A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to catch this hawk as it was hanging out at the cliffs in Santa Barbara. I was taking a walk at Shoreline Park with my camera, and I was able to get a few shots. The bird seemed happy to hang out until I tried to move into a better position. I think it got bored at that point and flew off.

Here’s a close up of the hawk. I was pretty pleased with the detail.

I really appreciate this bird’s patience since I’m

1. slow
2. not a very good photographer and
3. usually oblivious to these sorts of things

But, all in all, it came out rather nicely.

But, I must admit we were a bit disappointed. The festival has been going on for 8 years now, and lately it’s been getting smaller and smaller. Last year, several of the artists we talked with were clearly unhappy. The turnout was low and their sales were not enough to cover their expenses.

This year, it feels like they may be trying to re-energize the show. The entrance was free, whereas in the last few years we had to pay an admission. They had an area for cooking demonstrations, and Harriet attended one of those. She was pretty underwhelmed by that specific demo, but to my benefit she was influenced to make some amazing crab cakes.

The booths seemed to be mainly jewelry booths, and most of those seemed to be found-object crafters. There were only a couple of vendors that seemed to have elevated their craft into interesting art.

We did enjoy the juried show by the Santa Barbara Art Association. A couple of those pieces were very nice.

Does Santa Barbara may have too many art festivals? It seems like we just had the Artwalk at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. And this show is too early for the Christmas buying season. I’ll check it out again next year because I remember the show fondly from its early years. But for now, I’m not sure its worth the entrance fee.

Yesterday, we also got over to the Santa Barbara Harbor and Seafood Festival. That was more fun, but we got there about a half an hour before they planned to shut down, so we didn’t get a lot of time to explore. Still, I don’t know whether we would have stayed much longer. It’s a fine festival, but not a lot to do.

The big draw for us is the seafood. And they had some great deals. I took this shot of the kid who fished out Harriet’s two live crabs. She had to get them when she saw the price was $1.50 a lb. There was also a variety of fish and other seafood from fishermen on the pier with their live catch. A variety of information tables running the gamut from environmental groups to navy recuitment were also located on the pier.

We did get a chance to eat some of the fine seafood that was available. Harriet got a couple of fresh oysters, and I had the best BBQ albacore. We also got some ableskeevers sold by a baker who was out from Solvang. Very tasty!

The music was pretty good. A band doing cover tunes from our era was playing . A variety of craft booths sold some things that weren’t terribly interesting (maybe I’m just jaded). Harriet did get me an Indonesian batik shirt for $10, although my contention was that we’ll be able to get a lot more of those for $1 in malaysia. She and I channeled each other at that moment.

We also passed a place with Teva sandals on sale. Harriet found a pair she likes, and bought them. One less item on our list to do before we go.

I’m no photographer, but I really didn’t need to be. The colors and textures just laid themselves out, begging to be recorded.

The irony is, we barely got a spritz from this storm. Just North of us, they received a good soaking, and I believe the storm hit south of us, also. For some reason it jumped by the Santa Barbara City area, lingering just long and low enough to give us some nice views.

And I just happened to have a camera in the car.

Last night we had a Caught in the Act meeting in order to get ready for the new show. Improv ‘rehersals’ are a chance for the troupe to work together, try out some new games, and plan which pieces we’ll perform. We’ve lost one player and are looking to bring in some additional players, so it’s also a chance to start learning each other’s rhythms.

They start on a Thursday night with a special preview. You pay to get in on that night (this year, September 21) for a first crack at all the books. They also serve some food. Harriet attended that event and had a great time elbowing through all the dealers. She came back with the first box of books.

This thing goes for nine days! We each went back individually and together. We brought back a couple more boxes of books. Then, on the Sunday a week later (yesterday, October 1) they have a 1/2 price sale to try and get rid of the last of the books. We were there again and got 2 more boxes of books.

I’m telling you, no willpower. All we needed was the excuse “it’s for a good cause” and all inhibitions are lost.

This was the class recital, and so I just served as MC. Between putting on the show, making sure the student/players are ready, and being MC, I didn’t miss performing. I’ll get my chance to play on stage at the next Caught in the Act show.

The festival is a place for local authors, publishers, and associated service organizations to meet the public and each other. There are a lot of booths, and you can talk directly with Santa Babara’s literati. We have quite a few local publishers and I enjoy seeing what’s being produced by these small presses.

Two booths were particularly memorable. One was run by John Roshell, who is a principal at Active Images, which is the publishing arm of Comicraft, a lettering and design studio. They make COMICS! I had no idea they were in town, although their mailing address is in LA. They produce the Elephantmen graphic novels. I was recently introduced to them at the San Diego ComicCon this year, and they are woderful. Both the artwork and the stories are great, and it was pretty cool to know that there is a local connection.

The other fun thing I learned is that this publisher is married to Starshine Roshell. Harriet and I have become big fans and she’s one our favorite, local journalist/editorialists. She writes beautifully and just make us both laugh. Unfortunately, she’s lost her local editorial column as a side effect of a huge fiasco happening with our local newspaper, the News Press (not affectionately known as the News Suppress). That miserable fiasco is fodder for another post.

The other booth that impressed me was for McSweeney’s. They’re a small publisher out of San Francisco, and they produce the most amazing books and magazines. This is a publishing house where the book production is as much the art as the content of the books. Really wonderful graphics and packaging of some really quirky and delightfully written bits of fiction and non-fiction. They have a magazine for short fiction and art (McSweeney’s), a magazine for non-fiction (The Believer), and a Video Periodical (Wholphin) that delivers a DVD quarterly with short films. We bought a sample of each as well as a wonderful book called Your Disgusting Head, which is sort of a spoof on illustrated science books. We were assured that there are no true facts in that book.

These are really beautiful pieces that you need to see when you are next here, visiting.

Itsuki Restaurant

4020 Calle Real # 3

Santa Barbara, CA 93110

(805) 687-3838

It’s a really good Japanese restaurant that’s pretty small and informal. They have a wide variety of sushi and combo plates, but my preference there is the Oyaku Donburi bowl. This has egg, chicken, and a variety of vegetables on a bowl of rice. Way outside my low-carb target, but still plenty tasty and nutritious.

Harriet got a teriyaki salmon combo plate, which she said was pretty good but did not have enough salmon.

Thursday evening they had an open house at their new location. It’s a big space, consisting of the lower floor of a two story building on Canon Perdido Street. It looks great inside. They really spent a lot of time brightening up the interior. It doesn’t have a lot of windows or views outside, but they have the interior set up with lots of lights and light colors. And the two rooms with windows are the reception area and the training space, so your typically entry into the center is very welcoming and uplifting. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of it, yet. I may add one, later.

A lot of people attended the opening, including the local gaggle of politicos. The agency is doing quite well, and it serves as a testiment to the hard work and smart decisions made by the board, staff, and volunteers. Great job!

As of today (Thursday), the fire size is over 100,000 acres. The winds have changed and we are clear of new smoke. However, the prediction is for the offshore winds to return this weekend, so we may experience similar conditions. Again, it’s bothersome for us, but the real concern is for the folks in Ojai. They are under the threat of evacuations.