In Search of El Dorado

The Sunday Scribblings prompt is "Poetry". Follow link or banner to participating blogs.

Sunset reflected in parabolic mirrors.
courtesy of Theodosia Ferguson, Vital Systems

IN SEARCH OF ELDORADO

Our faith in gold, and pearl, and fountains
where youth and manhood are renewed
was lost in challenging these mountains
of pathless chasms, boulders strewed
to crush our spirits, slow our way,
ice by night and fire by day.

We thought we would have been, by now,
stretched languidly in fragrant grass.
Who could foresee this brooding brow
of overhanging cliff? We pass
against the precipice; the blood
of clinging fingers marks our way,
precarious, day after day
threatened by avalanche and flood.

Nor have we found the streets of gold,
but dust, and thorn, and flies that bite,
and eyes that circle us at night,
and we are growing old.

Bruised, we scientists retreat.
The stones of paradise have torn our feet.

Wind turbine at sunset.
courtesy of Theodosia Ferguson, Vital Systems

F is for Family Fun

Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday Round 5 has progressed to the letter F.








They had gathered for the celebration of their Father/Grandfather/Great-grandfather's life. The day after that not-unjoyous sharing of memories, they proceeded to enjoy the rest of the family reunion. And what better way to have family fun than by going to nearby regional Tilden Park to ride the little train and the merry-go-round?

This is genuine scale-madel steam engine

From left to right:
Susan Shock, Charlie and Jon Andersen,
Anna, Kristin and Otto Smith.
Photo by Josie Andersen

Charlie shows son Jon the inside of the miniature cab.

Photo by Josie.

Otto and Kristin Smith enjoying the merry-go round.
Photo by Josie.

Otto reaches for a high-five with Charlie.
Photo by Josie.

Byron Shock
Photo by Josie

Anna Smith dances with her father
to the music of the merry-go-round.

Cousins enjoy the playground at Codornices Park.
Susan Shock on zip line.
Photo by Cedric Shock (Susan's husband).

Byron Shock on the concrete slide.
Photo from Susan and Cedric.

Anna swings!
From Susan and Cedric.

Brother and sister Loren Bishop and Josie Andersen
had not seen each other for two years.
Joyous reunion!

Link here for other blogs that participate in ABC Wednesday round 5.

E is for Eulogy

Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday Round 5 features the letter E this week. Somehow, in two very busy weeks, I managed to mis C and D, but I think this entry is long enough (i.e. too long!) to make up for several missed weeks.

I wrote this down to read at the start of the celebration of Otto J. M. Smith’s life, held at the beautiful Alumni House on the University of California campus on the day that would have been Otto’s 92nd birthday. This was not a religious celebration. I read the following, then my oldest son, also named Otto, served as master of ceremonies, calling upon those who wished to take part. He also played piano accompaniment to violins or singers who didn’t wish to sing without accompaniment. I wanted this to be a happy celebration. It was, with much laughter and smiles as relatives, friends and colleagues shared anecdotes as well as heartfelt tributes to what he had contributed to their lives. The music was eclectic, some chosen just because my husband had enjoyed it, some chosen to express the feelings of the musicians.

Son Stanford sings Woodie Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land"

So here is my introduction:

Thank you all for coming to this celebration of the life of my brilliant, multi-faceted, compassionate husband. He was a dedicated teacher, a scientist, and (the title he most prized) a licensed professional engineer. He figured that engineers were the people who put ideas into practice. He considered himself a citizen of the United States and of the World and as part of the University of California. He wanted the best for all three of them, anxious to solve their problems and ready to criticize when he thought they were following misguided paths. He worried about Global Warming and promoted alternative energy systems. In the picture displayed here (to left of Stanford in above photo) that bit of shiny green under his hand is a prototype plug-in electric car that he is admiring. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

I know that some of you wish to celebrate his life with words, music or poetry. Remember, too, that this is a birthday party for what will be Otto’s 92nd birthday tomorrow. I know that he would want us to enjoy it. When we are done with our seated participation, there are light refreshments available and the patio, as well as this room has tables and chairs for us.

I feel extremely privileged to have shared almost 71 years of Otto’s life, first as a friend at Stanford University then almost 68 years (as of September 3rd) as his wife. He was always my best friend. We shared ideals, aspirations, interests, were constantly delighted with our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We laughed a lot, discussed a lot (sometimes heatedly), always knew that we each had married the right person. Otto had a constant thirst for knowledge, loved teaching, and at the university kept his office door open at all times. He enjoyed meeting old friends but also would engage total strangers in conversations about his concerns and enthusiasms. Traveling with Otto was always an adventure, and we did a lot of traveling.

Most of you know of his many honors and his numerous patents, but he also had a beautiful bass voice and joined choirs both here and in those countries where we might have been living for a few months or years. He enjoyed playing violin, viola and guitar. He was a life member of the California Writers' Club, and wrote not only technical papers but essays, travel stories and poetry.

Otto was always an honest person, and almost always a truthful one, but he also was a bit of a tease. At one time he had rescued a small albino possum whom we named Pogoette after Walt Kelly’s Pogo. Otto bought her a little red harness and a leash and would take her walking through the neighborhood. She would slurp up snails from the gardens that they passed, and many people would ask, “What is your little pet?” Otto would answer with a straight face, “She’s a tetraploid rat.” Most peoples would nod wisely.

I would like to read one of Otto’s poems to you. Coincidentally, just yesterday, long after I had decided on this poem, a blogger friend in Australia e-mailed me for permission to use it in her literary group. (Here I read the poem Stonehenge, which I have previously shared with you.) A reflection of Otto’s joy in life is expressed in a song which he and I often sang in the car. Our car was always filled with song. The language of this song is German, but it means “Enjoy life while the lantern glows” and seems to me an expression of Otto’s ebullient spirit. I have asked my granddaughter Anna to sing it for you as the start of this celebration.

