Happy Easter 2024

 

Easter is…
Joining in a birdsong,
Eying an early sunrise,
Smelling yellow daffodils,
Unbolting windows and doors,
Skipping through meadows,
Cuddling newborns,
Hoping, believing,
Reviving spent life,
Inhaling fresh air,
Sprinkling seeds along furrows,
Tracking in the mud.
Easter is the soul’s first taste of spring.

~Richelle E. Goodrich

 

  Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year

 

I am a person of faith, and I don't speak about it much here because my faith is too personal to expose it to the ugliness of social media, but all the blessings you see listed above, and more, is because of God, and his son Jesus Christ. If you aren't a person of faith, I stand by you, I will not try to change you or your values in any way, you have my respect in your values, but on this one day, allow me to share the part of me that I keep to myself. My faith. Believe me, I have felt God's love and empathy in this past year, as I have navigated the death of my sister, niece and nephew. It helped me get back up from my depression and I am beginning to move on. I think about them every day, but the lingering sadness isn't lingering as much anymore. I hate this last part of letting go, because then they will really be gone, but there is a strength in all this, and it has come through really hard work, and God being there every step of the way!

 

 And by the way, Joe Biden is right...

“There will come a day, I promise you, when the thought of your son, or daughter, or your wife or your husband, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen. My prayer for you is that day will come sooner than later.”

~Joe Biden

 

Happy Easter to you and your family.

I hope your day is filled with love, warmth,

 and every blessing and kindness too.

 Never forget the strength of kindness.

Don't forget to be kind to yourself.

 

Weariness Or Witherings

 

"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness or witherings, of tarnishing."

 

~Anais Nin

 

None of their deaths were natural. All came too soon.

 

RIP

Jessica

Ralph jr.

And their mother, my sister, Bonny.

 

I can't share my grief right now, it's too deep and dark to share here. Mostly I don't anymore. I am processing it inside. And that's okay. This blog is my happy place, even when I am pissed or scared or bored. But grieving... no. That is just for me to deal with. I can, and probably will, share little tidbits on how it is processing through, here and there, but summer is over next week, and I want to have this autumn for me, filled with new leaves, new birds, hopefully, and my new office, which is almost finished! My therapist says I need to begin the hard work. The moving on part. The facing each day part. The letting go part. I am trying.

There I said everything out loud.

And I am okay.

Right?

 

 

Limp

“You will lose someone you can’t live without,and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.” 

  ~Anne Lamott  

 

A lot has happened since we last spoke. The next few posts will explain, but this post is about being tired. I am tired of settling this condo. I feel like I have been packing and unpacking for two years, and there is a reason for that... I HAVE. Trump makes me tired every day, which is really nothing new, and add to it all is a feeling of incredible loss and deep grief over the death of a man very special to the world and to me personally. Grief is such a personal thing, we can all feel it, but we do so in such different personal ways. As I said, I will speak more about all this in the coming days, but for right now, sigh, I just have a headache and my eyes hurt, and I just need to rest and clean my house, and yes, continue with my project of unpacking and letting go of all the things preventing me from moving on to a healthier place.

When Leaves Have To Let Go...

 

 

"When leaves have to let go of the tree,

 they wear their best colors

 and they dance all the way to the ground."

~Karen Kingsbury

Finding Home

Here are my first cemetery photographs for 2020. I have enjoyed visiting the graveyards close to where we live in the Central Valley, but this year, with the situation with the pandemic far from solved, I think it might be time to visit graveyards in Colma, California, and maybe even Golden Gate National Cemetery. I wanted to practice out here first, and kind of find my inspiration in the monuments, like this angel. I find the quiet and history of these places comforting, and I am needing plenty of comforting this year. Life has never felt more fragile. 

I guess in some ways I am beginning to identify with the character of Maude, from the amazing film, Harold and Maude. The older I get, the more I want to not just exist, but to live, especially now that things in the world have become so frightening. Deep down I know everything is going to work itself out, but sometimes in the middle of the night, I swear I can hear the missiles flying over. I wonder what Maude would say about that? I suppose, now that I think about it, she would simply burst into song, or steal a car. LOL. Two actions I am not nearly brave enough to try, but who knows, perhaps I will do just that one day, if I don't give up.

