A Face In The Crowd: A Sad Face In Half Moon Bay

"The secret to modeling is not being perfect. What one needs is a face that people can identify in a second. You have to be given what's needed by nature, and what's needed is to bring something new."

~Karl Lagerfeld

How about that! I have spotted two new faces this month! Last week I showed you Mr. Walnut, who lived in Apple Hill, and now we have a very sad Mr. Rock who resides along the shore in Half Moon Bay, California! Do you see him? Mr. Rock looks a little more sad than most of the faces I come across, perhaps he is lonely, or maybe he doesn't enjoy the waves when they were crashing high against the shoreline, or maybe he is actually happy, but he just has a sad face! Who knows? All I know is now that I know where that particular face is, I will probably always wave hello as I pass by! I am kind of odd that way!

:)

And yes, the Valium is helping my mood greatly, thanks for asking!

:)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae)

Cloudless Sulphur, Phoebis sennae
Conservatory Of Flowers
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
October 8th 2013

 "We are all butterflies. Earth Is Our chrysalis."

~LeeAnn Taylor

It's so nice visiting the Conservatory Of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Just a couple hours away from the cares of the world, makes up for a lot of things that can leave one weary. I love butterflies, their beauty truly is unrivaled.

Mood: Happy/Content

~Me :)

The Buffet In Half Moon Bay

"Such days of autumnal decline hold a strange mystery which adds to the gravity of all our moods. Every step that Time takes imprints upon the fields as they grow bare and brown."

~Charles Nodier, Trilby, ou le lutin d'Argail/Trilby: The Fairy of Argyle, 1822

 

The birds were amazing in Half Moon Bay yesterday. There was an estimated 600 birds, and I counted at least 5 different species, maybe more! They were flying about in all kinds of mania, feeding on anchovies I think. All I could see was a million tiny sparkles in the water. It was a bit spooky, and a bit magical all at the same time!

 

Is it possible for something to be magical and spooky at the same time?

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Landlording The Ghost

"If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all his thinking, damages his personality, makes him landlord to a ghost."

~Lloyd C. Douglas



Isn't it funny how many times the scariest appearing things, are in actuality, NOT scary when you take the time to see where shadows, and scary sounds are actually coming from? When I think about what the nation is facing right now, the possibility of defaulting on it's debt, I realize that it's a situation mostly built on fear, shadows and hateful chain rattling, it scares me! But not because of shadows, but rather because of proven economical fact! If the worst happens after October 17th, we will be in world wide dark, uncharted waters. Truly the unknown, minute by minute, with no guarantees for recovery in what's left of my lifetime. It bugs the SHIT out of me, that all that's needed to exercise the ghost is to finally find a way to stop the chain of lies perpetrated by the republican party! Unfortunately, the only thing that is going to wake up the average republican/FoxNews watcher, is to give them exactly what they want, the default of America! They will never understand until all the ghosts visit their door... and never leave. Ever.

And boy are those specters coming!

Until then, they are content to live in shadows, listen to the chains rattling, and landlord the ghost!

Mood: Quiet

~Me 

Hey Look... A Sun Devil!

Sun Devil
San Francisco East Bay
October 7th, 2013

"Creativity is a lot like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You look at a set of elements, the same ones everyone else sees, but then reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new possibility. Effective leaders are able to."

~Elizabeth Moss Kanter

 Politicians Lacking Creativity, Is Why We Are In A Mess...

Politicians lacking creativity is why we are facing the mess we are in. Oh that and... oh say... STUPIDITY! John Boehner has his nuts in a knots of his own twisting. He decided to listen to the Tea Party, people who can't even spell their own angry signs correctly, and now he is stuck between crazy and CRAZY EVER MORE!

Don't get me wrong, Obama is acting kind of creepy to!

If Obama hadn't unrealistically tried to negotiate with the GOP, we wouldn't constantly be kicking the can down the road! And now, as I write this, he is making that noise again by saying he would be open to another temporary deal! What exactly would that do? Just give the rest of us yet another date to worry about on the calendar, yet again, a few months from now, just before the holidays!

I have had it!

President Obama... STOP NEGOTIATING! THAT'S WHY WE ARE HERE! SHOW THE GOP WHAT "STANDING YOUR GROUND IS."  The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) is LAW. ACT LIKE IT! And if they GOP continues to try to force a default, treat it like the treason that it is, and use the power of the 14th Amendment (See Section 4) to do your job!

“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion,” the critical sentence says, “shall not be questioned.”14th Amendment, Section 4

Speaker Boehner, do you really want to go down in history as the NUT JOB, CRY BABY, SHORT PANTS, WUSSY, BED WETTER "Speaker Of The House." STAND UP. BE A MAN. And if you have any little whisper of a moral pull in the opposite direction of the most radical of the GOP, listen to the whisper, and GO THE OTHER WAY!

In fact, don't stop there! If you happen to find yourself expectantly thinking rational one day, don't fear it, come on over to the democrats, there's plenty of room for one more!

There. I am done. How about some leaves... :)



There, I feel better now!

Mood: Frustrated, But Happy Because Of The Leaves

~Me :)

Pretty Dancing Flames

"October is crisp days and cool nights, a time to curl up around dancing flames and into a good book."

~Unknown

 

The leaves are turning, but slowly. The summer flowers are still showing off their summer pride! As far as my photography goes, I couldn't be happier! I like spending days at the beach and the gardens around San Francisco, and still be able to get excited by the leaves, as they turn from green to a kaleidoscope of autumn color! It's the best of all possible worlds! When the reddest of leaves move about in the wind, they kind of look like dancing flames. It's beautiful!

Bees Love Autumn...



Mood: Happy

~Me :)

The Brush Strokes Of Claude Monet And My Most Asked Question On AOL Journals

Claude Monet's "Water Lilies"
Legion Of Honor
San Francisco, California
October 2nd 2013

Every day I discover, more and more beautiful things. It's enough to drive one mad! I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it."

~Claude Monet



#1.
The question I used to get asked the most, regarding my blog in the old AOL Journal days was not really about my blog, so much as my screen name... OndineMonet. It's simple really, it's a combination of my favorite mythical creature, the mermaid, specifically, Ondine, and my favorite artist Claude Monet. I have been in love with Impressionist art since I was a small child, and one of my favorite teachers gave me some art books to look at and read. I love the soft pastel colors, and how almost all of the paintings looked just like places I would want to live.

 As a grown up I know that, in reality, nowhere looks like a Claude Monet painting, although sometimes we have sunsets here in the Bay Area that take my breath away, for the same reasons his paintings do. Monet is always on my mind when I take a photograph of a sunset, or of a beautiful garden or moving water.

 It is a real treat, and it fascinates me to think of what kind of photographer he might have been! But if he had been a photographer, instead of a painter, I wouldn't get to see his actual brush strokes. It's the one thing missing from photography, that small sense of the person on a different, more relate able level. By the way, the second most asked question about my blog was... What does Ellipsis mean?

#2.
Ellipsis
1 a: the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make construction grammatically complete.

b: a sudden leap from one topic to another.

2 a: marks or a mar ( as ... ) indicating an omission (as of words) or a pause.

It would have been just about perfect if Monet had painted mermaids. LOL But not to worry, I still continue to look for them whenever I am out on the San Francisco Bay! :) And by the way, Ondine isn't just a mermaid, shes also a curse, oh and a medical condition! See, Ondine's Curse.



Mood: Inspired :)

~Me :)