Maybe

 

"Always focus on the front windshield, and not the rearview mirror."

~Colin Powell

Maybe.

Could be.

I really like it.

But there are things to consider.

Maybe.

Could be.

We'll find out later today.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie, is the brilliant Eugene Levy as a shifty car salesman.

"The Wagon Queen Family Truckster, you think you hate it now, but wait until you drive it."

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #44

 

"The white towers and golden domes of the church gleamed in the sapphire sky. The luxuriant autumn asleep till morning. The silence of the earth seemed to merge with the silence of the heavens and the mystery of the earth touched the mystery of the stars."

 

 ~Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Solar Eclipse 2024 And Puppies And And And...

 

"Nations, like stars, entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Down and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.

 

~Victor Hugo 

 

It was a morning. There was a solar eclipse, and there was a group of puppies roaming the neighborhood to help us enjoy it. I hope to update this post later today, with pictures of the puppies, but for now just know they are... awesome. Labradors... I think. One is a gorgeous mink brown, the rest are black with white spots, although a bit different on each one. I call the brown one Peanut. The smallest one is black, with white on his chest. He has one blue eye and one brown. A little slower then the rest of the litter, but friendly, and he seems a bit shy, or maybe. He's a great dog. I call him Aidan. All of them will be, and I wish them the best of luck. It's apparent someone dumped them here, sigh. So they deserve some luck. They are so wonderful, and my heart aches to take them in, but... well... kitties live here right now. It's just bad timing.

 

 

Now, onto the Solar Eclipse and other stories in the news. First of all, it was only a partial eclipse in my area. About 35%. Still it was fun, and I enjoyed attempting some photos. It's a bright sunny day, cold, you can feel the snow in the Sierra, but as days go, it was a stunner! So it was fun. It was nice to stretch my photographers legs and try for a difficult subject. I am happy with the way it turned out, but I think I did better last fall, with the eclipse. Shrug. The next total eclipse will be in 20 years. I will be 81. While I may stop blogging by then, I am hoping my camera will still be by my side and ready to go. Perhaps by then, I will be good enough, with even difficult subjects, that I will be able to stun the world with my beautiful photographs of the total eclipse of the sun. We'll see! In other news, Donald Trump is still trying to stall his hush money trial, and Marjorie Taylor Green hasn't been raptured yet! Weird... right?

Finally, macarons, new shoes, new toothbrushes, and a new wheelchair, all appeared in my life, all on the same day of the eclipse and the puppies. Some days are like that. No matter what, puppies should always be involved in any day.

More later.

 

 

As Sudden As Winter

 

"Grief is always sudden as winter, 

no matter how long the autumn."

 

J. Aleksandr Wooton

Forgetting: Impressions From The Millennial Borderland

 

Autumn is slipping away. I have more feelings, or I should say, more complex feelings, about autumn 2020 than any other autumn I can remember, including the autumn Alan and I spent apart. But don't get me wrong, it's not all bad, it's just been a very strange year, that has left me over-feeling everything. It will straighten itself out. And I am happy. I am okay. Life is good. And hey, here comes winter. New things to photograph. New doors open, and soon, in just 10 months, autumn will be back, and who knows what adventures will happen between now and then! Plus, my dear Twitter pal, Joe, has agreed to continue our weekend autumn image sharing. It is great to have a friend who enjoys autumn as much as I do, and it really did help to make 2020 a lot easier to deal with! A LOT EASIER!

 

~Carly

December 6th 2020

Stockton, California

The Blues I See

"What if the blue I see is not the same color blue you see?"

~Neo Shamon

That blue California scrub jay simply took my breath away. It was sitting in a tree skeleton, in my neighbor's yard, just chirping away. There was a storm last Sunday, and it was another one of those kinds of storms that threatens to turn into a tornado on a whim. It never did, of course, but for a while it made things really interesting! Anyway, storms or not, I seem to be seeing a lot of blue. If not in the sky itself, then in things that fly in the sky. In this case the blue California scrub jay that is making a home in my yard. 

I guess it's a good thing I am finding some inspiration close to home, because my carpal tunnel has been really bad of late, so doing much with the camera is difficult. I can barely type this post, but I had to because it's good for me to make the effort of staying out of my shell, which is what I tend to do the moment autumn ends. Hibernation must end. I want to see the four seasons this year, and to do that, I must keep my creativity sharpened. So, there might be pictures posted here this week, but the words may be few. That's a good thing, I think, I will just let the pictures do the talking.

 There is a lot more blue to come this week!

 ~Mood: Happy

~Me

 

A New Memory

"I find it incredibly amazing how at every sunset,

 the sky is a different shade.

 No cloud is ever in the same place. 

Each day is a new masterpiece. A new wonder. A new memory."

~Sanober Kahn

Last night's sunset was beautiful! It spoke softly with blue shades, and it made me want to drift off to sleep next to a warm fire in the fireplace, but that would have meant missing the sunset, and I couldn't do that! I love the bright red and orange, and sometimes pink of an autumn sunset, but when a blue sunset comes along... I just want to take in it's peace and wrap myself around the way it makes me feel!

