Safari Man

It is hard for me to think of my late father and not to reminisce about the incredible trip we took to Africa together with our wives, a trip of a lifetime for me. The only time I ever really went first class all the way.

After all of this time and even with my good memory, certain parts and events are blurry. But there are also images that are still so fresh in my mind they could have happened yesterday and I would like to recount and expand a bit, with your permission and forbearance of course.

I must tell you that the great majority of my photographs from the trip are missing at this point but there are a few still extant that will help me paint a crude picture. Honestly, I can't find many of the very best pictures I have ever taken, which were shot during this trip, and it grieves me a little.

The year was 1989. We had just completed a very large subdivision that we had built as a partnership, a very successful one I might add. It was time to celebrate.

We flew into Nairobi and soon made our way to the Serengeti. If you go to visit nature in the wild one should not be squeamish. We saw many kills, some quite gruesome.

We watched hyenas chase thousands of wildebeest. Hyenas, an unfortunate one of god's creations with the highest mandibular jaw locking strength in the world per square inch but offset by a chronically failing back end and dysplasia.

We saw so much in Africa, lions, cheetah, fierce cape buffalo, herds of zebra beyond count. Drove all over Kenya and finally made our way to Treetops, Lord Baden Powell's treehouse overlooking a watering hole in the Aberdare National Forest. I can honestly say that the night at Treetops counts as one of the most incredible nights of my life, a parade of animals came to drink hourly, elephants and buffalo, countless others.

We were led to the five story primitive facility by a man with a 508 caliber rifle, the largest cartridge I have ever seen. It seems that a year before a lion had picked off the last guy in line, who coincidentally on this trip, happened to be me!

I was wrapped in a blanket, shivering, and stared at the cavalcade of animal guests in amazement through an oblong stone "flintstones" style window. Stayed up all night.

I believe that I was shooting Konica 3200 speed high speed film in near total darkness with my Konica FT -2 electronic camera. Really didn't have much of a clue what I was doing, as you can see.

It was an absolutely unbelievable night. The next day I made a significant error in judgement, one that ostracized the rest of the tour to some degree from then on. We hired a guide in an open jeep to drive us around the Serengeti and decided to bring a bunch of children along, we being my wife at the time, Diann and I.

The jeep had a canvas top and as luck would have it, it started to rain. And the jeep got stuck. In a mud hole in the middle of the largest lion pride I have ever seen, I remember counting 28 lions lounging around laughing at our predicament. And there was only thing I could do at the time and that was to step out of the jeep with the driver and push.

By this time the parents of our young wards had become worried about their progeny and rented their own jeep to come find us. I will never forget the wide looks on their faces watching me get out of the jeep and push it out of the mudhole while surrounded by this army of wild felines. I summoned up a lot of adrenaline and we were on our way.

People count themselves lucky if they see two or three of Africa's big five, we saw all five animals. We once saw a leopard drag a zebra up a tree, an unbelievable feat when you consider the leopard's relatively small size. We saw maribou storks and tufted eagles. gerunuks and ostrich. Nearly charged by an overprotective Elephant mother. Hippos beyond count. Lucky enough to catch some rhino as well.

Our favorite spot was Samburu in the north, the place that makes you feel like you are in a Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan set it is so lush. Sat a few feet away from a giant croc, who lay motionless until another croc came down the river and what ensued was the most ferocious battle I have ever witnessed, like two primordial dinosaurs going at it.

One of the cool things we did was take a hot air balloon, I believe from Serengeti to Masai Mara. We landed in a field of zebra and wildebeest and enjoyed a sumptuous brunch while the scout teams raced out to find us. I have often wondered what I would have done if something had jumped out of the bushes. Beyond crap myself.

Masai Mara was a wonderful place. We had a small hut out on the fringe with a plate glass sliding door. That night we were woken up by a quiet voice saying leopard. A leopard had scurried through our camp and was now engorging himself on a gazelle or impala that had been hung from a tree as bait.

In the morning our green front lawn was covered with zebras. I was startled to find out that a few months back, the tenant of my room had a lion crash through the glass door chasing a zebra. The terrified man hid in the bathroom while the lion had a leisurely breakfast in his bed.

Tanzania was a difficult trek in those days, a rich and verdant country beset with a corrupt communist government. The five hours to the crater were on the worst and bumpiest road I have ever traveled and I have traveled many. But the trip was wonderful as was the trip to Olduvai.

I think that I am done remembering for the day. There are many more experiences but no time to recount. I hope that I can return to Africa with Leslie one day.

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow

I am pretty worthless this week. Can't get much done. So I won't. Next week I get back on life's roller coaster. No choice and no doubt.

A friend of Leslie's turned us on to two tickets to Fleetwood Mac in Los Angeles last night. Expensive seats. They played at the not so fabulous Forum. Our tickets were actually quite good, first row of elevated seating. Had been about 31 years since I had last seen them by my count.

Honestly, age has not been so kind to what was once such an excellent band. I am a huge Christine McVie fan, love her early contribution to Chicken Shack and looked forward to a chance to see her. And she sounded in top form.

