kirkieg

Dinner Yum!

2007-04-09T02:51:00.000-07:00

Plant the Seed

2006-12-29T03:13:00.000-08:00

It's a been while since the last blog. So, what's been happening? Lots of growing.
Growing our little seedling into a one-year old boy.
Growing our adventure in Oz.
Growing the creative spirit.
I'm starting to want to speak in pictures rather than words.
What do these pictures say? What does art say about the arist.?
The picture about the feeling?
The dream about the reality?
I guess you plant the seed, give it lots of sunshine, lots of water, and then...
well...
I guess you just sit back and watch life grow and bloom into what it wants to be.
Plant the seed. Watch it grow. Enjoy.

"Ohana"

2006-10-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

Del Mar, CA-- We're laughin'at some 16 year old joke. We are 16 years old. It's summertime, my hair is dirty blonde, salty, still dripping wet--and my skin is dark and tanned. I look To my left and I see my buddy Jonnie, I look to my right and I see my buddy Rick-- (at one point the #1 amateur surfer in the United States of America.) All three of us can rip on our shortboards, but today that doesn't seem to matter, today is different.

It's the Del Mar Longboard Contest, one of our favorite times of the year. On the day of the longoboard contest, the beach is transformed to another era -- it's not 1983, the beach becomes 1953-- longboards line the beach, makeshift huts of palms prepare the surfers for a long day of classic hang tens, lots of "hey bros", and "whoa dudes, that was rad!".

With all the beer flowing, if you're not careful, someone might just sneak up behind you and pull your trunks down. Or in jonnie's case, he might just raise his arms in the air and HOPE someone pulls his trunks down!!!(Some strange, nudist obsession that was started when he was 6 months old and would bury his swimsuit in the sand while his mother Lilian would dig unsuccessfully to retrieve it!) but as i said earlier, today is different, the longboard competition is different.

This is the day where you bring your "soul." Yes, it's a competition, but a competition of style-- which surfer holds there hand with just the right flair, and arches their back with the coolest groove while wiggling all 10 toes off the front of a 9'6" Donald Takayama triple-stringer, single fin!. Yes, it is a competition, but today is different--it's not really about winning or losing, but about the day itself. We support the surf community, hangin' out w. the bro's,and celebrate the beauty of family.

"OHANA"
This is one thing i remember most about the Del Mar Longboard contest --I used to love to see the families of the "old guys."--they'd have their kids, their wife, their longboard, and their "Ohana"-- in hawaiian "Ohana" means family.

We used to sit and dig our toes into the hot summer sand, watch the crystal blue surf tumble in, admire a soul arch, and soak in the vibe of "Ohana"-- the community, the friendships. Sitting on the beach back in 1983, I remember thinking to myself, "i wonder if i'll ever have a kid? A wife, a family? Where will i go? What waves will I surf?"

After laying on the beach for a few hours, it's time to surf. We paddle out on our longboards at 15th street, we all three catch the same slow, and beautiful crumbling wave, we laugh the whole way in. Today it's not really about competition--
it's about "Ohana," the family of surfing.

Jump Cut. 2006. I now live in Brisbane, Australia. An hour from the Gold Coast, back in '83, the Gold Coast used to be one of my dream spots, a surfing mecca, the holy land of cutbacks, barrels and off-the-lips...and now...voila! here i am!

But it's not me,anymore, it's we! The answer to a 16 year old Del Mar surfer's questions are "Yes, you do have a wife, her name is Kathryn,and yes, you do have a kid, his name is Kai -- it means "Ocean" in hawaiian -- (that's him laughing and soaking up the vibe ofthe FIRST TIME HE HAS EVER DUG HIS TOES INTO THE SAND!)

It's 2006, this is Currumbin, not Del Mar, and this day is different, some things have changed:
1) the dirty blonde hair has been replaced by a pale bald head!
2) there's no Del Mar Longboard contest!
3) Jonnie's in San Franciso, and Rick's in New Zealand!

Yes, some things have changed, but some things are the same and even immensely better! The family has grown with friends being made in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, New York, Vevey--Switzerland, Hossegor--France, Vancouver--Canada, and now in Australia.

