Growin a Beard

Time to start that Donegal! 
Check out Growin A Beard for

further insights, contest rules, and the movie trailer to probably the best documentary of it's kind.  I will be officially participating again this year, not in Shamrock of course, but here in the northern Bay region with some good friends.  I will likely have to produce an incredibly sculpted beard with any chance to win as some of my fellow competitors will actually need to trim their beard over the course of the next three months, while I will still likely lack a few hairs in such time.  Future pictures to follow.  Above is a gentleman that has been competing in the ACTUAL contest for years, and takes something? to make his beard grow green.  Really.. check out the DVD.  Peace

Happy new year all:  may you find yourself loving and giving to others in the year to come.

Leeroy

Good life..

There was a recent event, 2.5 months back, that set us back a tad.  As you may know..I nearly destroyed my left wrist skateboarding.. requiring surgery and a small titanium plate, screws, etc..

I have since slowed down some, healed near fully, and haven't REALLY missed skateboarding THAT much.. though I do enjoy it.  What i did miss however was surfing.....  and it feels good to say that I can now go surfing.  Not just go to the smallest waves possible and ride my long-board( which i realize each time i do that, it's really fun too), but actually going wherever looks best and enjoying where I left off in late Sept.  This past weekend was a culmination of two good things at once, as I enjoyed overhead surf at a not-to-be-named spot on the north coast of California, and a brand new board from the Hess flavor.  Being out on a new shred craft in good waves was a true blessing...  and no matter how fun and rewarding skateboarding truly is .... well.. it's just not even close to experiencing the beauty and rawness of the ocean.  S0.. simple enough, without going into all that would examine my crazy thoughts about how far I should or can push my limits on a skateboard, which alone has fascinated and challenged me for 15+ years, I know that it isn't paying the bills... and my health to keep surfing means a whole lot more than grinding some pool coping.  I want to appreciate the Good life...  I will grind again, I will likely fall again.. but now, I'd like to go surf.  Peace, and God bless this Christmas.

Farewell toSummer

As I listen to the changes of season once again...I was thinking back on what a great summer. My wife and I had the privilege of a great late spring break when we messed around down in Santa Cruz, hung at the beaches, in town...etc. The importance of vacation and spending it with the one you love is well...super important. We both very much look forward to times when we can be off of work for extended periods. Personally, as much as I do enjoy what I do for a living..work sucks. Having traveled some in the past, we both often wonder how it will be down the road. Will we be able to go away for a month, or three...or visit Africa the way we once dreamed, the right way for at least 3 months time? Will I ever get to go on that super long, fun, surf filled road trip that I always wanted? I planned it about 10 years ago...when I lived in Costa Rica, there are all these super cool old Land Rover's everywhere..I desperately want to buy one, drive it south, turn around and of course spend a year or more driving north, camping and surfing along the way. Inevitably though I know that somehow, as fun as it would be, it is also selfish....so I thought ok, we'll add some humanitarian work in with it, in order to justify the trip. Well, to make a long story short, that trip has yet to happen. Now of course, still with out kids, there are so many places we'd like to visit and things we'd love to do...when does one have the time and money? I want to see Iceland, travel to Kenya and volunteer in the orphanage, spend two months in Australia, go back to South America and visit Peru, go back to Chile, go further south into the Patagonia..go back to Europe and do all the classics..France, Italy, Spain to name a few. As a farewell to our summer here in Northern California, and dreaming about traveling...I am looking back on the summer and realizing how much traveling we did do. After Santa Cruz we went up to Oregon, and hung with my mom, took some kiteboarding lessons, drank some fine beer, enjoyed time in Portland with our best friends Michelle and Adam....a VERY cool trip that my mom wants to make a 'classic'. She pretty much charges everything she does. I didn't include the picture, but this trainer kite brought her down hard. We learned after those scrapes and bruises that a soft, grass filled park my be a better option. I was able to take a skate trip with my friends Nick and Joe...skated the crap out of that combi bowl...at least to the best of our abilities..and to end it, just temporarily, my wife threw me the coolest surprise 30th birthday party ever. Played kickball, ate great food, good drink, and shared a very special time with good friends. That's her, the beautiful Lemur with WWII bomber goggles on. Looking back, and looking forward....looking to the now if you will, I realize that we enjoy thinking about possible epic trips in the future, but we live a very great life here at home. I personally am psyched for my friends, blog post on left The Voyager, who are doing those great trips in Central America and doing the humanitarian aspect while still enjoying the culture and surf. Knowing that my wife and I, with kids or not, will one day go and do all that God is calling us to. So, thank you, friends and family, for being a part of our lives here at Groundart. Peace and Grace.

Turning30feelsgood

What else do you do the night before you turn a ripe new age. Thank you all for visiting and experiencing life with us. We love you. Peace, and happy Halloween.!

