The Autumn Of Murder?

 

"Oh no. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people?"

 Peeta says, "It costs everything you are."

~Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay

Most of the time, autumn is a season of magic for me. The light of the beautiful sun, especially in October, the keen mixture of the weather, the first night that an extra blanket on the bed is required. Horror movies, holidays, spooky shadows, and little monsters, witches, princesses and super heroes on October 31st. We just put up our holiday tree yesterday. Christmas is mostly an autumn holiday. Christmas eve is only a few days into winter, but the shopping, the cookie making, the planning all takes place in autumn. Good stuff... right? So why is the grim reaper making such an overwhelming ass of himself? There has been so much death all around me. My favorite neighborhood duck, Kenny was run over by a careless driver, devastating the neighborhood. That young man killed on Pixie, for making horrific decisions. The murders last Saturday, at a child's birthday party, and now this... a father murders his 11 year old son, while the child's mother watches all of it on her home surveillance cameras. 

You can read the full story here... KCRA

Sigh.

I have done my best to ignore, to push away the feelings happening inside me, but sometimes those feelings pound me with depression. There are several units of law enforcement in the area right now, and if you can believe it, they still haven't caught the shooter from Saturday night! So that guy is still who knows where? Another child is in the morgue, and his 6 year old sister who watched her dad murder her brother, will feel that pain forever! How much more can happen? I miss my duck. I miss looking for him and his wife, Jenny, every time we come home through the park along the canal. I miss feeling like I can take a photo in the open, without wondering if I will get shot by a paranoid criminal. Autumn is a kind and gentle season full of spirit and magic, but winter has the most painful bites. Why is autumn allowing winter to insinuate itself into autumn's life, and bring with it, such cruelty? 

House Finch In The Autumn Mist

 

"The presence of a single bird can change everything

 for the one who appreciates it."

~Unknown

Isn't it lovely? It's a gorgeous House finch. I wish I could have got a much nicer shot, but it was a really foggy day in the Galt, so this is what my camera captured. Still, I think it's kind of pretty, it's just not the perfect photo I strive for. I am hoping to photograph more of these, as next year proceeds. According to bird lore, it's a very good thing to encounter them. And if you dream about them, it's even better!

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #3

 

Howard: "This can't happen, it's just a doll, a stupid plastic doll."

Myron: "It's an action figure." 

~Jingle All The Way

Holiday shopping has certainly changed since the 1990's, especially toy shopping, I can remember folks standing in line at toy shops, and big box stores, just waiting for that one special deeply discounted Beanie Baby, or Xbox opportunity to open up. One woman, from southern California, was so desperate for an XBOX that she brought pepper spray with her to the sale at Walmart, and used it on other folks waiting in line. The ridiculous became the dangerous! Too many scary scenarios began to happen, as Black Friday morphed into something very dark. Hubby and I used to get up at 5 a.m. to hit the mall, just to watch folks go insane with greed, but that was when it was kind of cool to see the sudden mad dashes, and the creative way folks carried their purchases. It could be fun, but things just got to be too much.

Jingle All The Way, is about those mad dashes, and the lengths of which folks will go to buy their children the perfect gift. It's a fun movie, and it's lovely to see Phil Hartman, but while it definitely made fun of rabid shoppers, but it also brought a little heart to the matter. Looking back to the whole thing, it does make me sad to know it was fun for so many, but ruined so easily, by so few, and all it took was a bit of smashing to ruin the toy. I like this movie for it's message, the charm of Christmas, and getting our true priorities straight. And once again, the message of the film is brought together at the very end of the movie, by a little boy showing some much needed love for someone other than himself.

Just watch. You'll be glad you did!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #73

 

"Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things,

 and no good thing ever dies."

~Stephen King

Autumn Strategies

 

via CBS 10 News

At least the democrats I have voted for, realize there needs to be a more comprehensive effort put forth towards gun violence and the troubles our youths are facing. Now, I just pray that real follow through will happen next. By the way, as of the composing of this post, the shooter or shooters from last Saturday night's violence, have not been found. The FBI and the ATF have offered their help to find those involved. 

Ellipsis Christmas Countdown Movie #2

"This is Christmas. The season of perpetual hope. I don't care that I have to get out on your runway and hitchhike, it costs me everything I own, I have to sell my soul to the devil himself. I am going to get home to my son!"

~Kate, Kevin's mother,

Home Alone

I haven't always been a fan of holiday movies, with the exception of anything Peanuts related, but Home Alone changed my mind about the whole genre. But I must confess, how does a film go wrong with with a story written by John Hughes, and Chris Columbus as it's director? It can't! I enjoyed Home Alone2 however due to Trump's 29 second seen, I can't deal with watching it. This year, however, I plan to watch, I'll just fix myself a Pepto-bismo martini first. I imagine I am not completely alone in my aversion to Trump in films, be it his brand, or the man himself, but that's what happens when a film gets too gimmicky for it's own good!  

                                                                        

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #72

 

"Autumn is the very soul of metamorphosis, a time when the world is poised at the door of winter... which is the door of death... but has not fallen."

~Catherynne M. Valente

The Girl Who Circumvented Fairyland In a Ship Of Her Own Making

It Happened Again, This Time In Autumn

 

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, more violent, it takes a touch of genius... and a lot of courage... to move in the opposite direction."

