way. 

Lastly, my neighbor across the street is  Connie Phipps, who is  or was a child advocate attorney. Her husband, Bob, was a motorcycle enthusiast and the owner of “Ralph” the German Shepherd  you had to watch out for.(Ralph liked to hide in the bushes and surprise you.)  Bob belonged to a small cliche of real locals  that met regularly at the El Granada Market where Duane was in charge of the meat department (and maybe, for recreation,  some poker games. This was way back in the 1970s, remember. Duane is no longer with us.) 

One other memory about Duane who, I think, at one point, owned the El Granada Market (which, by the way, was built by the Miguel family, the same folks who built the fabulous Palace Miramar Hotel, later known as Alberts.) Duane was a smoker and he wanted to quit, but like so many others he worried about gaining weight. He already was a pretty big guy! 

I was so involved with my sick life partner, that I only noticed Bob being picked up and taken to the Senior Center in Half Moon Bay almost daily. I thought he had lung cancer. But I talked with Connie yesterday and he has, among other serious illnesses, Parkinson’s. We spoke and hugged for a few minutes. It was good to talk to someone who understands the special nuances of the caretaker language.
. Like, “What do I do next? Do I do this or that? ” Believe it or not, these are important questions, things that a caretaker when he/she wasn’t one, didn’t have to bother with. Not so, once you cross that line. It’s a different and confusing world. So to you, Connie, brave woman that you are, I wish you love and strength. She said I could come over anytime and cry in her kitchen. 

At this point in time, the professionals can only give calming drugs or tell you that it is a process that could take a year or more. But there are memories that nobody can forget and the brain stores these images  like the horrific death  “death rattle,”  and brings the unwanted scene up for you to remember.  For anyone, unless you are feeling-less,this is unbelievably painful and I have witnessed medical doctors turn away because they can’t even  take it. And I’m not even referring to the famous “death rattle,” which is exactly what it sounds like, something no living person should have to hear.

P.S. One of my docs told me in the old days when spouses, or children, died, the grievers wore black for at least a year. This black was a symbol to others that they were grieving and to leave them alone because the people in black could not communicate with others until the “process” was over.

1980s Postcard from Doris Gunn, friend/student of Galen Wolf

. Here is a pix of Galen Wolf, one of the Coastside’s artists. galen  

Galen’s family were original pioneers, and he enjoyed watercoloring the history of the Coastside from Devil’s Slide to Ano Nuevo. I am anxiously awaiting a new book about Galen written by a lady who owns a large collection of his work.

 

 

postcard

 

Doris Gunn writes: Written on the Island of Palma de Mallorca, Summer, 1980 for June

George Sand and Frederic Chopin spent an unfriendly winter here on the island of Palma de Mallorca (1838-39) . Being not at all married, they found an unheartly welcome to the point where they were thrown out from So Vn, near Palma. But here inValldemoasa they did not find the Paradise both were looking for. Besides the very expensive food, they were treated by the local people as if they were sick! Anyhow George wrote Spiriolon [not certain about the spelling]m and “un ? a Palm de Mallorca.”

Frederic was sick (lung) the winter was very cold and the church helped to make life unbearable for the couple. It took a long time before he got his piano from Paris. But after its arrival, F. Chopin composed “La Tempete” . Listen to its beauty. [note: that means she included a tape with the postcards]

I will be posting more of Dorris Gunn’s notes and letters to me because they were so very special and artistic. Where are you Doris?

 

…more coming,

1906: HMB Water Supply

Story from John Vonderlin

Email John ([email protected])

Hi June,
   The more things change, the more they stay the same. That has been reiterated to me, time after time, as I read the accounts of newsworthy matters in  local newspapers, one hundred to one hundred fifty years old. I was just reading online about the present Coastside water use/water supply issues as we go into our third dry year and thought this was interesting. I’m curious who Mr. Stoll was.   
 
COMPETITION
IS NOT WANTED
 
Special Dispatch to The Call.
REDWOOD CITY. Feb. 13.— The Board
of Supervisors has determined that Half
moon Bay, at least for the present is am-
ply equipped with a water supply and
needs no competition in this direction.
The board has refused to advertise for
bids for a franchise for a competing
water system on the ground that the
franchise will in the near future be much
more valuable than it is at present.
An application to lay pipes, mains and
conduits along the roads and highways of
San Mateo County and to operate and
maintain a water supply system at Half
moon Bay was filed before the board by
A. G. Stoll. Through his attorney Stoll
pleaded that owing to the rapid increase
in the population of Halfmoon Bay all
new quasi-public enterprises should be
heartily encouraged by the authorities of
the county. He argued that he was sim-
ply asking for an opportunity to bid upon
a franchise which is open to the consid-
eration of any one who. may care to seek
it. ” He suggested that the present supply
of water at Halfmoon Bay will soon be-
come inadequate and that some measures
should be taken to furnish a proper sup-
ply. The opinions of Stoll, however, were
not shared by the board, and upon motion
the consideration of the entire matter was
laid over until April 16.
 
The Board of Supervisors met at 10:30 a.m. Monday, April 16th, all the members being present. 
 Application of A.G. Stoll for franchise to lay mains and operate water works at Halfmoon Bay was laid over for one month.
 
Of course two days later the Great Quake of 1906 happened. Mr. Stoll seems to disappear in the online record until 1913 when he sold all these lots.
 
A.G. Stoll to A.A. Cavagnaro, undivided one-half interest in lots 9 to 14, block 55, lots 32 and 33 block 52, lots 25 and 26, block 54, North Fair Oaks. 
  
 
ScreenShot2009.jpg

1905: Old HMB School Still Standing?

Story from John Vonderin
Email John ([email protected])
schppjpise

Hi June,
This little story is from the May 20th,
1905 issue of the San Francisco “Call.”
Do you know if this school was built soon
after this announcement. Do you know if
it is still standing? Enjoy. John

HALFMOON BAY, May 19, Joseph
F. Francis, Fred Vallejo and Manuel
Francis, trustees of the Halfmoon Bay
School District, have decided to call a
mass-meeting of citizens to determine
the propriety of bonding the district to
erect a new public school building, ade-
quate, to the needs of Halfmoon Bay.
The present building is more like a
barn than a schoolhouse and is detri-
mental alike to the interests of tbe
children and tbe instructors. Residents
are urging the immediate need ot a
modern structure.
It is proposed to bond the district
for $20,000, with -which to- purchase
proper grounds and erect a suitable
building. As citizens favor the plan it
is likely that the trustees will be au-
thorized to proceed and call for a spe-
cial bond election.
James Seymour, census-taker for
the Halfmoon Bay district, reports that
there are 312 children in the district.
Of these 294 are native born.

Peter Adams: Beautiful Couple…Beautiful Thoughts

 

june,
 
i’m so sorry.  [re: the death of my life long partner, Burt) when i was broken, i came to faith in spite of myself.  suprised by joy, as c.s. lewis exclaimed.  can you believe it:  former zen buddhist, new ager, now giving
eucharist to aging and dying peole in a dana point facility!
petermarika