This photo shows that it was a joyous occasion
mixed with some tears as we realized the magnitude of our loss.
In this photo:
Anna Smith and Kristin Smith, granddaughter and Daughter-in-law,
violinists; Alden Bryant, long-time friend who sang "Beloved Comrade";
Sterling Smith (standing) who played a Bach fragment on his tenor recorder.

The photos are by granddaughter Josie Andersen. For more links to ABC Wednesday, click on link or banner at the top of this post.

New Verses for "America the Beautiful"

The Sunday Scribblings prompt for this week is "New." For other posts with a "new" theme, click on link above or on the banner.


Have you ever heard a familiar song and suddenly realized that there was a verse that should be there, but that it was missing? These two new verses for "America the Beautiful" are in response to just such a realization on my part.

I wrote the first of these two new verses when a friend pointed out that the original inhabitants of this land were NOT the pilgrims!

This photo of Navahos at Shiprock
was found in Google images.

O beautiful for tribes whose lore
Embraced the buffalo,
Who met the pilgrims at the shore
And gave them corn to grow.

America,America!
Great spirit ease the pain
Of those displaced,
Their past erased
From hogan, woods, and plain.

"from sea to shining sea."
I photographed these Pacific waves
at our family reunion

And this was written in a burst of pure euphoria the day after Obama was elected as future president of this great land. I posted it on this blog at that time, so excuse me for running it by you once again.

O beautiful for rainbow race
for multicolored skin
for outside differences of face
Americans within.

America! America!
where every voice is heard.
We pledge to heed
each anxious need
with deed and work and word!

A and B are for Agapanthus and Begonia

Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday round 5 is well launched with B already the letter of the week. For other participating blogs click on the link above.



O.K.! So I'm cheating! I didn't really make it for the first of round 5 last week, so I am putting in a double post this week.

First: A for Agapanthus, better known as Nile lily. These pictures and those of the begonias were taken about three weeks ago. Please be sure to click on the photos to enlarge.

Here is closeup of a single blossom

This one is blooming at the bottom of the stairs down from the street to our front door.

And these are in the inner patio in front of my geranium bed.

And now B for Begonia

These pink and white begonias in the outer patio share a basket with lobelia.

A closer look at the begonias and lobelia.

And finally a modest little yellow begonia that I have great hopes for.

When in the World?

The Sunday Scribblings prompt is "Where in the world?"

My question is not so much "where" in the world but"when" in the world. I would give anything to be in a "when" with Otto still by my side. So this is the story (much condensed) of our last trip together outside the United States - a journey to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We traveled by small cruise ship (40 passengers) with extensive land excursions.

This beautiful bromiliad and these burgeoning new coconut palms were in a private preserve on the island of Curu. We visited it on the day after we had boarded the ship after busing from the airport in San Jose down to the coast, and, while many people took advantage of swimming on the pristine beach or being led on a nature walk, I chose to prowl with my camera, entranced by the tropical foliage. This was my last trip without a digital camera, and, stupidly, I had brought no telephoto lens. There were unusual animals and birds, a tribe of monkeys, a tri-colored squirrel, but the photos we attempted showed mostly jungle with teensy dots of the critters which were perfectly visible to our eyes.

We had to settle for this humongous toad (about the size of a man's foot) who was occupying a corner of the communal shower for the swimmers.

This macaw was at a highlands ranch called Los Innocentes to which we traveled the next day.

On the last day on the Costa Rican side of the border everyone explored, in zodiacs, channels in the nearby mangrove swamp -

where this pelican was sighted - probably looking for snakes rather than fish - according to our accompanying naturalist.

The next morning, after the customs inspectors had left our ship, we landed for the first time in Nicaragua. I came ashore before Otto so that I could take a picture of him landing. That's he with the wide-brimmed sunhat.

We then traveled by bus up to the town of Rivas, where these pics show some of the produce for sale.

Otto holds a long specimen of papaya, his favorite fruit.

This shy little girl wore her best clothes to go to market with her mother.

Another day we traveled to the Vulcan Masaya, which has a lake of fiery lava in its center, and where parrots nest in cliffs of the crater in the noxious gases.

For a trip to the cloud forest (isn't that a lovely name) our bus was not deemed sufficiently powerful to take us up the steep and winding road, so we transferred to this truck.

These boys by the side of the road watched our climb.

And the above are what grow in the cloud forest.

These musicians serenaded as we boarded launches on Lake Nicaragua to attend a fancy barbecue at a beautiful home (roll of film lost).

On our last day in Nicaragua, we visited the city of Leon and were treated to the following sights. First, street theater with elaborate stilt figures...


and the cathedral with this dramatic scene through its bells.

As I look at this very condensed version of a memorable trip, I realize how seldom Otto and I took "We were there" photos. Neither of us figures in any of these pictures, although both pairs of eyes saw them, though two people talked, compared, enjoyed them together. Maybe I should have called this post "WHO in the world".

Guess whom I would have chosen?

Z is for Zero Emissions

Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday round 4 is at the finish line. For participating blogs go to above link or banner at left.

Please click on these photos.
That way you can read the explanatory info.

An important and deadly contributor to climate change due to global warming is the vast quantity of pollution pumped into the atmosphere by automobiles that depend upon fossil fuels. There is a growing number of manufacturers who have deveoped non-polluting electric cars with zero emissions. These photos were made last Friday of exhibits at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.