“It’s going to be dry until Monday”

That’s what the forecast was as I walked out of the house. It had been three years since I last wrote about a trip and longer than that since I had been on a bike trip. My friend Mike and I are going to do a two day ride on the coast south of Carmel. I thought it would be fun to ride there on my bike,so Wednesday off I went.

One other thing. This trip had a second purpose,which is to visit the grave of my mothers parents, These two people have been shrouded in mystery and secrecy all my life. In the 35 years of my life I shared with my mother, she spoke less than 1/2 hour total about her parents. Early in our lives we learned that this subject was off limits.

4 years ago I attended a retreat in Assisi Italy run by a Catholic university.The intent of the retreat was to help healthcare practitioners introduce spiritually into healthcare practice. As I was flying over I was thinking about my moms given name,Celeste Regina Burberry. In Latin Celeste Regina translates into Queen of Heaven.

With reflection,this question emerged, How could two people, who obviously loved this little baby girl so much that the give her this name. This isn’t some “Dick or Jane” name. How did things go so far off the rails for their lives to take the tragic turns that they did? Of course in 1931 mental health treatment for a young woman married to a painter,in the middle of the depression, was as likely to happen as me walking on water.

This reflection spoke to me about the goodness in each of us and how if can get buried in our day to day living,UNLESS each of us don’t remind each other of their value and worth. Of course that isn’t the complete answer, but it does lay a foundation and increases the chances of other priorities.

As aFather Greg Boyle reminds us“Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than in judgement at how they carry it” Stew in that awhile. How I wish I could have shared that with my mom.

I am riding past Sunil and start a climb over Calaveras Rd., maybe a7 mile climb.

It has been sprinkling on and off,and then it turns loose. I mean gutters are overflowing. I guess some force thought I need a baptism for the first time on this road! On went the rain gear and a pedaling I went. Actually once I got over my surprise and decided there was nothing to do but keep going I had a good time. By the time I got to Milpitas I was pretty dry.

I met my friend Seiji and we had a nice lunch. Then as I was following the GPS, I realized I was going the wrong way.

It must think I have legs of Titanium! If you were to draw the route I ended up doing to get through San Jose, you would think a crack addict had been spinning donuts in his car.Round and Round.Anyway got to the hotel and Had a good nights sleep.

On we go.

By the time I got to Milpitas

I guess

Stew in that a while

In Latin Celeste Regina translates int

She grew up in a household beset with mental illness. Her mother suffered with depression which resulted in committing suicide in 1931 when my mother was maybe 8 years old, My mother was the one who found her. Her father suffered from alcoholism. He died in 1942 at age 50, when she was in high school or shortly after.

There

Our last day in Atlanta was packed. It was a beautiful clear day. When we were in the beautiful Chattanooga aquariums, one of the docents had recommended the Atlanta aquarium. We enjoyed it, but thought Chsttanooga ‘s was better.

If you only had time to go to one Civil Rights museum, I think this would be the one to go to.

For us it was like a summation of the civil rights sites we went to. We both thought it was well done, due to the overall view it gives you, but also on another floor, it gives you context to the present day human and civil rights struggles going on throughout the earth. There were a variety ways that they presented the information.

That evening we went to the Atlanta botanical gardens. Marlina had found that they were starting their holiday lights program the last night we were in town. We took the bus out to the gardens, had a nice dinner in the gardens then started exploring the lights

They had many lights choreographed to music

They really know how to do lights.

You should have seen the traffic they were getting 10.00 a car. While we’re we’re walking past the toll gate they collected 200.00.

When we left3.5 hrs later there was still a line going in.

It was a very good trip with many interesting places to see, lots of interesting historical places and people to learn about, lots of beautiful environments to experience. Until next time

An hour and twenty minutes outside Atlanta are Gibbs Gardens. Marlina learned about it on a program about gardening she thinks is called called Garden Smart.

