Impeachment In The Autumn

"A president cannot defend a nation

 if he is not held accountable to it's laws."

~DaShanne Stokes

Wednesday, December 18th, 2019

Donald John Trump is now only the third American president to be impeached. A welcome relief that our system of government is still holding firm, and a sad reality that we are still so as a vulnerable nation. So, what comes next? The Senate will take up the articles of Impeachment soon. When? That's up to Speaker Pelosi. It's up in the air. In the short term, it is now history that rather than take this solemn moment and reflect on it's meaning, Donald John Trump chose to instead to insult the memory of Rep. John Dingle, and insult his window, who is now a member of congress herself. I guess that should surprise no one. But at the same time, he continues to surprise me in his abilities to cause hurt and destruction in every gentle area of life we have left. Basic kindness and decency have seemed so far away with his daily self pitting Twitter bursts. How can any American with an ounce of patriotism support a man so devoid of love for anyone but himself? That's rhetorical, of course. Anyway, as this Autumn comes to a close. this is just one more memory of a season that seamed indifferent. Maybe next autumn will feel more like shining through.

 #88 Leaf Of The Day

December 19th 2019

Nevada City, California

Nikon

~Mood: Quiet

~Me 

Happy Thanksgiving 2019

"Thankfulness creates gratitude, 

which generates contentment, that causes peace."

~Todd Stocker 

 #67 Leaf Of The Day

November 28th 2019

Nevada City, California

Nikon

~Mood: Happy

~Me   :)

The Full Beaver Moon And Impeachment Popcorn

"The winter will be short, the summer long,

The autumn amber-hued, sunny and hot,

Tasting of cider and of scuppernong."

~Elinor Wylie

Nets To Catch The Wind

Just a short post today. A celebration of the Full Beaver Moon, and the Impeachment of Donald John Trump. I can't call him president anymore, because I feel no respect for the office of the presidency. Not his presidency. I felt for a long time that to refuse him his title was silly and argumentative, but I can't do it anymore. I just can call him president.I smile to myself the other day, when I realized that popcorn kinda looks like autumn. Little puffy pieces of autumn. It also looks like impeachment, which is the reason we bought the cool little cart for. I won't lie, I have been praying for this day for a long time. He's cruel. And he's selfish. He refuses to learn. He seems to be cognitively ill. All things that need to be addressed, and hopefully they will be. Hopefully, by Christmas, this nightmare will be over, and we can work on undoing all the damage that's been done. At least some of it. Hopefully, we will heal as a nation.

Hopefully 

I watched the Impeachment Trial of Richard Nixon, and of William Jefferson Clinton, and I will be watching this one two. Politics. Either way, the full moon will probably make it all stranger that it would have been otherwise, full moons do that.

#52 Leaf Of The Day

November 13th 2019

Berkeley, California

Nikon

~Mood: Quiet

~Me

Walking In Autumn In 2019

"It is autumn on tip-toe that silently walks the hills and treads the forested expanses, gracing in each step a billion leaves

 in a chorus of colors so brilliantly ingenious

 that a thousand museums or more will never possess

 the talent to produce what autumn effortlessly creates."

~Craig Lounsbrough

It's dark and cold, and the trees have finally started turning spicy autumn. Finally, I feel happy, and at ease. I hope the leaves will be able to carry me through winter, but the leaves, and sometimes whole branches, are falling to the ground dry and dead. It makes me sad, and worries me deeply. Climate change is apparent in so many ways. It's not just the devastating wild fires California has seen, but last year, when we visited the, Pacific Grove Butterfly Sanctuary, it was depressingly apparent that the Monarch grove had a lot less butterflies than in previous years. Yet another victim of Climate Change damage, which is happening all over California. It's scary and sad. I am committed to doing my part, as is Alan, but America needs to elect someone who understands basic science, and can be the living example of how to care for our nation and planet.

 I pray that folks will wake up, and vote for a president that can be a real leader on the issue of Climate Change, but the truth is, folks have free will to do what they will. So, either folks will wake up to the science or they won't. Our future, it would seem, is a 50/50 bet. Either we will survive or we won't, but if you take a closer look, a realistic look, it's more like if something doesn't change, regarding America's approach to the climate crisis, soon, it will be more accurate to say, that we have no chance at all. I first heard about climate change (global warming) when I was in 3rd grade, back in the old days when it wasn't controversial to take care of the earth. Now we live in the information age, where we can check statistics and facts on how things have changed, regarding global warming, over time, but it's being discouraged and deemed a hoax by the most powerful office in the world. And rather than think for themselves, those who put him in office would rather not have to think, or read, or do their own research.

