Moon Phase Waxing Gibbous 71% Full

"Moonlight is sculpture, sunlight is a painting."

~Nathaniel Hawthorne 

Not a lot to talk about tonight. At least not a lot that I feel like talking about. I am working on some projects around the house, and doing some research into what we will be doing, and where we will be going, on vacation in a couple weeks. I know we have a date to go to a movie in Orinda... that is set in stone... but that's about all I am absolutely sure of. We will have four weeks, and I know I am ready to spend as much time with Alan as possible. He is so much fun, and we always have a good time together.

I think we will be doing some long car rides in search of leaves, and adventure in places we have never been to before. There might even be a new lighthouse or two to visit. We'll see. One thing I do know, I am looking forward to doing a lot of moon photography, weather permitting. Maybe some sunrise photography from Twin Peaks. There is so much I want to do, and so little time.

Picking up the camera again has been good for me. It clears all the head noise and puts me in a very nice state of mind. I need that right now, as the year moves along, and more Trump/American devastation unfolds, my heart seems to break daily, but I'm hanging on, thanks in part to my cameras, and the moon in the sky.

Like the moon tonight, I am about 71%.

Leaf Of The Day

September 30th 2017

Stockton, California

Mood: Quiet

~Me

Horse Sense Is Just Common Sense

"Most horses don't walk backwards voluntarily, 

because what they can't see doesn't exist."

~Terry Pratchett

Soul Music

Last year, in late autumn, I decided to go for a ride on the road that crosses right by one of my favorite parks in the East Bay. It's a beautiful, quiet road to drive, its about nine miles long, and on any given day you can see all kinds of animals, and at times, some pretty unusual birds along the way. I used to really enjoy it, especially, between dusk and deep nighttime hours, because that's when the really interesting wild life moved about. Deer and opossums, raccoons, and on one evening drive Alan and I spotted to cutest black and white kitten, which as it turned out, was in fact not a cat at all, but rather a small baby skunk! Thank goodness it wasn't intimated by us in the least, and we got away with not being scented, but that was pretty silly, and we were laughing pretty hard at our stupidity by the time we got home! 

Life changed a bit when we moved to Stockton. While it's a rural area, there aren't any canyon roads like in the East Bay. You don't get to see animals like this close up, like we did back home. See, I still do that after 2 years, I still refer to the area I was grew up in as "home." It's difficult to break a habit like that. I was in my 50's when we packed up and moved, and since we moved here, I haven't ventured out much on my own, and I guess that is part of the problem. I need to go on short car rides, alone, and learn my way around, that's the only way to break out of this self imposed shell. Perhaps this is the year to start doing that. I have been well on my way to becoming an agoraphobic. That doesn't make a lot of sense to do. 

I am not really sure why I have climbed into this shell. It's not go for a photographer, even if it is just a hobby. I have seen things through my lens I would have never seen otherwise, and I know my camera made me mature both as an artist and a human being. It has helped me really see my own life, through my pictures. I have a good life, and live really worth living, but I haven't been doing much of that! I crawled into the safety of a life half lived, inside the walls of my house. Not alive, but not really dead. A life half lived. but really, a life half lived is no way to live a life! 

I wonder what pictures I have missed in those two years?

 It's been a really difficult few years, but it's really time to move on.

It's just common sense!

Leaf Of The Day

September 29th 2017

Stockton, California

Mood: Happy

~Me

My New Lunch Horizons

'When engaged in eating, 

the brain should be the servant of the stomach."

~Agatha Christie

Mmmmm... lunch! I used to say, Mmmm, Mmmm good, but that is yet another part of my life which changed because of Trump. You see, he used to have a business advisory committee, made up of different companies. GM, Campbell's, General Electric, you get the idea. Well, it lasted about 6 months before Trump opened his mouth, and stupid, once again, came drooling out. Profoundly stupid. If you're not particularly into politics, you can read all about it here. 