 Anyway, there are two historical persons, buried in the Bay Area that I have been meaning to pay my respects to. Wyatt Earp, in Colma, and the Black Dahlia, who rests in the Oakland hills. It's also time that I revisit the crosses on the hill in Lafayette. They were placed on the hillside as a tribute to the fallen American service members of the Afghanistan Iraq wars. It's been such a long time since I dropped by to pay my respects and do some updated photography. When that tribute was erected it was so controversial. The owners of the property wanted to share with the commuters along the HWY 24 corridor, what the human toll of those wars looked like in symbol. 

 Pretty soon a false narrative was established by Republican "patriots" who felt that the monument was somehow disrespectful. It wasn't disrespectful in my opinion, because like with most art, it was installed to provoke and make the viewer consider the full emotion of losing a loved one, or sometimes a full community, to war. All these years later, it's rarely, if ever mentioned. Isn't that always the way? Controversies stop being controversies when folks stop caring. It takes a lot of energy to be outraged. I am so grateful to our military, for the sacrifices they make for us every day, and they deserve so much more than to be forgotten. Hopefully, me and my camera can help that effort in some small way.

And Now Today's Leaf Of The Day

~Carly

Stockton, California

September 28th 2020

 

 

Rest In Gentle Peace Notorious RBG

"Fight for the things that you care about.

 But do it in a way that will lead others to follow you."

~Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Rest In Gentle Peace.

Thank you, so much!

~Carly

Stockton, California 

September 18th 2020

The Essence Of Autumn

"Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind.

 Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks.

 And their roots give names to all things.

Their language has been lost.

But not the gestures."

~Vera Nazarian

The Perpetual Calendar Of Inspiration

I have a pair of favorite trees. They are in the tiny park of Cull Canyon in Castro Valley, California. I have documented them each autumn for the last 10 years, long before I began posted my autumn albums. When I lived in the East Bay, I would visit them from time to time, usually in the autumn, but in the summer months as well. I would pack a lunch, and a few cameras and I was on my way. I can't even count the number of leaves I have photographed under those trees, most of which didn't make it into by albums, but are still in my files all the same.

On September 16th, of this year, I took my first jaunt down to Cull Canyon, just to see how my trees were doing, and if they had begun to show their beautiful colors. Liquid Amber produces some of the most beautiful colors in autumn, and they really give Ginkgo and Sugar Maples a run for their money in dazzling cinnamon and deep purple colors! Unfortunately, as I turned the corner that leads into the park my heart just sank! It seems one of the trees had apparently died over the summer, and instead of the beautiful colors of autumn, there were only dry brown leaves and some ugly green moss left on it's brittle grey branches!

Last year, almost to the same date, that tree looked like this...

... and I continued to photograph it well into January, as the last of autumn faded away. By that time, there were about a million or so leaves under that tree, well, maybe not a million, but there were so many that I wished I had more time to visit, because I could have photographed every individual leaf! They were absolutely stunning! It makes me incredibly sad to think I won't see this tree continue to grow, or the colors that it would have produced this year! No tree should ever die... right? But the conflict is, ironically, also the very concept of autumn. 

The sweet, delicious, passing of yet another year of life, and I see the beauty in that death, and I also mourn that same death, when the last leaf falls, and the air turns to the bitter cold winter. Life has it's seasons, and time passes, and so passes even the most vibrant beings... sometimes well before we are ready to let go, but in it's own time. I will miss my beautiful tree, but it's older, bigger brother still thrives on, like a vibrant, feisty old friend, so I will continue to photograph his progress, and be glad to know it's beauty shines on!

The Leaf Of The Day

September 16th 2017

Cull Canyon, Castro Valley, California

 Mood: Sad

~Me

It Was The Sweetest Time!

"That's the problem with memories, you can visit them, but you can't live in them."

~Shaun David Hutchinson

We Are The Ants

Last month, when Alan and I were visiting Apple Hill, we stopped into one of our favorite farms, Bolster's Hilltop Ranch, to pick up a bottle of our favorite Apple Hill apple cider. Most of the farms produce fresh cider, but theirs has always been our very favorite! While we were there, we decided to browse their craft items for sale, when we came across this plate. It immediately caught my eye, because I used to own the full set of dishes in this pattern! I bought them just after Alan and I got married, because he wasn't fond of the clear set that we had been given as a wedding gift. 