30 years ago this guy bought hundreds of acres outside Atlanta and began creating this garden. It has over 150 varieties of Japanese maple.

He had two gardens ,one is Japanese and the other is a Manor House garden. Tha statuary was all created in Osaka Japan and shipped to Georgia.

The day was bitterly cold,yet crystal clear and still, so the reflections were quite nice.

We’ll leave you with a slow glide across a pond

Until then ,Pau

Pau

Last week on a rainy afternoon we drove up the coast from St Augustine to see, the tournament players course near Jacksonville.

A group that organized the TPC tournament players championship wanted to have their own course to hold the championship tournament on. They approached a private club At Sawgrass to make a deal, but the members didn’t want to give up their private club status. There was 419 acres of “swamp” that a developer was holding across the street. They made a deal and the course got built.

Sometime later they decided to redo the course and the clubhouse,in 1 ,yes one year, the course and clubhouse were finished. I’m talking total demolition of the club house and the course. They worked 3 shifts 24 hours a day to complete the course and the club house.

We could not go out on the course due to reseeding that was going on ,but it is quite beautiful. And a technical marvel, all the greens have vacuums under them so that if it rains they can suck the water down and dry out the greens quickly. Don’t want to keep that television audience waiting.

I describe the course as beautiful,and I think it is, yet, one has to consider the cost of filling in the “swamp”, ecologically we don’t know the cost. I’m betting in the long run the swamp will retake the area.

Last Sunday we took a boat trip off the coast of St Augustine. Here are a couple of videos.

We then drove to Atlanta and Marlina surprised me with a trip to the FoxTheater to see Wicked. Should you ever be in Atlanta try to take in one of their guided tours this is an amazing theater. Think of our beautiful Art Deco theaters, then put them on steroids. Here’s a video.

We’ll leave you with 50 seconds at Gibbs Gardens outside of Atlanta. Sit back and enjoy.

Paul

We have army’s with various services to protect our country and a way of life we value. This one day a year that we set aside to honor the work they have done. We usually think of this in terms of dealing with other nations.

On this trip Marlina and I have been visiting a number of places where people struggled, protested and boycotted to defend and to inforce the laws and rights of the citizens of this nation. Their adversaries were and are the citizens of their own country.

This of course is the civil right movements.

The weapons they chose to use were tactics of non violence, sit ins,marches ,meetings and legislation.

They understood and understand that at the end of all conflicts there has to be agreement and acceptance that both side are going to agree to live in a manner that is acceptable to each. It doesn’t matter weather you kill thousands or none,at the end you still have to come to this agreement.

In using non violent tactics a person says I am not going to continue this practice I oppose and I may choose to obstruct the practice by sitting down, marching,etc. I am not going to assault anyone to make my point.

To do this effectively people undergo training in non violence, so they can be prepared because they know that physical violence will probably be used against them. Be it the 4 young men we met at the Greensboro lunch counter, the women who marched argued, sat down for their voting rights, the people who took on the FDA and the healthcare system for care and treatment for people with AIDS, to conscientious objectors in WWI.These were and are veterans for peace.

They most definitely put their lives on the line.Consider a school age child being attacked with fire hoses in Birmingham. Think of what I spoke about at the National Memorial for peace and justice, people being lynched because they protested about their husband having been lynched.

I would ask that you take time out of your day over the next few weeks and consider these veterans. How can we best promote our values and our way of life without resorting to violence.At some point we will have to do it anyway.

Oh yes ,it can be done. May each of us DEVELOP, the courage and methods to live in a world where we don’t need military veterans.

Remember less than 120 years ago most people sure that people would never fly.

Less than 70 years ago most people were sure no human could run a mile in under 4 minutes.

With gratitude to each of you.

Pau

When it is first mined, it is very soft, so soft, that you can’t build with it. It needs to allowed to dry and harden for several years. Once it reaches the proper hardness it is great for building.

In St Augustine, the Spanish built 6 different forts out of wood, each succumbing to rot or fire.

