Halloween Countdown... #30 The Mephisto Waltz

 

October
I sit with braided fingers
and closed eyes
in a span of late sunlight.
The spokes are closing.
It is fall: warm milk of light,
though from an aging breast.
I do not mean to pray.
The posture for thanks or
supplication is the same
as for weariness or relief.
But I am glad for the luck
of light. Surely it is godly,
that it makes all things
begin, and appear, and become
actual to each other.
Light that’s sucked into
the eye, warming the brain
with wires of color.

 
~May Swenson 

 

Well, we didn't make it to Bodega Bay, but we are making another attempt today. Sigh. Cat dramas can be big, yet little sometimes. I don't mean to be cryptic, everyone is okay, it's just that we found out that Simon is terrified of spiders. Big or small. Last night he saw one, and bounced high and low, taking the stairs 4 at a time, and bouncing off the walls downstairs! We were afraid he was going to hurt himself, so we sat until he calmed down by himself, which took a couple hours. Finally, at 2:30 am, hubby went to bed. It seems the situation would be handled in shifts. About 45 minutes after hubby turned in, I was able to pick Simon up, snuzzle him, talk softly to him, and finally put him in his condo for the night. I was exhausted, hubby was exhausted, so we called it a night at 3:30. No trip, but at least our little guy is okay. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again! 

 

Now, about the movie! The Mephisto Waltz was spooky as HELL when I was a kid, and you can say it's one of the movies that boils down to, FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT!" Alan Alda is perfect, as usual, as is the whole cast. I loved it when I was a kid, and I love it now! I don't want to give the plot away, so I will just say it is devilishly good fun! It's available to stream on Fandango, so if you haven't seen it, go watch it. 

 

But turn all the lights out first! 

 

A Perspective... Revisited

"The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be."

~Douglas Adams

The Salmon Of Doubt: Hitchhiking The Galaxy One Last Time

I first posted the photo above, in early September, 2014. This garbage can is in my favorite park in the East Bay, and I pass it often while out photographing flowers and autumn leaves. Well, at least I did at the time, I have since moved, but I still visit there when I can. Cull Canyon Park, in Castro Valley, always inspires me, and its one of the nicest parks in the East Bay to just stop for a moment and have lunch or catch one's breath. 

Anyway, while photographing some pre-season autumn leaves, I looked at the lid of the can, and for whatever reason I saw a crow in the paint erosion. Alan saw a bear. And I do see a bear, but the crow is my first thought. I guess it's one of those perspective things! But, like I said, I originally posted the photo a couple years ago, and since then I haven't thought about it much. Why would I? Right? Then one day last month, while I was doing the exact same action as the first time I noticed it, I saw two more creatures I hadn't noticed before. This time, at the base of the can. A cat and a mouse. Do you see them? Or is it just me?

 

 

Now I know I tend to see shapes, and sometimes faces in things, I especially like to find that kind of stuff in nature! I have built a whole series around it. But I don't often stop and consider shapes quite like this. It has to have occurred through erosion, because who would take the time to create animal shapes on a random trash can? Not too many people I suppose, and yet I can't see anything but those three creatures. 

A crow bending over eating.

A cat with a big thick tail.

And a little mouse just to the right side of the cat.

How about you? What do you see?

 What's Your Perspective?

"Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, 'What else could this mean?'" 

~Shannon L. Adler

 Leaf Of The Day

December 2nd 2016

 

 

I Can Has Cheeseburger Slider To Go?

"Be the cheeseburger you've always dreamed you could be.

 That's the advice I'd give to any hamburger running for political office."

~Jarod Kintz

This Book Has No Title

There is something unusual in that crow's mouth, I only had a moment to get this shot, but after I did I was so glad I had made the effort. I was at Ocean Beach, it was cold out, and lunch time, so there were lots of people bundled up, while enjoying their picnic lunches. Not and unusual sight,  when this bird had a swooped down and grabbed a cheeseburger slider out of the box lunch being enjoyed by a particularly amorous couple, it caused a bit of a stir. Curious... isn't it? Imagine making off with someone elses slider, but leaving the french fries behind. 

Who eats a slider without fries?

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

What Do You See?

                                                               

"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a 

   question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."

~Bertrand Russell

So, Alan and I went out with the cameras yesterday, and I spotted this trash can with some of the paint worn off. I immediately saw a crow in the missing paint pattern, while Alan saw a wolf. The discussion of what the pattern was, came down to what each one eats. Crows are omnivores, while wolves are carnivores. So, what do the small spots that are scratched off beneath the animal shape seem to be? I see fish, how about you? And if you see fish also, could it be that the shape is actually neither crow nor wolf, but rather bear?

    So tell me ... what do you see?

Mood: Happy

~Me :)