Heading South

I woke to snow! this morning, and checked the weather in Havana: 79!
Time to head south...warm up on a beach, practice Spanish, enjoy mohitos, and make some Cuban friends.

Cuba Bound

I'm not sure exactly what it was...or when it started, but suddenly in the middle of winter in my small Oregon town, I realize that Cuba has been on my bucket list for far too long. Like Greece (back in high school), Cuba called. I was occupying at the time, caught up in revolutionary fervor, designing "Occupy" T-shirts with Che images, drafting press releases for events to move money or amend the constitution, penning a street column for AFP. Earlier in the year, a man from Tunisia lit a match and started the conflagration. The Egyptian Spring sprung loose a kind of hope again that change was possible.

Next thing I know I'm on my computer, requesting books and films from our county library, scanning Netfliz for pictures about Che, Fidel, Cuba. I find three people in my town who've been there and buy them coffee and pick their brains. My son is couch-surfing, home for the holidays, and he gets caught up in my dream. And before long it's GAME ON!! Sometime April or May.

Cuba slowly becomes reality as I read stories and news, watch images and correspond with bloggers. I investigate State Department licenses, and finally find the perfect access: A General License, not needing verification by the Feds, but allowing me, as professional writer, researcher, photographer, to travel to that long, illusive island.

Gone is the spirit that called me to Guantanamo. Instead I'll stay throughout the country at casa particulares (B&B's, homestays), now licensed by the government due to raging poverty and booming tourism. I'll interview the elders, gather favorite family recipes for a Cuban Cookbook, frame UNESCO world Heritage sites for my image bank - and exercising my freedom as a global citizen (it being more and more difficult to admit I'm from norteamerica)... traveling to one more island I've not yet seen.

A Winters Dawn

A winter's dawn -
First light on the horizon
Then a flash of iron and flamingo,
sprawling colors along the mountain range of Southern Oregon.
Bare branches
Against morning's sky.
A jet trail frames the golden threads...
And I dream of Cuba -


Cuba of my dreams, with diamond-dust beaches, lush valleys, colonial towns...
And the Malecon, framing Havana's old town against the northern tides of hate.

Caribbean Cookbook

As I schedule my upcoming trip, my mouth is drooling. 

Mmmmmmmmmmm...island fare :-)

A pre-trip taste: Coconut Cuisine

The Boys of Summer

http://www.mauiwriter.com/BoysofSummer.pdf
(be patient...takes a minute to load)

When the last snow lingered on Mt. Ashland, we awaited the end of winter and the beginning of all things good…baseball season! Faster than a speeding bullet, as American as apple pie, before baseball's about money, booze, sex, and steroids, the ‘boys of summer’ thrill to the crack of a bat, a grand slam over the left field fence, a slide into home plate.
     Soon we heard the two words that quicken the heart: “Play Ball!!” And our boys took to their field of dreams and played for the love of the game.    
     And play they did – a 16-0 season of spectacular baseball! The thrill of victory…and great fun for the fans :-) 
Through weeks of championship play against big boys from big schools in big towns, AHS Varsity boys brought it all…until the end. So yesterday’s singular playoff loss was a sad ending to a joyous season. We didn’t bring our game. We took some tough calls. The baseball gods weren't smiling. And we took second.
     Still it was a season of brilliant play, amazing moments, friendships to last a lifetime. Grizzlies – each and every one of you make us proud!    
     Aloha oe, Tutu