Raven Jake Dawes

Lush's R&B

Y'all may have noticed that Raven Jake doesn't post a whole lotta pictures featuring my fully loaded Escalade Biodisel with the steer horns on the grill or standing in front of my castle with the ocean view. No recipes for lobster thermidor or getting your ermine cloak to look its whitest.  There are reasons for this. 1) Raven Jake is a simple man who only needs a guitar, three chords and the blues, the love of a good woman, and an antivenin kit just in case and 2) like the rest of America, I'm on an austerity program. But when a great product comes my way, even if it is a shameless extravagance, then I've just got to endorse it.

Lush's R&B is the best thing that's ever touched my hair.

Generally, it comes in a 3.5 oz container, but we go through 'em pretty quick, so I asked my boy Dil at the Vancouver plant what he could do for me (they put a sticker on each jar sayin' who made it so you can hold them personally accountable) and he came back with the 3.5 gallon container there in the photo. That'll do for a while. I'd better ask him about Toothy Tabs, my other fave.

If you haven't tried Lush products, generally they're great. Lush is a head's up company that has an eye on the environment and human rights, and looks for ways to ethically accommodate those causes. I'm pretty picky when it comes to scents, would prefer not to sparkle like a Twillight vampire, and don't part easily with my recycling money, so it takes a lot to please me. Even for Lush, which offers some products that smell like a lemon, contain more glitter than a rave, and cost more than copper pipe. Not R&B though. Thanks, Dil.

Rock Corral

Y'all Jane and I were off having adventures with Barb and Rob Harris over the weekend, and we ended up at Rock Corral in Johnson Valley, a box canyon the cattlemen used to use when they drove herds down from Big Bear. The Rock Corral is believed to have been built by two brothers named Swett in the 1880s or maybe it wasn't til 1905, according to a reference in The Sun Runner. Willie Boy had a sip from the spring further on up the hill, in the course of the famous manhunt. At any rate, it's a mighty historical place to take a bath, and if somethin' isn't done about it, the whole area's gonna be covered in windmills, ruining this pristine desert forever.

The Santa Cruz Cat

First off, I didn't take this picture. That honor belongs to my friend Barry Blanchard, who has taken his interest in photography to a whole new level while rehabilitating an injured ear. Barry lives near Santa Cruz and most of his pics are seascapes and seals and anemones and that kind of thing, but he's been getting into portraits too, which brings us to this kid and his cat. Or maybe it's this cat and his kid. Either way, this picture made me laugh 'cause the last time Jane and I were up in Santa Cruz, which is getting to be a while back now - probably upwards of five years - this kid was walking down the sidewalk wearing a cape and the cat. (both of them were skinnier then, if you can believe it).

We were having some difficulty finding the Bigfoot Museum in Felton and had ducked into the Santa Cruz Visitor Information Center to see if we could get it sorted out. Let me tell you, Santa Cruz has the most "on it" volunteers I've ever seen behind the desk at a welcome center anywhere. They booked us on a free sea elephant tour with the ranger they deemed to lead the best visits (they were right), gave us directions to the Bigfoot Museum bypassing freeway construction along with friendly advice regarding the management (as in; "this is a research facility not a corny roadside stand, so please respect what they're offering) and when it seemed like their was nothing about Santa Cruz they didn't know, we said "well, what about Darth Vader and his cat." They knew all about them too. So of course we took their advice about a cheap place to stay and a good place to eat and had a fantastic weekend.

So Barry - keep taking pictures, these are awesome. Cat - see if you can get your kid to eat and brush his teeth. It's an uphill battle, I know, but it seems you've managed to keep him alive these last years and I'm sure you're up to the challenge. And if any of you readers find yourself up in the bay area drop by the Santa Cruz Visitor Information Center - they'll steer you right. Above all, keep Santa Cruz weird.

Homebrew Update: Night Porter

Cracked my first homebrew the other night - what a difference bottling makes!

 I think the Night Porter, a darker beer with date sugar as the primary ingredient, is going to shape up to be a winner, and we've got a lighter "blonde" coming up as well. Sure didn't taste as good last week - a little priming sugar, a little rest - um, um.

 







 

Michael White Adobe in the Titan Shield

Shout out to Camille Wang, student editor-in-chief of the Titan Shield (San Marino High) for her coverage of the Michael White Adobe open house: