A Year of Sumac And Red

"Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn... that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness... that season which has drawn every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling."

~Jane Austen

Persuasion 

I love that green leaf! Unfortunately, the photograph was taken late last summer, long before the year turned autumn, so I couldn't include it in my project. But it's so pretty, I thought it needed to be seen. It's not perfect, but the green is so striking, that it just popped! That's the one thing about the leaves of autumn, there are very few examples of the color green, although I did find a couple of nice deep green leaves, but it wasn't many!

Sometimes, as I am preparing for the coming colors of autumn, I go to some of my favorite locations, and study which colors are making an early appearance. It helps me with the practice of different settings on my camera, especially when I haven't picked the camera up for a while. It also helps me decide which trees will provide me with as many different colors as possible, to balance out the collection. 

This autumn it was all about the color red! Red is difficult for me. It can be harsh, and especially so, when the sun is shining through the leaf. When I saw I'd be working with a lot of red this year, I was really happy because I knew it would be a challenge, and it was. With my Fibromyalgia, I get headaches easy, and this year the normally bad headaches turned into migraines. Fun. I think it's because of the air pressure in the Central Valley, but that's just a guess, anyway, the color red, in the leaves, seems to give me headaches! 

Weird, right? I am going to have to check with others who deal with my condition and see if they have an intolerance to light, and certain colors. Life is a challenge, right? But it feels good to be continuing to learn about my condition, my photography, the natural world around me, and even weather conditions, and what causes them to affect my body. I like this hobby, and the fact that I can get out of my own head for a little while, and be in nature.

 No two leaves are the same, and when a single leaf is gone, you will never see it again. They are the fingerprints of a year gone by, and after this past year, I can understand red being the predominate color. What do suppose will be the predominate color for 2019? Personally, I am hoping for a deep lavender. Or maybe yellow. Yellow is a bright sunny color, that is invigorating, and not painful to me at all. I am hoping for yellow, but I am kind of thinking that 2019 seems like it will be most likely be red. Red in day to day life, and in leaves.

I'm happy with this years collection.

  I hope you have enjoyed it too!

#83 Leaf Of The Day

December 13th 2018

Photographed December 9th 2018

Stockton, California

Samsung

~Mood: Happy

~Me

Days Of Darkness, Days Of Light

"At no other time, than autumn, does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth, in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honey sweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost."

~Rainer Maria Rilke

Letters On Cezanne

Alan and I have been doing a lot of driving around Northern California this vacation. We do that most years, but there has been more rain this autumn, then in previous years, which had lead to some dark roads earlier in the day, which I love, but can sometimes play havoc with a general mood I want to have on my blog!

 Much like politics, this autumn has had moments of amazing light, and other moments of cold, almost frightening darkness. You turn a corner on a lonely road, and you wonder what you will see around the next curve. Will it be a frightening, dark filled bumpy road? Or will it be a sign of "Gas Food And Lodging?" 

I think it's fitting that American elections are held in the middle of autumn, where one's thoughts of how fragile the immediate future is, and how life becomes shorter with each passing sunset, blend with a warm autumn sun and a cool breeze of the fact that there is also a lot to look forward to. 

Autumn Moods

"There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood...

Touch of manner, hint of mood;

And my heart is like a rhyme,

With the yellow and purple and crimson keeping time."

~Bliss Carman

Leaf Of The Day

October 29th 2016

Mood: Quiet

~Me  

Let The Dancing Begin...

"Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead, has never watched them dancing on a windy day."

~Shira Tamir

September is drifting along, quietly. No noise. Well, except for the irritating barking of my neighbor's dog. Poor little fella is used as a weapon in the neighborhood. Any time the immature little brat adults I have mentioned in previous posts as, Donny and Nina, are up to their old tricks, they allow the dog to bark. It seems marriage really did nothing for their maturity. Sigh. The cute little pup-pup began barking at 5:30 am, both of the last couple days... as soon as Donny left for work. It's vintage Nina to let the pup-pup bark, because she knows it pisses off the neighbors in all directions. And when it does, Donny usually gets a visit from someone yelling at him. Yelling is a given at this point, as we have all complained in reasonable tones, and it did no good! Don't get me wrong, Donny isn't innocent. He is the one that came up with the idea of letting pup-pup bark, as punishment towards me for complaining about him to the property owner... in 2011! They enjoyed the affect it had on my health to the point they found they could use the same tactic to keep others in line as well.

As you may remember, Donny and Nina got married last summer, and moved from this property to an adjoining property. Things got better for a little while. He and his psycho bully attitude were gone, but he is still close enough that his behavior still affects all of us to different degrees. In my case, waking me up at 5:30 am. God, I had only been in bed an hour. Sigh. It's so unnecessary. Why can't they just live their lives? Work on their releationship? Plan for the future? I can think of a million things that Alan and I were busy with during our first year of marriage, but actively working on getting each other in trouble with the neighbors wasn't on the radar. Call us boring, but we have found filling our spare time with loving each other, and our little furry children, pretty life affirming!

Oh well. Let's not dwell on things. Summer is taking it's last breaths, and that's a good thing because it makes the pain in life, like not getting the sleep I need, a little easier to take. I can actually see the light of autumn outside my window! It's right there. It's in the golden sunrise, and the light orange sunsets. It's in that hint of coolness in the air. It's in the way a barrel of apples smells at the grocery stores and farmers markets. It's in the taste of a really delicious heirloom tomato. It's in the colors of the new outfits I just bought for autumn, and it's in the sound of the deceased leaves blowing down the street. I know autumn is associated with the withering of the year, but it makes me feel alive inside. It makes me feel like I can deal with the barking. I will try to dismiss the pain from my Fibromyalgia and concentrate on the leaves.

Leaves dancing on the wind is life affirming too!

"Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time, like dew on the tip of a leaf."

~Rabindranath Tagore

Mood: Quiet/Tired/Happy

~Me :)