Leaf Of The Day

October 27th 2016

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

A Little Less Blue, A Little More Purple

"It was strange walking through the empty apartment. My battered purple room was gone, Brittany's bruised blue was gone. Two coats covered everything. It was like none of it had ever happened."

~Kimberly Novosel

Loved

Okay, so the packing is coming along. Alan and I just invested about $80 in Space Bags and almost every set of sheets, and all my blankets and throws are now completely encased in plastic, flattened into a dense pancake shape, resting on the floor of my closet. As is all my coats, sweaters, warm socks, and some assorted catnip toys. All of which could be of good use at the moment, as it feels like 30 degrees outside! LOL. Isn't that always the way? You put an air-conditioner in the window, and pack all your Winter apparel in storage, and BAM it rains a cold Spring rain. 

I don't have purple walls in my apartment, I have Cornflower blue walls. I do, however, have a pair of purple lily lamps. They are cuter than they sound. I always loved that purple color, next to the color of those blue walls. So pretty. Hopefully, wherever we end up moving to, we will be able to paint the walls a nice color. Who knows, maybe a nice purple color this time. Like the purple in Monica and Rachel's apartment on Friends. I always loved their apartment. Yeah, maybe a little less blue and a little more purple in my life.

Mood: Doing Better/Almost Okay! :)

~Me :)

The Guilts

"Calvin: There is no problem so awful that you can't add some guilt to it and make it worse."

~Bill Watterson

The Complete Calvin And Hobbes

Don't they look like a guilty lot? It's a Peeps line-up, and I am thinking the one on the end did it!

What did it do? You ask...

It seduced me into buying a big box of the delicious marshmallowy chickens... and eating them all!

Party Cake Flavored Peeps... who could pass that up?

And yes, I feel mighty GUILTY... and HAPPY.

Easter shopping season comes but once a year you know.

Mood: Silly

~Me :)

The Color Blue

"A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed... it feels an impulsion... this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons."

~Richard Bach

I think I may have mentioned, maybe once or twice, that I am in love with this bay. It inspires me. Lightens my moods. Darkens my moods. Makes me feel less alone. And when I am lucky enough to be able to actually be in a boat on the San Francisco Bay, the waves seem to was all the stress from my body.I am never happier than when I am on the water. Last Saturday, on the bay, was a very good day, and these photos are the last ones I took that day. The first two was while I was on board the boat. The last one is looking back toward the city and Golden Gate Bridge. 

A Different Blue Sky





Blue. How I love Blue.

Mood: Inspired

~Me :)

This Side Of The Ridge

"Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways."

~Oscar Wilde

I love this time of day. I love that right here everything was a soft gorgeous blue, but just right over that ridge was a wild full sky of pinks and reds as the sun set. I love my camera, I see things I would miss otherwise. The camera, my cameras, help me slow down, and see what's in front of me. There was a time when the pain in my life was all I saw, then little by little, as I really put effort into my picture taking, I realized how lucky my life was, and how much pain everyone was in. Suddenly, it was less about me, and more about how at the end of the day, the sun sets on all of us, just maybe from different perspectives. 

Mood: Inspired

~Me :)

Steller's Jay and Blue Heron

Elk Glen Lake, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco 3/27/2013

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."

~John Muir

 
Blue Heron

Yesterday, my travels about Golden Gate Park saw me enjoying all the bright shades of yellow that were dotting the park, but there was another color that kept showing up as well, which gave they day a nice balance. Blue. Lovely, calming, quiet... Blue. Just after finishing my time with the camera photographing the pretty yellow tulips at Queen Wilhelmina garden, I was fortunate enough to spot a gorgeous Blue Heron, sitting a little back from the road near Mallard Lake. While taking his photo, we were visited by a gorgeous Steller's Jay who wanted some attention as well! He made a racket! He photo bombed the perfect pictures that would have been, and generally stalked me until I gave him the proper respect and time he deserved. I happily obliged and it payed off with his showing up again, a short time later, and soon along came about 20 of his friends and family, this time a short walk from where we first met, in a small grove adjacent to Elk Glen Lake, inside the park.

Here, Have A Look...

Steller's Jay


To my delight, I actually found quite a few different species of birds yesterday, which means I can fill in some entries for my birdwatching journal. I am anxious to get out and do more birding. For now though I have to track down a couple birds I spotted yesterday, but couldn't identify. I like that part of birding... learning all about a new one. It's a mystery, but soon you find the information and it's like finding a new friend. I hope that makes sense! When the Steller's Jay came along yesterday, I hadn't seen one since the autumn of 2005. They are such beautiful birds! And really fascinating as well!

