The Call of Home

A return is always something curious.

When a piece of you never really leaves a place it seems more accurately a re-awakening. Once returned I cannot help but wake up before the sun - to watch it crest the ridge, watch its rays chase the shadow line down the canyon wall. And to watch the full moon fall through the purpling sky.

A return in spring is easy to romanticize. The brown hills are green again and transient color and fragrance bursts. New vivid sycamore leaves sprout, black and purple sage, ceanothus covers whole hillsides in faux frost...

images ©Bennett Barthelemy

I Have Come Here To Bleed

Recent publication for the winter issue of Ojai Quarterly Magazine... It has been great that for over four years now I have been able to write and shoot a feature for every issue on wilderness explorations, trails, enviro groups, local luminaries etc... Grab a copy if you see one. Barnes and Nobles etc...

Serendipity - 35 Years of Play

I think having a high play quotient, a valued and lofty threshold for play, and not only a propensity for as well as appreciation - but a decided lean toward the ridiculous and laughter - is a key ingredient in life…

My parents, Joe and Lilly, opened up a toy store, Serendipity, in 1979 in the small Southern California town of Ojai California. Its avocado and orange orchards of the East End, the sweeping sycamores and valley oaks, helped provide an insulated and otherworldly feel that set it apart from the rest of congested Los Angeles, Ventura and nearby Santa Barbara. The rugged Coast Range peaks and the transverse range gave it a more wild sense and they decided it would be a good place to raise kids… Thankfully, this holds true to a large degree.

In a way, my tireless parents have helped raise much of the children of this town for three generations - kids that came by in the early 80's saving allowances for Dungeon's and Drangon's modules or Snuffles stuffed bears, then they had their own kids, and some of those kids now have tiny kids so the legacy continues.

My parents still tackle the ordering, shipments and stocking of shelves, and gift wrapping with a hardly slowed vigor that amazes me - nearly there seven days a week but garnering solid support now from Maddie and a serious continent of other townies - my brother, sister, cousin Morgan and myself (more than a few ex-wives and partners) have taken spins behind the counter. Many youth in local school programs did stints learning retail skills and a "work" ethic in a locally-run shop.

I am helping out again this Christmas season after a number of years appreciating a hiatus from the intensity of the busiest season. It is nice to reconnect with old junior high friends that are back visiting their parents for the holidays, old climbing partners that are now back and raising kids here. I visit regularly but its a different sense when you are behind the counter. Instant recognition/association - for better or worse - there is no hiding when there is an extant 35 year legacy with a store front and open door.

Last night Morgan, now in DC, made it back for a few hours, and my sister Melissa and her partner Diane from UCSB. A celebration was in order. Morgan I think hit the nail on the head when he said, "People love this toy store because it is not formulaic." The old catchphrase that I believe my mom came up with and is still on the business card is where the unique is common.

I think my parents did a stellar job instilling in us an appreciation of course for uniqueness, but more importantly for the value of play… I can't thank them enough for that...

My cousin, despite having a very seriously high speed job in DC with the DOT proves that age has nothing to do with the necessity of  play…