Suffice it to say, Trump took a tragety, made it about himself and completely alienated those around him. It was Trump being Trump. So why do I have a can of Progresso Soup in the photo? Well, to be honest, most of the advisory board resigned in protest to Trump's actions and words early in the weekend, and it felt to me that Campbell's resigned because they saw the ship sinking, rather than because it the situation didn't represent the Campbell's values as a company. Half the board resigned over the weekend, Campbell's, and a few others early the following week. I know that doesn't sound long, but it felt to me like forever.

I know it wasn't, but real time and Trump time are two vastly different times. It is surreal to think he has been in office less than a year, and he has managed to cause so much divisiveness. Some that didn't exist before he took office, but some divisions did... and he uses folks to his advantage, to further divide Americans over American ideals and values. He is a master at playing folks, and sometimes the passion just takes over, and before you know it, the breach in understanding occurs, and the wall goes up.

In some ways it was all for the best. I have switched to Progresso Soup, which is amazingly delicious, and according to their website, they are Non-GMO and contain no food coloring or MSG. The believe is sustainability, and they have a line of organic soups that look delicious, which I will be trying next! The Tomato Basil was soul hugging tasty, and I paired it with some cheese toast. OMG... it was so good, a short nap had to follow! It was happiness in a can! LOL. Progresso is a product of General Mills, and I admittedly don't know a lot about them, but I will do some research. I try to not purchase from companies that go out of their way to hurt people, (cough... Hobby Lobby) but life gets busy, and in Trump's America, you never really know where the next punch will come from. Right now, I am just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best!

If you like tomato soup, consider buying Progresso Tomato Basil. It's fabulous! And don't forget to pair it with the cheese toast, because to do otherwise, would be just silly!    :) With to cooler days of autumn, is there anything better than a big bowl of soup to chase the chills away? Well, maybe a cup of cocoa, but we will share that adventure for a different day! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Leaf Of The Day

September 28th 2017

Stockton, California

Mood: Happy

~Me :) 

Dried Lavender

"Just as a painter needs light in order to put the finishing touches to his picture, so I need an inner light,

 which I feel I never have enough of in the autumn."

~Leo Tolstoy

Behr Paint

Purple Gladiola

MQ4-59

 

I love lavender. I love the color, and I love the plant. I love the scent because it promotes well being and a good nights sleep, and I even enjoy cooking with it because, in the right measure, it's downright delicious! I meant to plant some in our front yard this past spring, but I allowed other things, and certain people, to distract me. That won't happen next year! I am planning to paint my office soon, sometime in October, in a shade of lavender that the Behr paint company calls... Lavender Gladiola. I think it's going to look really nice, and I think it's going to do wonders for my mood.

Shades of purple have always been some of my favorite colors of fall. It's such a nice contrast to the usual oranges and rust shades. When I was a little girl, my favorite color was pink. Everything had to be pink, but as I grew older I began to enjoy all the colors my eyes could take in, with a deep appreciation for all of them. So much so that I really couldn't settle on one, but rather combinations. I think I owe that to my love of Impressionist art, and Claude Monet, in particular. Life his individual paintings, they all made me feel different emotions, so it helped me immensely in my photography, when attempting to set a certain mood. I used to plan trips around a certain color at times. To date, reds are the most challenging to me. 

Don't get me wrong, I also went through a stage of monochromatic. Everything was grey. EVERYTHING was grey. I looked for natural lighting that would produce a seemingly black and white photo, that was, in fact, taken in color. I loved that project. And from that I moved onto attempting to use the fog in the Bay Area, and along the coast to create photos with an ombre affect, which produced some of my better sunset photos, and one really good photo of the early morning mist, near Monterey, California, as the mist as it moved on shore off the Pacific.But this year, as I feel my photographic mojo returning, I feel drawn to shades of purple, lavender in particular. Oh... I did I mention that it's also good luck to plant some by a garden gate?

Here are a couple of my favorite Purple/Lavender

 colored leaves from the last couple years...

2015

2016

And now the Leaf Of The Day!

  

Leaf Of The Day

September 27th 2017

Manteca, California

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

We The People

"Loyalty to country ALWAYS.

 Loyal to government when it deserves it."