We loved that set of dishes! The plates were large, and the bowls a bit wider and deep than most dishes. I didn't pay a lot for the full set, which was also nice, because we were still paying off the wedding when I purchased them. We used them for about 8 years, when we needed to move suddenly, and they went into storage temporarily. During that move, thieves broke into our storage unit and stole nearly everything we owned, including our set of cute country dishes.

I thought about that set over the years. I tried to find the pattern again, but I never did. Once they sold out, that was that! I had another set of dishes, that were done in a lovely impressionist pattern, with a French Cafe design. Also stolen. Both sets were very special to me, for different reasons. Those two sets of dinnerware were only a couple examples of the things we lost, and it was a sad time, but at the end of the day, it was just stuff! The items themselves simply represented memories. 

I have been thinking about the memories that were associated with the losses Alan and I have experienced in our marriage. Sometimes I can climb so deep into the memories of our first apartment that it feels like I am right there. I close my eyes, and I think to myself... if I just try hard enough... I will be right back there! It will be 1990, and nothing bad has happened, it's just a couple of newlyweds, amazingly happy, in a 3rd floor walk-up apartment in the San Francisco East Bay. Sometimes I can almost smell all the restaurants we lived near, and hear the traffic from the street below.

But that deep thought or daydream can only last a minute or less, and suddenly I am back to 2016. Today in 2016. The world is so different now. Yes, times change, but in all honesty, I don't know how things could have changed this much! We just went though a brutal time as Americans, and instead of the pain being over, it's all just beginning. The Trump presidency is going to be one of America's darkest chapters. Personally, I don't know if I will survive it! I guess I don't have a choice but to hang on, and pray we all make it through, but to be honest, I feel so hopeless right now.

How will it be when the deportation police tear families apart, at Trump's command? When will the next school shooting take place, as he does away with laws regarding guns at schools? Bullies and tormentors will have their day, so when will I be assaulted, for driving too slow, or for simply being a "woman driver?" Will Alan's job be safe in Trump's fantasy driven economic world? Is my health care about to end? Will the EPA exist a year from now? Will we face nuclear annihilation, from North Korea, or some other hostile government, because Donald Trump pisses off a world leader in the middle of the night, via his Twitter account?

It's strange how bad it can hurt when someone steals your things. Just because you like your possessions, doesn't mean you are necessarily materialistic. The items we fill up our life with are associated with memories sometimes. Like making dinner for your new husband, on pretty but inexpensive little dishes you picked out together. But when someone threatens not just the little everyday things in your life, but the lives of your families, friends, neighbors, and even strangers, it's a whole different thing entirely. What happens next?

I bought the little plate in Apple Hill last month, when I still had hope for the future. When I was anticipating a Hillary Clinton win. I planned to get a little plate stand, and put it on display in my home office. It was going to be a reminder of a gentle time in our lives. A time before our lives changed that awful day in 1999. The day I don't talk about. But now, I might just put it in with the rest of my odds and ends plates and dishes and use it once in a while so I can close my eyes, and just for a moment, pretend I am back in a different time, when life was a lot more fair. It was the sweetest time. Back when life was kind, and the world wasn't quite as cold as it had been, because America had encouraged the world to tear down a walls, and not build them.

It was the sweetest time! 

 It really was!

 Funny how we tend to take the best days and leaves for granted!

Days are like leaves, they only last a little while. 

And no two are ever the same. 

And once they are gone neither are we!

 Leaf Of The Day

November 14th 2016

Mood: Quiet

~Me  

9/11... 15 Years Later

Flight 93 Memorial

Union City, California

2014 

 

"What separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is the ability to mourn people we've never met."

~ David Levithan

It's been 15 years. I think every year I repeat my astonishment that so much time has gone by. The world is a much different place than on that day, all those years ago. This year, more than any other since then, I have an overwhelming desire to make a political statement, but I won't. I can't. I have too much emotion right now to make any real sense. There will be time in the coming weeks to say all the political stuff I need to say. Today is about remembering those souls lost to families, friends, fans, children, grandchildren and friends that never got to be made. So, for today, I will be silent, for them. For all of them. But as I said, in the coming weeks, my words will also be about them and who we were that day, who we are now, and who we have the potential, and perhaps the danger, of becoming.

