Autumn Leaf Of The Day #34/Ed Sullivan And The Mamas And The Papas

 

“Yes, Halloween excites me. That whole time of year, autumn, I find exhilarating. A passionate season. The others are so bland. In the fall, you see opportunities for change. Real change. Possibilities present themselves. None of the renewal and redemption cliches of spring. No. Something darker and more primal and more important than that.”

 
~Alice LaPlante 

 

Old Sacramento, October 2024

 

The Santa Fe Train Of Old Sacramento

"Gone are the summer days and my mind with them. No longer will I indulge in hopes of getting you back. It is hope that makes these chains heavier and autumnal night longer. I will merely serve as a memory to you the lover that recited love poems. I must go now and I urge you to not look back."

~Kamand Kojouri

I love the sound of a train in the middle of the night. It's got such a lonely sound, and yet inside my heart it feels okay because I know it is busy at work, always going here or there on business and bringing people and things to planned stops safely. I think little by little, as I was growning up, I began to think of trains as friends. It was a sound I could hear when I was in bed that always made me feel safe, at 3:15 am every morning without fail. Now, wouldn't it be nice to have a train that could take you to your favorite memory, or season, any time you felt like booking passage? There must be an autumn town somewhere other than Heaven. Right? And I bet the train that could take me there would look a lot like the beautiful old Santa Fe train of Old Sacramento!

 For The Last Full Day Of Autumn...

#89 Leaf Of The Day

December 20th 2019

Stockton, California

Nikon

Autumn ends Saturday night so there will be one more leaf to see, so comeback tomorrow to see the very last Leaf Of The Day for Autumn 2019!

~Mood: Quiet

~Me 

Holiday Leftovers

"What happens when you pray for an angel

 and get a vampire instead?"

~R.E. Mullins

I have always loved that quote! It kinda celebrates

 Halloween and Christmas in one shot!

 Tis the season!

Capitol Christmas Tree

Sacramento, California

December 23rd, 2017

New Year's Day is still a few days off, so I think it's okay to finish up the season by showing a few more holiday sights from here in the Central Valley and Sacramento. This is the Capitol Christmas tree, that usually goes up around Thanksgiving, and disappears sometime just after the start of the year, like in most towns I guess.  Sacramento actually has two holiday trees, this one, and one in Old Sacramento, which is traditionally lit on Black Friday! Of the two trees, I think the one in front of the capitol is my favorite! The lights seem more calming and nostalgic to me. Shrug. I guess holiday decorations are in the eyes of the beholder!

Christmas Tree

Old Sacramento

December 23rd, 2017

 

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

The Season Of Discarded Couches

"Don't throw away another day! No more procrastinating!

 Only YOU can make it happen.

 So, UN-ASS the couch and make it happen!"

~Steve Maraboli

Unapologetically You: Reflections On 

Life And The Human Experience 

As I mentioned before, I did very little photography this year, as  compared to other years, where there was literally a folder for every single day of the year! But I wasn't a completely absent, I did a little, especially last May. On May 13th it was finally warm, and the Fibromyalgia wasn't hurting me too bad, so Alan and I made a day of it, by attending the annual Rodeo Parade in Castro Valley, then we hit Berkeley for some lunch, and after that it was off to San Francisco! It was good for my soul to get in touch with all my favorite places! I needed to get a workout with the camera, and a workout I got. I posted some photos of San Francisco in a previous post, but this is the first chance I got to post the photo of the couch!

When I lived in Berkeley, I loved it when May came around. Not only was it finally warm, but May seems to also be the start of Discarded Couch season! Berkeley is a university town, and as such you have tons of student housing all around Cal Berkeley. So, as the year ends, and summer begins, so begins the throwing away of the no longer needed. Couches, toaster ovens, clothing, sometimes even basketballs and stuffed animals can be found along Berkeley's sidewalks and curbs, but most often, its couches. And I love photographing them immensely!

When I lived there I had a huge file of street furniture, but I gave up that subject a couple years ago. I miss it terribly, and next year I might go back to do some of this type of photography a little more often, and maybe even branch out to different cities around Northern and Central California. It makes for a fun day, you never quite know what you will find, sitting on a curb, waiting for it's final destination. And it's not just in May, it's pretty much a summer activity, ceasing sometime around the end of September, as a new season of couches begins. Out with the old... right?

#3 Leaf Of The Day

September 24th 2017

Old Sacramento, California

 Mood: Hopeful

~Me :)

 

 

Art About Town: Sacramento... Untitled Fountain, By David von Schlegell

"Untitled" Fountain By David von Schlegell

300 Capitol Mall

Sacramento, California

"In the Haunted House of life, 

art is the only stair that doesn't creak."