Once they built with coquina they were never taken over and held off all invaders,during the time of cannonball warfare. The balls would either bounce off or become lodged in the stone.

He led a group of Greek Orthodox refugees from New Smyrna,where their colony was failing,60 miles up the cost to St.Augustine,where they found refuge in the Then British controlled,St Augustine.

This statue is outside the Basilica of St Augustine.

It is a very nice Cathedral that has undergone several rebuildings.

The latest occurred in 1887.There was a huge hotel next door to,the Cathedral.There is a fire in the hotel,that spreads through a third of the city.the roof of the Cathedral collapses.The walls stay intact because,wait for it………

They were built of Coquina of course.

The next day the bishop is looking at the collapsed roof and mess before him,when a guy walks up, puts his arm around his shoulders and says I’ve got two things for you,first is a donation to help with the rebuilding, the second. Is , a friend of mine who is visiting from. New York City,James Renwick. He was just completing St Patrick’s Cathedral In NY city, He had built the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC.

The guy who put his arm around the bishop was named Flagler,a co founder of a standard Oil with Rockefeller. I could write for days about him alone.

I took a 1.5 hr tour of the Cathedral with a very well informed guide named Pat. She integrated the building with the city’s history, the Catholic beliefs,the iconography of the decorative elements of the church along with the personalities of the major players.

I thought she did so in an ecumenical way.I was glad that we didn’t get clobbered by Catholic theological beliefs.it as a tour well worth taking.

In 2005 they celebrated the 500 anniversary of this congregation. Ponce De Leon the first Europeon to find Florida. As a gift to this congregation,the people of his home town in Spain, had this baptismal font sculpted from stone quarried in Ponce’s home town and sent it over.

May we all have such considerate and gracious events be part of our lives, either by receiving or giving.

Paul

We have been in St Augustine Florida for the last 3 days, having driven from Tallahassee Florida. Had rain the first several days and got caught in several,showers, but were dry within 20 mins. Today it was in the 80’s with 93%+ humidity..

You can drink 16 oz of H2O in 30 seconds in this heat..

This is the oldest non indigenous community in the US. (There is carbon dated evidence of people having been here for 6000 years. ) Founded in 1535. By a guy named Melendez,who proclaimed the land in the name of God,then got practical and named it for Spain. It became a Catholic colony, no matter what the Indigenous people thought. Ponce deLeon landed up the coast in 1513, but didn’t stick around.This was a nasty place back then.

There was one group of English, Greeks and Italians who formed a colony 60 miles south of here ,1200 landed,within a year 450 were dead.

Within 8 years 600 had left and walked together to St Augustine,then a British colony..They were lead by a Catholic priest,but we’re in such Dire shape they were taken in by the British. After the British lost Florida in the negotiations following the Revolutionary war the land was given back to Spain and Catholicism flourished.

Florida is called the 14th colony,because it played no significant part in the formation of the US, even though there was only one battle fought here.

The other day we took a drive up the coast in search of Manatees. It is a little early for those that are migrating,but we found a couple.

They are believed to be a mom and baby. Heeeers baby.

We decided to drive up the coast back to St Augustine on A1A. While passing through Daytona beach you didn’t see any beach,but you did see solid hotels on the beach . They almost have a sea wall already built out of hotels. We’ll spare you any pictures of that mess. You really appreciate the California Costal Commission even with it’s shortcomings.

More tomorrow,going to try and get some sleep.

Was awoken at 3:15 to the sound of the Ice Machine running incessantly.I got out of bed and here were two women filling two huge ice chests I told them to knock it off ,and didn’t they have any consideration for anyone else? No they had to leave at 4 AM.

Mind you there is a store open 24 hours 50 yards away.

Sometimes I’m completely flabbergasted.

Paul

As we started the trip we were listening to an audiobook called The Furious Hours. It’s the story of a trial in Alabama about a man who had shot and killed a Reverend in front of hundreds of witnesses.

