A Witch Moon Over Orinda

"Give them pleasure.

 The same pleasure they have

 when they wake up from a nightmare."

~Alfred Hitchcock

We are getting close to Halloween. My favorite holiday! Certainly my favorite holiday of autumn! I love decorating, I love getting the candy ready for the kids. I love picking out costumes with Alan. And I love creating special graphics with original photographs! The photograph above is one I can't take credit for, it's Alan's. I took one similar last year, but he managed one from a slightly different angle, and it's gorgeous, so I thought it would be fun to post one from my talented hubby!

Our vacation officially began last Thursday, which was our 26th wedding anniversary! We went out to lunch, which was awesome, and then we caught a free showing of one of our favorite movies, Halloween. I told you a little about it last week, but I want to show you a few of the photos I didn't include with that post! 

Orinda Photos

Vacation 2016

I just love how creative places

 get with their Halloween celebrations!

Leaf Of The Day

October 22nd 2016

Mood: Happy/Inspired

~Me :) 

The Colors Of Apple Hill

"When everything looks like a magical oil painting,

 you know you are in Autumn."

~Mehmet Murat ildan

Alan and I paid a visit to Apple Hill yesterday, and the autumn life filled my heart with so much happiness! Everything kinda looked like it was covered in cinnamon and cloves, and the smell of freshly picked apples was amazing! Truly, it wouldn't be autumn for me, without a trip to Apple Hill, especially in October!

Can't you just taste those apples?

Sweet?

Tangy?

Juicy?

Delicious!

Leaf Of The Day

October 21st, 2016

Mood: Happy

~Me :) 

Feel The Mellow Golden Sun

"Squeeze your eyes closed, as tight as you can, and think of all your favorite autumns, crisp and perfect, all bound together like a stack of cards. That is what it is like, the awful, wonderful, brightness of Fairy colors. Try to smell the hard, pale wood sending up sharp, green smoke into the afternoon. To feel the mellow, golden sun on your skin, more gentle and cozier and more golden than even the light of your favorite reading nook at the close of the day."

~Catherynne M. Valente

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland

 In A Ship Of Her Own Making

Sweet, sweet autumn! I woke up this morning to the most beautiful sunshine, the clearest air, and the most lovely twinkle of leaves dancing here and there! It was a day of unbelieveable happiness. It really was. It was a day of decisions and better yet, decision made in confidence and peace! Details aren't really necessary, just know I am okay. I am happy. And autumn is really a season of healing.

I am happy! Alan is happy!

And there is so much more to come of this magical season! 

 Leaf Of The Day

October 20th 2016

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

 

What A Way To Start A Day

"Unhappiness comes when we feel helpless. 

Hope comes the minute we decide we are not."

~Toni Soronson

The Great Brain Cleanse

It's here! The BIG. BAD. Dreaded DAY!

My colonoscopy is scheduled for 7:30 A.M. 

I know lots of people have been through this, and I know the chance that I have cancer are slight, but I also know I have had some symptoms that can't be ignored. Hair loss... a lot of hair loss. I fainted a couple months ago. Changes to bowel movements, I won't go into details on that dear reader, you get the idea. I can't ignore what my body is telling me. Something isn't quite right. It might be something dumb, and not life changing, so the dreaded test is the way to go. I just wish it didn't involve a total stranger sticking something up my butt. I wish it didn't involve an IV stuck in my arm. And it wish it didn't involve... the BIG BAD of all BIG BADS...

 CANCER! 

I will do what I always do. I will write down what I think the whole thing will be like, and then afterward I will comeback here and write about what it was really like. It's a tool I learned when I was in a class for those who suffer from panic attacks. It's a great way to take the anxiety out of any stressful unknown issue. You can always look back through your journal and realize we humans tend to make things bigger in our imaginations, then they tend to actually be in life, and as I found out, my imagination loves to make something mildly scary or irritating, the worst thing ever!

So...

1. The IV will be the worst physical pain I have ever endured. The needle won't go in my vein, but when they finally get it to go in, it will break off in my arm.
2.  The medicine that finally begins to flow through my body will kill me, but not before causing me to say something stupid like David Duchovny has the nicest butt since Jesus and I wish I could do a colonoscopy on him one day.
3. The world will end, as my bare naked butt shines to the world. It seems North Korea couldn't take one more moment of Donald Trump and decided to help us all out by nuking the us.
4. An earthquake, a 10.0, decides to hit just as the doctor is halfway up my butt. He decided to drop the scope, and runs. away. And there I am left on a cold table, with a colonoscope sticking halfway out my butt. And no one to remove it!
5. The light bulb on the colonoscopy burns out half way through, and we have to start all over.
6. The doctor detects a strange face that looks a little like Donald Trump scrolled on the side of my bowel wall. Kinda like a hieroglyphic.
7. The doctor ruptures my colon and I bleed out.
8. I fart
9. The doctor finds tumors too big to do a biopsy.
10.  The doctor finds cancer.
11. My whole life changes forever.

