Today's Mental Health Day... Orange Cat Scully, Firefighter

 

"It's not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, 

and to make your happiness a priority.

 It's necessary."

~Mandy Hale

Yes, I took a day off yesterday from the stupid. There has been so much stupidity that I really can't believe what I am seeing, hearing and generally living through. But here I am, back with a visit to the Purrallel Universe, to take a break from every single thing grown up  and remind myself that life actually can make sense, if done right. I did the same thing earlier in the week, when Alan and I chose the original, Minions Movie, as my choice for that evening's movie! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! But for now, let's see how things go for, Orange Cat Scully, as he learns to be a volunteer firefighter! Be sure to subscribe to them and if you can, drop them a tip, to support all the good folks behind this wonderful account!

And now a little music.

Jackson Browne and Clarence Clemons

"You're A Friend Of Mine"

I miss you, my brother-in-law.

If Autumn Had A Schoolhouse

"Come, little leaves," said the leaves one day, "Come to the meadows with me and play. Put on your dresses of red and gold; For summer is past, and the days grow old."

~George Cooper

I spotted this little bench, one day when Alan and I were visiting Rainbow Orchards, in Apple Hill. For some reason, it kind of reminded me of where a spirit teacher would sit, if teaching a class about nature, but autumn specifically. I don't know why really, it's just the image that flashed in my head. I think it's probably just a place for the owners to sit, and relax, or take a little time to enjoy the amazing autumn scenery, and the spicy smell of fresh apple cider donuts, being made just a few feet away, at their bakery/kitchen. 

Believe, me there is nothing like the smell of cartons of fresh apples, being pressed, and filled with spices, of cinnamon, clove and brown sugar, all coming together, in a warn apple donut! But I couldn't shake the image of a spirit, or autumn soul, surrounded by autumn leaves, playing with them, and encourage them to shine, and show off their beautiful colors, until that day, when it's time to go home.If the picture at the top is an autumn leaf schoolhouse, then the pictures below are of the leaves running, and floating about the playground, waiting for the school bell!

#28th Leaf Of The Day

November 28th 2017

Apple Hill, Camino, California

 

Mood: Happy

~Me

Hugging Trees With Leaves On Trees

"The tree which moves some to tears of joy in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all.

 But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself."

~William Blake

Leaves On Trees

I am never happier than when I am out with my camera,

 hugging a tree, especially an autumn tree.

#10 Leaf Of The Day

November 10th 2017

Cull Canyon, 2017

Mood: Happy
~Me :)

The World Offers Itself To Your Imagination

Bird In The Tree

Land's End

San Francisco, California

April 2nd, 2015

"You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you of mine.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, not matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting...

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things."

~Mary Oliver

Believe it or not, that is not a bird drawn in the tree, that is how it appears naturally. The tree is located in the parking lot of the San Francisco overlook, Land's End. Isn't it awesome?

Mood: Tired

~Me :)

87 Percent Full

"I love the silent hour of night, for blissful dreams may then arise, revealing to my charmed sight what may not bless my waking eyes."

~Anne Bronte, Best Poems of the Bronte Sisters

I went out into the cold winter day yesterday, there was just enough rain to tickle my soul, like the rain was touching just my soul! I find true happiness with the air cool and misty, and the day just dark enough to allow my imagination out to play without reservation. I saw ghosts. The last leaves of autumn refusing to die, and those which had accepted their fate, and were ready to move on. I also saw the moon, shining in all it's 87% Waxing Gibbous-ness glory, with just enough daylight left to make it seem... disrespectful... pushy even. LOL. It's hard to explain really, you would have to have been there. 

You'll have to trust me. 

The next full moon is on January 15th at 11:15 pm ET. 

Wish the clouds away for me... okay? :)


Mood: Reflective

~Me :)

Natural vs. Man-Made

"When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God made object like a tree or a flower. If it clashes, it is not art."

~Paul Cezanne

I love Cezanne's work. Don't you?

:)

I have such a passion for photography, I don't know if I can choose between nature, or human created  artistic subjects. I have seen some sunsets that I couldn't look away from because of their intense colors. Sunsets that look like they had to have been painted by the hand of God, but then I have photographed certain architectural works of art that have captivated me just as much! The pyramid building in San Francisco is amazing, it always catches my eye. I look forward to seeing it when I am in the city. But then there are the faces I encounter at random, like the brides that are sometimes posing for pictures in Golden Gate Park. They never fail to make me feel good inside. I have yet to see a bride, that doesn't have the purest look of love on her face, as she poses with her one and only. I have never seen a bride that cares more about herself in the photos, then her husband. That's love! :) No! It's impossible! I can't decided between the natural world, and man-made. But when you think about it, we come by our imaginative, artistic nature... well... naturally.  So, isn't man-made and nature one in the same?

Thoughts?


"Melting Snow On Mt. Hamilton" February 20th, 2013
Inspired By Cezanne's "Melting Snow At Fountainbleau."



"Orchids" July 31st, 2013
Conservatory Of Flowers
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco



TransAmerica Pyramid
July 31st, 2013
San Francisco, California



Mood: Quiet

~Me :)

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 108~ The Ghost Of An Unremarkable Day

"It occurred to me that if I were a ghost, this ambiance was what I'd miss most; the ordinary, day to day bustle of the living. Ghosts long, I'm sure, for the stupidest, most unremarkable things."

~Banana Yosimoto, The Lake

I love the unremarkable. I like shadows, and soft light. I love average faces, because they seem to be more honest than ones of full beauty or handsomeness. It's not the fault of the beautiful or handsome, it's just that I think after a while they develop a deep need to stay perfect, instead of allowing soft forming lines from laughter, or consideration tell the tale of a season in a lifetime.

The other day I came across this photograph, buried deep in a forgotten archive. I captured the ghost, on a late October evening, in the southern Sierra in 2004. The day had been unseasonably warm, and the luminance of the day was quietly slipping away, allowing the inevitable darkness to shroud the horizon, but it was the time of day that the unremarkable sometimes becomes the fantastic by way of shadows formed by the light of a setting simple autumn sun.

In a few moments, the spirit of the treeline of common trees in the Sierra would be gone, and the whole scene would be replaced by a common darkness. It felt a little like I was seeing watching a ghost dancing toward tomorrow. An unremarkable, fleeting, restless, illumination of energy that can't, and won't, go on forever no matter how much we wish it would, pray it would, or dream it should.What you are seeing in this photo, is the ghost of an unremarkable day, still haunting my imagination.

"I don't suppose you have to believe in ghosts to know that we are all haunted, all of us, by things we can see and feel and guess at, and many more things we can't."

~Beth Gutcheon, More Than You Know

~Me

Today's Link...

JR
http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/08/apadf6-106.html

The Little Penguin

"Our senses are indeed our doors and windows on this world. In a very real sense the key to the unlocking of meaning and the wellspring of creativity."

-Jean Houston

While I was driving around Berkeley the other day, I spotted this little stuffed penguin in a window. At first glance I thought he looked a little sad, but as I continued to eye him, I thought maybe he wasn't sad, but rather in deep thought as he looked upon the world. Or maybe he was lonely for the human friend he lives with, or maybe he was just curious about the weather. I have looked and looked but I can't decided what his story might be. If you care to leave your thoughts please do so. Can you tell what he might be thinking?

-OndineMonet
"The Little Penguin"
Berkeley, California
February 6th, 2008
Afternoon