But her distaff mac stablemate no longer has anything approximating a high range, the first three or four numbers were a painful exercise where they unsuccessfully tried to find an octave in which to sing together. Think nails and a chalkboard.

Fleetwood Mac started out as an excellent blues band in England in 1967 and was often billed in those days as Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, the original ex Bluesbreaker guitar player being one of the most talented and lyrical players to ever grasp a fretboard.

There were various other guitar players along with way, many quite wounded, like Green himself, Kirwan, Spencer, Welsh to name a few. At one point in the mid seventies Lyndsey Buckingham and girlfriend Stevie Nicks joined the band and they soon exploded into a mainstream powerhouse, filling arenas. Never cared much for that sound or lineup.

Last night we were treated to a greatest hits package. I saw the Dead at the Forum on two occasions and the sound was perfect. Candidly, it sucked last night. The band, on gig number 77 on their current On with the show tour, stood far apart from each other on stage and lacked any real intimacy from my vantage. Very canned, although we were treated to little psychological vignettes about their struggles and travails from a few members. They are a quintessential arena band and there are lots of people who liek that sort of thing but it is lost on me. Cycled through all the pop radio classics.

One positive thing I can say is that the visuals were incredible, first class light show and backdrops, very cool. It was more of a visual treat than an auditory one but that is fine too. I enjoyed Landslide and So Alone very much.

Buckingham has a rather strange strum hand pluck technique, sort of like Derek Trucks and he seems to flail a lot at the strings, but it works for him and he expended a lot of energy. Mick gave us an obligatory drum solo at the end that was good and workmanlike but he will never be confused for Mitch Mitchell. John McVie is a reliable plodder. Couldn't hear C. McVie's keyboards or the background singers either for that matter.

The crowd was well dressed and possibly even older than the band. It should have been a real clue to me that Depends™ is sponsoring the entire tour. Many of the people in the stands left early so as to get home to their milk of magnesia at a decent hour.

Very nice to get the tickets. Don't think I need to see them again.

Anton Bruckner - Symphony No.9 - Wiener Philharmoniker - Leonard Bernstein

Swim out of Yemen

"The United States admitted Monday that it has no immediate plans to rescue its nationals stranded in war-torn Yemen and urged them to flee the raging conflict by sea.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf could not tell reporters how many American civilians are thought to be caught up in the conflict, as citizens of other nations take to ships.But she said US authorities would contact those that it could, and advise them of opportunities to board ships from allied nations docking to pick up their own nationals."At this point, we have encouraged all US citizens to shelter and secure locations until they're able to depart safely. The airports are still closed, is my understanding," she said.A protest website representing Yemeni Americans -- stuckinyemen.com -- has accused Washington of abandoning dual nationals last month in its haste to close its embassy in Yemen.Asked about a claim that 200 US citizens have signed up to the site, Harf said officials had been unable to confirm the figure and urged them to sign on to a State Department list."

Masai Boys

I was reminiscing about my dad the other day and poured through a few old photo albums, found some of my pictures from our incredible safari together in Africa. I think I will post a few of the shots I am scanning.

I always liked this shot of two Masai boys in their initiation ceremony facepaint. Might have been wearing sneakers. I believe that I took this in the Serengeti in 1989 but I could be wrong.

Jamie Phillips was so sweet yesterday. Had read my blog and gave me a gift of his father's Beseler Topcon camera, just like the one my father gave me that I was swindled out of as a young boy in New York's Alphabet City. Thank you, Jamie! Paying it forward...

Lazy Waters

4.9.15

Well, let me say this — it's not that the idea of Iran recognizing Israel is unreasonable. It's completely reasonable and that's U.S. policy....
There's still going to be a whole host of differences between us and Iran, and one of the most profound ones is the vile, anti-Semitic statements that have often come out of the highest levels of the Iranian regime. But the notion that we would condition Iran not getting nuclear weapons, in a verifiable deal, on Iran recognizing Israel is really akin to saying that we won't sign a deal unless the nature of the Iranian regime completely transforms. And that is, I think, a fundamental misjudgment. Barack Obama

I have read a lot of interesting stuff on the Iran deal, both pro and con of late. Don't want to get into a big hash out right now, I'm really not up to it. But I did want to take a moment to ponder a letter from Robert, a very good and bright friend from Berkeley.

I am not particularly fond (or trusting!) of Iranians based on my personal dealings with them. And, objectively, I can see merits to both sides of the arguments (including yours aside from the intense Obama criticism).
Amos Yadlin is very insightful and respectable - this article and interview is one of the best perspectives I have read to date, and wanted to share with you.

http://maysereem.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/04/israel-iran-nuclear-agreement-netanyahu-obama-bad-deal.html#

To be honest, I haven't even had time to check out the link but will one day soon. I was mostly struck by his phrase regarding my intense Obama criticism. Because it has been intense and in my passion it may also have been unfair at times.

Obama gave an interview to Friedman in the NYT the other day that seemed very genuine in his sadness for the current division between the United States and Israel.