This Reverend had been accused and never convicted of killing 4 of his family members for insurance money.These killings had occurred over a number of years.

Harper Lee heard about this trail and followed d it exhaustively as preparation for her next novel after To Kill A mockingbird . The book has numerous elements in it, a biography of Harper Lee, a partial biography of Truman Capote,a biography of the lawyer who defended The Reverend, and the man who shot the Reverend.Along with other stories

We had wanted to see Harpers hometown when we were down here and the audiobook added to it. Her father was a lawyer in Monroeville and in the 30’s when she was growing up this was a quintessential small Alabama town.

Her house no longer exists,replaced by a ice cream shop.What was disappointing was there is not even a marker. Truman Capote was raised part time next door to Harper. They were good friends and started writing together as children. When he was working on “In Cold Blood” , she did extensive and critical interviews and research for him.

Pretty amazing to have two talents like that growing up together!

Remember the character Boo Radley In to kill a mockingbird? He was the recluse all the kids were so scared of.

He as probably based on a guy who lived in town,Alfred Boudware, This is his grave.

Today was a driving day from Montgomery to Tallahassee Florida.We did visit a nature preserve on the coast of Florida south of Tallahassee called St Marks Nature Preserve.

As Charles Kuralt would do on his CBS Sunday Morning show, we’ll leave you with the nature preserve.

Until Then,

Paul

Yesterday we started to speak about the work of Bryan Stevenson. He begins defending men on Georgia’s death row who cannot pay for an attorney.He moved to Alabama for several reasons,one of which is there are no public defenders for people on death row in Alabama. The only system is if the jurisdiction has a contract with private attorney to act as public defenders.Many times the amount reimbursed is $1,000.00 for out of court expenses,MAX.

So Bryan realizes this is a place of greatest need and starts his work here. It starts with slavery.

Here are a few of the plaques speaking to why people were lynched

Bryan realizes that the problem then and now is that these people have been dehumanized and that until we face this and acknowledge what was done and that the economy of the United States was dependent on this system ,we will never be able to deal with this race problem,be it black people ,Chinese people in the late 1800’s or Hispanic people currently this race problem will recur again and again.

Until we are willing to invest in people, our race problems will occur.

Warehouse to hold humans before they were sold. But to the slave traders buyers,sellers, owners etc,these people were not humans,they were another species.This is how you rationalize this economic system. It is a system dependent on slave labor,if no slaves the whole thing gets very expensive, as the poor whites know all too well, because they are trying to compete in the market place, against slave owners

You climb to the top and then work your way down through the memorial

Each Corten steel block represents a site in the United States where a race related Lynching took place,with the names ,and dates of the people who were lynched.

It was out of these types of horrific events,that individuals decided to do something to try and change what was going on.

Often with life threatening possibilities. I hope that my being here and learning will help me to have the courage a nd steel to do what is right and to stand up for those that need help.

Women like Sarah Keys, Claudette Colvin,Jo Anne Gibson, names you’ll learn about when you come down here,were the day to day reason the boycott was successful .

It is easy to be grateful and in awe of the MLK’s,The Brian Stevenson’s the Morris Dees’ and the Rosa Park’s. Without them driving and guiding this evolution in society does not occur.

Without the everyday people riding buses knowing they are going to be beaten and maybe killed, registering to vote,walking into school, the movement never takes it first steps.

It is by no means,close to being finished. We took a guided tour through the Troy University Rosa Parks museum, lead by the vice chancellor who had created the museum.

He told an important story.As a young man he is growing up in a small town in Rural Alabama.He worked in a restaurant where on numerous occasions he told black people to go around back, that they could not be served in the main room,that they had to use the”colored” restrooms.

He said both black and white knew this was the normal thing for this society, it wasn’t the right thing,but it was how things were done.

