Trying to Forget What I Saw

My reading list lately has been non-fiction. Lots of books about the ocean. The last ten on my GoodReads list shows three Rachel Carson books. Several Orca or Dolphin books too.

Great Blue Heron landing at nest

I have seen whales from above while flying a Cessna when I had a ticket (pilot licence) . There was a very small airport next to the 5 Freeway in San Juan next to the riverbed. I learned to fly there. (not in the riverbed). I have seen whales from the cliffs here in San Pedro and a few from my sailboat while out sailing. I have encountered large pods of Dolphins several miles out past the Light House. One day maybe four years ago (I forget) I was out walking my dog DeDe and when we came back to the boat and our "Local Preacher Lady" asked me if I had seen the whale. Elizabeth is as sober (sober in San Pedro is rare) as they can get and has a Episcopalian Church in Laguna Beach. I said what whale and she said there was a small whale swimming between the docks here. So the dog and i got out our rowing sabot and started the search and it didn't take long before the whale surfaced right in front of us. His or her snout was covered with barnacles.

Two nestlings Blue Herons

One year we sailed to San Francisco and during the hours before sunrise I could see the whales blowing their exhaust into the air as we went past Point Conception.

Protecting the nest

As a kid in Santa Monica we spend many a day on the pier above and below it fishing. There was a tackle shop on the pier and in the windows there were all these shiny Penn Reels priced far above the nickel a dime menu little kids have.

Osprey at Night

My mother always like to go fishing with my Uncle Carl when we would visit in Arkansas. I didn't fish much there but loved to snorkel in the lakes and around the fishing docks that were loaded with fish waiting for handouts.

Dueling Egrets

While working at Telemetrics in Gardena the guys at work chartered several fishing boats and I went out on three of fishing trips. That is the only time I ever caught any sizable fish.

Trying to get along is not their idea

So recently my reading lead me to three movies that can be seen on YouTube or Amazon. One was
The Whale about Luna an Orca that becomes friends with locals, The other is Blackfish and the disasters at Sea World and the third is The Cove which deals with the killing of Dolphins in Taiji Japan.

On my sailboat there is a Television that gets over the air signals and I watch PBS and the 23.3 Channel here which is a Japanese Channel that shows news and promotes travel to Japan.

The producers are always showing the fine delicate features of the Japanese arts especially the cooking. The wood carving of the Buddhist Temples, the bright colors of weaving and so many other fine items. But they don't show the mercury levels of the whale and dolphins meats that are sold everyday to the Japanese.

So why is it that a Culture has such contradictions?