“This is an area that I’ve been concerned about,” the president said. “Look, Israel is a robust, rowdy democracy. ... We share so much. We share blood, family. ... And part of what has always made the U.S.-Israeli relationship so special is that it has transcended party, and I think that has to be preserved. There has to be the ability for me to disagree with a policy on settlements, for example, without being viewed as ... opposing Israel. There has to be a way for Prime Minister Netanyahu to disagree with me on policy without being viewed as anti-Democrat, and I think the right way to do it is to recognize that as many commonalities as we have, there are going to be strategic differences. And I think that it is important for each side to respect the debate that takes place in the other country and not try to work just with one side. ... But this has been as hard as anything I do because of the deep affinities that I feel for the Israeli people and for the Jewish people. It’s been a hard period.”

You take it personally? I asked. 

“It has been personally difficult for me to hear ... expressions that somehow ... this administration has not done everything it could to look out for Israel’s interest — and the suggestion that when we have very serious policy differences, that that’s not in the context of a deep and abiding friendship and concern and understanding of the threats that the Jewish people have faced historically and continue to face.”

And I was struck by a couple things, things that sort of bothered me.

...if it turns out that it doesn’t lead to better outcomes, we can adjust our policies. The same is true with respect to Iran, a larger country, a dangerous country, one that has engaged in activities that resulted in the death of U.S. citizens, but the truth of the matter is: Iran’s defense budget is $30 billion. Our defense budget is closer to $600 billion. Iran understands that they cannot fight us. ... You asked about an Obama doctrine. The doctrine is: We will engage, but we preserve all our capabilities.”

This passage seemed a little blustery. Israel is clearly patronized here, we will take care of them, the Iranians can't fight us, our military is so big... Hmm, remember the mouse that roared? Or Vietnam, some of these little pushover countries can turn out to be a real pain in the ass. Anybody remember Somalia and Blackhawk Down?

The reality is that when push comes to shove, I am not sure that it is ever so easy. Our President drew a red line already, once, with the Syrians on what he would do if they ever used chemical weapons. The Syrians proceeded to step right over the red line and we did nothing. So talk is cheap and assurances are pretty useless with our President. If I was the Israelis I wouldn't rely too strongly on them. Guys are on your own.

Israel is supposed to feel good that we have just entered a deal when their principal enemy, who will now have between four months and a year to build a bomb at the sunset of the agreement, depending on which expert you believe, and is still committed to wiping your people off the earth. But don't you worry none, cause ol' Obama will provide.

Obama may or may not harbor anti semitic leanings, how do you know what any human or politician really thinks? The dog whistle flap with Menendez regarding his jewish donors was very entertaining. But the people he has surrounded himself in his administration are clearly assholes, and seem to have a deep animus about Israel, imho. Take one Marie Harf. I got a few letters signed by her once when I wrote the CIA for my FOIA files.

Marie Harf, the State Department spokeswoman, was the lady who recently said that Iran's stated aim to annihilate Israel was not germane to this deal.

The US State Department rejected over the weekend Israel’s demand that any final deal with Iran on its nuclear program include recognition of Israel’s right to exist, saying that was not the issue at hand.
“This is an agreement that is only about the nuclear issue,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters on Friday night, according to Fox News. “This is an agreement that doesn’t deal with any other issues, nor should it.”

While I understand the need not to complicate a deal, her reply lacked a tad bit of sensitivity.  By the way, I don't think Netanyahu understands that what he thinks the deal should or should not include is not particularly germane either, he isn't a signatory to this thing and the Persians aren't going to come over and play mah jong anytime soon. Better to keep the powder dry.

Harf recently was in a little imbroglio when she suggested that what terrorists really need is jobs. The typical bleeding liberal meme. "We just have to love them."

“We cannot win this war by killing them — we cannot kill our way out of this war,” she said. Instead, she argued that the United States and its allies need to focus on the “root causes,” such as the lack of job opportunities for young Muslims. She said discouraged 17-year-olds opt to “pick up an AK-47 instead of trying to start a business” due to their socioeconomic situation. 

Later she said that her deep thinking on this matter was perhaps a bit too nuanced for her critics. And I thought to myself, Marie you ignorant airhead, go to Africa where Boko Haram is busy murdering children and burying people alive and tell them that you are now ready to hire them and turn their lives around. Tell them to put down the AK-47s and maybe start a Frosty franchise. Lets see that wide eyed vacuity and idealism of yours hit the street and start to make a difference.

Who is this Marie Harf? Could she be harboring the typical State Department animus against the Israelis? Lets look at this brief introduction from her alma mater, IU. She follows her father into Political Science and writes her master's thesis on how conservative evangelical support for Israel complicates U.S. foreign policy. Sounds like her world view was inculcated at an early age, although she is still a kid, having only been born in 1981. She knew who the bad guys were, Israel and conservatives, especially evangelical conservatives, clearly one of Israel's only loyal friends today.

She joins the administration's Jen Psaki, Josh Earnest and Denis McDonough in their rather forceful and muscular approach to the Israelis and their concerns. You remember Psaki, the spokesman who refused to call the freedom loving Palestinian throwing a molotov cocktail a terrorist and Earnest, who tripped all over his dick explaining why the shooting in the jewish deli in Paris had no theological or anti semitic connections.

