Autumn leaf Of The Day #14

 

"I think seasons complete me

 for once autumn comes

I can freely fall with every leaf

I do not have to bloom

yet I must die

in every delicate line of October"

~Laura Chouette

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #7

 

"And all at once, summer collapsed into fall."

~Oscar Wilde

Summer is still doing it's fair share of collapsing. We are still experiencing hot days, but we are having gentle evenings, where the temperature drops into sweater weather. But I am not complaining, I am actually grateful that we still have some dry weather to enjoy. This year's, El Nino, is promising to be quite the gusher. Lots and lots of rainy weather is due to hit northern California in late October, or early November. The state is already planning for it, Governor Newsom has declared a State of Emergency to get out ahead of what might be coming. So, I am trying to hope for the best, because if the worst happens, getting adorable shots like this one, which Hubby helped me with, or any autumn leaf shots for that matter, could be very difficult. I am just going to deal with it when it gets here.

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #3

 

"By all these lovely tokens, September days are here. 

With summer's best of weather and autumn's best of cheer."

Helen Hunt Jackson

More Of My Autumn Moments

 

"It was one of those perfect fall days,

 when the air is cool enough to wake you up, 

but the sun is kissing your face."

~Anita Diamant

And there are many, many more photos that I didn't post. Perhaps I will show them off in 2026, but for now, these photos represent some amazing feelings. It was part of my life. It was Autumn 2025!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #89

 

"Vibrant leaves are seen as poems or silent manifestations

 written by time and wind, expressing graceful impermanence."

~Unknown

We are almost ready to say goodnight to autumn now, just a couple days to go! every leaf means a lot to me now. I love every one of them."

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #88

"Each falling leaf is an act of surrender,

 teaching us to release the old to make way for new beginnings.

~Unknown

It's difficult to post autumn leaves, while grieving the loss of Rob Reiner and his wife. There has been a lot of tragedy this autumn, a lot of deaths. I am not sure what I would have done without my new kittens, who fill our home with joyful life! Ommie used to say, "and this too shall pass" and I have lived long enough to know it's true. The autumn leaves have brought so much color, to an otherwise dark and tearful time. Autumn heals me, and this year it is leaving way too soon, and I will grieve it's loss too, but winter will actually help me heal, by giving me some quiet, black and white photography time, to reemerge into the colors of spring.

Late Autumn's Hummingbird

 

"Some of my old memories feel trapped in amber in my brain, lucid and burning, while others are like the wing beat of a hummingbird, an intangible, ephemeral, blur."

~Mira Bartock

The Memory Place

I see a hummingbird, sitting at the very top of a certain branch, of a certain tree, every time I visit Cull Canyon Park, in Castro Valley, no matter what season I visit. I have no idea if it's the same one every time, or if this type of tree is just perfect for hummingbirds, but it's always a Anna's Hummingbird, and it loves to pose for me! Anna's Hummingbirds have been a real challenge for me to photograph, most of the time I have had trouble getting their colors, that bright or pink under their chins, or sometimes their bright green coat on their backs. It's difficult from any distance! But for some reason, I seem to do better with them in late autumn. Maybe it's because I am more relaxed, or is it really the autumn sun that brings the color? I don't know which, all I know is I am grateful for it. These birds are absolutely gorgeous, and they make life beautiful!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #73

 

"Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things,

 and no good thing ever dies."

~Stephen King

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #72

 

"Autumn is the very soul of metamorphosis, a time when the world is poised at the door of winter... which is the door of death... but has not fallen."

~Catherynne M. Valente

The Girl Who Circumvented Fairyland In a Ship Of Her Own Making

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #66

"She seemed a compound of autumn leaves and winter sunshine... "

~Virginia Woolf

Night and Day

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #56

 

"You have so many autumns, so many selves, like autumn leaves are waiting to be shaken down."

~Zhou Mengdie

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #13

 

“November is usually such a disagreeable month...as if the year had suddenly found out that she was growing old and could do nothing but weep and fret over it. This year is growing old gracefully...just like a stately old lady who knows she can be charming even with gray hair and wrinkles. We've had lovely days and delicious twilights.”