As he said these were the “tapes”that played in your head. He says thank god I joined the Air Force and learned that there are better ways to do things, that he was able to get an education and learn that there are many ways to do things. His thinking changed and his behavior changed.

He becomes good friends with Rosa Parks and many people involved on both sides of the civil rights fight, while developing this excellent museum. He says that he still has “those tapes” playing in his head. He says that he has spoken with many black people from that era, who still are not comfortable sitting in the front of a bus,or drinking from fountains where whites are drinking. He emphasizes that the important thing is that his behavior has changed and that it will take generations to get these tapes out of our systems. Everyday we we do something to erase the tapes is helping to change for the better.

As he said this is an evolutionary progress, which is why things like the voting rights act needs to still be fully in place,not cut down,because some states have behaved ok for 3-4 years.

I’m so glad we are here.

Paul

Today we visited Ivy Green,the birth place of Helen Keller.

Her grandfather had bought the plantation in the antibellum and her father had been a Calvary officer in-the confederate army.

She was born and healthy until the age of 19 months,when she contracted what was probably scarlet fever.

When the fever abated she could no longer see or hear.

She became a terror,things like locking her mother in a closet for several hours,she later wrote she could feel the floor and wall move as her mother tried to get out.

Her mother had another child, a boy. Helen was so jealous that she overturned the cradle, the parents decided that they needed help.

Anne Sullivan was the daughter of Irish immigrants who had come to the US to escape the Irish potato famine.

Her mother contracted TB and died when Anne was 8 years old. At age 5 she had contracted trachoma of the eye,but the family was so poor they could not afford treatment.Anne had a younger brother Jimmy who had a chronic hip problem.

Jimmy died shortly after the abusive father abandoned Anne and Jimmy.

Anne was alone and was able to get a social worker to admit her to a Perkins School for the Blind.

When Anne was 20 a family asked if she would come o Alabama to teach their 7 year old deaf and blind daughter. Hence Anne and Helen start a life long friendship. Not that it wasn’t without its problems.

Anne fighting with Helens parents about the civil war and slavery, dealing with Helen tantrums. Helen locking Anne in the second story bedroom and throwing away the key.They had to get a ladder and have her climb outside to get her out. Likewise Helen was dealing with a tough Irish woman, who brought rigor and discipline into her life..

The famous water pump scene is where Anne is pouring water over Helens hand while spelling it in sign language in her other palm is when the light bulb comes on for Helen.

She then remembers the wa,wa sound she heard as a young child for water, and makes the sound,writing and object connection

The synapses start firing and she learns 30 words that afternoon andknows 250+ words in the next week. Turns out that Helen had an IQ of 160. No wonder she was so angry and frustrated, she was captive in a body that couldn’t express what she needed to.

It is Helen,who in 1925 who gives a speech to the Lions club that gives them their primary objective for their organization.

One of the many other things she accomplished was a co founder of The ACLU.

The guide was excellent.

It as a moving and inspiring tour.

The next day we drove to Birmingham to visit their Civil-rights Institute that is located across the street from the 16th st Baptist church,where the 4 little girls were killed when the KKK USED A BOMB WITH 10 sticks of Dynamite on a Sunday morning. It had the nickname of Bombingham,because during that time there were over a hundred bombings in that city.

The clan bombed his home,his church,beat the crap out of him for trying to register his kids in an integrated school. One time the bomb blew the floor out from under him and he was standing in the debris Those crackers must have had a few brown streaks in their tightly whities,when they saw him standing there

Regarding the church bombing,the perpetrators were tried 4 times and not convicted

Then in 1977 a conviction ,2001 and 2002 two more convictions.The 4th guy died years before the convictions. Justice was served due to persistent southern prosecutors., not J Edgar Hoover who would not take the case to trail.

We had a 2+ hour drive to Montgomery in a driving rain.

Tomorrow we go to theSouthern Poverty Law Centers,Civil Rights memorial and to the Equal Justice Initiatives Center for Peace and Justice

Paul