George Schultz and Henry Kissinger are giants in the field of foreign policy, both former Secretaries of State. You can agree with them or disagree with them, and I often do, but they have to be respected for their enormous experience. They wrote a very thoughtful and comprehensive article on Iran this week, now unfortunately stuck behind a paywall at the WSJ. I will paste the end:

The gradual expiration of the framework agreement, beginning in a decade, will enable Iran to become a significant nuclear, industrial and military power after that time—in the scope and sophistication of its nuclear program and its latent capacity to weaponize at a time of its choosing,” the two statesmen wrote. “Therefore Iran will be in a position to bolster its advanced nuclear technology during the period of the agreement and rapidly deploy more advanced centrifuges—of at least five times the capacity of the current model—after the agreement expires or is broken. 

Some advocates have suggested that the agreement can serve as a way to dissociate America from Middle East conflicts, culminating in the military retreat from the region initiated by the current administration. As Sunni states gear up to resist a new Shiite empire, the opposite is likely to be the case. The Middle East will not stabilize itself, nor will a balance of power naturally assert itself out of Iranian-Sunni competition. (Even if that were our aim, traditional balance of power theory suggests the need to bolster the weaker side, not the rising or expanding power.) Beyond stability, it is in America’s strategic interest to prevent the outbreak of nuclear war and its catastrophic consequences. Nuclear arms must not be permitted to turn into conventional weapons. The passions of the region allied with weapons of mass destruction may impel deepening American involvement.
If the world is to be spared even worse turmoil, the U.S. must develop a strategic doctrine for the region. Stability requires an active American role. For Iran to be a valuable member of the international community, the prerequisite is that it accepts restraint on its ability to destabilize the Middle East and challenge the broader international order.
Until clarity on an American strategic political concept is reached, the projected nuclear agreement will reinforce, not resolve, the world’s challenges in the region. Rather than enabling American disengagement from the Middle East, the nuclear framework is more likely to necessitate deepening involvement there—on complex new terms. History will not do our work for us; it helps only those who seek to help themselves.

They are worried about this deal as are many of us. Nobody should be beating swords into plowshares just yet. And how did Ms. Harf react to the remarks? Thanks for the "big words and big thoughts."

“I wouldn’t say that it’s damning,” Harf said of Kissinger and Shultz’s damning verdict on the Iran deal. “And I didn’t hear a lot of alternatives. I heard a lot of big words and big thoughts in that piece, and those are certainly – there’s a place for that – but I didn’t hear a lot of alternatives of what they would do differently.

In a perfect world, of course we would have an agreement that would do all of these things,” she said on the idea of forcing Iran to accept other political restraints as part of the deal. “But we are living in the real world, and that’s the responsibility of the secretary to negotiate where we can see if we can get this one issue dealt with. And that’s how important it is.””

To hear a lightweight like Harf comment on the substance and merit of statesmen with the article's authors' pedigree and experience is insulting and damnable. And Obama is responsible for putting these people on the front lines. As bad as when Bush's Dana Perino admitted to not knowing anything about the Cuban Missile crisis. She is way out of her depth here and too stupid to realize it.

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Obama Chief of Staff Denis McDonough says that the fifty year Israeli occupation must end and signaled that Israel must go back to 1967 borders. I hope that the first occurs but the second ain't ever going to happen. It would leave Israel indefensible. Lets look at the little country. After numerous wars seeking to vanquish them, their enemies on all sides are poised to invade them in 1967. Nasser is massing his troops in the Sinai. He closes the Straits of Tiran. Syria and Egypt sign a pact against the Israelis and the Jordanians are rattling sabers as well. They are going to take care of the new neighbor once and for all. Israel defeats its enemies in six days and secures land in the West Bank, Sinai and Golan that will hopefully provide some insulation for them in the event of future attacks.

Ever since, Israel's enemies have tried to undue politically what they failed to do militarily. Israel is supposed to forget the neighbors' past aggression and give them a big diplomatic do over. Neighbors who have never accepted either their historical connection to the land or their right to exist.

Obama is worried that Congress might eff up the Iran deal or the next or future administration might.

Asked whether his possible Republican successor could revoke the deal upon taking office, Obama said that any president ought to be mindful of “traditions and precedents of presidential power” and knowledgeable enough not to question the executive branch’s capacity to negotiate internationally.
“If that starts being questioned, that's going to be a problem for our friends and that's going to embolden our enemies,” Obama told NPR.

And I must say that I find the President and Hillary for that matter, just a little disingenuous here. Because there is the matter of the 2004 letter that Bush sent to Sharon, acknowledging that conditions had changed and that the borders would most probably be changed forever, a letter that Hillary and the Obamaites have themselves disavowed. Doesn't seem terribly consistent.

As part of a final peace settlement, Israel must have secure and recognized borders, which should emerge from negotiations between the parties in accordance with UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338. In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion. It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities.

