Pray For Nancy Guthrie

 

I don't know what quote would go with this post. I don't want to get wordy, except to say, Nancy Guthrie is missing, feared kidnapped or abducted, there is evidence of such, and she needs to be brought home. Whoever you are, wherever you are, please, let her go! Enough already!

Nancy, I am praying that the Lord touches you, and eases your pain. I pray that the Lord will lead you home to your family soon.

The world is waiting for you.

Read The New York Times Article Here.

Listen To Bruce

Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... Dan In Real Life

 

"You know that feeling in your heart? When you heart is just pounding, like it's actually outside your ribs? Exposed but vulnerable and awful, and heartsick, and alive, all at the same time.

~Dan Burns ( Steve Carell )

Dan In Real Life

I seem to be gravitating to movies about different kinds of love. Which is okay, I guess, but it's just that I am such a lucky person to have found all kinds of love with my husband, and that a rare thing. I think about it more as well, because we are living through such dark, desperate times. So bare with me, I am encouraging myself to branch out and enjoy a larger genre than rom-coms. But to be fair, this is a new movie for me, so yea!

As for, Dan In Real Life, I enjoyed that it dealt with the sometimes messiness of relationships. Lovers, Love at first sighters, brothers and sisters, and of course, our parents. Make no mistake, while it might seem like a comedy from the trailers, it's a dramady, but a well balanced one. It's a good watch. A pleasant one. A quiet movie that's needed right now. But I have to confess, I have loved every movie Steve Carell has every done, so I might be a wee bit impartial.

Thoughts And Prayers For The American Gestapo

 

"We cannot violence by blaming it's victims. We are in a culture of victim blaming and victim shaming, where the wounded are questioned more than the more then the one's who wounded them, because responsibility scares a society built on denial."

~Carson Anekeya

Sigh.

Woodbridge Road In The Fog

 "Lots of people go mad in January. Not as many as in May, of Course. Or June. But January is your third most common month for madness."

~Karen Joy Fowler

Sarah Canary

Yesterday, in a fit of I can't take Trump's stupidity anymore, I asked hubby if he wanted to take a ride in the fog, to look for birds. We thought it over a bit, and decided to head to Staten Island, but as we went farther and farther down the freeway, the thicker the fog got, so we changed our minds, and settled for Woodbridge road. It was a good plan.

The fog was beautiful.

Spooky Possibilities

 

"The ghost didn't want to scare her, it wanted to sit, to remember. To listen."

~Arabella Sveinsdottir

The Roof Was Never Empty: A Haunting Metaphysical Horror About Family Secrets,

 Doppelgangers And The Roof That Watches

It's January. It's Winter. And it if those two things are true, then wherever you are, it might just be a little gloomy. For me it's been a dense fog alert, from the National Weather Service, every day since the month began. Thick, pea soup fog, that doesn't burn off until past noon, making impossible to take one of our long birding trips to Bodega Bay, or even Monterey. San Francisco is also a no go, I hate driving to the city in the fog. So, to pull myself out of the gloominess, I am watching a movie about a ghost that I haven't seen before. From 1970, The House That Wouldn't Die. I guess I am lonely for October, Autumn, and all the deliciously scary stuff that makes me feel all warm and cozy. This movie looks like it has real spooky possibilities!

Blarfenglarb

 "My mother always used to say, the older you get, the better you get.

 Unless you're a banana."

~Betty White

I'm feeling a little less than interesting, enthusiastic, or particularly witty. I am not feeling especially creative or energetic. I am feeling... ugh... just don't wanna. But since I am trying my best to not give up, and hide in the corner under some heavy piece of furniture, which I don't own anyway, I mostly open IKEA stuff, which is sturdy, but not heavy, I thought some humor would be really good. So, here is one of my favorite SNL sketches, which featured, Betty White. I sure do miss her, she was absolutely amazing.

 A true lady.

The Undecorating Of A Christmas Tree

 

"As anyone who has ever been around a cat

 for any length of time well knows,

 cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind."

~Cleveland Emory

The Cat Who Came For Christmas

There he was, our little helper, Simon, taking as many ornaments off the tree as he could. The soft ones mainly. The elves and the Santa Claus. And oddly enough, he wasn't playing with them or damaging them, he simply wanted everything off the tree, so off to the floor they went! Apparently he believes that trees should come down no later than January 15th, January 18th at the latest, and I I suppose he's right! It's time, but I had so much fun this Christmas, it was their very first, and it's a memory I will keep in my heart, but I wasn't ready until now. I still missed my other boys, Dylan and Hendrix, but Simon and Tyler brought their own magic, and it continues to grow every day!

Inspiration

"One shouldn't be fooled by how quickly they startle. Bluebirds just like open spaces, that's all. Open fields where they are free. And when they find a place, they come in hoards, and they keep coming. They're faithful little settlers. They know when they have found a place of beauty."

~Ashley Clark

Paint And Nectar

Just a splash of color, on a cold, dark, rainy day. I hope to see a lot of more, Western Bluebirds, through this spring. They are one of the most beautiful perching birds in the valley. I count on them for inspiration. 

The Beauty Of A Dark Winter Day

 

"At this season of the year, darkness is a more insistent thing that cold.

The days are short as any dream."

~E.B. White

Essays Of E.B. White

Tired. It's been a long couple of days, and I am tired. But I have even better news, and I will share soon. But today I want to enjoy some football games, and not think about things that are too much for my tired brain.

So for now, don't you just love cold, dark January days. Naps. Hot Chocolate. Snuggles with cats, and really good days with a camera, birding, these are some of the things keeping me sane.

I'm Beginning 2025 On A Happy Note

"A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels,

 in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed."

~Ansel Adams

For some sill reason, this photograph has been liked, as of the composing of this post, 151 times, on BlueSky! I can see all kinds of technical errors, the lighting, the foreground, it's not perfectly straight, there is a telephone pole keeping it from being a perfect landscape, but somehow... they liked it! It's the second to last picture posted to the photography community on BlueSky for 2025 and the first to this platform for 2026. I like that. And hopefully, it's a sign of good things to come! Here's to thinking positively!