 Today, as on every anniversary of 9/11,

I remember the lives of 

David & Lynn Angell

Murdered

September 11th, 2001

American Airlines Flight 11

I will never forget your generous and loving spirits!

 

 

~Carly

 

Mr. November... And Suspension Of Disbelief

"Sometimes she sat and let her mind go blank and her eyes go out of focus, so that she watched the slow, jerky movements of the motes that floated across her pupils. They amazed her as a child. Now she saw them occasionally bumping into another body without acknowledgment,

 and then floating on, free and alone."

~Robert Goolrick

A Reliable Wife

I was out leaf peeping around Berkeley the other day, when I spotted a single leaf, seemingly floating in mid-air. I was fascinated. I wanted to just stare at the leaf, and take it's picture, and pretend it was indeed, somehow, floating in the blue space between the trees. Unfortunately, I knew deep down that it wasn't the case, it wasn't some kind of supernatural miracle, but the obsession was amazing while it lasted.

 I allowed the temporary suspension of disbelief for a moment or two, then I took a clearer look forward and found the leaf was resting on the thinnest of silk spider web strands. Apparently the spider and I share a fondness of Autumn leaves. LOL. And impossible situations. It's days like this that he crosses my mind. I wonder where Mr. November is. I wonder if he is happy, and I wonder what it would be like to see him again, even after I have gone to great lengths to never be in his web again. 

Why do I still do that?

Floating On Air

Is suspension of disbelief

Like Autumn leaves, people float in and out of your life... but some are unforgettable!

Leaf Of The Day

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Round Robin Challenge: Goodbye

"If I had a single flower for every time I think of you,

 I could walk forever in my garden."

~Claudia Adrienne Grandi

 RRC: Goodbye

Saying Goodbye...

Life is full of hellos and goodbyes. Whenever I lose a friend, or a TV show, or an icon or a project I dearly love, I try to remind myself that life is a series of hellos and goodbyes. Most of the time I grieve for a while and then one day I realize the sadness has passed, and I am doing a lot more smiling at the memories, than crying and longing for one more visit to a place lost, or a smile that won't be there, or a joke that won't be told. In truth, I have been lucky enough to have had many more happy hellos than tragic goodbyes, but even the most charmed life will have their share.

2014 seems to have been a year of loss. You know from the news. But none touched me more deeply than the death of Robin Williams. He was a San Francisco Bay Area fixture. He lived in southern Marin County, but his love and generosity was felt throughout the Bay Area. In the town of Tiburon, where he called home, he was affectionately known as "The Man On The Bicycle." He was well loved by many, and that included me. With my little photo jaunts around the Bay Area, I always figured I would cross paths with him one day, alas it wasn't to be.

I have to admit... it's a fact that breaks my heart into

 the tiniest of pieces. 

Shards really.

 

:( 

There were many different tributes to Robin Williams held around the Bay Area, most of them for his dear friends, and a few public ones. I chose to honor him in my own way. Just a fan saying, Thank You, for the many moments of happiness his talent brought me.

 So last Monday, October 6th, Alan and I made the trek to Marin County, to a lovely little quiet park that sits just around the corner, on the same waterfront that touches his home in Tiburon, to pay our respects. I brought him some plastic Army Men, of which he was an avid collector, and I quietly said "I loved you" and "Goodbye."

 Paradise Beach and Park. 

:)

Thank You, Robin!

Alan and I enjoyed our visit to the park and beach very much, we now have another amazing place to visit when we are in Marin County, and you know I will always think of Robin when 

we are there. It's one more thing to thank him for!

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

~Theodor Seuss Geisel (attributed)

And now, I want to say Goodbye to the Round Robin Challenges.

