On The Last Day Of November

 

 

“I could feel the bite of the autumn air,

 warning us all of the harsh winter that was on its way.”

 
~Jennifer Starzec,

  Determination

 

It was ridiculously cold at the Clifton Court Forebay yesterday, but that didn't stop this very pretty Ring-billed gull from swimming and splashing about in the water! He was half playing, half trying to beat the other gulls to the tasty school of morsels passing just under them. I watched him capture, and eat, more than one tiny fish, and I was very impressed with its ability to fly to great heights in the sky, only to fall in a deep dive, to fetch his dinner. Birds fascinate me. I didn't see any new birds yesterday, and my hands were aching from the cold, so I didn't stay long, but they were all lovely, and entertaining, and made the pain well worth the visit. I can't wait to see what other birds fly in, as December progresses. 

 

Here is bird #161 for the year.

 

Red-winged Bicolored Blackbird

 

 

Cinnamon Pecans

 

 

 

 

It's the first day of Autumn! 

 A time of hot chocolatey mornings,

 and toasty marshmallow evenings,

 and, best of all, leaping into leaves!

 

~Winnie The Pooh 

 

Well, it's not really the first day of Autumn, it's actually closer to the end of Autumn, but I feel the urge to bake this time of year, so I present to you, Cinnamon Pecans. Other than the Thanksgiving meal I tag-teamed with Hubby on, this is my first trip into the holiday baking realm. If you also don't count the monster cakelets I made for Halloween. I think the next might be, well, you'll just have to stay tuned.

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #69

 

Harvest Moon

By

~Neil Young
 

Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin'
We could dream this night away

But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light
We know where the music's playin'
Let's go out and feel the night

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon

When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart

But now it's gettin' late
And the moon is climbin' high
I want to celebrate
See it shinin' in your eye

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon

 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #68

 

“It was one of those sumptuous days when the world is full of autumn muskiness and tangy, crisp perfection: vivid blue sky, deep green fields, leaves in a thousand luminous hues. It is a truly astounding sight when every tree in a landscape becomes individual, when each winding back highway and plump hillside is suddenly and infinitely splashed with every sharp shade that nature can bestow - flaming scarlet, lustrous gold, throbbing vermilion, fiery orange.” 

 
~Bill Bryson,

  I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away

 

I have used this quotes before, but some quotes fit so well with not just the leaf, but with my mood as well. This one just spoke to me, as did the leaf when I found it.

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #67

 

“All at once, it seemed, the leaves of cottonwood trees around the cabin turned golden and whispered to themselves, then curled into black flutes and floated to the ground in crispy, lacy heaps.”

 
~Kristin Hannah,

   The Great Alone

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #66

 “I ate breakfast in the kitchen by candle-light, and then drove the five miles to the station through the most glorious October colouring. The sun came up on the way, and the swamp maples and dogwood glowed crimson and orange and the stone walls and cornfields sparkled with hoar frost; the air was keen and clear and full of promise. I knew something was going to happen. ” 

~Jean Webster,

  Daddy-Long-Legs

 

 

The Unfair Maligning Of November

 

“No sun—no moon!
No morn—no noon—
No dawn—
No sky—no earthly view—
No distance looking blue—
No road—no street—no "t'other side the way"—
No end to any Row—
No indications where the Crescents go—
No top to any steeple—
No recognition's of familiar people—
No courtesies for showing 'em—
No knowing 'em!
No traveling at all—no locomotion,
No inkling of the way—no notion—
"No go"—by land or ocean—
No mail—no post—
No news from any foreign coast—
No park—no ring—no afternoon gentility—
No company—no nobility—
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member—
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,
November!” 

~Thomas Hood 

 

November gets a bad rap. The way Thomas Hood talks, there is nothing redeeming about November at all. That's not true in California. Here it can be 75 degrees in San Francisco, and snowing in the Sierra, allowing one to go to the beach one day, and be swooshing down the slopes the next. California is a good place to live, despite all the sour pusses that have moved from the state. But it's a harsh truth that it is also expensive to live here, hurried along by the invention of all things computer and AI. Twitter, sorry, X, Google, you name it, it's here along with huge salaries, and huge housing costs. But if you have lived here your whole life like I have, and found the time to discover its beauty and vibrancy like I have, you find a way to be happy. We live in a sink or swim world. Despite the leaves beginning to fall deeply in love with the ground, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, especially in November, so I will simply give thanks for November, and all the happiness it brings me. Like Thanksgiving turkey... yum!