© robert sommers 2015

The Ayatollah finally spoke up today. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated Thursday that Iran won’t sign off on any final nuclear agreement unless military sites are declared off limits to foreign inspectors. Oh, that's going to work. And oh, ya, lift the sanctions immediately. Interesting. Obama has spent so much currency on this thing already he may not be able to pull the plug at this point, and the Iranians can pull his strings like a puppet.

Sapphire Tower

Ron and Lena showed me a beautiful succulent flower recently growing near their home in Cardiff, bright blue. It may be on a very aberrant or eccentric bloom cycle (e.g. every ten years) not sure.

I have spent a little bit of time trying to figure out its name.

I once saw a flower at the Hortus Botanical Gardens in Holland that bloomed every twenty years, first one color in the morning and a completely different color in the afternoon. Then it went back to its deep sleep.

Tried to mail a pic to Doug, but his email firewall is blocking pictures.

Anyway this flower gets prettier and prettier and the color more intense over time.

Ron and Lena are so sweet, they went out and bought me one of these magnificent plants as a memory to my late father. It turns out that the plant is named Puya Alpestris, also known as the sapphire tower. I will have to verify its bloom schedule. The puya is native to the Chilean Andes. I have just read that it can be quite vicious with its sharp teeth and care should be taken in regards to its ultimate location in your garden.

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The plant is neat in a different way, besides its inherent beauty. My father's mother's last name was Shkarlat, which means sapphire in Polish. The Shkarlat family was wiped out in the holocaust and I do not believe that the name is still extant.

My grandmother lived in the town of Wyszkow, northeast of Warsaw on the Vistula River. The family owned a lumbermill. I believe that a great, great uncle was a noted silversmith, Shmuel Shkarlat. I have a pair of his shabbos candlesticks as does my friend Garry Cohen. I will think of my father and his mother when I look at my sapphire tower!

Thank you, friends!

Manuel de Falla

Whale with a monkey on its back

I have been fairly worthless this week, unable to focus on much. Playing a little guitar, writing a bit, reminiscing. Appreciate your condolences and sentiments very much.

Sending a genetic sample to Yseq in Germany today, testing another SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) to further flesh out my Y DNA analysis.

I haven't wanted to wade into too much politics, not the time for that but guess I can comment on a few things without incurring too much wrath. I had no idea that they were doping up the killer whales at the aquatic parks. I guess the story broke last year and I missed it. It disturbs me.

The orcas are getting benzodiazepines (diazepam, a generic valium) for stress, Xanex, antipsychotics to lower testosterone and aggression, tagamet for their stomach ulcers, contraceptives, mass quantities of antibiotics.  We have, in short, got a bunch of very whacked out orcas, literally stoned to the gills.

A new class action lawsuit alleges a laundry list of alleged sins along with the doping including severe confinement and the cruel separation of calves.

A letter to the Union yesterday may be the single most stupid thing I have ever read:

Oceans are icky and dangerous, Sea World is nice and safe. You win, Judythe. I stopped visiting Sea World because it costs a million dollars to get in. Methinks I don't want to go back there much anyway.

He will not be missed.

My favorite Bill Murray scene ever. This excerpt cuts off a little short but you get the general gist. Very overlooked and underrated movie.

Verdi: Requiem

Dad

My father died yesterday, in the early morning hours. The attendant went into his room and might have seen a last breath around 1:30 in the morning. Not official of course, not until the nurse came by about three, we got the call over at the house at 3:30 a.m. I might have been staring at the phone, in any case I knew by the ring, that it was all over. I knew instantly. My stepmother knew too. I knocked on her door and she confirmed my fears. We hugged and waited for the morning.

My father was an amazing man, I have written about him many times before. A different man, an imperfect man, much like his son, but exceedingly brilliant. Not native to our shores, he arrived in the most humble way and in the most difficult of times, yet he scrapped and scraped and fought and studied and eventually willed his way to tremendous successes, interspersed of course, with occasional failures.

I have been delegated with the task of writing an obituary and here is a draft I penned this morning. Not quite roughed out. Do you have any idea how much the newspapers charge for these things these days? Would love to alliterate a bit but I frankly can't afford to.

Longtime San Diego, Rancho Santa Fe and Fresno resident Amos Sommers passed away in Clovis, CA on April 6, 2015. He is survived by his loving wife Shela, daughters Elizabeth Sommers and her husband Michael Gallaher of Vienna, VA, Barbara Sommers and husband Sandy from West Palm Beach, FL, Laurie Sommers Tait and husband Steve, her children Tyler, Kellen and Madison, all from Denver, CO. He has two sons, Robert Sommers who lives in Fallbrook with his wife Leslie and David (Buzz) and his wife Julia Sommers, Toronto,Canada, along with David's children Rachel, Zachary and Jacob and Amos's great grandchild Roslyn. Amos has two stepchildren Sarah Cole-Braham and Richard Cole that he loved as his own as well as Sarah's son Bennett. Amos was preceded in death by his beloved daughter, Amie Leah Sommers.
Amos had been suffering from a long term illness and recently had a stroke. Amos was born in Tel Aviv in 1926 to Israel Kaitz and Pessa Shkarlat. He came to the United States at the age of 13 with his parents and younger sister Terry, all now deceased, and the family settled in Detroit.
Amos was a very bright man, he received a scholarship to UCLA, lettered in wrestling, soccer and football and graduated with an accounting degree. He was a World War II veteran, an army photographer with a top secret clearance, and he developed and transmitted the first picture of a nuclear bomb blast.
Amos moved to San Diego in the early 1950's, joining American Housing Guild. He started his own firm, Sommers Development and created some of the premier neighborhoods in San Diego, including Del Cerro Highlands and Alvarado Estates. He built thousands of homes and apartments in the region over a long and successful career.
Amos was a renaissance man. He loved opera, classical music, economics, photography, studying physics, fine automobiles, paintings and antiques. A crack mathematician and blackjack player, he was a master at equations. He was a world traveler but mostly loved being anywhere with Shela, the love of his life and the woman the rest of the family is eternally grateful for, for always standing faithfully at his side.
There are no services planned.  Donations in Amos Sommers name can be made to the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego.