 

~Mark Twain

 

One can say a lot about Berkeley. It's beautiful. It's a college town. It's sits up in the hills, and gives one a beautiful look at the San Francisco Bay. It has a decent college football team... GO BEARS! It is also the land of free speech, but make no mistake, there is a difference between free speech and HATE speech, and generally speaking there is little stomach for hate. But that doesn't stop folks who don't even live there to come and cause trouble, whether a liberal or a conservative is speaking. I have seen it for myself, when George W. Bush was in office, too many times to count. For the most part, those who cause the most trouble are there for the sole purpose of causing folks to turn on each other.Break windows. tag walls. You name it, opportunists will see their chance, and act on it.

 

I am not going to get into a big deep diatribe here about what goes on in Berkeley, instead I want to talk about what's happening on a national level. Our president has decided, yet again, to insert himself into the debate of who, how, when, why, and where free speech should or could exist. Trump wants to have it both ways. He want's to tweet like he is a private citizen, yet use his power as president to try to limit the rights of the people he serves to peacefully assemble, protest, and use their voice. It goes against all that we, as Americans hold dear and it shouldn't be tolerated. As president he does not have the right to intimate those who choose to use their voices as Americans. Period.

 

But so far, there are too many in government willing to remind the president that he has crossed a line, particularly this last weekend with his ridiculous attack against the NFL and NBA who have chosen to bow on one knee, during the National Anthem. I didn't think I would write much about politics anymore, but this last weekend cut deep with me. The fact that Trump would question Americans loyalty to this country, as he literally protects Putin's regime even after overwhelming proof of their interference in the 2016 election. It's sick. It's wrong. And it's scary because there is a lot of noise about what a buffoon he is, but very little about any kind of real censure or sanction, for tying to limit free speech in such a blatant and overtly manner.

 

 It's just one more chip away at our democracy carried out by this man, and at this point, the GOP. And that's not the least of which he has done this weekend. He is continuing is pissing contest with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Again, with very little blow back from our government! And, yesterday it was widely reported that Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump have been using private emails addresses to conduct government business. Anyone remember the HELL Hillary Clinton was subjected to? But where is Trey Gowdy? Or Jason Chaffetz? Well, Jason is off working for Fox News, and Trey Gowdy just walks around paler than usual, but silent.

There is so much happening, I can barely keep up. I walk around scared and my speech has been off, big time, because of the lack of sleep messing with my Fibromyalgia. I want to crawl into autumn and never comeback out. I want to just focus on the leaves, but I am afraid that each sunset along the Pacific Beach will be my last one, because Kim Jong Un will launch a nuclear missile at San Francisco. I think about whether I am safe in the Central Valley. If it did hit the bay, would the fallout reach this far? All because Trump can't seem to understand words have consequences. He literally doesn't know the meaning of free speech, and how yelling FIRE in a crowded theater is not one of the forms protected. Right now he is yelling NUCLEAR in a crowded theater of the Pacific, but whose going to stop him?

No one.

So, I can chose to retreat into a shell of depression.

 

Drown myself in abstract terror.

 

Become one of the lucky ones, who can live their lives completely oblivious of the danger, as a form of self-preservation and freedom  from responsibility.

 

So far, it's been a combination of all three on any given day, or sometimes on the same day!

It's all so surreal, that at times I wonder when I died, and why no one will tell me when it happened, and under what circumstances. Life is always a difficult balance, but this new stress is on a different level. I'm not sure I am weighing it all in proper proportions. Sometimes I don't want to get up, but then I see that autumn sunlight peeking through my window, and I want to go out into that sun and soak it up because autumn only comes around once a year. I remember thinking last November, that everything looked so vibrant and amazing, that it might just be the last autumn I would see on earth, because who knew what he would say or do to get us all killed. And here I am, a year later, still worried, only it is about every... single... day. With autumn leaves as my only respite. But, as respites go, at least it's all about vibrant beauty, and a reminder to live life to it's ultimate color. And I appreciate that.

Thank you for letting my mind wander in and out of the head noise.

I promise I won't make this a habit!

#5 Leaf Of The Day

September 26th 2017

Cull Canyon

Mood: Quiet

~Me

 

The Essence Of Autumn

"Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind.

 Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks.

 And their roots give names to all things.

Their language has been lost.

But not the gestures."

~Vera Nazarian

The Perpetual Calendar Of Inspiration

I have a pair of favorite trees. They are in the tiny park of Cull Canyon in Castro Valley, California. I have documented them each autumn for the last 10 years, long before I began posted my autumn albums. When I lived in the East Bay, I would visit them from time to time, usually in the autumn, but in the summer months as well. I would pack a lunch, and a few cameras and I was on my way. I can't even count the number of leaves I have photographed under those trees, most of which didn't make it into by albums, but are still in my files all the same.

On September 16th, of this year, I took my first jaunt down to Cull Canyon, just to see how my trees were doing, and if they had begun to show their beautiful colors. Liquid Amber produces some of the most beautiful colors in autumn, and they really give Ginkgo and Sugar Maples a run for their money in dazzling cinnamon and deep purple colors! Unfortunately, as I turned the corner that leads into the park my heart just sank! It seems one of the trees had apparently died over the summer, and instead of the beautiful colors of autumn, there were only dry brown leaves and some ugly green moss left on it's brittle grey branches!

Last year, almost to the same date, that tree looked like this...

... and I continued to photograph it well into January, as the last of autumn faded away. By that time, there were about a million or so leaves under that tree, well, maybe not a million, but there were so many that I wished I had more time to visit, because I could have photographed every individual leaf! They were absolutely stunning! It makes me incredibly sad to think I won't see this tree continue to grow, or the colors that it would have produced this year! No tree should ever die... right? But the conflict is, ironically, also the very concept of autumn. 

The sweet, delicious, passing of yet another year of life, and I see the beauty in that death, and I also mourn that same death, when the last leaf falls, and the air turns to the bitter cold winter. Life has it's seasons, and time passes, and so passes even the most vibrant beings... sometimes well before we are ready to let go, but in it's own time. I will miss my beautiful tree, but it's older, bigger brother still thrives on, like a vibrant, feisty old friend, so I will continue to photograph his progress, and be glad to know it's beauty shines on!

The Leaf Of The Day

September 16th 2017

Cull Canyon, Castro Valley, California

 Mood: Sad

~Me

The Season Of Discarded Couches

"Don't throw away another day! No more procrastinating!

 Only YOU can make it happen.

 So, UN-ASS the couch and make it happen!"

~Steve Maraboli

Unapologetically You: Reflections On 

Life And The Human Experience 

As I mentioned before, I did very little photography this year, as  compared to other years, where there was literally a folder for every single day of the year! But I wasn't a completely absent, I did a little, especially last May. On May 13th it was finally warm, and the Fibromyalgia wasn't hurting me too bad, so Alan and I made a day of it, by attending the annual Rodeo Parade in Castro Valley, then we hit Berkeley for some lunch, and after that it was off to San Francisco! It was good for my soul to get in touch with all my favorite places! I needed to get a workout with the camera, and a workout I got. I posted some photos of San Francisco in a previous post, but this is the first chance I got to post the photo of the couch!

When I lived in Berkeley, I loved it when May came around. Not only was it finally warm, but May seems to also be the start of Discarded Couch season! Berkeley is a university town, and as such you have tons of student housing all around Cal Berkeley. So, as the year ends, and summer begins, so begins the throwing away of the no longer needed. Couches, toaster ovens, clothing, sometimes even basketballs and stuffed animals can be found along Berkeley's sidewalks and curbs, but most often, its couches. And I love photographing them immensely!

When I lived there I had a huge file of street furniture, but I gave up that subject a couple years ago. I miss it terribly, and next year I might go back to do some of this type of photography a little more often, and maybe even branch out to different cities around Northern and Central California. It makes for a fun day, you never quite know what you will find, sitting on a curb, waiting for it's final destination. And it's not just in May, it's pretty much a summer activity, ceasing sometime around the end of September, as a new season of couches begins. Out with the old... right?

#3 Leaf Of The Day

September 24th 2017

Old Sacramento, California

 Mood: Hopeful

~Me :)