Fleur-de-Lis

"It looks like fallen petals and it looks like rain.

 It looks like the sounds the birds make at dawn. 

It looks like the aisle of grocery stores when a song I love suddenly begins to play overhead and I cannot help but dance a little dance. It looks like a sigh

 a kiss, an unmade bed.

 It looks like Cheerios in a white bowl

 with a bit of silence on the side.

 It looks like a plain vanilla cupcake in white paper, a dance on the wind, pink toenails, warm socks. 

It looks like a fire against the cold of winter, and a deep lake cool against a summer sky. It looks like chick flicks, books that make you cry, and all the candles blown out on the first try."

~D. Smith Kaich Jones

It was a perfect Fleur-de-Lis!

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science."

~Albert Einstein

One day, about a 10 days ago, I was in a grove of beautiful trees, searching for as many lovely leaves as I could find, for my autumn leaf project, when I saw a particularly lovely one, separate from it's tiny gray branch, and dance slowly to the earth. It gave me chills, because it had an interesting shape to it, and it's color was striking! But I knew I was experiencing a moment of magic, when I realized the leaf's shape  was a perfect example of the symbol of a Fleur-de-Lis. I couldn't believe it! 

I looked up in the branches of the tree that it had come from, but there wasn't any other leaf that had as perfect a form as this one did. There were some that came close, but there just was no rival. It was a magical little leaf, and it will always make me smile when I look back on it. I knew that I had to make it the final autumn photograph, for autumn 2018! Not the final, Leaf Of The Day, mind you, but the final photograph of my favorite season, autumn!

I will miss you magical Autumn!

"We should consider every day lost

 on which we have not danced at least once." 

~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Here is our one last leaf...

 #91 Leaf Of The Day

December 21st 2018

Photographed December 15th 2018

Stockton, California

Samsung

~Mood: Quiet

~Me

 

Catch Me, I'm Falling...

"Trees are the poems that the earth writes upon the sky."

~Kahil Gibran

It's the last full day of autumn 2018, so it's time to take another look at the absolute beauty of another year! Leaves are the soft goodbye of 365 days of history. I love them so much, because when I look at their colors, I tend to come to grips with all the emotions and dreams and fantasies I had during the year. Daydreams of love, and connection with other human beings that are out of touch, but who live in my heart all the same. I am so happy to have all this beauty and color to carry me through the dark, shadowy days of winter, and all the pain and uncertainty of this time.

 It's the best gift!

Once seen, like falling stars,

 they shine bright in the memory forever.

And now, the Leaf Of The Day...

#90 Leaf Of The Day

December 20th 2018

Photographed December 9th 2018

Stockton, California

Samsung

~Mood: Sad

~Me

One End Is Moo

Lockeford Meats

Lockeford, California

August 18th, 2018

"The cow is of the bovine ilk, one end is moo, the other milk."

~Ogden Nash

  Free Wheeling

There are ups and downs to everything. Right? I know this time with Donald Trump will eventually come to an end. The dominoes seem to be falling fairly quickly now. There were rumors for years that Trump had stolen from his own charitable foundation, but it wasn't until yesterday that that was finally confirmed. Sigh. This is all so stressful, and I am tired. I am fed up. I am disappointed in the government. I am scared because the government let things go this far!Was it greed? Was it fear of Trump wielding his mighty mouth sword? Are they being blackmailed, by either Russia or Trump? Is it ideology? Is it ambition? Is it cruelty?

When all is said and done, whenever that is, America will have proved it's strength, and perhaps be stronger than ever. But if the worst happens, and a panicked Trump decides to take us all out, by launching the nuclear codes or by simply handing America over to Putin, then what? One way we die quickly, the other we suffer the rest of our lives, however long we last. So, boys and girls, it's going to be up or down. Up or down. But in the meantime, I have plastic cows to photograph, holidays to plan for, and my own problems to overcome, such as my health issues. My Fibromyalgia has been raging lately, and I don't feel good. I feel like that plastic cow, fading in the unbearable, treacherous summer heat.

Fun Note: The Central Valley town of Lockeford is a registered as a California Historical Landmark, so I will be doing a post about the town in a post after the new year. In fact, I think I will be exploring a lot of the little towns around the valley, there is a lot of history out here! At least I hope I will.

