Transitional Seasons

"I have an affection for those transitional seasons, the way they take the edge off the intense cold of winter, or heat of summer."

~Whitney Otto

How To Make An American Quilt

I HATED 2016! Hated it's guts! We lost so many fantastic artists this year, and my personal life had some harrowing moments, including a cancer scare, and the world of politics lost it's FUCKING MIND! Sorry, I used that word again, jeeze, I have probably said that word more this year then in any previous year of my life. It's been a long, frustrating year, but like all frustrating things, or even really good things for that matter, it will pass. In fact, it will pass in about 2 weeks or so! I can't wait, but I wonder, as I sit here, why am I in such a hurry? I have NO idea if 2016 will be such a bad year, compared to what might happen in 2017!

I still can't see my life a year from now. It hasn't gotten any better since the last time I mentioned it, so that is just all a blur. But when I looked at this abandoned bird's nest sharing a tree, with a dying leaf of autumn 2016, it kind of made me smile. It's in the transitional seasons that I tend to think things through a little better. Winter is cold, and I am in a great deal of pain during winter months from my degenerative arthritis. My Fibromyalgia bothers me, regardless of what the weather is outside, but my mood is better in autumn, and I kinda like May as well, but for much different reasons.

Transitions get you from here to there... duh... right? So maybe I should not fret so much about not being able to see down the road. Life moves you along, and we make the choice to move along with it, or not. Right now, I am seeing more hope in my personal life then I did a few months ago. And that hope occurred in a transitional season, autumn! We found out the equity in our home  is building at a very nice pace, much better than we had hoped, and as more and more people move east from the Bay Area, the more new growth is seen in the Central Valley's economy. This year, in the Central Valley was quietly transitioning from 2016 to 2017 and there is a lot to look forward to!

So maybe I don't need to look so far down the road.

It will get here... when it gets here. 

Don't fret about the cold, spring is only 3 months away!

Leaf Of The Day

December 17th, 2016

Mood: Okay

~Me :)

Altamont Fog Part Two... Days Of Black And White

"Photograph is a reality so subtle

 that it becomes more real than reality."

~Alfred Stieglitz

Foggy days, that puts that soft glow on all the colors around you, are some of my favorite conditions to do photos. Sometimes it can be so early in the day, and so foggy, that you don't really see the color around you, and I used to really enjoy taking color photographs that had the appearance of a black and white photo but wasn't. I still enjoy that a lot, but I find with my photograph that a lot of what I notice, and see around me, has a lot to do with my mood. Fortunately yesterday I was able to see the color through the fog, but I also noticed the beauty of the world in black and white, and decided to convert the photo to black and white. I was lucky, it was the best of all worlds! 

Leaf Of The Day

December 16th, 2016

Mood: Quiet/Okay

~Me  

Altamont Fog Part One... The Last Of Autumn Color

"There is October in every November and there is November in every December! All seasons melted in each other's life!"

~Mehmet Murat ildan

Alan and I had business in the Bay Area yesterday, so we went by way of the Altamont pass, and on any given day this time of year, you will have to deal with December fog! It was mostly light, and well on it's way to burning off, but it made everything look so beautiful! I first noticed it last year, when I occasionally went to work with Alan on Sunday nights! The next morning the fog on the way home really spoke to my creative side. I took a number of lovely sunrise fog photos, and was pleased with the results.

 I wish I could get out and do more photos like this, but now that Alan is working in the Central Valley, Monday through Friday,  time for photography is completely different! Because of my Fibromyalgia, driving myself around in foggy weather isn't always feasible, but on the days I can get out, I enjoy it very much! I had a good time doing the photos as we drove, I love the challenge of doing photographs on the run. I have less time to think about the shot, so I rely more on instinct. 

Yesterday, I did one set in color, and one set in black and white, based on the scene and density of the fog. I am hoping to be able to do more photos along the Altamont before the end of the month, but we will have to see. There is a heavy storm due in later today, and that will have an affect on the trees and leaves, so I may just stay local. Winds in the Bay Area are supposed to gust to 50 miles an hour in some places, so like I said, we will just have to see! But for now, the photo above is from part one of this series, in a couple days I will post the black and white photos!

Stay Tuned! 

 Leaf Of The Day

December 15th, 2016

Mood: Creative

~Me :) 

Dream Companionship

"Believe in love. Believe in magic, Hell, believe in Santa Clause. Believe in others. Believe in yourself. Believe in your dreams.

 If you don't, who will?"

~Jon Bon Jovi

Sure, why not? Okay, I am okay, I am still working my way through that shitstorm of a national election, and I am just about through all the stages of grief, although on any given day I will feel none of it, or maybe all of it, but mostly I am just moving along as life goes on! The world doesn't stop spinning off it's axis just because things come crashing down around you. And while I guess that's a good thing, at the same time it's exhausting.

