Number 68

 

"Love the trees until their leaves fall off,

 then encourage them to try again next year."

 

~Chad Sugg 

We are already at the sixty-eighth autumn leaf featured for 2020. How can a year, so full of tragedy and pain, have actually gone by so quickly? And at the same time, these last couple months leading up to the handover of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, seem to be dragging. How does that work? Don't answer, I already know deep down why, I guess I just have to pose the question into the void sometimes, because, it feels less lonely.

~Carly

Stockton, California

November 28th 2020

 

Bird Watching Is A Lot Like Autumn Leaf Peeping

 

"November at it's best...

 with a sort of delightful menace in the air."

 

~Anne Bosworth Greene 

 

There are so many species of birds in the Central Valley, that I could spend my whole life out here with the camera, and not photograph the same bird twice. I wonder which of my albums will contain more individual photos by the end of 2021, my Leaves, or my Birds? It's a very pleasant thing to ponder. Peep.

 

~Carly

Stockton California

November 27th 2020

 

Thanksgiving 2020

 

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

 

~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

 

From Our House To Yours

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 

 

~Carly

November 26th 2020

Stockton California

Flying About The Earth

 

"Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love... that makes life and nature harmonize. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

 

~George Eliot

George Eliot's Life As Related In Her Letter And Journals

Volume #1

 

 

 This has been one of the warmest Thanksgivings I can remember. I don't know if that is a good thing, considering Climate Change, but it's nice for doing landscape and wildlife photography. I have some new subjects, so my body is grateful for the temperatures, although ever since I was a child I have hoped for cold, ideally rainy, Thanksgivings. Doesn't Thanksgiving dinner taste better when it's cold and raining outside? Just like in the summertime I like to put on the air conditioner and climb under a blanket. I'm just wired weird I think. Sunny California gets boring, particularly after summers that don't seem to end. Why does autumn go by so fast, but summer sometimes seems to never end? Just one more thing to ponder I suppose.

~Carly

Stockton, California

November 25th 2020

Autumn Reflections Winter Shadows

 

"The smell of burning firewood and the molding of organic earthly substances reminded her of jumping wildly into the enormous leaf piles of autumns past and she suddenly wished that it was appropriate for someone her age to do such a thing."

 

~Abby Slovin

Letters In Cardboard Boxes 

 

I guess I really shouldn't complain, after all this year's autumn was more than generous with it's leaves, but I can feel winter coming on, and in a little less than a month from now, this project, and the season will come to an end. So, I guess it's time to choose a project for winter, and realistically, I think I choose birds as my new subject, with maybe tree skeletons as a sub-subject. Both will allow me to do my photography from inside the house, or the car, if the weather, or Covid-19 makes it necessary. The long shadows of the winter sun can't be counted on, which is fine, but it's another fascination of mine. Who knows, maybe when the time comes, I won't limit myself to one subject or another, maybe I will let my Twitter family decide which works the best as a nod to the season of winter.

 

What do you think about the two photos in this post?

Black and White or Color?

Which is the most pleasing to the eye?

 

Click To Enlarge

 

~Carly

Stockton, California

November 24th 2020

 

 

Autumn And The Sandhill Crane

 

Pilgrims

 

Tuscan reds and ochre hues

Olive greens and skies of blue

Sunlit valleys of charm

Secluded homestead and hilltop farm

 

Over hills birds in flight

Aromas whet the appetite

Autumn rustle fills the air

Reveling grace of trees laid bare

 

Pathways meander through the vale

Inviting travelers its height to scale

Sunset rewards as evening ends

And pilgrims to the night descend

 

~Collette O'Mahony

The Soul In Words: A Collection Of Poetry And Verse

 

 

Last Saturday was such a pretty autumn day, that we decided to take a drive to the Woodbridge Ecological Reserve, in Lodi, California. A couple weeks ago, I came across an article about how large numbers of Sandhill Cranes stop in the Delta wetlands, just west of Lodi, while on their migratory path. I have always loved Snowy Egrets and Herons, but I have never seen a Sandhill Crane, so it was kind of exciting to add a new bird to my Google Album, Birds. Seeing these cranes for the first time, has been an incredible mood lifter! There is way to much beauty in life, especially in autumn, to waste one day in the house! The cranes are such popular visitors every year, that Lodi now holds a Sandhill Crane Festival welcome them, as they move along their migratory path!

 

 This year, however, all the festivals in California have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 virus, which is sad, because festivals are one of the nicest ways to get to know the best of where you live! One of my favorites from the Bay Area, was the Pumpkin Festival, held yearly, in Half Moon Bay. I sure hope 2021 brings all of us some relief from the pandemic, and the world will see a genuine vaccine that will make everything safer for everyone. I am ready to stretch my wings a bit, now that I am fully settled into the Central Valley. I like little festivals, and the Central Valley has some delicious crops to celebrate. Apricots, Walnuts, Grapes abound, but for viewing just sheer beauty, you gotta love these beautiful birds! I am definitely making a note on my 2021 calendar. 

 

Once I got to the reserve, I was astonished to find that not only were there hundreds of cranes, but there were many other species of birds to see and photograph for the first time! Alan and I counted about 20 new species of birds that we hadn't seen before. We both agreed that we will be visiting again. Soon. The delta is so beautiful, the next time we venture out there will probably be to do some twilight shots. Sunrise and sunset is when they are at their most active, so hopefully there will be a colorful sunset to make for a beautiful photo of the cranes in flight. And to my delight, there is still a lot of autumn colors in the trees. Can you tell how happy I am to be on this new adventure with the camera?

 

~Carly

Stockton, California

November 23rd 2020

Love Among Leaves

 

"Autumn is no time to lie alone."

 

~Murasaki Shikibu

 

Sometimes it makes me a little sad to see a single leaf, all alone on the sidewalk. Solitary, as if without friends. When I was a little girl I learned that it is a good idea to talk to your plants and trees, because they respond on a basic level, and there was at least some anecdotal evidence that it's positive for humans too. I know, leaves don't have friends, but each one does spend it's life in clusters of company, on the same branches, with other leaves of difference shades and fingerprints, but one community all the same. Does love exist among leaves? I always wondered, if when one of the group drops, is there a sadness that is understood among the leaves, or is it a time of rejoice because, for the leaves, things worked as it should have? 

 

Just another mystery in the universe I suppose.

 

~Carly

Stockton, California

November 22nd 2020