Autumn Rice

 

“Today I felt the first brush of autumn as in these waning days of summer it gently leaned over an expectant horizon. And it is in having lived summer to the fullest that autumn is positioned to fill me to the fullest. And I think that if we would engage all of the differing seasons of our lives in a manner such as this, the appreciation of ‘what was’ would be magnified a hundredfold by the anticipation of ‘what is yet to be.” 

~Craig D. Lounsbrough  

 

I am trying to stay focused and see the beauty of autumn, like this wonderful, Great Blue Heron standing in a rice field, but world events make it very difficult fully step out of the muck sometimes. The harvest time in the San Joaquin valley can be a feast for the eyes! The tomatoes, the corn, the rice fields that help the ecosystem, the grapes ripening in rows at the vineyards along the back roads, and, yes, the arrival of every kind of bird you can think of! But always haunting me in the background is what scary, boneheaded move Trump will do next! It affects my photography. Stupid, right? And the thing is, I don't know why I just can't put it away? Monsters I suppose, we are in October after all. He has quite the zombie posse around him now, doesn't he?

 

Oh well, maybe I should take it slow. Wake up everyday knowing something might be upsetting and take some deep cleansing breaths. Cookie breathing. Read, The Complete Idiots Guide How To Getting Along With Difficult People. I bought that book years ago, but I think I need a refresher course, although I don't know if it will work against what amounts to an inanimate object! But on the plus side, I get up every day, that's better than I did during his first time in office. I have trips planned in October, to see new things. I am planning a trip to Sacramento, to tour the capitol. There is a lot of history that I have never seen. The Gold Rush ghost towns are waiting to be photographed, as are the autumn leaves in the western Sierra.

 

But tomorrow, when the alarm goes off, I will get up and try again. That's the season of things.

 

Promise And Enthusiasm

 

“Try things out, be happy to make mistakes, but above all have a go.”

 
~Charles Dowding,

       Charles Dowding's Skills for Growing

 

That gorgeous bird is the Great Blue Heron, and he is standing at the edge of a great BIG corn field! I love photographing heron, not only are they very accommodating to the casual photographer, but they are so photogenic that it makes my heart skip a beat! They aren't my favorite birds, the Sandhill Crane are, but the heron can be found in the San Joaquin Valley in all seasons, so I get lots of practice with my birding photography. Speaking of the crane, I have been tracking them, and right now there is a pair just above Elk Grove! It won't be long, it looks like at least a couple of them will be arriving on Woodbridge road, in Lodi, right on time! Cross your fingers for Monday! Just in case, I am planning to be out and about on the Delta next week, until I find them! I hope that is a realistic goal. I was recently diagnosed with mild anemia, so my stamina isn't what it used to be, in fact I am exhausted just few hours after I get up. We'll see. Here's to promise and enthusiasm the world of birding brings me! Positive vibes, right!

 

 

The Great Blue Heron

 

 "Autumn is grey rainy afternoons, and fond memories of raking up leaves into tidy neat piles,

 just to jump in a spread them around again." 

 

~Jason Soroski

 

The Great Blue Heron is one of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen, and being able to photograph it, is nothing but a joyful experience. So, you might be able to imagine how happy I was last Sunday, when I came across this one. It was just doing some hunting, in the front yard of a house about a half mile from the Woodbridge Ecological Preserve, in Lodi California. Just minding it's own business, waiting for it's lunch. I never get tired of watching them, their behavior is deliberate, and their voice somewhat imposing. Don't be fooled by it's size, it only weighs 5-6 pounds!They move slowly, unless they spot food, and if they do, they spring forward with grace and speed and rarely miss their prey. I photographed my first one in Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, several years ago, but this is only the second one I have seen in San Joaquin Valley, since we moved here. It was a nice bit of luck to see one, I only wish there hadn't been a fence between me and him, because I would have liked to have done a better photo of him. He took my breath away! Hopefully next time we meet, I will be able to photograph him in mid-flight. Beautiful.

 

 

 

 

~Carly

Stockton, California

December 10th 2020