Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #6

 

"Wiggle my ears and tickle my toes, methinks I see a baby's nose."

~Dingle Elf

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, debuted on ABC, on December 13th, 1970, when I was 8 years old. I remember watching it with my mother. I loved it. It was such a gentle movie, as most children's programs do, but this it the one that that put the Christmas spirit in me for the first time. I am crazy about it to this day. No matter how crazy the rest of the holiday season gets, I aways feel just a little better revisiting the love story of Kris and Jessica Claus, and their example of how to love others. It just wouldn't be Christmas without this holiday Classic, from Rankin/Bass!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #76

"When the leaves start to fall, our heart beat starts to rise."

~B.K. Sweeten

The Autumn's Loon

 

"Be the autumn stalwart, and colorful, amenable to change, 

the grateful breath that greets each day."

~Unknown

We took a day off from all the drama, and went to Bodega Bay! You know how much I love making the long trip to find the birdies that have arrived along the Pacific Flyway. Yesterday gave us four new birds. The Common Loon wasn't one of them, as I photographed one last October, but they are visitors in the bay each year, then they migrate back to the north, in the Aleutian Islands. Their call is absolutely haunting, I will never forget hearing it for the first time! Sometime, I'd like to stay in Bodega Bay for a few days, just to hear their call!

"The loon's call is haunting and wild, an ancient trill that's part honor song, and part warning. I've never met anyone who didn't fall quiet upon hearing it. We are all susceptible to that common magic."

~Richard Wagamese

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #5

 

Watch The Trailer At Fandango

"Some people take, and some people get took. 

And they know they are getting taken, but there's nothing they can do about it."

~The Apartment

Directed By Billy Wilder

Here's another movie, set during Christmas time, but not really about the holiday. It's a hard hitting movie, with lots of irony and humor along the way. Fred MacMurray was really disconcerting as the movies absolutely jerk of a bad guy. A married man, who strings along a good hearted girl, with promises of love everlasting. Jack Lemmon plays the good guy who wont stand for it! From 1960, and Directed by Billy Wilder, The Apartment, is also strangely hopeful, especially at Christmas time!

Hindsight Is 2020

 

"How many have to die before we will give up these dangerous toys?

~Stephen King

Guns

The shooters in last Saturday's mass shooting, in Stockton, still have not been caught! Perhaps they would have by now, had Elon Musk and Donald Trump, not raped the office, here in Stockton called, Advance Peace Stockton, defunding it under the guise that DOGE was saving us all money by closing grants and programs that they had NO IDEA did! We are all in peril. Every single one of us. What programs that affect you the most, have been closed since Donald Trump took office? Do you even know?

What a couple of Heroes!

Read the full article at CBS Sacramento

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #75

 

"Even those autumn dance on the winds musical cadence."

~Anoushka Tyagi

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #4

 

"I'm the fly in the ointment, monkey in the wrench, the pain in the ass."

Character of, John McClane

Die Hard

Yippee-Ki-yay! Here is a movie, set at Christmas time, where the holiday is more of an extra, than a star or even a co-star! If, like me, you just need a break from all the sentimental movies of Christmas, then this action film is a great alternative. Die Hard 2 was also set during Christmas time, but I didn't really care for it. I watch the full set of Die Hard movies a couple times a year, because I did enjoy the others, but I could skip the second one, and not miss it too much. So, watch Die Hard, and have a ball!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

"Oh the weather outside is frightful,

 but the fire is so delightful,

 and since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."

Written By Sammy Cahn and Jules Styne

Sung By, Dean Martin

Just A Bird In Autumn Leaves

 

"I can hear a new story in each leaf that falls."

~Isabelle Izzie Meditates Baker

This gorgeous bird is an Audubon's warbler, but he looks very much like the Yellow-rumped warbler. You have to look closely, and know the differences to be sure. For me, the main difference is that Audubon's warbler has a bright, beautiful patch of yellow under his beak. That splash of yellow is a very much welcome sight, as we head into the dark days of autumn. Oh my, I am apparently already grieving autumn's death. I'm trying to take heart, because I have more beauty to share, like my sugar maple in the front yard, which will hit full autumn glory in a few days. What would I do, if I didn't have my birds, my maple tree and so much color, to look forward to?

The world's best husband, and the kitties are pretty nifty too!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #74

 

"Thoughts swirled around her head, like leaves in a breeze."

~Diana Jaques
The Falling Leaves

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