I drove up Saturday morning, alone. Leslie wasn't feeling well. Easter weekend traffic was murder.  I arrived at my stepmother's door in the afternoon and we soon drove to the home along with my stepsister. My dad was laying on his side, very weak, ribs distended, looking much like his own father once did in very similar straits. Incapable of speech, eyes rolled up, he still had the inherent love and presence to grab each of our hands and kiss them tenderly.

I went back to visit him again and we were careful to make sure that he wasn't thirsty and that his lips were moist. I don't know if he could understand me, he definitely heard me but I told him in a loud voice that it was okay to fly away and release; that he could go now, we would all be fine back here. I think I shocked my companions who hadn't necessarily told him about his chances and didn't want to upset him. But I know my father and this is not the way he would have wanted to go out. 

© robert sommers 2015

I visited him once again Easter morning and wouldn't/couldn't just sit at his side and wait for his ultimate demise. My brain needed a chance to process it all and I decided to head for the hills and clear my head. I took off for Yosemite, about a two hour drive northeast. High country.

I headed for Glacier Point, the mountains to the east all still bedecked with winter frosting. Actually there was still a little snow on the road to Glacier Point, which has just opened at the earliest time in its history due to drought and climate change. This early in the year, irrespective of the drought, all the falls still had lots of water.

I hiked around a bit and took a few pictures. My long lens and wide angle are back in the shop in New York so I used the 18-135mm Nikkor but forgot to bring along a polarizing filter. Oh well? It felt great to scramble around, my lungs raw from the elevation, frigid cold and my sorry ass cardiac state. Love the resolution and sharpness of the new camera. Way too many muggles on the floor of the valley below.

My father was a photographer, both he and my stepfather got me interested at a young age. My dad gave me an early Zeiss Ikon Voigtlander, a Minox, his old Topcon when I was a child. Later he recycled down a nice Konica. He was a Hasseblad man, had the wide angle version as well as the standard. Loved developing in our darkroom, a darkroom he eventually donated to the Army Navy Academy in Carlsbad.

I used to think that I was a very different person than my dad, but over time we become more and more identical, in ways I really don't think I have the strength to identify at this moment.

My dad was something else. He loved See's chocolate lollipops, all three flavors, or at least he did before the diabetes. Red pistachios. A good steak. A top flight caesar salad like the one they used to make at the Torrey Club. He favored mustang convertibles, then E-types, then his beloved Aston Martin Db-5 convertible. The Mulliner Silver Wraith. Verdi, Puccini, Montoya, Casals. A world class collection of antiques and european court paintings.

Bullfighting. Loved going with him to the Bullring by the Sea, listen to the crowds in the stands hurl the crude epithets el matador no tiene cajones, watch the occasional fights in the stands, the pageantry, learned to never sit on the sunny side. He once saw Manolete fight and took film of the great Carlos Arruza on horseback, film that has unfortunately now been lost or perhaps discarded, during early trips to Spain. 

He had a commercial tuna fishing boat with his first construction partner John Potous. They both started business as Sommers-Potous, a La Mesa framing contractor, the original framer for AVCO in Rancho Bernardo. My dad had three principal superintendents over the years, excluding me, first Cliff Hitt, than Roger Soper, then Luis Orrantia. They all contributed greatly to his success.

He loved Maui, started visiting during the Lahaina Whaling Spree in the mid 1960's, he really enjoyed his favorite spot, the Napili Kai. Confided in me once that he had voted for Henry Wallace. Was a big fan of NBA basketball, had courtside seats for years.

He also loved number problems, magic squares, studying relativity and physics, he was an amazing dos man who pushed Supercalc 5 further than any other mortal man in history, creating algorithms and equations and logic sets in his spreadsheets that amazed the experts. He wrote tracts on economics, was a wealthy democrat but more the center aligned Scoop Jackson, Hubert Humphrey type. 

A black jack savant, like his son. Wasn't particularly fond of little dogs. Liked chess. Claimed 7 no trump the first hand he played in bridge. Enjoyed hacking around the old Stardust golf course.

