Yoga Bites appears every four weeks.

Everything everywhere moves in waves. Wave motion is the movement of life. Everything in the universe vibrates in wave-like patterns: sound waves, light waves, radio waves, ocean waves, seismic waves, heat waves, brain waves, peristaltic waves — even our breath, blood and heartbeats move in waves.

Here on the coast summer equals Lake Pacific, and deprived surfers tend to go a bit bonkers.  (Thank goodness this is also the Wild Rivers Coast where summer also equals river season!)  In perfect surfing paradise, head-high waves would peel for miles, one glassy peak after another. But in surfing, as in life, you’ve got to have the flat spells and micro swells to appreciate the excitement of the crazy, epic times.

Life is like a wave.  All waves come with crests and troughs, ups and downs, highs and lows. These ups and downs are the constant play of the polarities of life. Day follows night, fortune follows misfortune, and rain follows sunshine.  It is our attachment to having the “good” and our aversion to the “bad” that creates suffering.

From the pages of the Crescent City American, August 1928.

Herbert Hoover, secretary of the Interior and Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States, passed through Crescent City on his way to upper Klamath for a fishing trip in Siskiyou County at Brown’s Camp, on Sunday about noon, stopping in Mill Creek Grove for lunch. 

The party, which accompanied Secretary Hoover, numbered between 40 and 50, and included many notables from the East as well as members of the newspaper and moving picture fraternities. 

The party camped at Bull Creek in Humboldt County on Saturday night, resuming the journey Sunday morning. Upon arriving at the Del Norte County line, the party was met by Traffic Officer Bill Togni, who escorted it on through to the county line for Josephine County, Ore. Mr. Hoover and the rest of his party were high in their praise for Officer Togni for the efficient manner in which he cleared the road for the caravan. 

GOP in Congress bears most fault for lack of compromise

Thank you for the thoughtful Editor’s Note column Aug. 4, “Wanted: passionate moderates.”

I agree with you that compromise in government is a necessity. We do not have a parliamentary system where compromise is less important. In our government, Republicans and Democrats must compromise if anything is going to get done. Until recently, both parties have been willing to do this.

But I believe you have to go one step further and think about who is responsible for our current dysfunctional Congress.

SEIU ladies lend needed support to tough decision 

Today was an amazing day for me. I in the last two weeks have made the decision to leave the Crescent City area, where I’m established with a nice little place, two dogs and a very good job.

My reason for leaving the area is to go care assist in the care for my mother. It was almost a calling sort of feeling today. I’m walking through the little fair our community has and came across the SEIU booth and I met two of the nicest ladies. They answered my questions plus more and made me realize that what I was doing was okay.

Because we have such a stereotype about this idea of caring for family. For some reason when you tell people this they just look at you like you’re nuts. Come on people, it is our responsibility to do this.

The July 31 article, “Harbor drilling methods debated,” may have caused some confusion in the community regarding the status of the drilling method for the new boat basin.

The article gave some people the impression that (a) the Harbor engineers doubted the validity of the alternative drilling technique, but (b) the Harbor Commission has decided to use the alternative technique because (c) the contractor is pushing it and (d) the Harbor would save a few dollars, and (e) in case the new harbor fails, the commission would rely on another engineering firm’s liability insurance to replace it.

This impression is not correct.   Here is the background:

 The harbor’s engineers designing the pilings and docks are the team of Stover Engineering, Ben C. Gerwick, and Treadwell & Rollo.  They designed the new harbor to be resistant to a 50-year tsunami event.

Here are excerpts from a letter sent to Gov. Jerry Brown, President Pro Tem Steinberg, and Speaker Perez:

On behalf of the California State Parks Foundation, our 130,000 members statewide, and our 43-year history of enhancing, protecting and advocating for parks, I cannot convey enough how deeply shocked and dismayed we have been to learn of the irregularities that have surfaced from the Department of Parks and Recreation in the last several days.

The news of the unauthorized vacation buyout program, coupled with the discovery of more than $50 million in 12-year fund balances that should have been disclosed and directed to parks and recreation operations, has affected our members, our partners, and the public’s trust in our state park system.

Our state parks have been used as a political football in recent years and have been repeatedly held hostage to broader budget and policy fights. That context is neither justification nor an excuse for the scandals that have come out, but contributes in part to the current state of affairs affecting our state parks.

Sutter, board,doctors should rethink, seek common ground

Sutter Coast Hospital’s Board chairman gave community members at the Town Hall Meeting a handout explaining why the board voted for regionalization last November. Regionalization would dismantle our local Board of Trustees and turn our governance over to folks in the San Francisco and Santa Rosa area.  But what’s written on Sutter Coast’s home page makes more sense to me:  “... Our local governance structure means critical health care decisions are made by experts in our community who can respond to the local health and community needs.

Here’s how I read the board’s rationale:

Frank McNamara is a survivor. He came home unscathed from the World War II bloodbath of Okinawa as a Navy Seabee. He emerged damp but unhurt from the Crescent City tidal waves of 1964 as a downtown merchant.

So when Frank, now 91, passes along a piece of writing and suggests it be shared with Triplicate readers, who am I to quibble? Especially when I agree.

In the July/August edition of AARP Bulletin, editor Jim Toedtman evokes the memories and motivations of four of our nation’s founding fathers, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

“In life these four great men did not like one another,” Toedtman wrote. “Journals of that time are full of their conniving and their bitter rivalries.

I was asked not that long ago by a student, if I were to look back at all the teachers that I had while in school, which one had the greatest impact on my life.

I did not even have to stop and think; it was Ruby VanDeventer. While at Del Norte I took two years of German from her plus U.S. History and Civics.

She was a tough teacher but fair. It was not so much what I learned in her classes, but what I learned from her while she was the advisor to the “D” club, which was the varsity letterman’s club.

In my senior year I was elected “D” club president, a position I was proud to have been chosen for, but it was definitely out of my comfort zone.