Karen and I accidentally began this meme, but we certainly had a great time with it over this past decade. THAT'S RIGHT... DECADE! The Round Robin Challenges is just a little over a decade old, and I am very proud of Karen for all she did to keep the fun going! She and our dear Steven, did a lot to make this project a very nice place during it's heyday, and while I haven't contributed as much to it in recent years, it was always near and dear to me because it began as two friends, Karen and I, inspiring each other to be creative. When others asked to join in, it became a lovely community project, with a lot of creative ideas suggested for challenges as we moved along. How could I not be at least a little sad to see it come to an end? In truth, I am sad, but more than anything I am proud to have been a part of something so extraordinary.

Thank You Karen, you were and continue to be one of my favorite people and my good friend!

I had a blast!

:)

And Thank You to all the Robins who participated in this project!

Okay, so for one last time...

If you would like to join in, there is still plenty of time. Just pop on over to the official Round Robin Photo blog and leave the following 3 pieces of information...

Your Name

Your Blog's Name

Full Address Of Your Blog

It's that easy. Simply click the link at the top of this post to be redirected.

And now the Leaf Of The Day...

 

:)

Mood: Happy/Reflective

~Me :)

You've Got Butterflies

"I once read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw one. It got on at 42nd, and off at 59th, where, I assume it was going to Bloomingdales to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake... as almost all hats are."

~Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron and Nikolaus Laszlo, You've Got Mail



Aren't they amazing? I have been enjoying our visits to the Conservatory Of Flowers in Golden Gate Park this summer, very much! They have a bigger variety of beautiful butterflies this time around, and each time we visit it is like we are visiting for the very first time! I can't help but smile when discovering a butterfly that I haven't seen before!

This summer has been a sad one. So many young people lost to the world for one reason or another. I will be so relieved when it is finally gone, and thankfully, there are signs here and there of autumn. It's only a heartbeat away, and I am looking toward it, rather than dwell too much in all the sadness. Life is too short to take up residence in the sadness... just ask the butterfly!

Mood: Content

~Me :)

And Now, Blue Jasmine... The Movie Trailer

"Men learn to love the woman they are attracted to. Women learn to become attracted to the man they fall in love with."

~Woody Allen

 

Finally... the trailer for Woody Allen's, Blue Jasmine, is here. The large picture above was taken at one of the filming locations in San Francisco, a few hours after filming wrapped for the day! LOL. On that day I was a few minutes late, and a Woody Allen short. If you look very closely at the trailer you will see this building, slightly altered for the film, but recognizable all the same. Alan and I only made it to two of the many locations used in the film, if I could I would have been at all of them, cameras with me, taking in the fun. Unfortunately, life... work, doctor's appointments... had to come first. That and good old fashioned mistiming. LOL. In the next few days that followed I was able to get the photos I wanted. Last August was the best part of the summer. The best part of any of my summers. :)

Okay... go watch the trailer. I can already tell it's going to be one of his movies that stays with you long after you have seen it. Kind of like Midnight In Paris, Manhattan, or Interiors. I already identify at bit with Jasmine. I have a profound first hand knowledge of what it feels like to have your life pulled out from under you... suddenly, and without your permission. Perspective gets lost in the pain, and yes, Xanax by the fist fulls becomes a bigger part of your life than breathing. That was my life 12 years ago. When they "no longer felt good about giving me Xanax, Anhedonia took over for me. Anyway, we will leave it at that. No need to numb every day, Anhedonia... is now just a distant memory.

And THANK GOODNESS. Because if I still had Anhedonia, I couldn't have taken the awesome photo you see above!

LOL. Go watch the trailer...

Mood: Grateful

~Me :)

Living On The Coast Of A Passive Ocean

"Because God is never cruel, there is a reason for all things. We must know the pain of loss; because if we never knew it, we would have no compassion for others, and we would become monsters of self-regard, creatures of unalloyed self-interest. The terrible pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind, has the power to soften uncaring hearts, to make a better person of a good one."

~Dean Koontz, The Darkest Evening Of The Year

A lot has happened in the last 24 hours. Not to me, I am fine, but to my good friend and neighbor, and of course to the people of Oklahoma City and Moore Oklahoma. By now you most of the details of what occurred in Oklahoma, and that it's going to be a long night. Needless to say I am in prayer for them, and I am sending as many loving thoughts as I can their way. I hope in some small way they will feel our collective prayers, and more good news, than bad, will come with the morning light.