#89 Leaf Of The Day

December 18th 2018

Photographed December 15th 2018

Stockton, California

Samsung

~Mood: Tired. Is tired a mood?
~Me  

 

Christmas Stars And Shy Comets

"... freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin... inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night... ."

~John Geddes

 A Familiar Rain 

Isn't that beautiful?

I am still working on getting a photo of the Christmas Comet, but the weather is not cooperating... at all! Still, in that I am up all night, I am going to keep checking for a bit of clearing, as the rain moves through. Never give up, right?

 #88 Leaf Of The Day

December 18th 2018

Photographed December 15th 2018

Stockton California

Samsung

~Mood: Happy

~Me

 

Happy Holidays

"Although it is pleasant to think about poison at any season, there is something special about Christmas, and I found myself grinning."

~Alan Bradley

I Am Half-Sick Of Shadows

Now, before you ask me about that quote, you should probably know, I am not super sentimental about Christmas. Yes, I am a Christian. Yes, the birth of Christ means something to me. Yes, my faith is deeper than ever, but when it comes to all the other stuff, the nonstop Christmas music, the endless Christmas movies, and all the other super sentimental stuff, it's just not my deal. Although a quiet night of romance, decorating the tree, and snugly Christmas mornings... well... that's what fills my heart! 

There, I said it! 

 # 87 Leaf Of The Day

December 17th 2018

Photographed  September 29th 2018

Cull Canyon

Samsung

"Maybe spring is the season of love and fall the season of mad lust. Spring for flirting but fall for the untamed delicious wild thing."

~Elizabeth Cohen 

The Hypothetical Girl

~Mood: Happy

~Me :)

4:54 In Autumn

"Autumn. It's crispness, its anticipation, it's melancholia, it's cool breezes replacing summer's heat. It's long days in the field, a harvest festival when work's done, a cheering crowd in a football stadium, chrysanthemums punctuating a somber landscape. It's Halloween high jinx, pumpkins grinning toothy smiles, the crack of pecan pressed against pecan.It's the first curls of wood smoke, the fresh and mellow and snug, solemn and melancholy. And it's very very welcome."

~Good Housekeeping Magazine

How about just a clock. No fancy words.

 No whining about autumn coming to a close.

 How about just a clock, ticking away.

#85 Leaf Of The Day

December 15th 2018

Photographed October 11th 2018

Tilden Park

Little Farm

Berkeley, California

~Mood: Quiet

~Me

Autumn, Less Than Perfect

 Autumn

"The autumn comes, a maiden fair

In slenderness and grace,

With nodding rice stems in her hair

And lilies in her face.

In flowers of grasses she is clad;

And she moves along,

Birds greet her with cooting glad

Like bracelets' tinkling song." 

~Kaildasa

That photograph went so wrong! But in all fairness, I was taking the photo out of a moving car, that was going 50mph! I can usually get some really good photos as we drive along the countryside, and even in the city, but on this day in October, I wasn't getting many breaks with lighting or the twists and turns in the road. It just was, what it was. This is not a wonderful landscape photograph, but it is just clear enough to be not only a really cool mistake, but a half way decent work of Impressionist photography, don't you think? How is that for a little glass half-full rationale?

 #84 Leaf Of The Day

December 14th 2018

Photographed November 21st 2018

Stockton, California

Samsung

~Mood: Happy

~Me :)

A Year of Sumac And Red

"Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn... that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness... that season which has drawn every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling."

~Jane Austen

Persuasion 

I love that green leaf! Unfortunately, the photograph was taken late last summer, long before the year turned autumn, so I couldn't include it in my project. But it's so pretty, I thought it needed to be seen. It's not perfect, but the green is so striking, that it just popped! That's the one thing about the leaves of autumn, there are very few examples of the color green, although I did find a couple of nice deep green leaves, but it wasn't many!

Sometimes, as I am preparing for the coming colors of autumn, I go to some of my favorite locations, and study which colors are making an early appearance. It helps me with the practice of different settings on my camera, especially when I haven't picked the camera up for a while. It also helps me decide which trees will provide me with as many different colors as possible, to balance out the collection. 

