The Rain is falling, as are the beautiful colors of autumn. The smell of damp earth, and the sight of the earth tones of the trees, just about fills me up, but add in wearing my favorite autumn sweater, and the first taste of a big mug of hot chocolate, or a tangy Chi latte, and I am in a dreamland.
October I sit with braided fingers and closed eyes in a span of late sunlight. The spokes are closing. It is fall: warm milk of light, though from an aging breast. I do not mean to pray. The posture for thanks or supplication is the same as for weariness or relief. But I am glad for the luck of light. Surely it is godly, that it makes all things begin, and appear, and become actual to each other. Light that’s sucked into the eye, warming the brain with wires of color.
~May Swenson
Well, we didn't make it to Bodega Bay, but we are making another attempt today. Sigh. Cat dramas can be big, yet little sometimes. I don't mean to be cryptic, everyone is okay, it's just that we found out that Simon is terrified of spiders. Big or small. Last night he saw one, and bounced high and low, taking the stairs 4 at a time, and bouncing off the walls downstairs! We were afraid he was going to hurt himself, so we sat until he calmed down by himself, which took a couple hours. Finally, at 2:30 am, hubby went to bed. It seems the situation would be handled in shifts. About 45 minutes after hubby turned in, I was able to pick Simon up, snuzzle him, talk softly to him, and finally put him in his condo for the night. I was exhausted, hubby was exhausted, so we called it a night at 3:30. No trip, but at least our little guy is okay. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!
Now, about the movie!The Mephisto Waltz was spooky as HELL when I was a kid, and you can say it's one of the movies that boils down to, FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT!" Alan Alda is perfect, as usual, as is the whole cast. I loved it when I was a kid, and I love it now! I don't want to give the plot away, so I will just say it is devilishly good fun! It's available to stream on Fandango, so if you haven't seen it, go watch it.
“I learnt from the autumn leaves, the formula of healing. every year, they break, fall off the trees and die. and then again in a few months, they find their way back home. reborn, living a new life just to die again. but never did that stop them growing again. so why can't we humans just live up to them. fall, get hurt, bear pain but have enough courage and energy to stand up and fight back again.”
“Then he saw them. The gulls. Out there, riding the seas. What he had
thought at first to be the white caps of the waves were gulls.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands... They rose and fell in the
trough of the seas, heads to the wind, like a mighty fleet at anchor,
waiting on the tide. To eastward, and to the west, the gulls were there.
They stretched as far as his eye could reach, in close formation, line
upon line. Had the sea been still they would have covered the bay like a
white cloud, head to head, body packed to body. Only the east wind,
whipping the sea to breakers, hid them from the shore.”
I have a love affair with this movie. I remember watching it, for the first time, when I was about 8, or so, and being terrified by the eeriness of the pace of the film. It built slowly. It made you wait for what you knew was inevitable, for the final attack, and oh boy did Du Maurier, and Hitchcock, make it easy to identify with Melanie Daniels! After all, there are birds everywhere, and how long before they lose their every loving shit on the stupid people who ignore the ecosystem of the Earth. So much could go wrong. Anyhoo, I grew up loving this movie and I thought it would be great as our first choice for the month of October! Mid-century movies let your imaginations run wild. And in that we are on our way to Bodega Bay today, you bet I will be keeping a close eye on, THE BIRDS!
I love watching leaves float to the ground.They are in their last moments of life, and they deserve my respect and empathy. But more important they need my deep appreciation for their work all year, and the beauty revealed. Isn't autumn, and oak leaves, just magical?
This the third dragonfly. I captured this beauty at Yolo Bypass Wilderness Area about a week ago. It's been a hot September, and the dragonflies are loving it, but as dragonflies go, I haven't seen a lot of varieties yet. I will keep looking, and hopefully be the time the weather changes to the cooler days of autumn, I will spot many more dragonfly colors and shapes. I love the blue ones, and the ones with double wings. Here's to the journey!
“Fruitful. Lusty. Wild. Revealing. Every day a brilliant reminder of how
nothing stays the same, every day an exercise in variability,
resilience, and trust.
I love seasons, live for the changing
seasons, could not imagine my life without seasons, but, I must
admit--at the risk of offending the others-- autumn is my very favorite
one.”
