Autumn Leaf Of The Day #14/ Happy Birthday Dad!

 

“I notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.”

 

~Friedrich Nietzsche

 

Today would have been my father's 106th birthday, so I wanted to chose a leaf from a park closest to where he lived. Cull Canyon Park. He enjoyed parks and nature. Our backyard was like a forest when I was growing up. It was filled with all kinds of fruit trees, grown with seeds and pits from the trees my grandfather grew. Apricots, black plums, cherries, walnuts and to make it all more delicious, summers were filled with blackberries we grew along the back fence. I wish I had taken a few of those fruit pits, but we were nowhere near owning our own home, with a yard big enough for a tree. I think about those trees, and dad, when I eat all the delicious summer fruits. He gave me a lot to cherish in life.

 

 

 

 

Autumn Stick Figures or 32 Days Of Night

 

“Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters.”

 
~Stephen King

  The Shining

 

While in the Cosumnes River Preserve the other day, I found a stick on a bridge that reminded me of everything spooky. The stick figures hanging in the trees in the, Blair Witch Project, were the same types of figures in American Horror Story seasons Coven, and Roanoke. Was this a stick monster? Or maybe an omen of some evil to come? Nah, it was just a really cool stick, but it's fun to consider it, because when horror is done right, it can inspire the creative mind to imagine, what if? Like the movie Halloween points out, sometimes the Boogeyman wins, and when he does, it can take your whole life to defeat him.

 

We are in that situation right now with the upcoming election. Donald Trump is a boogeyman, and he is coming at us relentlessly. Will he win again? Even if he loses will it all be over? What horrific deals has he already done with world leaders?What is coming at us in the next 32 days that will shake us to our core. I love being scared, but this is not the kind of scared I want to be. We have already began our scary movie-a-thon for October, I will get it caught up here soon. I can't wait to share what horror movies we will be watching. Hopefully, watching them will help me deal with the high jinks of the biggest monster of them all! One recommendation I will make right now is, The Devil's Advocate. It will give you chills, for obvious reasons.

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #13

 

“Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!” 

~Humbert Wolfe 

 

I love early evening in autumn. It has the most beautiful sound to it. Geese, and other birds coming in to roost for the night, and leaves falling from the trees that are easier to hear, because all the human sounds begin to wane. I love October evenings. And at the end of the month, all of it comes together with the sound of children trick-or-treating. These are very happy sounds, and very rare.

Canada Geese In Autumn

 

“Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable…the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street…by a gusty wind,

 and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese.” 

 

~Hal Borland

 

I love the sound of the wild birds flying over my condo in the morning. Several species of geese overwinter in the area, as do other migrating birds, and the sound is glorious, but I always know that I will hear from the Canada geese first, as autumn begins. From late august, through the spring, they can be found in the park and Smith canal next to my condo. Its one of the nicest parts about living here, and I will miss it dearly when I leave. But I will always know where to go to see this beauty.

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #12

 

“Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile."


~John Howard Bryant 

Indian Summer 

If you look closely, and keep an open mind, autumn leaves kinda smile, at least in their own way. I see it in every leaf I choose for this project! I bring you smiles from the autumn world.

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #11

 

"Summer makes me drowsy, autumn makes me sing, 

winter's pretty lousy, but I hate the spring."

 

~Dorothy Parker 

 

Well, we know how Dorothy felt about autumn, don't we?

 

I feel exactly as she does, about every single season!

 

 

Autumn's Vivid Colors

 

“Autumn mornings: sunshine and crisp air,

 birds and calmness, year’s end and day’s beginnings.” 

 

~Terri Guillemets

 

Autumn, this year, is going to be filled with more vivid colors then in previous years, I can already tell! Look at the colors on this Western Bluebird, the just stunned me! I got to look at him for a good amount of time, as e seemed to want to pose for me, which unusual for this kind of bird. It's not quite as manic as the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, or the Common Yellowthroat, but it does move from branch to ground in a fun pace. I wasn't even focusing on birds at that moment, there was a new squirrel I have never seen before playing nearby, and then there it was, a beautiful streak of blue hopping about the grass. I followed it up to a branch just above our car, and as I said, it posed for me! I eventually got the picture of the squirrel too, but today belongs to the Western Bluebird! Magic!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #10/The Autumn Life

 

"Never let me lose what I have gained, and adorn the branches of your river with leaves of my estranged Autumn."

 

 ~Federico García Lorca

 

It's October 1st, time to prepare for the best day of the year! No, not the vice presidential debate, ugh, no I am talking about Halloween! Time for tiny candies, and masks. Candy corn and, of course, pumpkins! But scarecrows are really good too! As are monster cakelets! It's all good! And to make it all perfect, there are leaves to look forward to!

Ahh, drink it in, autumn life!

The Color Of Summer And Autumn

 

"Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful. It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary."

 

 ~Siobhan Vivian,

 Same Difference

 

Sunflowers in autumn, my goodness, is there anything more uplifting then the color yellow? These beauties grow wild along the roadside, all through the San Joaquin Valley, from early summer, through mid-autumn. And I always smile when I see them return each year, because I know autumn is on it's way! I thought posting these photos on the first day of October, my favorite month, would be uplifting for my mood, and hopefully for those who visit this blog.

 

 And The bees love them too!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #9/Two Times Of Year

 

"There are two times of year; autumn and waiting for autumn."

 

 ~Unknown

 

I don't know who said it, but they get me! I wait all year for the beauty of autumn, and it's healing colors. I see it coming from the middle of August, long before the Mexican Free-tailed bats return south along their migratory route. No matter the temperature, the color of the sun simply doesn't lie. Neither does the it lie in winter. Autumn remains well into January, if not early February, and to find it all one has to do is look, like I look for fallen leaves. Which can also be found. Just look. But for now, I am basking the glow of early autumn. It's beautiful this year!

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #8

 

 

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”

~F. Scott Fitzgerald