August 3 - To the Heights

Glorious yet suspect day,



up and out fairly early towards



Beaumont



and



Banning,



up



the



Idyllwild



Grade



with views to



San Gorgonio Mountain and



Pass towards



San Jacinto for a walk to the



Summit Junction via



Idyllwild's Humber Park,



starting below the elliptical skies of Lily Rock,



initially up the Devil's



Slide Trail,



with views of



Suicide Rock,



to



Saddle



Junction.



From here,



contour around San Jacinto Ridge



on the actual Pacific Crest Trail (surprise!),



with glimpses back to Tahquitz Peak and



Lily, to the



Strawberry



turnoff,



then



Wellman



Cienega's



verdure



and



springs to the



suspicious Divide.



The last pull hairpins



near Miller Peak,



past a descending posse of LDS students and their counsellors (a veritable Mormon Batallion),



gains access to the



Summit Plateau.



With this have connected to



last year's hike,



where a contingent of Asian hikers linger ("Asians and Mormons and I, oh my!"), and



descend, re-encountering LDS folks,



including the friendly rear-guard councellor, chatting until they depart at Wellman Divide for the Aerial Tram.



Our route is otherwise (though a cross-range option is tempting),



and



Heraclitus proves



correct again,



with views the same



yet different.



The sun sets at 7:30pm in Southern California's early August, the last light fading on Lily Rock, and retreat is made back to the Browning's, whereupon we set out again to a local Redlands nightspot to reconnect with friendly folks.

August 2 - Forever in a Day

Takes a ridiculous amount of time to get on the open road, finishing up the reconstructed December 2005 21st-Century Music, mailing packages to Harriet,



stopping



to



pick



up



and


deposit



financial items, then down to



Berkeley's Copyworld to drop off the old Journal.



At last heading out of the local sphere via



580



and



80 to where the



Central Valley



rounds itself out



south,



then up and over



the



Grapevine



and



Tejon



Pass,



rollercoastering



down



the



Ridge Route



to



Paradise,



Violin



Canyon, and



Santa Clarita Valleys, then



up and



down Gavin,



to



San



Fernando,



and once more



via the



Verdugos



to



La Canada / Flintridge,



San



Gabriel,



and



beyond, towards the welcoming retreat of



John Browning's and family. Across the L.A. basin, tune into to Jim Svejda's Record Shelf on KUSC -- his memorial program to the late Mitch Miller, which includes

7:36 pm George Gershwin: An American in Paris
London Symphony / Mitch Miller
MM

7:57 pm Jean Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela
Philadelphia Orchestra / Leopold Stokowski
Mitch Miller, English horn

8:09 pm David Diamond: Symphony No. 4
Seattle Symphony Orchestra / Gerard Schwarz
Delos 3093

8:27 pm Charles Ives: String Quartet No. 1
Emerson String Quartet
DG 435864



Late work on videos for Animal Farm, as well, posting XXVIII. Elephants and



XXIX. Horses.

August 1 - What's the Explosive Buzzing About?

Find a couple of videos for alteration to begin video versions of Animal Farm: Grand Fantasy-Variations, commencing with I. Wasps and



IV. Crabs (latter appropriately run mirror and retrograde). Also incorporate the interview into reconstructed back issue of 21st-Century Music December 2005, file, begin editing Psalm 22: Ib-IV (beginning two pages), and same for publication-preparation re Symphony No. 2: III.