Today, after the terrible tsunami, I'm thinking of the beautiful people of Samoa, & particularly one family in Salani. Oh Tanielu, I am worried for you & your family. My thoughts are with you, & they are long tearful hopeful thoughts, stretching across the wide blue vast Pacific.
Our son River Sea Aragorn Oldfield slipped into this world's realm through a dust storm on Wednesday, September 23rd. As ever, his mother was remarkably courageous & powerful. She is my heart's truest darling & my hero. How remarkable & how endless & how selfless is a mother's love.
River is the very welcome gift from our lost daughter Willow Blue Lotus Ariel; & he is the pride & the joy of his big brother Noa Joel Strider & big sister Blossom Sun Malia.
We finally brought River home from hospital today. He is doing wonderfully well, already showing signs of naturalfooterness, gentleness, strength, beauty, goodness, peace & grace.
How strange to live in a world that is cruel & tender. How difficult, how delicious; how bewildering & bewitching. River is daily reminding me of the lesson taught by his mother, his brother & his sisters: life is good, & every breath a gift.
Yesterday our dear friends Sue & Mick brought their fourth darling child into the world, at home at 4.30 in the morning. Sunny James has drawn his first breath in this world's realm, a beautiful brother for Ruby Starr, Jedd Terrence & Skye Jade. Welcome to the world little mate. We can't wait to meet you.
Mick made a beautiful surfing film called Believe, & is working on a new gem called Little Black Wheels, which will be out in just a little while. Seek his work. It's pure inspiration.
FRI. 9/25 NEW YORK SURF FILM FESTIVAL / OPENING NIGHT/ TRIBECA MON. 9/28 ROCKAWAY BEACH, NY – THE TAP AND GRILL THURS. 10/01 VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – WATERMAN’S SURFSIDE GRILLE FRI. 10/02 ASBURY PARK, NJ – THE CAROUSEL BUILDING WED. 10/07 SAN FRANCISCO, CA – VICTORIA THEATER THU. 10/08 SANTA CRUZ, CA – VETERANS MEMORIAL BUILDING FRI. 10/09 SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA – LA PERLA DEL MAR CHAPEL SAT. 10/10 SAN DIEGO, CA - DEL MAR FAIRGROUNDS THU. 10/15 VENICE BEACH, CA – THE STRONGHOLD FRI. 10/16 SANTA BARBARA, CA – VICTORIA HALL THEATRE SAT. 10/17 LONG BEACH, CA – SHELTER SURF SHOP
Dane Peterson, one of my all-time personal favourite surfers, ever. A pleasure to shoot & a pleasure to spend time with; & he's nailing it behind the lens, too.
My friend Kerry Down made this little short. It's rad. It's all shot at little local reefs nearby & has a few of my mates in it including Heydon Bunting & Kerry, as well as Baz, who shaped the board. Baz just became a dad a few days ago. I'm not sure if he ever drops by here but if you're reading this, Baz, congratulations to you & Laura. I'm so happy for you both. I bet your daughter is gorgeous & I can't wait to meet her one day.
Here's my mate Brett Caller, Valla Surfboards teamrider, with his quad fish shaped by Sage Joske, doing some renovating at Indicators, Raglan, NZ, earlier this year.
Mike McCarthy and PJ Wolf are good mates who contributed their work to Seaworthy. They're having a few old fashioned balladeer showdowns soon. Believe me, the gigs will be crazy good. I put a poster together for them & here's the details:
I finally worked out how to setup Paypal, so we have tees available for sale now, delivered to anywhere in the world. Please see the link at the bottom of the page if you're interested. Thanks.
