The picture above is not the first I took that day, but of the two that apply to this post, it is my favorite. This gorgeous Snowy Egret had a series of rocks along the Clifton Court Forebay that were his, and his alone, full stop! I watched as he chased away little birds, big birds, other Snowy Egrets, and once even a grebe! He found a home and he was happy on his perch, on the pretty rocks. Who could ask for more?
Yesterday, Thursday afternoon, CNN broke into it's usual afternoon programing of generally horrifying events, to bring it's viewers BREAKING NEWS of a specific horrifying event... "HARRISON FORD INJURED IN A PLANE CRASH!" My first thought after seeing the pictures of the downed plane was no, no, nope NO! Harrison Ford does not get to die on me. NO! Like it was his choice to, or within my power to prevent. I can't seem to keep a favorite show on the air, let alone keep all my favorite actors in perfect mental and physical health. But see, I am still smarting over the death of Robin Williams. Now I know, it's completely different. It is. I know that. But here is the thing, life is difficult. Sometimes, really difficult, and when it is, I like to escape into a movie, or a TV show and just get lost in the script. Does that make sense? Of course it does. Who doesn't love a good movie? And when it comes to the movies, who does it better than Harrison Ford?
Just A Few Of My Favorites...
The Conversation
(Go See It On Netflix NOW)
American Graffiti
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return Of The Jedi
Working Girl
Blade Runner
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom
And My Very Favorite
What Lies Beneath
I know, the reviews for the movie were mixed, but in general, I like to make up my own mind. There, I said it. Sometimes I think they over analyze a movie to the point that it isn't possible for them to find a movie they would actually like, let alone recommend one to us. Why do folks want to take the fun out of films by over thinking them? Go to the theater. Buy yourself some wonderfully unhealthy bucket of almost-butter buttered popcorn, and a hot dog, and a large unhealthy drink, sit back, and get lost for a couple hours. Let go. Stop nitpicking. Forget you are the smartest person in the theater, and clap at the end of the movie, like I did, at the end of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. When Indiana Jones said to Marion... "Don't look" as the Nazi's opened the Arc Of The Covenant, I didn't look. I heard it being opened. I could tell something BAD was happening, but damn it, Indiana/Harrison told me "DON'T LOOK!" And when Indiana Jones tells you not to do something, YOU DON'T! And I didn't for years after! Then one day, I accidentally saw that part of the movie, when it was used as a clip on At The Movies With Siskle and Ebert.
Sigh.
I was kinda pissed at Siskel and Ebert for a while after that!
Just kidding. Kinda.
Anyway, I got a little taste today of what it might be like to lose another great like Harrison Ford. It will make whatever day that is, the worst day since... well... in a long time I am sure. I know I will never be ready to let go of those people who made my life better, just by sharing their talents of acting or singing or writing or painting. The arts, and the artists, make life bearable. There is no replacing the uniqueness of it. Sitting here, right now, I can't think of who would have played a better cad in the Robert Zemeckis's film, What Lies Beneath than Harrison Ford. No one could have at once been the right kind of sexy intellectual charmer, loving husband and father, devoted friend, or dedicated researcher, quite like him, and when all that amazing virtue, turned into the selfish, egotistical, maniacal, jackass of a husband, I think only Harrison Ford could put that little extra chill in the performing the character.
That's why I have it on VHS, DVD, and GOOGLE PLAY, so, it can be seen all my devices. It's my favorite escape movie. I have a story about why it's my favorite movie, but I will share that a different time. But briefly, it was released in 2000, not long before something devastating happened in my life, and that movie, and the brief escape it gave me during that awful time, helped immensely. It will always be my favorite Harrison Ford movie, at least until I see him in the new Star Wars film coming out later this year! LOL. Who knows? It my change my mind, Han Solo was always quite the cutie manly man. Shrug.
You never know about these things, I don't wanna over think it.
"Go on, hitch a ride on the back of a butterfly. There's no better way to fly."
~Pat Monahan, Scott Michael Underwood, and James W. Stafford, "Get To Me."
Meet the Julia! Well, actually it's iurlia, Julia is a common misspelling of it's name, but personally, I like the misspelling, so I call it Julia! It's a medium sized, sometimes brightly colored orange butterfly, which every once in a while makes and appearance in the backyard, where it is fond of stopping for a drink of the blossoms on our Meyer Lemon tree. It makes me ridiculously happy to see it flutter through the yard. That little splash of orange, in an otherwise green yard, is a pleasant sight. It is one of the best parts of spring I think. :)
When Alan and I took that aerial tour of the bay last autumn, I got to see the world from a new perspective. I have been in big jet planes, but being in a small plane, closer to the earth, allowed me to imagine what it was like to be my two favorite flying creatures, the Snowy Egret and the butterfly... any butterfly. The Snowy Egret will always be my favorite bird, but I could never choose one type of butterfly to call my favorite! They all equally enchant and fascinate me! They other day, I followed this Julia around the Conservatory of flowers for close to an hour. Is it possible to stalk a butterfly? LOL.
