A Silver Cottonwood

"Every Winter, when the great sun has turned his face away,

The earth goes down into a vale of grief,

And fasts, and weeps, and shrouds herself in sables,

Leaving her wedding-garlands to decay... 

Then leaps in spring to his returning kisses."

~Charles Kingsley

Saint's Tragedy

I am becoming a big fan of cottonwood leaves. They have a lovely shape to them, but they don't produce much color. In summer they are a pleasant enough green, rather medium, I think, and then in autumn they turn a light beige color. They become fragile quite early in autumn, and therefore picking them up is something you can't rush. If left alone, they decompose fairly quickly, within a couple days or so, and when they do, they can transform themselves from that beige, to an almost silver color. It's quite striking as a metaphor for the inevitable end of another year. As always, here I sit in January, and instead of celebrating the newness of the year, I am still seeing the death of the previous season and date on the calendar. Another autumn gone.

Winter's Soggy Cereal

January 16th, 2019

Stockton, California

Nikon

~Mood: Quiet

~Me 

 

 

Raindrops On Safflower Clover

"Yellow is the color of the sun.

Blue is the color of the sky.

Green is the color of grass.

Brown is the color of your eyes.

Black is the color of the night.

Orange is the color of truth.

Red is the color of love.

And...

Rainbow is the color of you."

~Anthony T. Hincks 

It's a new year, but you already know that. But I am going to stress it again, because it applies to my struggle to find inspiration, after autumn dies each year. Winter is difficult, especially in that I can't get out to do photos as much as I would like to. My Fibromyalgia, with the seasonal migraines, and the body aches tend to be worse in cold weather. My mind is happy, but my body is weak. Sometimes it's a matter of pushing though, sometimes there is just no way to make it happen.

But all is not lost. I downloaded a few self guided public art tours. And I have some ambitious plans for the coming weeks. There is actually a lot to photograph in my area, like the awesome art scene, and movie locations, it's just a matter of working on the logistics of the day out. It will happen. I am already much more enthusiastic than in recent years, so I am not going to push, I am just going to let the muse take me where she will. 

Like the photo above. There was an amazing winter storm rolling in from out in the Pacific. I feel like my beloved Bay Area was sending me a lifeline. It is also pushing through to the Sierra. It's so strong, that it will be a blizzard by daybreak. That will mean some great opportunities to visit some snow in the Western Slope of the Sierra, or perhaps as far as Lake Tahoe. I will just have to check the road closures, and hope for the best. But for yesterday, I decided to photograph some pretty Clover grass, with raindrops on them.

It's a start.

~Mood: Inspired

~Me