My friend and neighbor, Opal, has been through a devastating time in the last 5 weeks, having lost 6 members of her family, including her beloved kitty, and my personal buddy Sebastiani. I shall miss our talks. He loved to come by and chatter with me, and seemed perfectly happy with my occasional..."What? Really? And then what did you do?" He was a tuxedo like Elvis, so it made the property a much nicer place having another tux to care about. He was my friend. So it's hard to know that as Opal's friend and neighbor, there isn't much we can do to help.

 I am making her a flower arrangement this evening, to take by tomorrow, and I have a card for her, which assures her the phone is always on if she needs us, but it doesn't feel like much help. You know how it is... if you can take the pain from someone you care about, and hold it for them till they catch their breath... you would. But you can't. So all you can do is just be there if they need you, and we will be.

It's so strange, I didn't think I would find the perfect quote for this post from Dean Koontz, but I really believe what he wrote captures the feeling of the situations. Devastation if an unfortunate balance to the times of joy and prosperity. It's life. But knowing it, doesn't make it easier, just more understandable. Understandable. What a word. What a world. And a new day begins at midnight. I, for one, count myself lucky that I live where I do, on the coast of a passive ocean. Earthquakes? They don't cross my mind often, it's just a part of living where I do.

It's life.

And I thank God for it daily.

Mood: Quiet

~Me :)

The Epiphany In A Window In Berkeley

You can't stop the future
You can't rewind the past
The only way to learn the secret is to press play

~Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why

I don't take many photos around Berkeley, I don't know why, I guess I take it a bit for granted. I don't do many photos in Oakland either, or Hayward, or Fremont. This is something I am going to have to do something about. The Niles district of Fremont has a rich history in movie making, it was especially popular during the silent film era, with stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Wallace Beery, and Ben Taupin, making silver screen magic. But the area is also known for it's railroad Niles Canyon Railway, and is somewhat of a mecca for weekend antique enthusiasts. It's a pretty area, and I think I will drop in there soon.

 

Tonight however, I need to concentrate on the city of Berkeley, a place that never ceases to inspire me. In that its a college town, there are certain quirks that can always be counted on. If it's August, that means you will begin to see old couches and chairs, in front of frats, sororities, and student housing sitting by the side of the street, for at least a two block radius around the college, as the new year begins, and new students replace departing graduates. It's fun to hunt the furniture. Sometimes you might see a pink plaid sofa, or perhaps an over stuffed easy chair, that has served it's owner well as evidenced by the white stuffing that can usually be seen coming out of it.

I like looking at the furniture, but as you know if you have read my blog for any length of time, I really enjoy looking at windows, no matter what town or city I am in. Furniture says a lot about a person, but windows tell the story. Just look at the picture above. One day back in February 2008, I spotted that sad little penguin staring out the window of an apartment, not far from the Cal Berkeley campus. I was intrigued with him from the beginning. What was his story? Why did he look so sad? Did he miss his owner? Did he owner feel sad? Did the human who owned him, pose him in the window so that when they came home, there would be someone waiting for them?

It was a mystery!

I wrote a couple different versions of what I thought the penguin's story might be.

A happy one.

And a sad one.

Neither seemed correct.

I gave up on the little penguin after a while, but the other day I found myself in his neighborhood, so I went to visit the penguin in the window. Well, he wasn't there, but in his place were some lovely, and happy little origami cranes! How do I know they are happy? Well, to be honest, I don't, but somehow they just seem to be happy... to me. I don't know, when I think about February 2008 I don't really think about happy thoughts. I think about how insane George W. Bush seemed to be. I think about how G-A-S, otherwise known as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, was making living in California a living nightmare. In 2008 I was still missing a friend who left my life due to the closing of a door that life tends to push us through. I was worried about my brother-in-law who had been unwell, and my Elvis wasn't doing well either.

There was a lot happening in my life. I wasn't happy.

It made me think... was it the penguin in the window who was sad back then, or was it me?

Epiphanies... don't you just love them?

