Autumn Leaf Of The Day #66

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

~Virginia Woolf

Night and Day

Getting Lost In The Colors Of Autumn

 

"Enchantment and fulfillment were on the gold and garnet horizon... autumn's breath, a dormant dream reawakened, a yearning nearly satiated, a tender thank you with a brush of the lips, and a connection as fingers touch and go hand and hand."

~Donna Lynn Hope

I just want to concentrate on the colors of autumn and the sky. The spider webs I have seen, and the birds visiting for autumn and winter.

You know... real life. 

I Met A Friendly Little Junco

 

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.” 

― Robert Lynd 

 

I was in Cull Canyon Park, birding, and I just wasn't seeing anything, I heard a lot of chirping, but I wasn't actually seeing the birds! They've gotten crafty about evading me. I guess they are taking advantage of the last of the summer's green leaves to hide in. Autumn will be here soon, and some leaves are already beginning to turn, so they know it's only a matter of time until birders like me will be visiting the parks and preserves. This dark-eyed junco wasn't so shy, it hopped right over to my car, and played in the fallen leaves, and I was so jealous, because that was something I would do if I could. Still, I got a lot of happiness just watching him. It was one of the best parts of last week!

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #56

 

 

"When everything looks like a magical oil painting,

 you know you are in Autumn!"

 

 ~Mehmet Murat Ildan  

 

 

The Colors Of Autumn

 

“But when fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you.” 

~Stephen King

  ’Salem’s Lot

 

I spotted this little Dark-eyed Junco a couple days ago in Castro Valley. My favorite park is coming alive with color! My favorite tree is off to a good start, and in the shrubbery beneath it were a couple beautiful spiders to play with! It struck me that this bird offered the best of Summer and Autumn. Brown and black, with just a touch of red. It blended into the fallen leaves so well I nearly missed it! Had it not been for my favorite birding app, GoBird, I would have missed it! We picked up the sounds of several birds we need for the 2024 file, and all signs point to it being a great place to really get in touch with autumn. We still haven't found the Brown Creeper, but it will be this year's quest. In birding one needs patience and luck. Mostly luck!

 

   

In Dreamful Autumn

Autumnal

~Ernest Dowson

The Poems and Prose Of Ernest Dowson

Pale amber sunlight falls across

The reddening October trees

That hardly sway before a breeze

As soft as a summer: summer's loss

Seems little, dear! On days like these

Let Misty autumn be our part!

The twilight of the year is sweet:

Where shadow and the darkness meet

Our love, a twilight of the heart

Eludes a little timer's deciet.

Are we not better and at home

In dreamful Autumn, we who deem

No harvest joy is worth a dream?

A little while and night shall come,

A little while, then, let us dream.

Beyond the pearled horizons lie

Winter and night: awaiting these

We garner this poor hour of ease,

Until love turn from us and die

Beneath the drear November trees. 

 #72 Leaf Of The Day

December 3rd 2019

Cull Canyon Park

Nikon

~Mood: Happy

~Me   :)

The Little Autumn Spider Named Elyse

"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 from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling."

~Jane Austen

Persuasion

I was visiting Tilden Park, in Berkeley, searching for a little more autumn to fill me up, when I saw her. A tiny spider. I hate spiders, but she was way to small to take too seriously. just a speck, and I had no heart to harm her. It was cold, as Berkeley is usually this time of November, so I figure she has enough going against her. She was just trying to be her own true self, and hide on a nearly perfect leaf. But we made friends, and I asked politely if I could photograph her, she obliged, and in a little while we both smiled and said goodbye. Before I left though, she whispered to me that her name was Elyse, and I told her my name was Carly, and she promised to write if she got work. I smiled, nodded, and said, take care Elyse, and then I left. I already miss her.

 #56 Leaf Of The Day

November 16th 2019

Cull Canyon, Ca

Nikon

~Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Three Birds In One Late Autumn Day

Lesser Goldfinch

December 18th, 2017

Cull Canyon Park

"It was a beautiful autumn day,

 with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it."

~Diana Gabadldon

Outlander

Yellow Rumped Warbler

December 18th, 2017

Cull Canyon Park

We are nearing the last day of autumn. Just two more days to go, a day-in-a-half really, and most of my favorite trees have but a few leaves remaining! In my travels, however, I did come across one or two trees, that seem to just be just getting started, so I will be visiting them during winter, as much as possible. I like to continue photographing leaves for as long as I can, but they aren't included in each individual year's autumn leaf gallery. But this year, I have decided to consolidate all of my leaf photos, from all the past years, into one album, so the full collection is available in one place. I will post a link to it, when I have it set up, which hopefully will be sometime around New Year's Eve!

