Happy New Year! MAKE MISTAKES!

 

"I  hope in this year to come, you make mistakes.

 

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're DOING SOMETHING.

 

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make NEW MISTAKES. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work, or family or life. 

 

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, DO IT.

 

Make mistakes, next year and forever."

 

~Neil Gaiman

 

Welcome to 2021!

 

Alan and I wish you a happy and safe New Year!

 

Note: I will be back Tuesday, with a brand new blogging schedule for 2021!

 

Whispering... It Will Be Better!

 "Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come,

 whispering, 'It will be happier'... ."

~Alfred Lord Tennyson

It's the last day of 2020... whew... I made it! Alan and I made it! We are okay, we didn't get Covid-19, despite the surging numbers in San Joaquin County, Covidiots in the wild, like the couple I spotted at Walmart, while we shopped for Thanksgiving dinner and selfish co-workers Alan has to work with! We have done all we could to keep ourselves free of the virus. We both wear a mask when we leave the house, and we wash our hands often, but there is a new mutation of Covid-19 that is 70% more transmissible than previous strains, so who knows what we can do now to avoid it. This mutation was first identified in England, and surprise, Donald Trump did not do a thing about temporarily halting travel from that part of the world! He knew this was happening, thank God Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the truth about this strain. All it took was his own diagnosis of Covid-19 earlier in 2020, to make him see the light!

Anyway, I was looking back through my image folders from 2020 to maybe do a post with my favorite photos from the year, but I decided to just post the photos that were most important. I narrowed those down to those which dealt with two main catagories... Politics and the pandemic. As important as this years politics was, especially to me, it was the pandemic that effected me the most profoundly. I have spent the better part of the last four years living in fear of Donald Trump, and what he was capable of doing with all the power he was handed in 2016, but it was Covid-19 that outdid him when it came to deadly potential. Unfortunately, Trump and Covid-19 ended up becoming codependent. They have been quite the team!

 

I wanted to make the post about my joy over the win of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, because believe me I do feel that joy, but I just couldn't! So, these are the photos that stuck with me. The signs reminding us in California that there were simple things we could do to stop the spread. Unfortunately, residents of San Joaquin county, the county I live in, still have a problem doing the simplest of things to help themselves, and those around them. Oh well, you can't fix stupid. Right? So, forward, march. 2021 will begin in less than 24 hours, and personally, I don't plan to look back. But, I do have an album on Google that will document the year in photographs, all the words worth mentioning will be documented in history. As for my personal 2020 history, there are moments good and bad I won't forget, like how I burst into tears of joy, upon learning Joe Biden had chosen Kamala Harris as his running mate. I slept so good for several nights after that. It was a relief I can't really describe, but alas it did not last, it was broken by some scary, bonehead move Trump did, that I don't even remember now. Strange how Trump moments bleed into each other like that!

2021 will be happier. I will do more photography. I will learn more about birds. I will finally fullfill a lifelong ambition of baking a Lady Baltimore cake from scratch. I will read a book that has nothing to do with politics, although it might be a historical biography. I will get my health back on track, and drop some of the Trump weight I have gained. 15 pounds might be good! I will keep a more realistic schedule. I will disengage from all the doom and gloom. I will stay informed, but I will not go back into drowning in politics. I will finish the home improvement projects we have started, and I will spend more time with Alan than I do with Trump. Trust me, my worrying over Trump killing all of us, took over a huge part of my life. I can't get that time back, but I can march into 2021 with my eyes focused on the future. These ideas are not resolutions mind you, they are just my idea of hope.

 

 My favorite Leaf Of The Day

Stockton, California

October 10th 2020

 Nikon

 

 

 

The Last Hours Of Autumn 2020

 

"The autumn twilight turned into deep and early night as they walked. Tristran could smell the distant winter on the air... a mixture of night-mist and crisp darkness and the tang of fallen leaves."

 

~Neil Gaiman

Stardust

 

December 20th 2020

The Last Full Day Of Autumn

 

It was a beautiful way to end autumn 2020. The late afternoon light at both the Woodbridge Ecological Reserve and at the Cosumnes River Preserve, was gorgeous! I will never forget it! 2020 didn't have very many happy moments in it, but this Autumn had more than all the other seasons of 2020 put together! I will always believe that Autumn is just a little bit magical! 

 

 

Roadside Ameica Attraction #1: A&W Restaurants

 

"I haven't had a very good day. I think I might still be hung over,

 and everyone's dead and my root beer's gone."

 

~Holly Black

The Coldest Girl In Coldtown

 

 

Aren't they awesome? As it turns out, I live just a hop and a skip from fast food history! In this case, A&W history! The very first A&W was opened in Lodi, California, as a roadside restaurant on June 20th 1919. And, did you know that that A&W invented the bacon cheeseburger? It's true. As it turns out, they enjoyed a lot of cool firsts! Another cool fact is that the night they opened, the entire town was partying, celebrating with a Homecoming parade, the return of local soldiers who had been serving in World War I! The very first A&W root beer was served that night at the parade. A&W has always been my favorite root beer brand, and I used to be somewhat addicted to the Mama Bear burger when I was a kid, but I never heard of, or really considered, how they got their start! I like learning the origins of products. Some have such cool backstories and origins.

Its kind of strange, my dad grew up in Lodi, but he never shared about A&W's beginnings, it's the kind of trivia he loved to share. He was only a year old when the restaurant got it's start, so perhaps it wasn't a big deal, or maybe it was one of those things one takes for granted growing up. I know there is a lot to love about Berkeley, and the East Bay in general, and I failed to photograph or share when it came to my blog. I totally took my hometown for granted, especially from a creative point of view. It's a shame I did that, so I hope to do better about featuring the cool parts about living in the San Joaquin Valley, because there is a lot here to explore. I miss dad a lot, there is so much I wish I could talk to him about, but it's the cool stuff I miss sharing with him the most.

We shared a love of politics. But things are so awful right now that I am done with that. It used to make me feel closer to him, but now it just makes every day bleed the truly awful into the next. I think he would have thrown his hands up too. He was a smart guy. He knew when things can't be fixed... you move on. Finding something cool to photograph in his hometown made me feel close to him too. He would have approved I think. And as it turns out, there is a lot out here to help me heal from the massive panic I felt over the move from the Bay Area, and I am looking forward to photographing all of it!

I found out about the A&W statues by reading the Roadside America site. If you are unfamiliar with it, it's a website that has a nice list of attractions and cool sights in each state. I have a list of places to visit in 2021, because I can do my photography, without worrying about the spread of Covid-19. I am still staying home, as directed by Governor Newsom, but when I feel the walls closing in, I have some destinations close by that don't necessitate my being in a big crowd. I have mixed feelings about it. Staying home isn't a lot to ask of us, and at the same time, getting fresh air, and some time to concentrate on something other than all the doom of a pandemic, makes it all easier to take. 

Anyway, like "Rooty", the official mascot of A&W, I have been in hibernation, but it's time to come back out of the cave. I had a ball photographing these awesome statues. They can be found at one of the franchise stores that opened up in 1963, and they are on permanent display there. Sadly, the original A&W restaurant, which was at, 13 N. Pine street, no longer exists, but there is a plaque in the cement, marking the precise spot where the restaurant once stood. I am hoping to get up to Lodi this weekend to see it. If I do, I will update this post to include it. 

Stay tuned. There is a lot more to see.

A&W's History

It All Started With A Roadside Stand...

 

Roadside America

Birthplace Of A&W Root Beer

 

 Thrillist

14 Things You Didn't Know About A&W Restaurants