T   hanks for time to be together, turkey, talk, and tangy weather.
H  for harvest stored away, home, and hearth, and holiday.
A  for autumn's frosty art, and abundance in the heart.
N  for neighbors, and November, nice things, new things to remember.
K  for kitchen, kettles' croon, kith and kin expected soon.
S  for sizzles, sights, and sounds, and something special that about.
    That spells THANKS for joy in living and a jolly good Thanksgiving.  

                 

~Aileen Fisher,

 All in a Word

 

 

Open Your Eyes And Dream

 “It was the golden time of year. Every day the leaves grew brighter, the air sharper, the grass more brilliant. The sunsets seemed to expand and melt and stretch for hours, and the brick facades glowed pink, and everything got bluer. How many perfect autumns did a person get?” 

 
― Elif Batuman,

  Either/Or

 

Yesterday, Thanksgiving, was perfect! Hubby and I shared the delicious chore of preparing dinner. A feast actually, of turkey, cranberry sauce, peas and carrots, yams, and of course, pumpkin pie for dessert! Swoon! Later, we watched two of our favorite holiday movies, The Lemon Drop Kid, with Bob Hope, and Miracle on 34th Street, with Sebastian Cabot. It's my favorite version of the story. I know, I know, I am mostly a purest when it comes to movies. Rarely does a remake of a masterpiece turn out as good as the original, but this version did! It was a 1973 TV movie, and I loved it! Every single minute of it. It didn't really stray from the original, but the actors in the movie were folks I had seen in other projects, so it made the whole thing more relatable. David Hartman, Roddy McDowell, and Jane Alexander were brought it all together perfectly. Plus the incidental music, Miracles and Open Your Eyes And Dream, are 1970s background gems. Thanksgiving can be a hectic holiday, so go put your feet up, grab something soothing, like hot chocolate, and watch Miracle On 34th Street. It doesn't really matter which version, but if you have never seen the one this post is about, just press play, and ENJOY! And Happy Day After Thanksgiving! Can you believe has fast this year has gone?

And Christmas Eve is exactly one month away!

 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #64

 

“Once in a while i am struck
all over again... by just how blue
the sky appears .. on wind-played
autumn mornings, blue enough to bruise a heart.” 

~Sanober Khan 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving 2023

"Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse." 

 

~Henry Van Dyke

 

Autumn Endures

(Haiku)

By Me

 

 Cinnamon Leaves dance
Under an azure blue sky
Autumn love endures

 

Happy Thanksgiving dear readers, and thank you for still being with me. I am grateful for all of you.  As you know, it has been a really strange year for me personally, and tragic for so many other folks. But while 2023 been uneven in what it put in my path, life is all about change, and opportunities, and how we deal with them. It's also about the changing seasons. I can count among my blessings that Fall has been healing for me personally, and that I am just about finished with the project in the spare room. Photos to follow soon! My hubby still loves me, and we are both in good health, and happy we are still deeply in love after 33 years of marriage. Hendrix is doing well, with no signs of his cancer returning, and Dylan just gets more loving every single day. As for Joey, well I am pretty sure I have said it before, but I am just going to say it again, he is the best Thanksgiving gift we ever received. We found him Thanksgiving weekend, 2013, and I just fall more in love with him every day! And I have the leaves, the ducks, the geese, the cold weather, and so much more to count among my blessings.

 

I am grateful for my condo. My Mini Cooper. And my love.

 

I am truly blessed.

 

My heart is happy. I hope yours is as well.

 

From our house to yours...

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #62

 

 “It's Harvest Time.
Jewish New Year.
Back to School.
The new theatrical season.
These are September to me.

Apples and honey,
sharpened pencils
and the sounds of warm-ups,
voices and bodies getting going.
Hope and promise
and things re-newed.” 

~Shellen Lubin 

 

 

The Flight Of The Greater White-fronted Goose

 

“And the sunsets of autumn— are they not gorgeous beyond description? More so than the brightest dreams of poetry?”

 

~Charles Lanman

Imagine thousands, yes, I meant that, thousands of birds, mainly the hefty Greater white-fronted geese, taking off all at once, with a stunning sunset in the background. On the one hand I was sad that I could only capture silhouette of my favorite bird, but on the other hand I have posted pics from previous Autumn's with the birds in flight, similar to this, but during daylight hours, so it's a nice change I think. I will try to visit the Cosumnes river again in the next week, or so, and do a series beginning earlier in the day.If I get there by 3:30 pm I should have plenty of time to get a nice series of photos done. It all depends on weather. If I don't get out there this week, I will soon. Just try to keep me away!

Last night...

The Cosumnes River Preserve is my paradise.

Migrating, Perhaps?

 

“The wind makes you ache in some place

 that is deeper than your bones.” 

