Poetic Soulful Gracefulness Practices of Graceful People, Being In Tune with Nature and As One with the Poetic Panache of the Dance of Nature and My Love Affair with Passionately Expressive Signs which Make Me Smile and Give Me Joy – by Gary Smolker
Poetic Soulful Gracefulness
I appreciate human gracefulness.
I also appreciate the poetic beauty of nature.
Below are stories of human gracefulness and photos of nature’s beauty (the dance of nature) I recently experienced.
I took the photos below of the fall change of colors of the leaves of trees from green to yellow, orange and red during a recent long weekend (October 16 through October 19, 2015) I spent in the Eastern Sierra in Northern California.
They are photos of romantic and enchanting spots I visited in the Eastern Sierra during change of the color of leaves from green to yellow, orange and red as the days get shorter and colder.
The series of three e-mail letters below (a call for help and the answer to that call) were exchanged on October 9, 2015.
I extracted/deleted the personal phone numbers of the correspondents in those emails.
Tami, the person who called out for help, lives in Los Angeles.
Sidney, who answered Tami’s call for help, lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
I live and “work” in Los Angeles, California.
The letters below demonstrate that there is beauty in the human spirit, the correspondents are some of the many caring people in the world, despite news reports to the contrary, “people are beautiful.”
Call for Help Letter No. One
Sidney,
Cry for Help Letter No. 2
Hello Sidney,
I am a paralegal that works in the same office where Gary leases an office. He tells me you are a brilliant individual. Gary has heard what is happening in my life with my 25 year old daughter, and her boyfriend Chris. I’m not sure how you can help. But if you can help, or know someone that can help, I will accept any help I can get at this point. This is a very sad situation where a 25 year old male who was perfectly healthy last Christmas (as I spent last Christmas with them), and was in his 3rd year of chiropractic college, went from a normal person to a non-functioning human being with extreme nerve pain in his eyes and now has such severe hearing pain that he has to eat soft foods or even baby foods because he cannot stand the sound of the chewing in his head.
If you can offer any insight, please let me know. Please reply to this email or call me at PHONE NUMBER DELETED BY GSS. Again, I’m not sure why Gary thought you might be able to help.
Tamara
Prompt Unstinting Help
Hi Tamara,
It is probably a good idea for Chris to be seen by a neuro-ophthalmologist, which is a specialist who deals with the neurology of the eye.
UCLA Medical Center is nationally ranked in the specialties of (1) Adult Ear, Nose and Throat, (2) Adult Ophthalmology and (3) Adult Neurology.
See the U.S. News Rankings below.
You can search the UCLA Medical Center web site for (a) a neuro-ophthalmologist and for (b) an otologist (ear doctor). When you have come up with some doctors who seem very qualified, we can brainstorm the choices. If you are having any difficulty accessing the specialists, let me know and we can talk by cell as we simultaneously access the UCLA website. Please feel free to contact me at any time by cell phone.
Talk soon,
Sidney
[PHONE NUMBER DELETED BY GSS]
U.S. News Rankings — deleted by GSS
Cucumber Salad with Smashed Garlic and Ginger
On Thursday, October 8, 2015, while I was reading Yotam Ottolenghi’s book “PLENTY – Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi” and looking at the pictures at Toast Cafe on Ventura Blvd, in Sherman Oaks, California I showed the owner a picture of the Cucumber Salad (picture below).
The owner of “Toast Cafe” proved to me that he is a beautiful person, by what he did after he looked at that picture.
My Love Affair with Coffee Shops, Life, Lively People and Lively Places
I love life, lively people, lively places and coffee shops full of life owned by people who express their love of life with the signs they post.
I love the way enthusiastic people who own coffee shops I have visited have expressed themselves through the signs they have posted in their cafes.
Below are photos of signs in my favorite coffee shop, in San Francisco, taken by me.
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Below are a photos of signs posted in a coffee shop I took in a cafe I visited in June Lake, California on October 20, 2015.
The City of June Lake is in the Eastern Sierra.
Below is a photo I took of a magnet I saw on a coffee machine in a coffee shop I was in the day before. That coffee shop is located in Lee Vining, California.
The City of Lee Vining is in the Eastern Sierra.
The Eastern Sierra Is Lively Exciting Place
I invite you to enjoy the following signs I saw during my long weekend (October 16 – October 19 2014) while in the Eastern Sierra.