 

Four years later, I am happy. I have mourned a lot, and healed... for the most part. I had the time of my life chasing Woody Allen around San Francisco, as he filmed a movie. Something I NEVER thought I would get to do. As I sit here, we are guaranteed another 4 years of relative sanity in American politics, my health is better, our finances are better, and I have successfully conquered some major fears. I have an awesome rose garden, two kitties that love me, and need me a much as I need them, and finally, the best husband ever!

Life is good now!

 And somehow, everything looks a little happier, even paper origami cranes that grace a window in Berkeley, Ca. I need to do a lot more photography in Berkeley I think.

~Me :)

Without You (Haiku)

"Always watch where you are going. Otherwise, you many step on a piece of the forest that was left out by mistake."

-Winnie The Pooh

Without You (Haiku)
By Carly Gordon

One Day You Were There
With November In Your Eyes
It's Cold Without You


-OndineMonet
"Autumn Light"
Carson City, Nevada
October 24th, 2007
Late Morning

September 11th, 2001

"September 11 began like many Tuesday mornings in Washington, D.C., as the notorious D.C. rush hour traffic slowed lawmakers and their staff making their way to Capitol Hill, the worst of their thoughts was surely centered on Congress's always partisan budget battles. The day was the end, however, in a national nightmare as all came to grips with the worst domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history."

-Terry Everett

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama Bin Laden. It is our number one priority, and we will not rest until we find him."

-George W. Bush 9/13/2001

Can you believe it has been six years since that horrible day? Can you believe it has been six years, and Osama Bin Laden is still out there somewhere, still taunting us, and still free to continue with his plan of hatred and terror toward the United States? George Bush, as our president, has been worse than a complete failure, he has let all of us down, and indeed future generations as well. There is no excuse, there is no reason, and there is no justification for the fact that Bin Laden has not been brought to justice. It escapes me why President Bush hasn't been impeached for his many transgressions,including his blatant disregard for American lives.

He didn't listen to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Report, or the Iraq Study Group. We are not safer from terrorism then we were on 9/11, and we still have a liar, and dare I say, traitor, in the White House. Sigh. It hurts. I hurt for all of us here in America, and I hurt for what we have done to the Iraqi people. I hurt for the men and women of our armed services, who went to war, and died for a war based on lies. I hurt for those brave soldiers who made it back home, and found themselves without proper medical care at Walter Reed Hospital. I hurt for the people who lost their lives on 9/11, like David and Lynn Angell. Last year I wrote a tribute to the Angell's, for the 2996 Project, but I had written about David and Lynn Angell before, the first time was in 2005, on my AOL blog Ellipsis. You can find that entry here.

The Angell's were a wonderful, loving couple. They loved each other, and they loved their work. They had a charity that was close to their hearts called the Hillsides Home For Children. Less than a month before their deaths on 9/11/2001, they celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. They were together on the morning of 9/11/2001 as they boarded American Airlines Flight#11, at Boston's Logan airport, bound for Los Angeles, but they didn't make it home that day, because of pure evil. Their plane was hijacked and crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45 A.M. EDT.

When the Angell's died, the world lost two magnificent human beings. Two people who were the complete opposite of the evil that ran rampant that day. I never got the chance to meet David and Lynn Angell, but through my research of them I have come to know them, and respect them as people. I mourn their deaths... deeply. It angers me that nothing has been done to bring Bin Laden to justice. It angers me that we have wasted human lives and resources on an unnecessary war in Iraq, but I have become resolved to the fact that until George Bush is impeached, and congress, both democrat and republican grows a backbone and stops George Bush, we will have to live with the true terror of Osama Bin Laden, and the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. We are not safe anywhere, at anytime, indeed it is just a matter of time before we face another day like 9/11. I am deeply,deeply sad right now. We must email the White House, and our elected officials and demand that we stop this unnecessary war in Iraq, and concentrate our efforts on finding Bin Laden.

Please take a moment to read my entry from last year. It was a non-political tribute to the lives of David and Lynn Angell. It gives you a glimpse into the lives of this loving and generous couple. They shouldn't be forgotten. I know I will never forget them, not ever. Shame on you George Bush!

The 2996 Project: I Am Honoring The Life Of David Angell


"So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him... to be honest."

-George W. Bush 3/13/2002 (Less than a year later).

-OndineMonet