As soon as I I.D. the other birds I saw yesterday, I will post them to Ellipsis. :) But until then, tell me, do you do any birdwatching? If so, do you live, sleep and eat... well... not eat... but obsess maybe... on birds? If so, how often do you go birdwatching, and is it a hobby or just an occasional activity? How many different birds can be spotted in your neighborhood on any given day? And what bird would you say is your absolute favorite? Tell me everything!

Elk Glen Lake, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Ca

Map of Golden Gate Park (PDF)

Mood: Happy

~Carly :)

Blue Scarlet Dragonfly

From For Ellipsis

"Deep in the sun-searched growths, the dragonfly hangs like a blue thread loosed from the sky."

-Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Silent Noon

It was a beautiful day in Tilden park yesterday! I only had a couple hours with the camera, but they were quality hours to be sure. Lots of critters. Dragonflies and butterflies and even a lizard or two. I spotted a fast moving lizard I had never seen before, but with a little bit of research last night I found out it was of the Skink variety. It moved along very fast, and at first I thought it might be a small blue snake, but nope, it was a Skink. I couldn't photograph it, because it moved too quickly, but I will be watching for that one specifically the next time I am in the park. Tilden is amazing this time of year. The leaves are beginning to turn, which reminds me that autumn is just a whisper away! I can't wait!

Blue Scarlett Dragonflies

From For Ellipsis

Isn't she pretty? It was nice to have a little company for the walk around the Botanic Gardens. :)

-Carly

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #23: Winter Days

"May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night and a smooth road all the way to your door."

-Irish Blessing

NOW CLOSED!

EMPS #23: WINTER DAYS
It's winter, here in the northern hemisphere, but here in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was 80 degrees yesterday. What's a girl got to do to see some cold weather? Glad you asked. Your assignment for this week is to show me some WINTER DAYS in your neighborhood. Snow, rain, clear, yet icy conditions, bare trees, dead leaves, whatever accurately illustrates a WINTER DAY where you live.

Extra Credit: Show me the current temperature where you live. :)

Alternate Assignment...

EMPS #23A : WINTER DAYS/COLD THINGS
I know, I know... not all of you live in the northern hemisphere, and some of you who do, live in areas that don't necessarily see COLD weather even in winter, so for you folks I want you to find me anything Winter related. Ice. Frozen food. Ice Cream. An angry stare, a car first thing in the morning, a COLD salad or dessert. Anything WINTER/COLD.

Extra Credit: Show me something BLUE.

**Please Read**
You have until next Sunday, February 15th, 2009, at 9 PM ET to submit your EMPS assignment. Just post your entry to your blog or journal, then comeback here with the full link specific to this assignment. NO HYPERLINKS! The link you leave must be specific to this entry, not the general link to your blog or journal.

Linking List for EMPS#22: Rocks Or Stones 01/26/09

Now Closed!

1. Suzanne

2. Tammy

3. Gwenlyn

4. Judi

5. Karen

6. Greg

7. Terri

8. Jama

9. Wammy

10. Vicki

11. Mike

12. Connie

Well done everyone!

Now, send me some COLD thoughts this week... ok? Show me ! Or the alternate subject... BLUE. I will be looking forward to all your photos in the coming week! GO BE PHOTOGRAPHERS! See you next week with an all new EMPS assignment!

-Carly

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Blue Skies

"When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky."

-Buddha

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Picture some blue, blue skies. Wide stretches of blue are the goal here. Fluffy clouds are great, too - but try to get skies mostly blue. Interesting stuff in the foreground is groovy, too.

-John Scalzi (By The Way)

I remember this day, it was August 9th of 2006, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day! It was a mild day, as temperature goes, and I swear I could see forever. :) Earlier in the day, I had met a bit of stress when someone came very close to hitting my car on the freeway. It was so close a call, that it left me shaken for most of the day, but I continued on with my plans all the same. We spent the day photographing butterflies at the Conservatory of Flowers, and when we were finished, we decided to take the long way home, by way of HWY 1 along the coast. Alan knew all I needed was a nice long break at my favorite little lighthouse, to calm my nerves. It worked perfectly. By late in the afternoon, we were at Point Montara Lighthouse. He and I sat in the little area, just to the right of the lighthouse in the picture. My favorite green Adirondack chair was waiting for me. We talked and laughed, and counted out blessings. It was a close call we had had that day, but just sitting in that warm summer sun, under that gorgeous sky, I was just focused on all that blue.

Blue Skies
By Irving Berlin

I was blue, just blue as I could be
Every day was cloudy day for me
Then good luck came a-knocking at my door
Skies were gray but they're not gray anymore

Blue skies
Smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies
Do I see

Bluebirds
Singing a song
Nothing but bluebirds
All day long

Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When you're in love, my how they fly

Blue days
All of them gone
Nothing but blue skies
From now on

I should care if the wind blows east or west
I should fret if the worst looks like the best
I should mind if they say it can't be true
I should smile, that's exactly what I do

-OndineMonet
Point Montara Lighthouse
Montara, California
August 9th, 2006
Late Afternoon