Autumn Leaf Of The Day #91

 

"How can you understand something is really beautiful? Very simple: When one thing comes out of your life, you wait desperately for it to come back. And Autumn's beauty is such a beauty!"

~Mehmet Murat ildan

It's time to say goodbye. Autumn ends at 7:03 AM PT today, so it counts as an autumn day for about 7 hours. That's enough for me. When the sun is out, I can tell it's a winter sky now, the last bit of autumn is gone now. It's going to be raining for the next 10 days or so, so there's that! But I don't have much to complain about really, autumn brought the color, in it's own time, and it seems the color this autumn loved most of all was pinkish red! Well done, autumn. You did good!

Goodnight Autumn 2025

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #90

 

"Nothing dies as beautifully as Autumn."

~Ashlee Willis

A Wish Made Of Glass

This gorgeous leaf is from my yard. I have the most beautiful Sugar Maple in my front yard, I've told this before, but I live for this tree to turn each Autumn, and that's is most of the time around, mid-October. This year, however, it only turned after Thanksgiving, a full month later than it usually does! So I have very few leaves to share in the project. That made me sad, but even after the season ends, I will share what beauty is still left. I can't let it go, without sharing the last of it's in all it's glory!

On A Late Autumn Day...

 

"The forest has a thousand moods... 

For every mood an answering bird. 

The bird is but a living word

To voice the spirit of the woods;

His own, the singer must sing;

He may not touch an alien string,

Nor silent be, nor fail the key,

Lest that aerial symphony.

which ever and forever weaves

It's mystic numbers through the leaves,

Should lack one deep or tender tone.

However dark, however lone

The shadow or the solitude,

The mighty oneness of the wood

Links singer unto singer there,

And pours one choral on the air.

~James H. Ecob

The Choral of the Forest, 1911

A beautiful Osprey, on a late Autumn day.

Autumn, Leaves, Modeling And I Guess, Nuts?

"Not much goes on in the mind of a squirrel. Huge portions of what is loosely termed "the squirrel brain" are given over to one thought: food. The average squirrel cogitation goes something like this: I wonder what there is to eat."

To be fair, I watched this squirrel engaged in many actions as I observed him in the wid. He climbed up AND down a tree. Played with leaves. Played with a clump of dirt, sought out, and found, nuts, and finally engaged with me, by posing in several emotional poses, such as this one, called... indifference. I love the magic of autumn!

Autumn Cooking

"Merry everything and happy always."

~Unknown

As a kid, I watched Monte Hall, of the Let's Make A Deal, feature Bruce's canned yams in various pricing games, but didn't put much thought into them because, one I was a kid, and two our family always bought Princella sweet potatoes. As a grown-up My yam of choice was the fresh ones that you bake yourself, and add the sweet seasonings right at the table! One day, I thought I would give Princella a chance, to see what the fuss had been about for my family. Unfortunately, when I opened the can, the first few at the top were moldy. Blech! So, it was non-negotiable, it was fresh yams or sweet potatoes there after! Well, this past Thanksgiving, I decided to give Bruce's yams a chance. Let me tell you, they are fantastic! If you visit their website, there are a few terrific cookbooks you can download and they even make them in zero sugar! I haven't tried those yet, but I was really happy with the original!

Give them a try!

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #8

 

"If you look for it, I've a sneaky feeling that you'll find that love actually is all around."

~Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister

Love Actually

What a cast!

Love is the star of this movie. The kind of love that is universal. The dagger to the heart love, first love, the love you have to let go of. Heartbreak love, selfish love, and love that is eternal. The absence of love, love of enduring friendship and. of course, the love of one another. If you aren't in the mood for a syrupy Christmas tale, at least watch the first five minutes for the Christmas son sung by Bill Nighy. It almost steals the whole movie, but frankly, love always be the star!

The Autumn Christmas Soldier

 

"Don't let the past steal your present. This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone."

~Taylor Caldwell

Things have been really difficult lately, I am exhausted, and my mood is sadness. So, I think it would be good for me to concentrate on positive things, like this blog, but without sharing the "news".  I think it would be fun to celebrate both the waning days of autumn, and the best of the Christmas spirit! Personally, I love ornaments and Decorations, so for now until Christmas I am focusing on that! This handsome fella stands guard over the Lincoln Center shopping center, just off Pacific avenue, Stockton. He and a few other soldiers watch over things, during season, bring smiles, and posing with folks for photos. He is a jolly fella to be sure!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #76

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

~B.K. Sweeten

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!

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...

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

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

 

Flying A Kite In Autumn

 

"Birds know themselves not to be at the center of anything, but at the margins of everything. The end of the map. We only live where someone's horizon sweeps someone else's We are only noticed on the edge of things: but on the edge of things, we notice much."

~Gregory Maguire

Out Of Oz

The White-tailed Kites I have seen since the September have been so beautiful, but this one mesmerized me! I found it perching on top of a pole on Staten Island. It was a difficult picture to get because of some really thick fog that rolled through the night before. I didn't give up, and here is the reward! I have several photos from that day, but this set is my favorite! I will post more photos from that day soon!

In Just One Week In Autumn

 

"And you stand on your stoop or in your door yard at mid-afternoon and watch the cloud shadows rush across Griffin's pasture and up Schoolyard Hill, light and dark, light and dark, like the shutters of the god's being opened and closed."

~Stephen King

Salem's Lot

It's only been a week. Just one week. 

And that's not counting my own daily events. It was one of those weeks that makes you turn to Stephen King, just to make it all make sense.

Here's more in pictures...

 

And there was so much more, including taking Simon and Tyler to be neutered and microchipped. Tyler took the long ride over the Altamont pass really well, Simon, not so much. While in his travel kennel, he cried LOUD and jumped around. He pulled at the metal screen and scared his mommy for about 50 miles of the 70 mile trip. Sigh. But he stopped all complaining when we turned on the 80's channel on Siris XM. What had been a nerve wracking trip, suddenly became a fun filled trip for the whole family. The kitties were in the pet hospital for a couple days, so naturally their mommy got so nervous that her kitties weren't with her, that she got hives! I am so stupid! But what can I say? They aren't just cats they are my babies! I am thoroughly in love with both of them, and I am trying to get photos, but kitten energy makes it tough! Oh well, it will happen. If I don't drop dead from exhaustion!

Just kidding.

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #63

 

"Autumn is like springtime in reverse."

~Teri Guillemets

I just love those colors. 

While they are definitely the colors of autumn,

 there is a spring vibe too.

It's about the only time I appreciate spring for the colors.

 Too bad spring displays very little of autumn.

Rude!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #62

 

"Some of the days in autumn carry the whole memory of summer, 

as a fire opal carries the color of moonrise."

~Gladys Taber

Autumn Birds, On Woodbridge Road

"There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy."

~Ralph H. Baum

I was having so much fun photographing this gorgeous Great Egret the other day! I was on Woodbridge road, to see if any new birds had migrated in. And yes, some had indeed come home for the season, and while I have some fairly nice new photos, it was the birds that are here all year, that I had the most fun with. The Egrets, the Kingfishers, and the Blue Herons were being very accommodating to my photography! They are all such gorgeous birds, it made my day to be able to see beauty everywhere! As great fun as they were, the arrival of the snow geese made me warm inside. I guess you could say, it was a very good day!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #59

 "In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets."

~Cynthis Ryland

In November