4:54 In Autumn

"Autumn. It's crispness, its anticipation, it's melancholia, it's cool breezes replacing summer's heat. It's long days in the field, a harvest festival when work's done, a cheering crowd in a football stadium, chrysanthemums punctuating a somber landscape. It's Halloween high jinx, pumpkins grinning toothy smiles, the crack of pecan pressed against pecan.It's the first curls of wood smoke, the fresh and mellow and snug, solemn and melancholy. And it's very very welcome."

~Good Housekeeping Magazine

How about just a clock. No fancy words.

 No whining about autumn coming to a close.

 How about just a clock, ticking away.

#85 Leaf Of The Day

December 15th 2018

Photographed October 11th 2018

Tilden Park

Little Farm

Berkeley, California

~Mood: Quiet

~Me

Autumn, Less Than Perfect

 Autumn

"The autumn comes, a maiden fair

In slenderness and grace,

With nodding rice stems in her hair

And lilies in her face.

In flowers of grasses she is clad;

And she moves along,

Birds greet her with cooting glad

Like bracelets' tinkling song." 

~Kaildasa

That photograph went so wrong! But in all fairness, I was taking the photo out of a moving car, that was going 50mph! I can usually get some really good photos as we drive along the countryside, and even in the city, but on this day in October, I wasn't getting many breaks with lighting or the twists and turns in the road. It just was, what it was. This is not a wonderful landscape photograph, but it is just clear enough to be not only a really cool mistake, but a half way decent work of Impressionist photography, don't you think? How is that for a little glass half-full rationale?

 #84 Leaf Of The Day

December 14th 2018

Photographed November 21st 2018

Stockton, California

Samsung

~Mood: Happy

~Me :)

A Year of Sumac And Red

"Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn... that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness... that season which has drawn every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling."

~Jane Austen

Persuasion 

I love that green leaf! Unfortunately, the photograph was taken late last summer, long before the year turned autumn, so I couldn't include it in my project. But it's so pretty, I thought it needed to be seen. It's not perfect, but the green is so striking, that it just popped! That's the one thing about the leaves of autumn, there are very few examples of the color green, although I did find a couple of nice deep green leaves, but it wasn't many!

Sometimes, as I am preparing for the coming colors of autumn, I go to some of my favorite locations, and study which colors are making an early appearance. It helps me with the practice of different settings on my camera, especially when I haven't picked the camera up for a while. It also helps me decide which trees will provide me with as many different colors as possible, to balance out the collection. 

This autumn it was all about the color red! Red is difficult for me. It can be harsh, and especially so, when the sun is shining through the leaf. When I saw I'd be working with a lot of red this year, I was really happy because I knew it would be a challenge, and it was. With my Fibromyalgia, I get headaches easy, and this year the normally bad headaches turned into migraines. Fun. I think it's because of the air pressure in the Central Valley, but that's just a guess, anyway, the color red, in the leaves, seems to give me headaches! 

Weird, right? I am going to have to check with others who deal with my condition and see if they have an intolerance to light, and certain colors. Life is a challenge, right? But it feels good to be continuing to learn about my condition, my photography, the natural world around me, and even weather conditions, and what causes them to affect my body. I like this hobby, and the fact that I can get out of my own head for a little while, and be in nature.

 No two leaves are the same, and when a single leaf is gone, you will never see it again. They are the fingerprints of a year gone by, and after this past year, I can understand red being the predominate color. What do suppose will be the predominate color for 2019? Personally, I am hoping for a deep lavender. Or maybe yellow. Yellow is a bright sunny color, that is invigorating, and not painful to me at all. I am hoping for yellow, but I am kind of thinking that 2019 seems like it will be most likely be red. Red in day to day life, and in leaves.

I'm happy with this years collection.

  I hope you have enjoyed it too!

#83 Leaf Of The Day

December 13th 2018

Photographed December 9th 2018

Stockton, California

Samsung

~Mood: Happy

~Me

The Bird In The Tree At Land's End

"One twig at a time. Like a bird making a nest."

~Carol LoveKin

Ghostbird

 The Bird At Land's End

October 25th 2018

The end of 2018 is coming up really fast! I say this every year, but it seems like it went by especially fast this year! I have a theory, that time simply moves different in Trump time. Some days seems like they are months long, weeks become years, and then we will have days when it feels like it was just 24 normal hours. It's a bit discombobulating at times. But in actual time, as we get closer to the end of the autumn season, and of course, the end of the year, I am having fun posting the photos I really liked from the last three months, but that I didn't have a chance to show off before now. Like this one. 

There is a tree at, Land's End, in San Francisco, where this special little bird lives, and when I am in San Francisco, near that part of the city, I love to drop in and pay him a visit. He never fails to make me smile! I am not sure who it was that saw the outline of a bird and decided to have some fun by creating him, but it's okay with me to not know the birds story, I like it being mysterious. It's just one more reason San Francisco will be a part of my soul.

This is the view, just beyond the bird.

 Land's End is a very special place.