I now have my own family, a beautiful wife and a son-- and as we hold Kai at the water's edge and he shrieks with joy, I wonder the same questions:
"Where will he go? What waves will he surf? Will he have a wife? Will he have a son?"

I look to my left and I see my wife, i look to my right and i see my son, we all wiggle our toes in the sand, and watch the waves tumble in. We're all in Currumbin, but we're all in Del Mar, and we're still riding waves, and we're still lauging.
Today there is no competition...
there is only "Ohana."

A Visual Journey

2006-09-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

Delicious Visual Dumplings delivered from DownUndah!

Mt. Nebo

2006-09-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

After eating at Salon, we headed off to Mt. Nebo, just a little 1/2 hr. drive in our little Honda Jazz (Honda Fit in North America).Nice vegetation and eucalypt forest. Ms. Liu took some nice photos. We kept passing signs called "The Shire." At one point i couldn't find Ms. Liu, she had wandered off.

"Honey, where have you been?" I said.
"I was looking for Hobbits!" She replied with a mischievous smile on her face and crumpet crumbs on her shirt.

Apparently, the hobitts not only reside in New Zealand, but also on Mt. Nebo.

Sunshine Coast

2006-08-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

9.29.06
Georgeous Beaches!
In San Diego, these beaches would have 50,000 people on them, in LA maybe 100,000.

On the Sunshine Coast, at this beach, we only saw one. Unfortunately, though, it was a big ol' guy wearing what appeared to be a brazilian cut speedo.

Fortunately, that guy was not Adam or I.

Brisbane_8.26

2006-08-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

It's saturday morning in Teneriffe, Brisbane. We live in an old renovated woolstore building. 20 ft. high ceilings, red bricks, dark hardwood floor, and old lived-in timbers. It's a georgeous apartment, something you might find in NYC. If you lived in NYC, you might find this apartment in SOHO. You'd go outside to cobble stoned streets,the smell of NYC hotdogs and that musty NYC smell. If you lived in NYC in the 70's and 80's you might go outside and say, "Hi Andy (Warhol), howz the painting going? The pictures of Marilyn are just fabulous!" or you might go out to a seedy club up in Chelsea, smoky, too many guys in too many tight shirts, girls in short black, red or white dresses in pumps and enormous Aqua Net hairdos, you'd see a girl writhing on a stage singing, "Like A Virgin, touched for the very first time." You'd think to yourself, "This girl Madonna's never going to make it!" Jean-Michel Basquiat would stumble up to you and say, "Man, you got it all wrong, this girls going somewhere, and so am i" he'd slur "Remember Samo" in your ear and stagger off to the bar or a dark corner of the bathroom. Lots of things could happen if this building were in Soho.

But this building is in Teneriffe, Brisbane, in queenesland Australia, far, far away from NYC. Far, far away from Madonna, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel, the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's. This is 2006 and going outside at Teneriffe is peaceful. The only stars we see come out on the warm, clear nights! There's no Madonna, but my wife kathryn likes to sing in the shower! (not really, she only sings in the shower in her inside voice)(not really, i imagine she sings in the shower in her inside voice)(not really, i like to sing in the shower with my inside voice.)(not really, i actually sing Madonna quite loud in the shower with my outside voice, but i'd never admit it, except in a blog that anyone in the world can read!)

Anyways, this is Teneriffe, Brisbane, in Queensland Australia. We just had eggs benedict and a "Green Herbal" omelette for breakfast. In Oz, you have a "flat white" --kind like a latte, only better. This is about slowing down, about listening to the wind, about really seeing your baby smile, about holding your wife's hand. This is about smiling on the inside and living now, walking along the river of adventure, kicking back in the kayak and letting the river go downstream until you see a new shore you want to explore.

This is Tenerffe, Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia. The Land of Adventure, and we're adventuring, but for now we are writing in an old renovated woolstore building. 20 ft. high ceilings, red bricks, dark hardwood floor, and old lived-in timbers. It's a georgeous apartment, something you might find in NYC, or something you might find right here, right now in Teneriffe, Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia.

Tommorrow: The beaches of the sunshine coast.