A Few Of My Favorites...

 

"You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, all the books you have read, the music you have heard, and people you have loved."

~Ansel Adams

Photography means a lot to me, but I sometimes sacrifice the quality of my photos, so I can get a picture in the moment. Bird photos sometimes have to be taken, before you think about whether the opportunity will be for the art, or whether it will be to build your yearly bird list. I try really hard to bring the two together, but oh boy, there are challenges. Weather. Birds that seem to fly at the speed of sound. I am getting older, so I am having a bit of a tremor in my hands, which might be from arthritis. There are a lot of factors. But here I want to share the ones I got right, or at least, okay. There is a lot of emotion here. They reflect happiness, sadness, serenity, wonder. It has been quite a year, filled with, you know LIFE. Each year I try to get a photo good enough to enter into the Audubon Photography Contest. Hopefully, 2026 will be my year!

My Year End Favorites

I Saw The Sign

"If you had a million days to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the "Fuck you" signs in the world."

~J. D. Salinger 

I saw that sign the other day, and it reminded me of the song from the 90's. I immediately began humming it, and I have been humming it since! Don't get me wrong, I love, Ace Of Base, but I can't get the song out of my head! Of course if you drive around Stockton you will see all kinds of signs. Some seem more like omens, rather than a perplexing. The city of Stockton really needs to do better about things like this... and the crime rate. It's apparent the powers that be have missed the sign!

Speaking of missing the sign... folks really need to stop doing this. Park the damn car in the space. The hashmarks are not part of the space! This is becoming one of my favorite pet peeves. As a handicapped person, I have lost the ability to park in a space, because of fellow handicapped people engaging in this behavior. JUST PARK IN THE DAMN SPACE! To be fair, I see non-handicapped people parking in these special spots as well. Sigh. All I can say is... READ THE SIGN!

It is, what it is!

The Red-shouldered Hawk

 

The hawk was everything I wanted to be in life:

 solitary, self possessed, free from grief and numb to the hurts of human life."

~Helen MacDonald

H is For Hawk

I spotted this absolutely gorgeous, Red-shouldered Hawk, the other day, while we were on Woodbridge road. There aren't as many birds, in our usual places, as there should be, another sign that 2026 will be another difficult year for birding. It's okay. I know there are some hawks like this one, and a particularly chatting Belted Kingfisher along Woodbridge, and some Greater White-fronted Geese on Desmond, so we will start out okay, then it just might mean trips along the coastline for the seabirds and shore birds. Spring will bring the perching birds, and certain hawks in the summer. Pretty soon, I will sitting here again, just before the calendar turns to 2027 and I will be thinking about another year to come. For birds, health and life. But that's a long way off... and five minutes away.

Rainbows And Woodpeckers

 

"A lion does not flinch at the laughter coming from a hyena.

 A gorilla does not budge from a banana thrown at it from a monkey. 

A nightingale does not stop singing it's beautiful song, at the intrusion of an annoying woodpecker."

~Suzy Kassam

Rise Up And Salute The Sun: The Writings Of Suzy Kassam

The weather was a gentle mixture of sunshine, rain and rainbows. Well, I guess rainbows are more of a weather phenomenon then weather itself, but the point is, we didn't actually get all the apocalypse predicted. The Sierras, saw heavy snow, and the Bay Area was slammed pretty hard, but here in the San Joaquin country, we made it through pretty well! Louis Park was pretty today, that's where I photographed this gorgeous Acorn woodpecker, resting among the last leaves in the park. Birds were easier to find, as you might imagine, but I didn't get anything new, what I did get was beautiful, and it gives me an idea for what to plan for when we begin a new year of birding, on January 1st! There were lots of birders on the roads with us, which was nice, it's always good to see!

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #23

 

"Isn't that always the way? Whenever you have a body you don't want found, everyone falls all over it."

~Jules (Peter Ustinov)

We're No Angels

Three escaped convicts learn the meaning of friendship at Christmas. That's it in a nutshell! But a lot of great stuff happens along the way too. It's not like any other Christmas movie I've ever seen. I just love the old movies, and the values they bring. I don't want to say much about the plot, because if you haven't seen it before you should just jump in and enjoy the movie! That's all. I'm watching it again tonight because I just need some holiday spirit, and to get lost in the plot of this nearly perfect holiday film!

Dear Santa, Bring Your Umbrella

 

"December's wintry breath is already

 clouding the pond, frosting the pane, obscuring summer's memory... "

~John Geddes 

A Familiar Rain

Winter, where I live, is beginning with a fierce statement! It's going to rain for the next 10 days or so, as another atmospheric river makes landfall! Christmas eve, and Christmas day should be especially brutal! This should be an interesting week!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #90

 

"Nothing dies as beautifully as Autumn."

~Ashlee Willis

A Wish Made Of Glass

This gorgeous leaf is from my yard. I have the most beautiful Sugar Maple in my front yard, I've told this before, but I live for this tree to turn each Autumn, and that's is most of the time around, mid-October. This year, however, it only turned after Thanksgiving, a full month later than it usually does! So I have very few leaves to share in the project. That made me sad, but even after the season ends, I will share what beauty is still left. I can't let it go, without sharing the last of it's in all it's glory!

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #19

 

"I'm a cotton headed ninny muggins!"

~Buddy the Elf

ELF

Oh my, just try to not fall in love with Buddy the Elf! This is a great movie for the family, it's rated PG, and there is something for everyone. Gather around and watch it on Christmas eve! 

"I thought maybe we could make gingerbread houses, 

and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating... and maybe even hold hands."

~Buddy

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."

Just A Couple Of Cats On An Autumn Day

"Autumn paints in colors, fall has never seen."

~Unknown

Nothing to see here folk, just two cats in a tree, discussing the stupid orders people request at a drive-thru. Like my order, A Venti 7 pump iced Chai, a Bacon Egg, and Bacon sandwich, hold the bacon, a Sugar Plum Cheese Danish. I was hungry. I can't prove it photos, but I swear these cats were laughing at me, and all the cars in line behind me. Sigh. I'm being mocked by cats.

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Through The Autumn Fog

 

"She decided to free herself, dance into the wind, create a new language.

 And birds fluttered around her, writing "Yes" on the sky."

~Monique Duval

There is so much wrong with this photograph, but at the same time there is something about it. Something really good. A kind of natural sadness to it. Or maybe not so much sadness or depression, but rather a pure melancholy that matches my current mood. Fog. Mist. Rain. Heavy thoughts. The kind of beauty that only comes from acknowledging all the moments, not just the good ones. Then letting them take flight, to make room for making new ones.  

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #87

 

"And all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be

 are full of trees and changing leaves... "

~Virginia Wolff