 

 #82 Leaf Of The Day

December 12th 2018

October 11th 2018

Tilden Park

Little Farm 

Berkeley, California

~Mood: Happy

~Me

Art About Town: Sacramento... Justice Stanley Mosk

"Into the highlands of the mind let me go"

~Sir William Watson

Shakespeare

If you are in Sacramento, and you can't find public art, you are roaming around with your eyes closed! I love Sacramento for their trees, and I love Sacramento for it's history but for me it's about the art! It's my new haunt for all the things photogenic, in that I am now in the Central Valley! Getting to know all about my new go to destination for exploring is actually kind of fun, because it feels like I am seeing new horizons and expanding my knowledge about California. I'm seeing new themes of art, which is much more political, and socially conscience, which are both things I have strong opinions about.

I had a good time photographing this fellow, Justice Stanley Mosk, and learning about his life. I am having a fair amount of pain today, from the arthritis in my hands, so I will let you get to know him on your own, but he was a champion of Civil Rights, which I appreciate more than I can say. He has a courthouse in Los Angeles named after him, and this statue on the Capitol Mall, in Sacramento, just across the courthouse for the California Third District Court of Appeals. I hope to get back to Sacramento this coming weekend, to do a little more photography before Christmas, and I many revisit this area on the Mall, and do a little more photography of this type of art!

California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk

 

"Let the first act of every morning

 be to make the following resolve for the day...

I shall not fear anyone on Earth

I shall fear only God.

I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.

I shall conquer untruth by truth.

 And resisting in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.

~Mahatma Gandhi

#81 Leaf Of The Day

December 11th 2018

Photographed October 11th 2018

Tilden Park

Little Farm

Berkeley, California

Nikon

~Mood: Quiet
~Me

The Lights In The Autumn Sky

"I ate breakfast in the kitchen by candlelight, and then drove the five miles to the station through the most glorious October coloring. The sun came up on the way and the swamp maples and dogwood glowed crimson and orange and the stone walls and the cornfields sparkled with the frost; the air was keen and clear and full of promise. I knew something was going to happen."

~Jean Webster

Daddy-Long-Legs

There is another rain storm coming in this week. I don't think it will too bad as far as rain goes, but we will see, Also this week, with be a wonderful chance to photograph something else in the night sky, a comet! It's name is 46P/Wirtanen and was originally discovered, photographically, by American astronomer, Carl A. Witnanen, in 1948. Also happening in the night sky this week, the earth will cross the debris path of the comet, resulting in a meteor shower.

This will mark the first time, since the comet was discovered, that there will be contact with it's debris stream! So, I am excited to say the least! It will fairly viewable to the naked eye, and I am hoping that I will be able to get a really good shot of it. It is especially nice, that it's visit is happening so near the end of autumn! That would be a wonderful way to end my favorite season. The last time a comet was visible, in my area, was during the 1990's, when Hale-Bopp was the big show in the sky!

The end of the week, Thursday into Friday, will be the optimum time for viewing, but that is exactly when the clouds will be rolling in, bringing rain, but the next few days have some possibilities for seeing it. There will be a mixture of clouds and clear sky, so timing will be important. It's more than likely going to come down to crossed fingers, and a little luck! But that's true with most of life, isn't it? Sometimes things in life come down to dumb luck.

Wish me that my life is pleasantly dumb this week, okay?

 #80 Leaf Of The Day

December 10th 2018

Photographed December 9th 2018

Stockton, California

~Mood: Excited

~Me

 

 

To Everything There Is A Season Under Heaven

Dogwood Cluster

October 14th 2018

Ione, California

"Leaves doesn't wait for autumn to shed, 

they shed when they are ready, bad experiences doesn't wait,

 they leave when you are ready."

~Pushpa Rana

Just The Way I Feel

It's the last of the autumn color. Not everywhere, but on some of my favorite, go-to trees near home. It's time. As I have been saying all this season, the trees gave me a real gift this year, by beginning to change color, even before the end of August, so I don't have much room to complain! Still, it's sad. My autumn leaves do a lot for my focus, and photographing them is my favorite stress buster!

I appreciate the peace of mind it brings me.

 I need it right now, with the revelations that came to light last week, when the sentencing memos for Michael Cohen, and Paul Manafort, were reveled, my nerves are frayed. Trump isn't the only one that wishes that this Mueller investigation would wrap up! A lot of folks, such as myself, wish it would. And like me, most people are trying to understood what is taking so long for the warrants, indictments, or a clear and concise no evidence, I just need something, not matter which way it goes.

 I just need some peace of mind.

I not wanting to get my hopes up, when it comes to anything. That would be foolish. At the same time, I don't want to walk around in a depressed funk, I want some hope that there will be some justice. I just want to know that there will be an end of this nightmare in my lifetime, so I can rest again. Okay, I admit it, I am in pain. It hurts my soul to see him drunk on the power he has, and how he uses it for such evil acts. Everything that goes against my values. Life is a ball of unfair, so I am not sure there will be an end, and that's the most difficult pain of all, not knowing what to expect.

I just want some peace of mind.

So, as we go forward, I have my camera, and the last of the autumn leaves. After that, we will see what comes next, one day at a time! Perhaps I will take on some black and white photography for a while. Maybe some Pop art inspired subjects. Maybe I will get back to some recipe photography, hopefully something will inspire me that I can run with. Maybe I won't choose any one subject, and just photograph whatever comes my way. Shrug,

I just want some peace of mind.

#79 Leaf Of The Day

December 9th 2018

Photographed December 8th 2018

Stockton, California

Samsung

~Mood: Quiet

~Me