"No city invites the heart to come to life as San Francisco does. Arrival in San Francisco is an experience in living."
~William Saroyan
It's Fleet Week in San Francisco! But it's also the America's Cup race. As if that weren't enough, the Bay Area is also celebrating the A's and Giants in the post season, plus there is a 49ers game scheduled for Sunday...GO BILLS! LOL. Now if none of that is your cup of tea, up in Golden Gate park is the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Whew! I didn't mention it a few days ago when I listed some of the outings Alan and I have planned, because I wasn't completely sure we would be attending this year, but I have to say, after being so tired last year, from the Fibro and the thyroid problems, NOTHING was going to keep me and my camera from making a day of it! NOTHING!
The last time I saw the Blue Angels was when I was a child and my dad took me to see them at an Open House on the Alameda Navel Base. I could almost feel him beside me today. We both loved ships and the sea, but the Blue Angels is just amazingly awesome! Dad was an aircraft mechanic, and he said he knew which bolt on a plane had to come off to bring the whole thing down... needless to say he never flew, but he enjoyed seeing military aircraft at their best. The Blue Angels is just that! So, only a few words from me tonight, instead I am sharing all the fun I had yesterday through pictures. Enjoy!
Scenes From Fleet Week...
It was a good day!
By The Way... The Events I Listed At The Top Of The Blog Post Is Just The Start. Click To See A Full List!
"There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers by see only a wisp of smoke."
-Vincent Van Gogh
I think I have shared in the past about my fear of fire. I would like to say that since that time I have worked on it, but no, haven't done a thing about it. I am working on my fear of flying, by booking Alan and I on a nifty little plane ride, featuring an areal tour of the San Francisco bay. Alan is still amazed that I did that, but I have come to believe that it makes NO sense sitting here, waiting to get old, and die. I mean, if nothing else has been learned in my 50 years, it's that there is NO guarantees. I could be sitting right here, posting a blog entry, and have a meteor hit me. Or perhaps someone in a 747 takes a poopy, flushes it, and by some stupid random series of events, the poop is inadvertently dropped out the bottom of the plane, landing directly on top of my head. Or I could maybe be hit by a wayward cannonball. Hey, just a few months ago, there was an incident, with a wayward cannonball, that took place here in the Bay Area. No one was hit by it, thank goodness, but it had all the potential for great disaster. I am kinda sure that if I had been living in that neighborhood, that cannonball would have found me.
I really do.
I don't know if I need to address my fear of fire at this point in my life. I have been living with it for 47 years. Although I suppose if I did make the effort to fix it, I could go to my grave in perfect mental health, and those at my funeral could say... "Well, at least she worked on that stupid fear of fire she had, but isn't it ironic she died doing what she loved... making triple decker S'mores?" I think the attendees at my funeral would be both proud of me, and also have an interesting story to share with friends. So that would be a good thing... right? See, I could get over my fear of fire not for myself, but for my friends. Yeah. That sounds like a plan. But on the other hand, whose to say my future demise couldn't come from some other equally interesting event. Like perhaps... dying from... oh say... constipation... which... don't laugh... has been known to happen. If that happened, then my friends could always say, "She had some problems, but she was doing what she loved to do, she was working on her shit."
Hmmmm. I am going to think about thinking about getting over my fear of fire a little bit longer... no reason to act hastily.
"There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror."
~Orson Welles
Hmmm... It seemed like a good idea at the time. And I am pretty sure it will turn out, if not just fine, then certainly a day to remember, but what I am curious about as I sit here writing this is... at what point will the terror officially hit? Sorry, I know I am being a bit cryptic here, but you see I did something the other day completely against my usual instinct... I purchased a Groupon for a 1hr San Francisco Bay tour that is... hold onto your hats... in a single engine Cessna!
The deal was really good. Super good. It was 50% off the usual price, which means it was exactly in our budget for our wedding anniversary. Each year Alan takes the month of October off, and we usually do some small "staycation" types of things. We go up to Apple Hill. We take a ride down the coast to Santa Barbara and stop for chocolate in Solvang. We visit museums and zoos, we go to movies and pumpkin patches, and no matter what we usually have a really good time. Most years, we have accidentally come across celebrities. No joke. The first one we met was Joe Montana. The last one we came across was the Reverend Jessie Jackson.
"The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine,
bracing and delicious. And why shouldn't it be? - it is the same the angels
breathe."
~Mark Twain, "Roughing It"
It's not that we don't have a lot of fun on our vagabond vacations, but when I saw the amazing Groupon offer, I immediately thought about the amazing memory it would make. Like any other marriage, we have had our lean times and times where we did really well financially. The last few years has been a time of HIGHS and LOWS swinging back and forth. Right now are comfortable, so why not jump in and do something different, something for the memory book... right?