Wine country visit

As a reunion to our time of union..my wife and I revisited the area we went just after being married. That vacation, over 2.5 years ago, we weren't truly able to experience because my wife fell super ill...and kept me on watch taking care of her and hoping she would get better but instead she came down with pneumonia. So, we went back and fortunately had a great time cruising through the vineyards, enjoying the Sonoma sun....searching the hideout bins of thrift stores and second hand shops for our upcoming Halloween events, and of course buying gifts for people..drinking wine. We were stoked with the place we stayed: The Gaige house...if you can ever afford staying there it is highly recommended, located in Glen Ellen, and a very short distance to many great wineries. Of this trip our favorite was BR Cohn. Nanci treated us very kind there. We tasted a few of the wines, reds and whites, but mostly enjoyed the small succulent garden, the nice views, and the interesting interaction we had with a trio of gay men. "That's hot!" is what he told me about breaking my wrist skateboarding...my wife enjoyed their belligerence...I enjoyed the view. Our horse friend was nice, his neighbors were having a barn sale where Katie got some cool clip-on jewelry...we really enjoy stopping at barn sales and or yard sales, antique sales....somehow though when they call it a 'barn' sale, you know its' going to be better than just a 'yard' sale. On this occasion however, that was not the case.

Groundart is doing mighty fine these days. Thank you for tuning in and checking out what is new on our home front. I am close to wrist recovery, swimming again but not yet working, nor able to surf...but I do turn 30 this week and feel very blessed that I am able to do what I can. I have learned that it is easy to take the simple things for granted, yet it is often those simple things that allow one to lead a healthy and 'simple' life. Without them, each person and case being different, life can be taxing, hard, and sometimes hopeless. My heart just sinks when I see people that would love (would die) for some simplicity in their personal difficulty. I pray that in the seasons to come, we would all take check, and thank the Lord for the simple blessings that He provides. But further, that we would take the time to help our friends, family, and strangers around us that have needs, that long for the basics in life to be simple for once. We change and grow the most when we look beyond ourselves and begin to put others first. That is one thing I am working on, ...selfless not selfish. Peace and God bless you all. Below is an interesting take on stuff like this, an exert from 'Blue Like Jazz' by Donald Miller. "There is a poem by the literary critic C.S. Lewis that is more or less a confession. The first time I read it I identified so strongly with his sentiments, I felt as though somebody were calling my name. I always come back to this poem when I think soberly about my faith, about the general precepts of Christian spirituality, the beautiful precepts that indicate we are all flawed, all of us are flawed, the corrupt politician and the pious Sunday school teacher. In the poem C.S. Lewis faces himself. He addresses his own depravity with a soulful sort of bravery:

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;
I talk of love--a scholar's parrot may talk Greek-
But, self imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Six billion people live in this world, and I can only muster the thoughts for one. Me.

some new day

Just north of the bridge, Marin Headlands 10/20/07

Here are a few shots of our most recent trip to the beach here in the greater bay area region. Beautiful sunny skies, clear nights, cool mornings, and overall nice warm indian summer. Looking far right at the shot above is Ft. Cronkite, a fun spot that can work good. On this day however, it was a little mixed up and not quite shining like it can throughout the winter. It was nice to see a lot of sand movement however....so, thank you swell and giver of good sand bars. I enjoyed watching the few guys that were out as they made it look better than it really was. The foto on the bottom looks south toward point Bonita (hidden), but further south looks at Ocean Beach in the city. Thanks for checking! Peace and God bless. 'so fearfully and wonderfully made, how could they say there is no God....reminded every breath that I breathe, it's by Your hand, I have been made'

FRESHfall

Welcome to any who may stumble upon the GroundArt blog. In the past several weeks I have become privy to the shared interest blogs of the surf board riding world and found them very inspirational, healing, funny....and interestingly made me want to start my own.

The wonders and changes of the fall often bring a heightened awareness to my sense of creation and desire to spend most waking moments outside. It may be a result of the amazing Indian summer we often experience here in northern California, or just the simplicity of the new crisp mornings, early eves and changing leaves. The fall is always the best time of year to cruize around, go on long drives, search for wild game....search for waves. I've always thought that Sept. 1st should be celebrated as the new year. Inevitably each fall season brings hope, warm weather, a birth celebration for both my wife and I.....it brings pumpkins, costumes, and the expectation of darker hoppier beers that the holidays provide.

Growing up hunting in Montana, the fall was always the time that my dad and I would blaze trail looking for antelope, deer, and elk among other things. What we found most of the time was freezing cold wind, temps...and as my dad would say when he was asked about the weather from outside sources....."clear and still...., clear up to my ass and still snowing." I miss those days. I truly do miss the beautiful fall colors of Montana. Nothing obviously compared to what folks see out east, but it sure is a great time of year as all the tourists leave, the snow starts falling...as one anticipates how good (or bad depending) the winter would be. Major anticipation surrounded that time of year because I love to hunt, and love to explore the mountains, love to snow board and get to those places in the back-country where no one else lingers for miles.

Now...in northern California, the same feelings come about during autumn....but instead of hunting elk and deer, I have morphed into a 'california-jiggler' hunting for the magic of sliding down and with waves. I've been riding boards my whole life...skateboards, snowboards, wake boards....now surf sleds, and as most surfers know---there is no experience like it. Maybe dropping into a steep, chest deep couloir....shredding endless lines day after day of the winter, hucking from cliffs and booters (back woods snowboard lingo) ....maybe.....but riding waves, really clean lines, figuring out how each one wraps and warps your mind and delivers you fresh cold gifts. ok, enough rambling....

So, to those of you who find this blog, on its very first entry.....welcome! I hope that you will continue to check back. Thank you for sharing your findings, thoughts....your interests and sweet pics.