Dad traveled all over the world, up the Orinoco, the fjords, six weeks in China on the Pearl River. Went with me to Africa, (with our respective spouses, my last one) one of the highlights of my life, no matter the company. Samburu, Ngorogoro, Olduvai,  William Holden's Mt. Kenya Safari Club, dinner at the Tamarind in Nairobi.

We were in a pretty remote Masai village when I snapped this shot of Dad and Shela. Never losing his native yiddish and hebrew brogues, some people said that he looked and sounded like Kissinger.

Dad was tough. He wouldn't let me work for his construction company until I worked for two years for two of the biggest scumbags in the business, just so nobody could accuse him of babying me. We went at it but eventually created a great working relationship, with me handling architecture and building, Amos the finance, planning and banking and David the law side. He carried my ass at times and I saved his ass multiple times, once kicking and screaming when a V.P. got serious religion and left us a couple million in the hole. I made it work, everybody eventually got paid.

He worked through it, he always worked through it, brilliant, ballsy, calculating. He didn't interfere too much in my life, well he did disown me for a few years when he disapproved of my choice of wife at the time. And he was basically right. But the Sommers clan has, shall we say, "significant control issues" so we banged heads for a few years and then he needed me and I came back to help and we made up and healed and never looked back. Loved him, respected him. Loved his laugh. His hum, his whistling.

Dad was sort of always on the outside in a way. Grew up teased for his accent in the mean streets of Detroit. Fought his way through the Polish and Arab section. Tough being the only jewish kid in Hamtramck.

He went to school at Wayne State, worked 80 hours a week. Took a literature class once from W. Somerset Maugham, played football for the legendary Bronko Nagurski. Met my mother at UCLA, she from the Theater Arts department.

He didn't make close friends that easily. His best friend was the insurer Norman Lawrence and it left a big hole in his life when Norman died. He loved Tim in Lahaina. Marvin, Morrie, Jim, Ralph Goffin. Dad had friends but he also enjoyed his own company and the company of his wife. Liked to hear from his kids.

He had a lot of favorite haunts. When I was a kid it was the Charcoal House, Tarantinos, the Islandia, Anthony's or Pernicanos on special occasions. Lubachs. The Grant Grill. Old Trieste. The old Royal Palms in Carlsbad. Blumer's, of course. Top Shelf. La Valencia and La Costa for lunch. Ship Ahoy. Pastanova. Pinos, Busalacchi.

When we were kids on Mt. Helix sometimes he would make jelly omelets, which sound terrible but were actually really good. He could keep a soccer ball up in the air for a really long time, flew kites as a child in Israel, helped his mom sew and got whipped one day for lowering himself out of a second story window on an electric cord to go play.

Dad told me to watch out for rock when building a subdivision and to never get into a jv deal with a lawyer, or do business with anybody you couldn't afford to sue. Unfortunately he broke his own rule and it was almost fatal.

You get one father, I was lucky enough to get this one. A man of classical sensibility and refinement, who liked to quote Machiavelli and fancy himself a benevolent despot. 

Curious that he shares the same Y dna haplogroup as Einstein and Napoleon. Dad, you accomplished so much, you will never be forgotten. My rock.

He loved us, he foregave us, he took pride in all of his children. He did the best that he could. Thank you Dad, you personally gave me so much. I love you. Thank you so much Shela, for taking such wonderful care of him all of these years. It would have been impossible without you.

CADILLAC & TRAILER - Larry Robinson

4.3.15

Valley of Death © Robert Sommers

I was driving up the 15 towards Fallbrook the other day when I caught the sign in my periphery on the east side of the freeway, New homes on Horseshit Ridge, or something like that. Part of the zillion new homes planned on the corner of the 76 and 15, near the newly planned Palomar campus. And I thought, Jeezus H., we are going into mandatory drought rationing, the state is as parched as a shipwrecked prune and we are still doling out water meters? WTF?

The snowpack is at 15%, the fire season is now officially 20 days longer and the fires are burning hotter, Yosemite's Glacier Point Rd. has just been opened at the earliest date on record and yet we just continue to build, build, build. Wither water?

Leslie bought a new phone the other night and we drove out to the Bestbuy on 79. My god, it wasn't that long ago when the whole area was beautiful groves and rolling scenery, now the whole place is flat and buried under a foot of pavement. Love progress, it has a way of really destroying an area.

I have it on good word that the muggles like it better that way. More sanitary and a better place to install the gate guarded subdivisions.

*

©Ron Cobb

I have two giant redwoods on my property, about 50 years old. Never had to water them, they drink right out of the Santa Margarita's high water table. Or did until this year, the smaller one is getting awful brown.

It's getting really scary around here. And I think we have seen the future and it is probably only going to get worse, with all of this global warming that half the country doesn't want to believe in. Keep doing what you're doing. The earth is real big. You can't hurt it.

*

I have been having dreams about my father lately. Strange vibes. Things have frankly been very weird for me all week.

Got the call last night. Dad has had a major stroke, unconscious, released from the hospital last night, going to hospice. We are heading up as soon as we can.

White House Blues

The great John Renbourn died this week. Along with the recently departed Bert Jansch, the two made up the guitar component of the wonderful British group Pentangle. Fantastic musicians all, will be missed.