~E. F. Shumacher

Yes, it did indeed happen again. But its not really all about me, it's about the young ones who were viciously murdered on Saturday night in Stockton, near the Dairy Queen on Thornton. It was a child's birthday party, a celebration on Thanksgiving weekend. 4 people lost their lives, aged, 8, 9, 14, and one adult just 21 years old. 11 others suffered non fatal injuries. Considering the spray of bullets, it's amazing that more didn't lose their lives. The children and adults who survive, will know doubt be psychologically scarred for the rest of their lives. My heart breaks for everyone in this, including the shooter or shooters, because it's apparent they were let down in all kinds of ways. It's the neglect of society, religious community, our government, that contribute every single act of violence in one way or another. I will say it again, address the needs of your community, and there is no need for violence. The big societal question right now is, how do we talk to young men right now? Start with young men in prison and jail, talk to them about how they lost their way, then start talking the young men from different demographics across the board. Young me in the military would be good too. And then don't forget to listen. Really listen.

So what does all this have to do with me?

This.

A few hours after the shooting in north Stockton, the sirens came down the street. The Fire department, Stockton police, San Joaquin county Sherriff, hell, I have no idea how many agencies were responding on Pixie, and I don't really know if what caused the drama was even connected to what happened in north Stockton or not, but it's a probably good bet that it was. And some of it was happening again, pretty much right under my bedroom window... again! This is a good example of why I want to get the HELL out of Stockton as soon as we can! We hear shootings all the time, and I just know that one of these days, a stray bullet is going to land in our house. I can almost feel it. For now, I am counting my blessings, that a few more guns and gang members are off the street, and that they are contained while the authorities have a chance to find out if they were the ones that killed those children. I hope we have some answers soon. I will post an new post when any new information is released. My goodness, I never thought I would see another scene like this, so soon after the event's back in September occurred.

KCRA 

The Beauty Of The Snowy Egret In Autumn

 

"When you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seem them all."

~E.O. Wilson

"I love Snowy egrets... they are smaller than most in their family they are dainty and unlike the Great Blue Heron and Great Egrets, they feed in flocks... in community."

~Unknown

The Snowy egret population have been particularly beautiful this autumn. Every single one of them take my breath away...

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown... #25

 

Lucy... 

"Peter once asked me when I fell in love with Jack,

 and I told him, it was while you were sleeping."

From the film, While You Were Sleeping

Do you believe in love at first sight? How about love at second sight? I think I believe in both. I was once in love with someone I had only know as we passed each other daily, walking into different jobs, on different sides of the same parking lot. Is it lust that makes us feel those warm and dizzying feelings, you know, the ones where we are so dazzled by someone's eyes, that you instantly forget what they look like when the walk away! 

Shrug.

I had known my husband since the late 1970's, eventually we became best friends, but it wasn't until the late 80's that we began to realize there had been something extraordinary going on. We didn't even know when it began, it was just there. Two years later, we were married, and because we started out as best friends, we had more than a little going for us!

While You Were Sleeping is a movie about the confusion of loneliness, and how it can turn it into the miracle of love, suddenly happening all around you. And learning about what love really is. Watch it. It's a terrific Christmas movie that isn't too Christmassy, and yet its all about the best of Christmas.

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #71

 

"Autumn burns brightly, a flame running a flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees."

~Faith Baldwin

Woodbridge Road In Autumn

 

Isenberg Sandhill Crane Preserve

Lodi, California

No sun... no moon!

No morn... no noon

No dawn...

No sky... no  earthy view...

No distance looking blue...

No road... no street... no "t"other side the way...

No end to any row...

No indications of familiar people...

No courtesies of familiar people... for showing 'em...

No knowing 'em...

No traveling at all... no notion...

"No go"... by land or ocean...

No mail... no post...

No news from any foreign coast...

No park... no ring... no afternoon gentility...

No comfortable feel in any member...

No shade... no shine... no butterflies... no bees

No fruits, no flowers no leaves, no birds, 

November!

~Thomas Hood

You can't really say Woodbridge road is nothing special, especially this time of year, in fact it can be downright charming. We have Sandhill Crane, and Belted Kingfishers, assorted ducks, burrowing owls, and hawks of all kinds! On clear days there is a striking view of the Sierras, especially in autumn and summer. In fact, you can feel, and see, the snow on the mountains! It can be magical watching the crane come in to rest for the evening at the, Isenberg Sandhill Carne Reserve. It's usually quite peaceful there, if you don't count the sound of cows mooing and farm work being done, but it's all good, those are pleasant in their own way. It's life on Woodbridge road, and I really wouldn't want it any other way!

The beautiful I have seen on Woodbridge in the last few years!

I love that road, and I am going to miss it very much after we move.

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #70

 

"The heat of autumn is different from the heat of summer.

 One ripens apples, the other one turns them into cider."

~Jane Hirshfield

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #69

 

"The torchlit garden was redolent with the colors and scents of autumn... gold and copper foliage, thick borders of roses and dahlias, flowering grasses and beds of fresh mulch that the air pleasantly pungent."

~Lisa Kleypas

It Happened One Autumn