California Gold: A Huell Howser Tribute

All Photos Taken From the Internet

I’m bummed. One of my dreams was to meet Huell Howser. I think Mr. Howser was the ONLY television personality with whom I could relate. His broadcasts were sublimely fascinating, reporting on such things as bright, red, clay dirt in a northern region of California. Then there was his piece on antiquated spacecraft stored in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Another favorite was the segment on an outlying, manufacturing plant which exclusively uses recycled glass in creating hand-made, dinnerware, somewhere near Ukiah (http://www.calgold.com).

When I saw the venerable Mr. Howser conducting television interviews, I envied his sincere, gracious, unassuming, easy, breezy, reporting style.  I COMPLETELY understood his enthusiasm and the AWE he conveyed with his seemingly serendipitous, California Gold encounters. More importantly, I understood that each of his televised pieces were akin to GIFTS that he’d received from people desiring to share their wealth of information, of hospitality and food, of valuable time, of knowledge; all of whom granted tours and posed for photos (that’s like the icing on the reporting cake).

In turn, he respected and took care of those things, both as a professional journalist and as a trusted friend. In the land of annoying television and radio harangue, noisy contention (scripted or no) and reality shows reliant on someone else's woe and profane angst, Mr. Howser conveyed the simple, abundant joy available to anyone who wished to considerately share and to graciously receive such intangible delights. Such joy!

I aspire as a journalist and as a human being. Butterfly thoughts and California highway journeys do beckon, in large part because Mr. Howser paved an amiable, journalistic path. My condolences to those closest to Mr. Howser. I will miss him and his Southern drawl.