On The Fourth Day Of Autumn

 

"The was all in the making, a long time ago.

 You had as much control over these events

 as a lead does in the lead does in the time of it's falling."

~Colin Meloy

 

Autumn... beautiful... autumn. And it's only day four!

 

 

No Panache And The Whore

"The tints of autumn... a mighty flower garden

 blossoming under the spell of the enchanter, frost."

 

~John Greenleaf Whittier

 

So, if all goes well, our official date to vacate our home will be Sunday, October 3rd. What a strange feeling. As I have said before, I liked the place, it had the most beautiful interior lines, and so much mid-century character, but it was never real. No panache and her whore of a boyfriend... lol... builder... liar... coward... co-conspirator, sunk us financially before we ever moved in. For clarification purposes, Jeanette and Mike lied to us just enough to sink our financial life before we ever moved into our home. So why did we move it? Well, it's a long story, that mostly took place in Turlock, California, in the summer of 2015. I don't want to think about it right now, not while I am packing to move from the only home I have ever owned. It brings about too many emotions that wouldn't help in any way! I will share sometime after we move into the new rental. For now, and probably for the next couple weeks, my blog posts will mostly be held to "Leaf Of The Day" entries. Autumn is already looking quite lovely, so I am glad that my blog will have plenty of beautiful leaves to help me heal, and move on.

 

Judas Tree Leaf

Ione, California

September 2021

Nikon

 

 

 

Autumn Begins... 3:20 PM EDT

 

"But when fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you."

 

~Stephen King

Salem's Lot

 

The last photograph of summer in the San Joaquin Valley  

 

The Autumn Equinox is here. Finally. Autumn... the great healer of all the fire, pain, exhaustion, and of course, treacherousness of summer. I know I say it every single year, but the summer of 2021 was a season I tried very hard to not turn my back on. If ever a summer smile on it's face and a knife in it's hand, it was this one. We are selling our home, which means it has been emotionally exhausting, but we are nearing the end of that journey, closing is only a matter of days away, and autumn will heal us. It always does. It did in 2015, after the cruelest summer in decades brought us to Stockton, by way of the desolateness of the towns of Patterson and Turlock. The summer of 2015 tried very hard to break us, fortunately, it was also incompetent, because we are still standing.

 

 Last year, autumn relieved the world of Donald John Trump's presidency. Some healing definitely happened, but then a bitter winter came, and with it, the pain of an insurrection. But in the end, autumn and winter joined hands one last time the day of Joe Biden's inauguration. It meant a lot to me to see not just Biden be sworn in, but also that of the first female vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. This year, all I ask of autumn is to be gentle with me. Help me find my way. I will be saying more about it later, but all I want for the first week of my favorite season is to enjoy our last week, or so, in our house. To love as much as Alan and I can. Love the kids. Love the movies we watch. Love the meals we share. Love. Autumn is here, and it has indeed kicked summer out on it's treacherous ass! 

 

And now, the first autumn leaf of 2021!

 

Sacramento, California

Nikon

 

Art About Town: San Leandro... "Truth Is Beauty"

 

"Eleanor was right. She never looked nice.

 She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something."

 

~Rainbow Powell

Eleanor & Park

 

I have been wanting to photograph the beautiful piece of art, since it was installed at the San Leandro Tech Campus, way back in 2016! But, you know how 2016 went, so you understand why it was so difficult to make my way to the Bay Area to photograph any art, let alone this particular piece. Fast forward, and here we are in 2021 and things are looking up now. With the (knock wood) sale of the house, the future looks a lot brighter. I am planning on getting a car soon. If all goes well, it will be in less than a week, and there will be money this year for vacation, so hopefully I will be able to photograph as much art as I want, in as many different cities as possible. Art and birds. Those two subjects are my favorite photographic escapes. Oops, lets not forget autumn. Oh boy... I give up. There is just too much beauty in the world to actually play favorites. Right?

 

 We will see where this autumn takes us!

 

"Truth Is Art"

By Marco Cochrane

San Leandro Tech Campus

San Leandro, California

(Learn More Here)

 

Belted Kingfisher

  

"Birds know themselves not to be at the center of anything, but at the margins of everything. The end of the map. We only live where someone's horizon sweeps someone else's. We are only noticed on the edge of things; but on the edge of things, we notice much."

 

~Gregory Maguire

Out Of Oz

 

Finally, after almost 10 months of searching ditches and fence posts, I found the Belted Kingfisher, or as my Twitter pal Gary calls it, my nemesis, but really, it was simply, my greatest birding challenge in my first year of birding. I didn't spot it first, Alan did, as we drove through the Yolo Bypass Wilderness Area, in Davis, Ca. We love it there, and it was apparent that the birds have definitely started the annual migration. When we visited in the middle of summer, it was completely empty, save for a few Red-winged Blackbirds. Not that I don't love them, but they are almost as common in the area as sparrows. We will most certainly be doing birding on vacation!

 

 

 More to come!