 

 

The doctor finds cancer.

And my whole life changes forever!

 

I will write a new post updating my adventure on Thursday.

 

Stay Tuned!

 

Leaf Of The  Day

October 19th 2016

Mood: Scared But Okay

 

~Me :)  

 

      

 

Crossing Bridges When You Get To Them!

"There's always another storm. It's the way the world works. Snowstorms, rainstorms, sandstorms, and firestorms.

 Some are fierce and others are small.

 You have to deal with each one separately, 

but you need to keep an eye on whats brewing for tomorrow."

~Maria V. Snyder

Fire Study 

Plumas County isn't just beautiful because of the amazing autumn leaves, it has some other things that make it stand out from other places in California. Like the amazing bridges! There are ones like the two you see above, and there are really old fashioned ones that the trains cross as they go over the Feather River. There is an amazing one that connects the Feather River Parkway, with the tiny town of Beldon! Its gorgeous! This photo is from the way into the county. The rainstorm was only beginning! As the tiny drops turned into large heavy drops, I decided it was time to head back home. It was so difficult to leave, I love it here so much, but we did. And it was a good thing we left when we did! The wind was blowing really hard by about 4:00 P.M. and it was getting dark!

And then this happened!

Thank goodness we left when we did! That was a fairly large tree that snapped and fell across the road! Luckily there was a PG&E truck coming in the opposite direction, and Alan and the man PG&E worked together to remove the large pieces of tree from the road so we could get through, and then we were on our way! But I can't help but think we dodged a really bad incident the other day. I knew it was going to rain that day, but I didn't know that it was going to rain that hard, or that there would be that much wind! 

Note to self: thoroughly check the weather conditions when going into the foothills! LOL.

I really needed that photo jaunt to take my mind off of my colonoscopy. It takes place tomorrow, the same day as the election! But I will whine about all that in my next post! LOL. Goody, something for you to look forward too... right?   :) I just want to cross that bridge when I get to it, and not a minute before!

Leaf Of The Day

October 18th 2016

 

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

 

Misty October Days

"In Heaven, it is always autumn."

~John Donne

Here, are the last of the stormy photos I did in Plumas County this past weekend! I didn't spend nearly enough time there. It was enchanting in the rain, and I loved every single drop that fell. I didn't even mind the cold, it was a welcome relief from the mind numbing heat that happens in the Central Valley! It was a gift really! So, hopefully I will be able to visit up there again before the end of vacation! I hope so... I love it so much!

 Plumas County Part Two

Quincy, California

Feather River Plumas County

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower"

~Albert Camus

Leaf Of The Day

October 17th 2016

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Plumas County Photo Jaunt 2016

Plumas National Forest

"After the keen still days of September,

 the October sun filled the world with mellow warmth...

 the maple tree in front of the doorstep burned

 like a gigantic red torch.

 The oaks along the roadway glowed yellow and bronze.

 The fields stretched like a carpet of jewels,

 emerald and topaz and garnet.

 Everywhere she walked the color shouted and sang around her...

 In October any wonderful unexpected thing might be possible."

~Elizabeth George Speare

The Witch Of Blackbird Pond 

Plumas... At last!

I have planned to visit Plumas County in recent years, but something always seemed to get in the way, but this year I finally made it back! My last visit was in 2012, and it was amazingly beautiful that year, but yesterday was something completely different! It was a side of autumn that even I haven't seen before, it was breathtaking!

It was really cold, and it was pouring rain, and the wind was blowing hard, but I didn't care! I just immersed myself in my photography, and took it all in like I had never seen, or tasted or felt autumn before. I guess because I hadn't! Autumn leaves are as individual as fingerprints, and as those leaves fall gently to the earth, I know, I will never see them exactly the same again!

The life of a leaf is like that of a butterfly. So brief, their lives are so delicate, and each one is so beautiful in it's uniqueness.The leaf and the butterfly both begin their time on earth so strong, and then after a while they pass away. Quietly. With only a whisper, flutter and then a sigh. And if we are very lucky, we will see one float by on a perfect autumn day! Like yesterday. 

Plumas Gallery 2016

Leaf Of The Day

October 16th 2016

Mood: Happy

~Me :)