Observing the Dance of Nature
I found peace of mind last weekend (October 16 through October 19, 2015) by looking at the fall colors of trees growing along the side of streams in California’s Eastern Sierra and by looking at the sky, clouds and a mountain reflected in a still pool of water in the high sierra.
Below is a picture of one of those streams.
Below is another picture of that stream.
The reason we see fall colors is part of an annual cycle that begins in spring and summer, when green chlorophyll pigments are active in cells that make food for the tree to grow. It’s during this time that leaves also contain lesser amounts of yellow, orange and red pigments that are masked by the chlorophyll. The appearance of fall colors is actually the disappearance of green chlorophyll.
Below is a picture of trees whose leaves have changed color from green to yellow, orange and red.
I hope you enjoy looking at mountains and trees from the bridge I was on while taking the picture below, while I was hiking around one of the many lakes at Mammoth Lakes, California.
Imagine what it was like for me to be on a bridge, in the City of Mammoth Lake, away from urban distraction, away from the frustrations I feel whenever I find myself caught in a traffic jam going to my office in Encino, California in the morning.
Below is a picture I took while on a bridge which crosses over the still waters of a lake in the City of Mammoth Lake on October 19, 2015.
You too can personally experience a momentous wonderment while looking at mountains and trees reflected in the still water while looking at the still lake while you are looking out from a perch on this bridge to the horizon.
When I took the above photo, yesterday (October 19, 2015), it was a clear day, the visibility was about 20 miles.
A few days before I took the following two pictures of sky, clouds and mountain reflected in the still waters of a pond in another part of the Eastern Sierra.
The sky and clouds in the sky you see in the above photos are reflected in still waters of a pond in that peaceful place.
The change of color of leaves in the fall color season goes on and on and on in the Eastern Sierra.
The trees peak in color change at different times depending on the elevation.
The Eastern Sierra has varied elevations – from approximately 5,000 to 10,000 feet.
The intensity of a leaf’s color is determined by the air’s temperature and moisture and amount of daylight.
The trees peak in color at different times.
I was truly be at one with nature during the change of color of the leaves of trees while l was in the Eastern Sierra for a long weekend, October 16 through October 19, 2015.
By the way, the High Sierra is rated No. 2 for Fall Colors in the U.S.A.
Posted on October 10, 2015, in Uncategorized and tagged "PLENTY - Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi", bears, being at one with nature, being in tune with nature, City of June Lake, City of Lee Vining, City of Mammoth Lake, coffee, coffeeology, cucumber salad with smashed garlic and ginger, Dance of Nature, don't feed our bears sign, Eastern Sierra, espresso yourself, fall color, fall color season in the high Sierra, gracefulness, High Sierra, human gracefulness, leaves changing color, neuro-opthalmologist, otologist, peace of mind, people are beautiful, poetic soulful gracefulness, Toast Cafe, unstinting help, why leaves change color, Yotam Ottolenghi. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Gary S. Smolker 
The real puzzle to me is why you choose to live within the heart of urban distraction and frustration. Almost all of your work is done sitting at a desk in front of a computer terminal. Why place that terminal in the center of urban distraction and frustration? The world is full of places with little or no urban distraction and frustration.
I spent my last day on arctic Alaska’s North Slope on September 12, 1968. Mobil Oil paid me to walk the length of the Brooks Range and make notes on the rocks exposed in the mountains and drainages. Most of the days were spent alone 100 or more miles from another human being. The streams were full of fish that had never seen a hook for countless generations. My favorite pastime was cawing to the small groups of ravens passing the summer in the far North. I learned that ravens can count! Up to five! One caw would get a one caw reply. Two caws got two caws back and so on up to five. But at six caws there would always be a long silence followed by one caw. Except for the rude interruption of the helicopter coming to pick me up, those were the only sounds heard all day.
On that last day, the helicopter picked me up late in the afternoon and dropped me at the airport at Point Hope where the Brooks range abruptly ends at the Arctic Ocean. Eight hours later I was in LA. After a few hours of sleep I found myself creeping along the Freeway in morning traffic heading for Mobil headquarters in downtown LA. After debriefing for the better part of a week in LA, it was easy to realize with clarity that LA is okay to visit, but is unsuitable for living.