This autumn it was all about the color red! Red is difficult for me. It can be harsh, and especially so, when the sun is shining through the leaf. When I saw I'd be working with a lot of red this year, I was really happy because I knew it would be a challenge, and it was. With my Fibromyalgia, I get headaches easy, and this year the normally bad headaches turned into migraines. Fun. I think it's because of the air pressure in the Central Valley, but that's just a guess, anyway, the color red, in the leaves, seems to give me headaches! 

Weird, right? I am going to have to check with others who deal with my condition and see if they have an intolerance to light, and certain colors. Life is a challenge, right? But it feels good to be continuing to learn about my condition, my photography, the natural world around me, and even weather conditions, and what causes them to affect my body. I like this hobby, and the fact that I can get out of my own head for a little while, and be in nature.

 No two leaves are the same, and when a single leaf is gone, you will never see it again. They are the fingerprints of a year gone by, and after this past year, I can understand red being the predominate color. What do suppose will be the predominate color for 2019? Personally, I am hoping for a deep lavender. Or maybe yellow. Yellow is a bright sunny color, that is invigorating, and not painful to me at all. I am hoping for yellow, but I am kind of thinking that 2019 seems like it will be most likely be red. Red in day to day life, and in leaves.

I'm happy with this years collection.

  I hope you have enjoyed it too!

#83 Leaf Of The Day

December 13th 2018

Photographed December 9th 2018

Stockton, California

Samsung

~Mood: Happy

~Me

The Bird In The Tree At Land's End

"One twig at a time. Like a bird making a nest."

~Carol LoveKin

Ghostbird

 The Bird At Land's End

October 25th 2018

The end of 2018 is coming up really fast! I say this every year, but it seems like it went by especially fast this year! I have a theory, that time simply moves different in Trump time. Some days seems like they are months long, weeks become years, and then we will have days when it feels like it was just 24 normal hours. It's a bit discombobulating at times. But in actual time, as we get closer to the end of the autumn season, and of course, the end of the year, I am having fun posting the photos I really liked from the last three months, but that I didn't have a chance to show off before now. Like this one. 

There is a tree at, Land's End, in San Francisco, where this special little bird lives, and when I am in San Francisco, near that part of the city, I love to drop in and pay him a visit. He never fails to make me smile! I am not sure who it was that saw the outline of a bird and decided to have some fun by creating him, but it's okay with me to not know the birds story, I like it being mysterious. It's just one more reason San Francisco will be a part of my soul.

This is the view, just beyond the bird.

 Land's End is a very special place.

 

 #82 Leaf Of The Day

December 12th 2018

October 11th 2018

Tilden Park

Little Farm 

Berkeley, California

~Mood: Happy

~Me

Art About Town: Sacramento... Justice Stanley Mosk

"Into the highlands of the mind let me go"

~Sir William Watson

Shakespeare

If you are in Sacramento, and you can't find public art, you are roaming around with your eyes closed! I love Sacramento for their trees, and I love Sacramento for it's history but for me it's about the art! It's my new haunt for all the things photogenic, in that I am now in the Central Valley! Getting to know all about my new go to destination for exploring is actually kind of fun, because it feels like I am seeing new horizons and expanding my knowledge about California. I'm seeing new themes of art, which is much more political, and socially conscience, which are both things I have strong opinions about.

I had a good time photographing this fellow, Justice Stanley Mosk, and learning about his life. I am having a fair amount of pain today, from the arthritis in my hands, so I will let you get to know him on your own, but he was a champion of Civil Rights, which I appreciate more than I can say. He has a courthouse in Los Angeles named after him, and this statue on the Capitol Mall, in Sacramento, just across the courthouse for the California Third District Court of Appeals. I hope to get back to Sacramento this coming weekend, to do a little more photography before Christmas, and I many revisit this area on the Mall, and do a little more photography of this type of art!

California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk

 

"Let the first act of every morning

 be to make the following resolve for the day...

I shall not fear anyone on Earth

I shall fear only God.

I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.

I shall conquer untruth by truth.

 And resisting in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.

~Mahatma Gandhi

#81 Leaf Of The Day

December 11th 2018

Photographed October 11th 2018

Tilden Park

Little Farm

Berkeley, California

Nikon

~Mood: Quiet
~Me