 Next week we have the Electoral College vote, which I don't really think will change anything, but at the same time having the final count awarded to Hillary Clinton wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen in the last 18 months. So, there is a thread of hope in me, which means when the vote does comeback for Trump, I will be a crying mess all over again, but at least the door will finally be closed. That will be the the right amount of closure. 

I am not planning to waste my time on watching the inauguration on TV, I have NO desire to watch Donald Trump lie yet again. No, I think that will be a day of watching old movies, maybe do some reading, or perhaps some retail therapy. We will see when we get there. I know one thing, I plan to appreciate my life that day.

 I want to see colors, and laugh, and pet my cats, and just be in my own little world, like there is NO world beyond it, because the next four years are so unpredictable that I can't see the future, so why worry about it? Like the old saying... 

"Life is what happens, while we are busy making other plans."

~John Lennon 

But he also said...

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."

And...

"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. 

A dream you dream you dream together is reality." 

We progressives will live to see another time. We will survive this. We must. It will happen. I know it deep down. I am just tired. right now. John Lennon's words have gotten me through a lot of tough times. And they will again! I'm not alone in my dreams for the future, and that keeps me going!

Leaf Of The Day

December 14th 2016

Mood: Quiet/Okay

~Me 

 

Follow The Rhythm Of The Autumn Wind

"If you move faster than the music, it will look strange; if you move slower than the music, it will look strange! Be like autumn leaves which follow exactly the rhythm of the wind!"

~Mehmet Murat ildan

There is only a little over a week left in my beloved autumn! I wish I could have posted every single leaf I photographed, but that wasn't possible, so I have put together a small collection of leaves that I felt must not be missed! Oh my, each so individual, like the fingerprints of the tree they graced. They were beautiful this year, and I am so happy with this years album that I am looking forward to perhaps doing more with my collection next year.

Just planning for next autumn, a year from now, gives me hope! While I fight the depression, and I still don't see my life a year from now, when I concentrate on the autumn leaves I realize I still have hope, and I am just trying to think of it as only three seasons away! So, if you enjoy my autumn photography, stay tuned, there is more to come! 

 Unpublished Autumn Leaves 2016 Album #1

"Autumn... the year's last, loveliest smile."

~William Cullen Bryant

Indian Summer

Leaf Of The Day

December 13th 2016

Mood: Quiet/Okay

~Me

A Tale Of Two Trees, In The City Of Trees

California State Capitol Christmas Tree

Sacramento, California

December 11th, 2016 

"Use what you have, use what the world gives you. Use the first day of fall: bright flame before winter's deadness; harvest orange, gold amber; cool nights and the smell of fire.

 Our tree lined streets are set ablaze, our kitchens filled with the smells of nostalgia: apples bubbling into sauce, roasting squash, cinnamon, nutmeg, cider, warmth itself.

 The leaves as they spark into wild color just before they die are the worlds oldest performance art, 

and everything we see is celebrating one last violently hued hurrah before the black and white silence of winter."

~Shauna Niequist

Bittersweet: Thoughts On Change, Grace,

 And Learning The Hard Way 

 Old Sacramento Christmas Tree 2016

December 11th, 2016

Sacramento's nickname is the City Of Trees! And that is appropriate because Sacramento is gorgeous with trees right now! Autumn is alive and kicking up it's heels in Sacramento, and if all that spicy, colorful autumn laughter of the trees on a windy day isn't enough to put a big smile on this girls face, then the two Christmas trees that the city boasts certainly does!

There is one in front of the State Capitol building, and there is one down in Old Sacramento! Both lovely, both decorated to put even the biggest Ebenezer Scrooge in the holiday spirit! But you know me, I just had to drive around town to see as many autumn trees as I could. Like I said in previous posts, winter might legitimately claim Christmas, but autumn is the season that sets the stage!

It's just breathtakingly beautiful in Sacramento right now, and I am hoping to get back up to the capitol before December 21st to do some additional leaf photos! As you know, I continue photographing those leaves for as long as they continue to fall. I never get tired of them! 2017 will probably begin like 2016 did, with lots of late falling autumn leaves!

Stay Tuned!

Leaf Of The Day

December 12th 2016

Mood: Happy

~Me :) 

 

Will This Be The Year? :)

"December, being the last month of the year,

 cannot help but make us think of what is to come."

~Fennel Hudson

A Meaningful Life

Fennel's Journal #1

We put up our Christmas tree last night, and my goodness it's lovely! It is so pretty with it's tiny lights, and happy little stuffed animals at the base, working hard to keep some curious kitties from taking a mad leap into the middle of the tree! There is a small blue bear, that Hendrix claimed years ago, before it ever came out of the box of soft teddy bear decoration we bought at Costco. We put those soft decorations on the tree every year, so if someone does make a mistake, they don't get hurt by falling breakables. So far, they have never tore the Christmas tree down, we have well behaved cats! But it doesn't stop me from wondering... will this be the year?

:)

 Leaf Of The Day

December 11th 2016

Mood: Happy

~Me :)