It’s Friday haiku
Not great and not bad
Just some new haiku
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Land meets the Ocean
Sunlight and shore intersect
Water birds and seals
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/14/11
Orion’s right knee
Gave out in the late winter
Just as snow melted
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/28/11
Look down all the days
Our mind can be spotty or clear
Our thoughts can be tenuous or firm
Our hopes can be simple or grand
Yet our breathes will come steady and clear
As our fate is made or revealed.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 12/01/10
All I need is you
All I really need is you
You are all I need
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 12/23/10
Remnants of a dream
Push to dawns awakening
Fading into light
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 12/27/10
Noodling along
Wasting precious passing time
Into a new year
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 12/31/10
Experience of life
Memories come unbidden
Reflections through time
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/01/11
Tasting only you
Under chocolate skies
Melting into bliss
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/03/11
Orion runner
Flies through life across the sky
Like it all matters
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/04/11
Two people walking
In opposite directions
Into each other
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/06/11
You gain strength, courage,
and confidence by every experience
in which you really stop to look fear in the face.
Eleanor Roosevelt
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 09/01/10
Fence in seaside mist
Metal rusting across time
Fog moves on through it.
Photo by Lance Kuehne
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 11/08/10
What you mean to me
It’s easier to hold the rising sun down
Than be without my love
Will this ever end
The sun will end its setting
Before we can be parted
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 11/12/10
Shining fog today
Winter morning rain forest
After storms have passed
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 11/28/10
an Ode to Oakmont
Cement truck driver
Octogenarian guy
What else to do – laugh
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 11/16/10
At the end of day
Peace flows from darkness to light
Droplets go to sea
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennifer_ruhe/5148092378/in/pool-sonomacounty#/photos/jennifer_ruhe/5148092378/in/pool-33701253@N00/
Photo by Jennifer Ruhe
Each of us sees what we want to see
And we are blind to that which we cannot see.
Whether the truth lies in plain view or not.
Our rods and cones are uniquely aligned.
A blink, or a squint, at the truth may open our view, or not.
Like dust in the eyes the view can be rubbed out.
Tears may flow to clear away the distortion.
The impressions from a peripheral glance may bring it into focus.
For those of us with blind spots, which means everyone,
The things we trip over were obvious to those around us.
Just as we see their tripping hazards that they don’t recognize.
But there’s no denying, denial is an effective filter.
How come I can’t get you to see what you will not see?
Perspective is both point of view and position
The glare in the eyes may be the reflection of a vision we have not shared
Or the view is seen together after a long thoughtful gaze.
Do you see what I mean? Can you? Do you want to?
Without insight a beam of light flashes on steel
and bounces off in another incredible direction
Never illuminating the space the steel reflected.
The Sacramento Bee has a city manager comparison. I derived a chart of amount per citizen which shows that Santa Rosa is well within the norm and smaller cities pay more per citizen.
Thanks to Phillip Reese et al preese@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Sep. 10, 2010 – 12:21 pm
“The average pay for a city manager in California is roughly $190,000, according to a just-released survey from the League of California Cities. ”
I extrapolated Sonoma County communities and cities comparable to Santa Rosa in size to see how pay rates compared. I included San Bruno and Beverly Hills because they may be of interest. Anaheim, as a larger city, is also for comparison.
With the average @ $190,000 the smaller communities appear to have to pay more to get competent managers.
(I apologize for the chart layout – coaching is welcomed)
City, Population, City Manager, 2009 Pay then dollars per citizen (pay/population) =
Anaheim 348,467 Thomas J. Wood $293,017 dollars per citizen = $0.84
Oceanside 187,000 Peter Weiss $174,000 dollars per citizen = $0.93
Pomona 163,683 Linda Lowry $223,500 dollars per citizen = $1.37
Santa Rosa 161,716 Jeffrey C. Kolin $231,010 dollars per citizen = $1.43
Ontario 174,536 Chris Hughes $253,500 dollars per citizen = $1.45
Salinas 150,000 Artie Fields $225,638 dollars per citizen = $1.50
Santa Clarita 177,641 Ken Pulskamp $293,760 dollars per citizen = $1.65
Corona 150,416 Bradly Robbins $265,044 dollars per citizen = $1.76
Pasadena 151,576 Michael J. Beck $270,730 dollars per citizen = $1.79
Torrance 149,717 LeRoy Jackson $268,382 dollars per citizen = $1.79
Rancho Cucamonga 178,904 Jack Lam $324,582 dollars per citizen = $1.81
Palmdale 152,622 Stephen H. Williams $367,518 dollars per citizen = $2.41
Napa 75,515 Michael Parness $237,703 dollars per citizen = $3.15
San Rafael 58,822 Ken Nordhoff $191,018 dollars per citizen = $3.25
Petaluma 58,401 John C. Brown $208,721 dollars per citizen = $3.57
Rohnert Park 43,020 Gabriel Gonzalez $169,080 dollars per citizen = $3.93
San Bruno 44,294 Connie Jackson $205,832 dollars per citizen = $4.65
Windsor 26,500 J. Matthew Mullan $180,000 dollars per citizen = $6.79
Beverly Hills 33,784 Roderick Wood $438,571 dollars per citizen = $12.98
Healdsburg 11,700 Marjorie Pettus $158,012 dollars per citizen = $13.51
Sonoma 10,078 Linda Kelly $146,507 dollars per citizen = $14.54
Sebastopol 7,800 Jack Griffin $126,307 dollars per citizen = $16.19
Cloverdale 8,454 Nina Regor $164,285 dollars per citizen = $19.43
Cotati 7,409 Dianne M. Thompson $145,580 dollars per citizen = $19.65
God is an old man all dressed in black
He sits in a wheelchair holding a cane in his gloved hands.
God is a young mother who drove with her husband from the Valley.
The kids are with her mother. They don’t know mommy is scared.
God hovers between a middle aged couple,
blessing them as they savor every moment, taking it one step at a time.
God is a mystic, challenging the world to change and
to accept that the present moment is as close to heaven as we need to be.
God is a young man, now in an old man’s body, all dressed in black
He sits in a wheelchair holding a cane in his gloved hands.
Waiting for a miracle.
Gerry La Londe-Berg
February 5, 2008
Walked around aging
It’s better than just sitting
Around getting old
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For Van Morrison
Radio static
Wavelengths over many years
Never lets you down
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>07/02/10
About a pine tree
It’s my tree now, Lord
Towering example too
Of longevity
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>07/02/10
Forest calls echo
Wren and jay can rejoice now
In summer’s warm sun
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>07/02/10
Day started in peace
Then wry sense of gain or loss
As the sunset wanes
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>07/02/10
Shade versus shadows
Some degrees of lack of light
Like our certainty
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>07/04/10
Gumption
When one is quiet
Long enough to see hear feel
The real universe
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>07/06/10
When did you want that?
Now or sooner is okay
Existentially
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>07/09/10
