HAYSTACK ROCK

Campfire in the sand on the beach near Haystack Rock.

BEAK BREAKER

Beak Breaker, a Double IPA by Pelican Brewing.

19.2 ounce tall can served in a pint glass.

 9.0% abv.

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Dinner consisted of food and beer from Pelican Brewing. Beer Sausage Flatbread. House Salad with huckleberry peppercorn vinaigrette. And then the Beak Breaker.

I had ordered the India Pelican Ale, but the last tall can went out the door as I was ordering. Beak Breaker was the substitute for it and I'm glad it was. The flavors were grapefruit, orange, pine, malts, and a bite of alcohol. It was a nice balance of biscuit-ness, bitterness, and booziness. Perfection.

Plus the beer and food were great together.

BREAKFAST BEER

Mel's Magic IPA, an India Pale Ale, by Iron Horse Brewery.

12 ounce can served in a pint glass.

6.8% abv.

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Breakfast of champions. This IPA is a perfect breakfast beer to accompany a Chicken Fried Skillet (chicken fried steak, scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, and hash browns all smothered in gravy).

Please wake me up after my heart attack!

HAYSTACK ROCK

The ocean recharges me.

A gift of time and a gift of space allowed me and the family to stay at Cannon Beach just a couple of blocks away from the beach.

Haystack Rock is one of those natural wonders that I can constantly observe. Each moment is it's own. A slightly different angle. Changes in light and weather. Fog. Sea birds. The scent of seaweed and brine. High tide and low tide. Ebb and flow. Wind and waves. Throngs of people and an empty beach.

SWIM FREE

Preparations.


Carving block number one. Octopus body.


Carving block number two. Suckers and wave motions.


Carving block number three. Eye.


Inking.


Printing the first layer.


Print and block.


Octopuses in many colors of water.

SWIM FREE

"Swim Free (Sandy Fest 3)." Speedball block printing ink and India ink on 3" x 4" colored index card.

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Each year since my mother died, I celebrate her "Feast Day" with a day of art and poetry and food and family. The past couple of years included a visit to the cemetery to clean gravestones of family members, to the Bremerton Art Walls to paint, to a memorial garden, and out to dinner with members of my family. But most of that was unmanageable this year due to the global pandemic and stay-at-home emergency measures.

Even though, this year's celebration would primarily be at home and, later, with family via videoconferencing software, I wanted to make sure it hit most of the touchstones that make the day for me.

The primary focus of the day was this year's version of "Swim Free." The first "Swim Free" (Year 0) was painted in acrylics on the Bremerton Art Walls. The second "Swim Free" was painted in spray paint on the Bremerton Art Walls. The third "Swim Free" was painted at the Bremerton Art Walls, with the first spray painted on the Walls and an additional three painted onto concrete panels.

This year's fourth "Swim Free" (Year 3) was an attempt to capture the spirit of the previous three versions in a new medium—linoleum block printing. I spent the day carving two 3" x 4" linoleum blocks and one 3/4" x 3/4" eraser, and then printing the layers onto index cards that were cut in half.

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Later in the day, family members gathered via Zoom to hear a couple of poems read—"For Grief" from To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue and "Washing My Mother's Body" from An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo—and give a "Coca Cola" toast in memory of my mother.

BIRD BOX

I finally viewed Bird Box (2018), directed by Susanne Bier. At its heart, it's a mixture of a zombie film and a quest film, with elements from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and Thomas More's Utopia acting as anchors of each. There are echoes of A Quiet Place (2018) and The Book of Eli (2010) throughout.

The film's story strangely resonates in a world filled with COVID-19, Black Lives Matters protests, MAGA, notions of community versus the individual, freedom and the rights/responsibilities that come with it, and whether or not one should wear a face mask (blindfold). I wonder how this film would have "read" for me prior to March of this year. Alas, I will never know.

All in all, the movie was too tense/intense for me, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.