A hoax?

How many more autumns will I see?

More and more damage to towns and communities yearly.

In every state.

How can anyone watch an entire community burn to the ground and believe Climate Change is a hoax? Or watch helpless as unprecedented floods or storms ravage two or three states at a time, and call it a hoax? 

When will I see the last California autumn? 

Right now, it's easy to believe that I am living it, right now.

#49 Leaf Of The Day

November 10th 2019

Photographed October 8th 2019

Berkeley, California

Nikon

~Mood: Quiet

~Me   

 

 

"YOU ARE LOVED" Messages In Autumn

"What is the name of your dream? A lovely wooden cottage in the middle of a forest? Or walking in an endless autumn path? What is the name of your dream? Don't give a name, always give a list! Fill yourself with dreams because dream is the path to reality."

~Mehmet Murat ildan 

It's all about time. Today marks the first day back at work for Alan, and it also just happens to be the first Monday after the clocks are changed back an hour. Which is nice and all, but I think it will take us more than one hour to make up for how exhausting this vacation has been! It was not the most relaxing one we ever had, but in a lot of ways it could have been a lot worse. I will be posting this week about all the misadventures, but to start out the week on the right note, I am kicking this week off with a simple post about the beautiful leaves I came across on vacation. You see, no matter how awful things got, or what a waste of time every thing seemed, there was always the beautiful autumn light, the leaves, my fur-babies and my amazing Alan to make it all okay.

This year was number 29 for us! 29 years of ridiculous happiness! He and I have found something to laugh about, every single day we've been together. Even on our worst days, we make it work. How did I get so lucky? Or am I simply sleepwalking the best dream ever? Forget it... I don't want to know, I am happy to just continue counting my dreams, and watching them come true. Sitting at the bridge a couple weeks ago I got a really beautiful message from the universe, just when I needed it most! Look really closely at the picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. If you are seeing that message, and you are really glad you saw it, because you needed to feel loved, then it means it was sent to you as well, and I am very happy to pass it along to you!

"YOU ARE LOVED"

San Francisco is where love lives it's best life.

Now, on to the leaves.

"Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead,

 has never watched them dancing on a windy day." 

~Shira Tamir

Stockton, California

November 2nd, 2019

Golden Gate Park

San Francisco, California

October 23rd 2019

 Grass Valley, California

October 20th 2019

 Berkeley, California

October 8th 2019

Nevada City, California

October 20th 2019

 Sacramento, California

November 1st 2019

 Stockton, California

November 3rd 2019

Cull Canyon

September 28th 2019

Nevada City, California

October 25th 2019

 Apple Hill

Camino, California

October 16th 2019

#43 Leaf Of The Day

November 4th 2019

Photographed October 25th 2019

Nevada City, California

Nikon

~Mood: Grateful

~Me  :)

 

 

The Ethereal Corrective... Welcome To Autumn 2019

"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 he saw you."

~Stephen King

Salem's Lot

It's here, and all is right with the world. We no it isn't. And I imagine things will be getting a lot worse, before they get any better, just like out of a horror novel, but it's a strange kind of okay, because today it's autumn again. The Equinox. A day that seems to me, to always feel a little more special than other days. I don't know if it's relief that comes from just knowing the painful heat is about to end, or if it's knowing another year has been handed it's official walking papers, but something, always, feels profoundly different to me. More so than if it was a simple matter of one season turning into the next. I swear I can feel the moment it happens. The moment autumn is born into another year! Hopefully there will be something magical that will happen, to lessen the despair the world is feeling. Maybe the slant of light, or ethereal corrective, will shut Trump's mouth for one afternoon, who knows? But even if that doesn't happen, it's still the first day of autumn, and all is right in that world.

And if it's the first day of autumn, it's time for the Leaf Of The Day project to begin again. It wouldn't be autumn for me without that day every year! And so it begins...

Autumn Leaf Of The Day

2019

#1 Leaf Of The Day

September 23rd 2019

Cull Canyon

Nikon

Mood: Happy

~Me  :)