Reluctant Rebel

Saturday, October 3, 2026

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

How Did I Miss This One?

Last evening hubs and I watched "Spoiler Alert" with Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, Sally Field, and Bill Irwin. It's on Netflix (the only streaming service we subscribe to).

Why this movie wasn't mainstream is not a mystery...the mainstream media is still afraid of gay love stories. And this was a gay love story that portrayed a realistic relationship between two complex characters - two men with their own baggage. They are a somewhat unlikely pair, no, perhaps a very likely pair in the real world of gay men - not the "typical" pairing of perfectly gorgeous male specimens.

They navigate the difficulties and tensions in their relationship and find that despite all their hangups and differences, or maybe because of them, they really do love one another.

Highly recommended. Spoiler Alert: have a box of tissues handy.

Saturday, September 19, 2026

Some Photos - CALIFORNIA - SEPT 19 2026

All in One Place

At least California has the good sense to put all the most obnoxious people in one place.

The photos do not even do justice to the size of the enclave of nomads and ATVs and dune buggies and huge TRUCKS and RVs and the mass of humanity that requires this environment to "have fun".

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Chapman Estate - a Gay Connection Here in the Five Cities

We stumbled upon this rather hidden gem in Shell Beach and decided to check it out. Our tour guide, a volunteer docent, explained the history and its current status as being transitioned from the city to a non-profit foundation. He also mentioned that the home had been donated to the city by the last owner, Clifford Chapman and his life partner Gene “Don” Shidler who lived there after Clifford passed until his death.

The gay connection really made the visit special for us because there is hardly any (no, none at all) LGBTQ visibility in the Pismo/Oceano/Grover/Arroyo Grande/Shell Beach/Avila Beach area. Chapman was highly respected and very dedicated to non-profit causes

Chapman wanted the home to remain a semi-public historic place for people to enjoy. The interior of the house is currently not open for tours as there are a number of issues yet pending with the transition to the nonprofit foundation and a need to comply to certain codes for it to be a public museum.

The gardens in addition to some wonderful flowers and trees (avocadoes, figs, cypress) feature a huge display of begonias that Chapman's mother had collected and stored in the basement each autumn. The tubers are lovingly planted and nursed by a dedicated volunteer.

Some of the many cypress are about 100 years old

Clifford and Gene, Life Partners

The "Cottage"

Chapman had the Windmill built to pump sea water into a swimming pool

The volunteers were very enthusiastic about the future of the Chapman Estate and so very eager to share the history and details of architecture and building additions made by Chapman. Well worth going slightly off the beaten tourist path.

Some additional photos from a memorial book on premises.