Ventura
Ventura Highway in the sunshine Where the days are longer The nights are stronger than moonshine You’re gonna go, I know ‘Cause the free wind is blowin’ through your hair And the days surround your daylight there Seasons crying no despair Alligator lizards in the air, in the air…
America 1972
Ventura, California
A quiet coastal town 68 miles north of Los Angeles. Louise, a former consumer of a narcotic born of the coca leaf distilled into rock form and then smoked, drove us to Ventura. This friendly lady without a past had once upon a time sold her carnal favors in order to purchase the abovementioned material. In other words, she was a cr**k h* for 30 years when one fine day 9 years ago she decided it wasn’t for her anymore. There was no “kick,” she said. Maureen and I debated what this meant. I said that when she stopped smoking it and said she just slept and slept, this meant there were no withdrawal symptoms. Maureen said, “No. It means she wasn’t getting high off it anymore.”
She is 62 and now spends her days driving Uber and caring for 2 developmentally delayed female adults and she is happy. And I am happy that she is happy. Sometimes it’s a long road but most of us eventually get there to our happy place.
From the Absurd to the Sublime in California
Ventura is home to a Mission. The California Missions were attempts by Spain to convert native peoples to Catholicism and eventually colonize the west coast of California. There were 21 Missions built. They began in 1769 and ended in 1833. We visited the ninth Mission whose cross was erected on Easter morning, March 31, 1782, and named “Mission Basilica San Buenaventura”.
They actually built a 7-mile-long aqueduct to bring water from the Buenaventura River to the new Mission. With all this water the monks were able to create a beautiful garden and juicy orchard that the English navigator George Vancouver described as the finest he had ever seen.
I sat on the right in the back and listened to a chant. I was alone. No tourists, just Maureen somewhere in the wings. Peace. Security. I’m not even religious but it’s soothing to sit in a church and just be quiet for a few minutes. Maureen is tired of me wandering off into these churches. I said, “Fine. You don’t have to come in.” So she lingers outside the church walls.
Black-Outs in California
While eating Sushi at Masa Sushi all the electricity went out. The restroom was pitch black and I had to use my phone to light the way. We later discovered that the library was also affected. How far and wide this black-out extended I do not know. However, I do know that California suffers from rolling blackouts. Is it “green energy” like wind and solar not keeping up with demand for the most populous state in the Union? Can we put windmills on a 747 and fly away or do we need oil for that baby?
Fruits and Nuts
There seems to be a lot of healing and therapy going on in California.
My friend Bob once said to me, “We are all broken toys. Some of us are just more broken than others.” I guess so. And I guess a lot of restless people tend to drift westward and that’s why there may be more broken toys out there than anywhere else in America. Bob also said that California is “the land of fruits and nuts.” Bob is so wise.
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