~L.M. Montgomery,

 Anne of Avonlea

This autumn's November, has leaves that are much more muted than in previous years, but there are also trees making a big show of the bright vivid colors hiding among it's other less showy colored leaves. Dogwood trees do that, as do Liquid amber, but I can always count on a particular tree, in Cull Canyon park to provide these lovely shaped yellow leaf clusters. They go from a dull greenish color of summer, to this bright, happy, Meyer lemon color. I wish I knew the name of the tree. I really need to try harder to learn my leaf identification. Hubby even suggested adding the names of the tree the leaves come from, to my leaf portraits next autumn. Good idea! But I better start learning them, beginning on the first day of winter!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #49

 

"Autumn at it's best, with a hint of menace."
~Unknown 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #46

 

 

 

“Autumn wears the gown of gold. The sadness becomes the burning flames, the longing to live, one last time. Behind the wheels of life, it is God, the painter, who awakens colors in farewell moments, as if the lamp of light is burning before it dies.”

 
~Jayita Bhattacharjee 

 

 

Autumn Maple

 

“When everything looks like a magical oil painting,

 you know you are in Autumn!” 

~Mehmet Murat ildan 

 

Everything is beginning to show more color. I am not usually a fan of gold, but this tree in Cull Canyon park simply took my breath away! My family had a Big Leaf Maple in our yard when I was a child, unfortunately it became diseased and it had to be cut down when I was about 4 yrs old. Oh boy, was I angry! I never forgot that tree. I think of it in autumn, and all the times I spent having autumn tea parties with my friends under that tree. The naps I took with various pets, and leaves I collected. It was my best friend. After it was gone, my parents planted an apple tree, and it was great. We had a pear tree in our backyard too, so the fruits were wonderful, but my memories always go back to that lovely, golden, Big Leaf Maple. This one, in the park, isn't my friend from childhood, but it's a good tree, and it makes me feel good inside whenever I see it, but especially in autumn.

 

 

 

  

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #36

 

 

“And every year there is a brief, startling moment
When we pause in the middle of a long walk home and
Suddenly feel something invisible and weightless
Touching our shoulders, sweeping down from the air:
It is the autumn wind pressing against our bodies;
It is the changing light of fall falling on us.”

 
~Edward Hirsch,

  Wild Gratitude

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #32

 

“Its cozy shops all had their windows decorated with the palette of autumn. The air was cooler today, and she smiled at the just-emerging colors on the leaves of the trees nestled along the street.”

 
~Heather Flynn,

  Novelists in November: A Wild Blue Wonder Press Anthology

 

I just love it when the autumn sun, shines through a singular leaf, among of pile of different shapes and colors of  leaves. Like the witch of autumn is giving it a little extra bit of love, as it passes away. I don't know, I've felt that way since I was a little girl. It's as if autumn carries that little bit of empathy and compassion than other seasons do. 

 

It's all about the light.

 

 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #6

 “You cannot move forward in the real world
if you cannot see the real world.
You cannot find the beauty in the world
if all you see is its adornment.

Autumn comes.
Autumn falls.
Autumn leaves.
The world turns fire
and burns off all that is fading.”

 
~Shellen Lubin 

 

 

I Got This

 

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.

 Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” 

~Rumi 

 

Autumn will be here next week, but throughout the summer I found some wonderful crunchy autumn leaves, as if it had begun on June 21st! This photo was taken in Cull Canyon, in late August. Just a beautiful pile of leaves in all shapes and sizes, colors and degree of life. It was a strange summer. It would seem this autumn will have it's moments. But I have leaves, and Chai lattes, and everything else that heals my heart. Not to mention two kittens who will keep me laughing, and Joey, who never lets me feel unloved. And lets not forget Sylvie, my therapist, who talks me down, and then talks me through it.

 

I got this.

 

 

Crimson Leaves

“I was drinking in the surroundings: air so crisp you could snap it with your fingers and greens in every lush shade imaginable offset by autumnal flashes of red and yellow.” 

― Wendy Delsol,

  Stork

 

My Favorite Tree, Cull Canyon Park

August 26th 2025 

  

Autumn is here. It has felt like autumn began sometime around august 1st. It was a milder than usual summer. We have only had a few days of hot weather, but in general, I could wear long sleeves and not be too uncomfortable. One night, in July, while on the Franklin blvd waiting for the bats to emerge, I was actually cold! Anyway, my autumn leaf guides all point to this being an early autumn, which means the color is already arriving! Ahhhhh... I am tickled to see my favorite tree in the world, showing off an autumn leaf grin. it makes me feel happier inside than I have in months! Just look at that gorgeous tree, putting on it's autumn sweater! There is more to come, so visit often, as this autumn emerges, Especially after September 23rd, when I officially begin my Autumn Leaf Of The day project!