"Lovers of air travel find it exhilarating to hang poised
between the illusion of immortality and the fact of death."
~Alexander Chase,
"Perspectives," 1966
You have NO idea how different this is for me. Alan isn't afraid of much, if anything. I have had a lifelong fear of FLYING. Yep, that's right. I purchased a GROUPON for a 1 hour trip around the bay in a small... really small... single engine... 4 seat... airplane! Why didn't I sign up to box a kangaroo while I was at it? LOL. Fret. So, what was I thinking?
I guess I was considering that life is short. I have been afraid of flying since I was a child. But don't get me wrong, I have flown before, dispute that fear, but still the fear remains. 9/11 didn't help curb my fears, but it did make me resolute that if I found myself in the company of terrorists, I wasn't going to go down without a fight. A BIG ONE. If death is imminent, then what do I have to lose? Their flesh will be under my fingernails before I die.
"I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It
seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on."
~Jean
Kerr, "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall," The Snake Has All the Lines,
1958
Maybe its that my fear has moved to a new reality. While I don't see myself flying commercial anymore, which has more to do with TSA policies than terrorists, I don't think there is anything wrong with experiencing something different, particularly if it helps me face an unreasonable fear, and get another piece of my well being back. So, come this fall, I will be up in the air, high above the ground snapping photos I would never have the chance to get otherwise. I think when all is said and done, I will be stepping off the plane wondering why the hour went by so quickly, or perhaps wondering how an hour could have seemed like forever! LOL
"You haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the
sky."
~Amelia Earhart
I wonder which it will be? Either way I plan to write down on a piece of paper my fears. What I imagine what it will be like, then when I actually experience the flight. I will realize that my idea of the trip and the actuality of the trip are very different things. Either way, I will have something to remember for a long time. God help Alan! LOL.
~Me :) Note: The view of San Francisco you see here, is from the top of Mount Tamalpias, in Marin County.
Now that you have visited me, please go see my pal JR. He is so awesome. His photography always inspires me, and brightens my day, he really has a gift for photography.
"The air up there is pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn't it be? It is the same as the angels breathe."
-Mark Twain
Flying. Yuck. I don't think you will ever find me in an airplane again, but then again, if I won a trip somewhere mildly interesting, and I had a fresh supply of Valium, I could be persuaded. LOL. Gosh, the last time I ventured on a plane, I stupidly wore stiletto heels and a black sweater dress. WRONG. LOL. I was so tense that by the time I got to the east coast, I had severe cramps in both legs! That was in 1992 and I vowed "NEVER AGAIN." But all joking aside, as much as I dislike flying, I love photography more, so I could be talked into going somewhere as long as it would result in some interesting photography. Yeah... that would be nice! Until then... I will just leave it to the experts...
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If you have an idea for an upcoming challenge, feel free to email either Karen or myself, and we will see to it that your suggestion is added to the suggestion pool. You can find a list of all the challenges we have played to date, listed toward the bottom of the sidebar on the official Round Robin blog. Who knows? Yours could be next!
"Have you ever observed a hummingbird moving in an aerial dance among the flowers... a living prismatic gem... it is a creature of such fairy-like loveliness as to mock all description."
-W. H. Hudson, Green Mansions
I got extremely lucky with this shot, this birdie was not at all interested in posing for me. LOL. I was sitting in my car, at the San Leandro Marina, just enjoying the heck out of a A&W Papa burger, and watching airplanes land at the nearby, Oakland Airport, when this little guy came by. :) This was the best shot out of about 10 or so that I took. I think it came out well, the sun was in a good spot to illuminate the colors of the hummingbird very nicely. I like photographing hummingbirds, they are a challenge to be sure. I should try to get back to the marina soon, lots and lots of critters moving about, plus the added fun of the airport runway which is very close to the far edge of the marina. Planes coming in from the east are really low... yikes... but it gives me a chance to work on my slight fear of them.
I decided to take an online class that was offered to me by the Disney Family Learning Center. It will focus on portrait photography. It is a very basic course, but every little bit helps. I am still considering taking a class in digital photography at Chabot College. They are offering the classes every quarter, it's just been a matter of getting my energy level back up and running to a high enough level to take on a class. Working on that this weekend, as I am using my time to get the last touches of the garden put into place.
I placed the roses and the others planters of cosmos, stock, butterfly flowers, poppies, and four-o-clocks where I want them. Alan helped me plant the assorted sunflowers against the back of the fence, so all that is left is to put a couple windsocks up, and it will pretty much be done. Now it's all up to the flowers to make their appearance before the end of the summer. I hope I did ok, I saw a huge black and yellow swallowtail flying hurriedly in and out of the yard today, I wish she could have stopped for a visit. I am hoping the new flowers will encourage them to come by for a visit... and then stay. :) That would make the autumn perfect!
-OndineMonet "Hummingbird" San Leandro Marina San Leandro, California June 23, 2007 Afternoon
