27-New Salem

  Lincoln arrived in New Salem in 1831.  The town began two years before when a saw and grist mill opened on the Sangamon River.  Lincoln was a store keeper, a postmaster, a rail splitter and a state legislator.  New Salem was certain it would be the county seat.  A county election decided otherwise.  In the last half of the 1830's, most of New Salem moved to Petersburg.  Lincoln left in 1837.  

     Lincoln and a partner ran a dry goods store from this cabin.

26-Herbert Hoover Birthplace

          They were so different!  One was patrician, the other common; one had a political background, the other engineering; one was beaming and confident, the other just completed four disastrous years as President! 
     

        

     Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover were inside the open car, driving down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Inauguration.  The New Yorker magazine was going to put a cartoon on the it's cover showing the contrast.  At the last minute the cartoon was dropped because it was too scandalous! It was the most famous cartoon that never graced the cover of the New Yorker!

     Roosevelt was part of the Hudson Valley Roosevelt's, prominent in New York society for four centuries.  Hoover was the first President born west of the Mississippi River.  Roosevelt's father had a weak heart.  The son learned discretion in the presence of the father.  Hoover's father was a 'replacement' blacksmith.  The Civil War transformed the American farm.  Many tools could be manufactured and shipped for less than the cost of making it locally.  Hoover's father saw the changing market.  He sold his blacksmith shop and opened a tool supply store.  But Hoover was only six when his father died.

     Roosevelt was baptized in fire in New York politics and the crippling effects of polio.  Hoover was baptized defending foreign nationals in China's Boxer Rebellion and feeding refugees in Belgium.  Roosevelt learned patience and timing.  Hoover learned logistics and volunteerism.  Neither had the tools necessary to solve the problem!  

     

     

25-Mid-State Fair

Welcome to the California Mid-State Fair

         Where excess is honored,

 

...foibles are forgiven,

                                      ...and wallets are lightened!

 

24-Getting Ready

     Five years ago T-shirts were $20, $15 on sale.  Three years ago  San Luis Obispo had no T-shirts available.  Two years ago I found out why.  Walmart in Arroyo Grande was selling them for $5.  I went to buy more T-shirts today.  
                                              
                                   $3.58!

       I thought about calling a buddy in the 'Anti-Human Trafficking' movement to see if slave labor was involved...  Instead, I got ten shirts!

   

23-Bye-bye Green!

     We are gearing up for our Mid-West Mystery Tour; last minute instructions for our son, last minute 'blogging' advice from our son.  With all the hubbub, I knew a decision had to be made about the yard.  

     I love my yard!  My glass-topped table on the patio has the umbrella that keeps warmth in, brightness out.  The green is spectacular!  Built-up, rearranged, nursed and coddled, I take wonderful pleasure in a world of lush, moist surroundings.
     Now I am entering a season where pleasure is denied!  The water crises is creeping into San Luis Obisipo.  Slowly it comes, like moving molten lava; slow and devastating!  It first crept in over Facebook.  I have a highly respected relative, a PhD scientist.  She blogged that brown is the new green.  She is proudly converting her front lawn to desert wasteland.  
     We just said goodbye to two house guests from the Valley.  They said they were doing laundry for a neighbor whose well water ran dry.  Now I know the Coast and the Valley feed from different water tables.  But how about a little SOLIDARITY!  
     To top it off, Lady Gaga had a front page article telling us not to shower! (or at least not alone!!)
     Man is resourceful, but only God makes rain.  If you believe that, you must believe only God withholds rain.  He did it in the past, and He is doing it now!  I have been following a 65 year old paradigm that says 'more green, more fun!'  Now I am turning off my lawn sprinklers.  At the tender age of 65, I begin the search for a new paradigm, wondering  which comes first; a new paradigm or the latter rain?

22-Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was the most important American architect of the 20th Century. His winter headquarters in Phoenix is Taliesin West, His architecture gave structure to the concept of 'compress and release'. If you go to a pro ball game, you are compressed in the tunnel before being released with a view of a manicured, green lawn. He was the first to use indirect lighting. He 'unstacked' the boxes of European class-conscious living. The democratic American spirit required a more open, free-flowing domesticate floor plan.
Late in his career he was required to give testimony in court. When asked his name and profession he replied, "I am Frank Lloyd Wright. I am the greatest architect in America". That night his wife scolded him, "Why do you say those things?" "Dear," he replied, "I couldn't help it. They put me under oath".

21-Rough Riders Statue, Prescott AZ

Rough Rider statue outside Prescott, AZ, courthouse.  Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders fought in Cuba, that "splendid little war".  The territorial gains were fleeting.  The real gains, for good and evil, involved increasing American prestige among existing world powers.  The Rough Riders were a combination of polo playing Harvard grads and western cowboys, led by a person who understood the character of both!