And so it begins...

From Times of Israel:

The commander of the Basij militia of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that “erasing Israel off the map” is “nonnegotiable,” according to an Israel Radio report Tuesday.
Militia chief Mohammad Reza Naqdi also threatened Saudi Arabia, saying that the offensive it is leading in Yemen “will have a fate like the fate of Saddam Hussein.”
Naqdi’s comments were made public as Iran and six world powers prepared Tuesday to issue a general statement agreeing to continue nuclear negotiations in a new phase aimed at reaching a comprehensive accord by the end of June.
In 2014, Naqdi said Iran was stepping up efforts to arm West Bank Palestinians for battle against Israel, adding the move would lead to Israel’s annihilation, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
“Arming the West Bank has started and weapons will be supplied to the people of this region,” Naqdi said.
“The Zionists should know that the next war won’t be confined to the present borders and the Mujahedeen will push them back,” he added. Naqdi claimed that much of Hamas’s arsenal, training and technical knowhow in the summer conflict with Israel was supplied by Iran.

Barack got his deal. What happens next is of course to be seen. Interesting article in Politico regarding some of the more complicated spots, like relying on Vladimir Putin to ensure that Iran's nuclear activity is properly monitored.

Iran has not allowed the IAEA sufficient access to this point, the international inspectors have been complaining for the last five months but heck, why let something as trivial as that stand in the way of a deal. You meet these guys and you just know that you can trust them.

With the deadline nearing for international talks on constraining Iran’s nuclear program, Yukiya Amano, director general of the IAEA, said in an interview that Iran has replied to just one of a dozen queries about “possible military dimensions” of past nuclear activities.
Amano said that Iran has provided only “very limited” information about two other issues, while the rest have not been addressed at all.
“Recently, the progress is very limited,” he said.

Chaplinesque © Robert Sommers 2015

The Obama administration has engaged in a textbook triangulation job. Liberals have a new enemy now. Israel. The neocons. Any jew that is not camped out on J St.. Warmongers. Read the comments on practically any article discussing the subject on Huffington Post, DailyKos, Alternet or Talking Points Memo today and objectively gauge the venom. We all know who is really responsible for the troubles in the world. Care to guess?

Israel knows that it will one day be necessary to go it alone, it's built into a certain genetic coding. They know who their friends are and it is obvious that they have none in the Obama administration. It is amazing to me that some people are so absolutely delusional that they refuse to take the Iranians at their word.

Thanks, Barack. You've been a big help. To somebody.

I was talking about the whole situation with a jewish guy I know, born that way, not religious, never been to Israel, very pro Obama, anti Israel, pro negotiation. And he said, if Iran shoots a nuclear bomb at Israel it will all be over for them.

And it is obvious that someone has never been to Israel when you hear a statement like that, because Israel at its narrowest is what, nine miles from Netanya east to Tulkarem? It is a very little country. Unfortunately one nuke is all it is going to take. There is no do-over. Yes, they will probably have a pilot left up in the air that can lay their enemy to waste after the country gets hit with a nuke but there will be nothing and nobody left at that point.

My friend says that if the five leading nations of the world can't detect a covert program it will be a real indictment of science. So what? It will then be our fault, because we couldn't detect anything until it was too late?

And all you good liberals that sat back and let this happen, especially you jewish liberals, you can protest that you did all you could and hopefully somebody will still be around one day to tell you that you are and were full of shit.

Ted from Kauai sent this over the other day

Got a call from Peter that there was a thunderhead cloud of smoke from a fire near Mahaluepu, off we went to see about getting pictures.

From the distance, the smoke was really neat looking and the sun had just set, leaving lots of shadow contrast. It's reminiscent of the time when "Puu Wanwana"(to the right) erupted in the same vicinity.

Stopping along the bypass road, these coconut trees made a great foreground to frame the twin flumes of flames between the trees.

Moving on down the road, I ended up at the Grand Hyatt where the police blocked the area off, but Shipwrecks was accessible. Ricky, Nikki and I went for a bright moonlight hike on the upper cliffs and found a spot to see the intense flames from the main outburst and two other plumes inland, burning up the Haole Koa plants. Sure looked beautiful from up there with the moon lighting up the ocean and a passenger jet taking off from Lihue.

The fire was extinguished within two hours from the time I got to this vantage point. I think that the maintenance building for the Hyatt's golf course caught on fire. On first impression, it appeared that the C & J Stables was lit up, but thankfully, I could see that it was safe. It's located to the right of the fire with L.E.D. lights visible. Nikki was sleeping on top of the backpack, oblivious to her surroundings, and Ricky was just digging being out in the wild.

After it was extinguished, we headed back to the Shipwreck's Cliff where people jump down into the ocean. The smoke was just on the fringe of Poipu's hotel/condo central. It was very serene to see the shoreline from up there. Just a short treck down the slope and through the sandy beach to the car, to the comfort of the car and a relaxing drive home.

Hope you like the photos! Just another adventure on the enchanted island of Kauai :)

Aloha, Ted