 Yesterday, while out and about, searching for the last little whisper's of autumn leaves, I came across some gorgeous little birds, with their winter plumage on, just waiting for that cold winter weather to begin! Maybe I will take on birds for a winter project. It's been chilly the last few weeks, but not winter cold, it has been autumn cold. Cold air, bright sunshine, and the deepest bluest skies Ive seen, since, well, since late last autumn! LOL. In other words, another season has come and gone, just like it should! I love finding new birds, and yesterday, I found three new ones for my bird gallery! That made me quite happy!

 There are plenty of places to go birding in the Central Valley, it's just a matter of doing a little research! The Delta is a great place to start, and I have heard that there is a large population of Egrets there! And there are also some rare birds to be found, so it's kind of an exciting thought! And while I am busy with my quest for pictures of the Summer Tanager, and the Vermilion Flycatcher, Autumn will be back before I know it! Just a mere three seasons from now, and I will be here, eagerly awaiting it's return, pretty much from the beginning of summer, but spring has all those gorgeous blossoms, so don't think I am forgetting that! So, with a little luck, I will be a busy girl with the camera in 2018! 

Lesser Goldfinch

December 18th, 2017

Cull Canyon Park

Society Finch

December 18th, 2017

Cull Canyon Park

#19 Leaf Of The Day

December 19th, 2017

 Castro Valley Community Center

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

 

 

For The Last Full Day Of Summer...

"Once something has outlived its usefulness in one area of life, its purpose for being in existence is no longer the same. The leaf that captures a stream of sunlight, and then transfers its energy to the tree, serves one purpose in the spring and summer, and another completely different on through the

 fall and winter."

~Guy Finley

For the last day of summer, I am sitting at the computer, with my Google calendar opened to the month of October, so I can schedule all we have planned for our vacation month! We have a lot of activities to deal with. Days on the San Francisco Bay. Days we will spend apple picking in Apple Hill. Some pumpkin selecting in Half Moon Bay. We have some recipes to make for each other. A visit to a comedy club or two in the city. Farmer's Markets from Berkeley to Marin. Halloween parties. A Chilli cookoff in Santa Cruz. The Marin County Film Festival. A few new restaurants to try! Whew! You get the idea! I will be posting my activities soon, for now just know that with all I have to do to get ready for vacation... I always have time to stop and watch the leaves turn.

Fair warning... This blog is about to get autumn heavy!

:)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Walking In Autumn In 2005

The Wooden Bridge
Cull Canyon Park, Castro Valley, Ca
Autumn, 2005

"I am made for autumn. Summer and I have a fickle relationship, but everything about autumn is perfect to me. Wooly jumpers, Wellington boot, scarves, think first, then thick, socks. The low slanting light, the crisp mornings, the chill in my fingers, those last warm sunny days before the rain and the wind. Her moody hues and subdued palate punctuated every now and again by a brilliant orange, scarlet or copper goodbye. She is my true love."

~Alys Fowler

I am posting from the archives today. I have been crazy busy with trying to get everything put back into the computer. The programs, the passwords, the speed dials, you name it! And as if putting all the stuff back in it's proper place wasn't taking enough of my time, factor in the piece of malware I accidentally downloaded last night! It's called do.Search. It isn't quite malicious enough to be considered a virus, but beastly it is all the same! Basically, it attaches itself to all your browsers, and sends you ads from certain companys you probably had no use for... ever! Desperate much? Anyway, it hides so well in your system, that removing it on your own is pretty much impossible. So, what could I do? I had to purchase and download a special utility to remove it! Sheesh! What a world! At least it's all kinds of beautiful outside! Hopefully I will get back outside tomorrow to do some brand new photography. Who knows, maybe I will take a walk on this very same bridge, and up date how it looks this year!

Wish me luck!

Mood: Slightly irritated, but otherwise HAPPY.

~Me :)

Autumn Fingerprints

From For Ellipsis Album 2

"You can't stop the future. You can't change the past. The only way to learn the secret is... to press play."

~Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why

 


I think I like the pink leaves the most. :)

Sigh...



 

 

 

 

I think this year I need to challenge myself to find the beauty in winter and really dwell in it for as long as possible. That should make for plenty of adventure the next three months or so.

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone."

~Pablo Picasso

:)

~Me