~Stephen King,

  'Salem's Lot

 

Just a couple months ago I was standing on the Bat Bridge, wishing for a cool breeze to float by, and now it is here. Not unusual for November, in fact I happen to love it, I just wish the wind would usher in more birds. So far the variety has been bleak, at least it seems that way to me. Maybe that's why I see a bird in those autumn clouds. A Bank swallow to be exact. I watched them fly in and out of their nests, under the bridge on, Thornton road, last spring, and now I see a big one soaring through the clouds on it's way to who knows where? Migrating perhaps. Do you see the bird shaped cloud? How about you? What do you see?

 

Now do you see the birdy?

Orange On A November Day

“November is usually such a disagreeable month...as if the year had suddenly found out that she was growing old and could do nothing but weep and fret over it. This year is growing old gracefully...just like a stately old lady who knows she can be charming even with gray hair and wrinkles. We've had lovely days and delicious twilights.” 

~L.M. Montgomery,

  Anne of Avonlea

 

The colors of leaves are so beautiful right now, and it has inspired me  to take a real look at each one. Not just each leaf, but each color. It all started with a particularly vibrant rainbow I saw last Saturday. I don't know, maybe it's because daylight hours decrease in autumn, but I can never quite get enough of the way the autumn sun makes everything look. Everything looks so vibrant and full of pure life. I never can fully explain my love for this season, but it begins with colors like this...

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #59

 

“I would regret losing the warm green of summer
were it not for autumn’s promise of gold.” 

 
~Laura Jaworski 

 

 

Dance Of The Starbucks Sugar Plum Cheese Danish

 

“Dessert without cheese is like a beauty with only one eye”

 
~Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin 

 

 “Spring is the name of the interval between two autumns, and autumn is the name of the interval between two springs.” 

 
~Wasif Ali Wasif,

   Segue of Spiritual Whispers: Baat Se Baat

 

Yum. That right there is a picture of just one more part of Autumn I look forward to with great passion, the return of Starbucks Sugar Plum Cheese Danish. It's a simple pastry, sweet and creamy, and it's paired with a buttery flaky crust. There is just nothing not to like about it. My former Autumn craving was the, Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar, but once I tried this bit of loveliness, there was no going back. I discovered the Cranberry Bliss Bar, years ago, and every year it was my tradition, and delight, to pair it with a peppermint hot chocolate, when we went to either Union Square, in San Francisco, or the Holiday Merry-Go-Round in Tilden Park, in Berkeley. It just helped to make everything even more festive. Alas everything changes, right? We moved, fairly suddenly, to Stockton, and we no longer went to the city, or to Tilden Park. A 79 mile trip requires a lot of planning, so visiting could be dicey in the late Autumn and early Winter.

With our new hometown, came new tradition, Christmas eve colds, flu and most recently... Covid-19. But in-between sneezing disasters, came opportunities for holiday shopping, and errands. And what goes great with those things? Starbucks and pastry. So, one rainy autumn day, just past Halloween, and just prior to Thanksgiving, off I went to Trinity Parkway to shop, but one my way I stopped at my nearest bucks, salivating for a Cranberry Bliss Bar. To my disappointment they had none of those, but they did have the Sugar Plum Cheese danish. Huh? Shrug. I agreed to that, because what the hell? Why not? I love cheese danish, and this one has sugar plum whatever on it to make it even more sweeter than it already is! Why not?

OMG... oh my... something very, very evil began on that day, because I began to sing, JOY TO THE WORLD, A DANISH IS BORN... . I kid you not. A new Autumn tradition was born that day, and with it, visiting the absolutely gorgeous Sandhill Crane of Woodbridge road, later in the day, as they return home to their resting place, and taking this delectable snack with me. My hot cocoa has evolved to Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce, and the two together is nothing short of life affirming! Who doesn't need something like that once in a while? I have always had a sweet tooth, which is probably really bad at my age, but they holidays only come around once a year, and Autumn is sacred, so what's a girl to do?

Everything about the two pastries is perfect, however they are both a bit expensive. Shrug. What isn't expensive anymore? if $4 for a cheese danish seems pricey, I found a recipe hack that could make indulging more often reasonable, and of course, it can be customized as you like. You can find the recipe here. I haven't tried it yet, but I hope to soon. I have a few other treats ahead of it, waiting to be made. Hubby wants some chocolate cinnamon biscotti, and I want to make some Cinnamon pecans. Not to mention baked apples and perhaps even a holiday pavlova. I love this time of year! Autumn is the sweetest time of life.

Season Of Mist And Mellow Fruitfullness

 

“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.”

~John Keats,

  Complete Poems and Selected Letters

 

 How many times can I say... ooh...awww... when it comes to Autumn? Well, as it turns out, every single day I leave the house! If you dig Autumn, all others I apologize profusely!

 

Enjoy!