~Tom Robbins

Sacramento has a ton of public art! Now that I live so much closer than I used to, I plan to spend a lot of time photographing all the amazing art around the city, and getting to know Sacramento the way we got to know San Francisco! It was through all the trips around San Francisco, looking for different pieces of public art, that I grew to appreciate the city for all the unique neighborhoods, and districts. Each one is truly a feast for the eyes, and has provided me many days of happiness, getting to know how fun and interesting a place it can be! I am hoping for the same experience with Sacramento!

I first noticed this sculpture the day before Thanksgiving, when Alan and I drove to Old Sacramento to see the lighting of the Christmas Tree. It was dark outside, and I did the night photo you see below, while on the run for the freeway. It was a rushed photo, but I liked the way the colors and lights danced around the photo, so I decided to keep it, and post it along with the better lit daytime photo! When it is operating, the sculpture is actually a beautiful fountain, and the plaque reads...

"Remember that the meaning of life is to build

 a life as if it were a work of art. 

Start working on this great work of art called your own existence. 

Remember the importance of self discipline, study the great sources of wisdom

 and remember that life is a celebration."

Dedicated to the children of Sacramento

Capitol Mall Venture

August 8th, 1985

~Abraham Joshua Heschel

To read a little more about this beautiful fountain, click here.

 Mood: Happy

~Me :)

A Tale Of Two Trees, In The City Of Trees

California State Capitol Christmas Tree

Sacramento, California

December 11th, 2016 

"Use what you have, use what the world gives you. Use the first day of fall: bright flame before winter's deadness; harvest orange, gold amber; cool nights and the smell of fire.

 Our tree lined streets are set ablaze, our kitchens filled with the smells of nostalgia: apples bubbling into sauce, roasting squash, cinnamon, nutmeg, cider, warmth itself.

 The leaves as they spark into wild color just before they die are the worlds oldest performance art, 

and everything we see is celebrating one last violently hued hurrah before the black and white silence of winter."

~Shauna Niequist

Bittersweet: Thoughts On Change, Grace,

 And Learning The Hard Way 

 Old Sacramento Christmas Tree 2016

December 11th, 2016

Sacramento's nickname is the City Of Trees! And that is appropriate because Sacramento is gorgeous with trees right now! Autumn is alive and kicking up it's heels in Sacramento, and if all that spicy, colorful autumn laughter of the trees on a windy day isn't enough to put a big smile on this girls face, then the two Christmas trees that the city boasts certainly does!

There is one in front of the State Capitol building, and there is one down in Old Sacramento! Both lovely, both decorated to put even the biggest Ebenezer Scrooge in the holiday spirit! But you know me, I just had to drive around town to see as many autumn trees as I could. Like I said in previous posts, winter might legitimately claim Christmas, but autumn is the season that sets the stage!

It's just breathtakingly beautiful in Sacramento right now, and I am hoping to get back up to the capitol before December 21st to do some additional leaf photos! As you know, I continue photographing those leaves for as long as they continue to fall. I never get tired of them! 2017 will probably begin like 2016 did, with lots of late falling autumn leaves!

Stay Tuned!

Leaf Of The Day

December 12th 2016

Mood: Happy

~Me :) 

 

Can 2016 Just Die Already?

"If you are good at building bridges,

 you will never fall into the abyss."

~Mehmet Murat ildan

Another new night photo as I continue to practice with the new camera! Sacramento's Tower Bridge, taken the night before Thanksgiving. I was pretty happy with how it came out, but I need to do a lot more before I am completely comfortable. It takes time to build self confidence in working with a new camera, but I am trying because it's a nice distraction from worldly messes I have NO control over. Most of the time I believe, even in the darkest times, there will eventually come a time when one looks back and laughs at the circumstances that scared or angered them. The sun comes up every single day, whether we are ready for it or not. Sigh. I don't know that I will ever look back on 2016 and laugh. 2016 needs to just die already! But if I do, I will amend this post.

 

Mood: Quiet

~Me 

Landlording The Ghost

"If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all his thinking, damages his personality, makes him landlord to a ghost."

~Lloyd C. Douglas



Isn't it funny how many times the scariest appearing things, are in actuality, NOT scary when you take the time to see where shadows, and scary sounds are actually coming from? When I think about what the nation is facing right now, the possibility of defaulting on it's debt, I realize that it's a situation mostly built on fear, shadows and hateful chain rattling, it scares me! But not because of shadows, but rather because of proven economical fact! If the worst happens after October 17th, we will be in world wide dark, uncharted waters. Truly the unknown, minute by minute, with no guarantees for recovery in what's left of my lifetime. It bugs the SHIT out of me, that all that's needed to exercise the ghost is to finally find a way to stop the chain of lies perpetrated by the republican party! Unfortunately, the only thing that is going to wake up the average republican/FoxNews watcher, is to give them exactly what they want, the default of America! They will never understand until all the ghosts visit their door... and never leave. Ever.

And boy are those specters coming!

Until then, they are content to live in shadows, listen to the chains rattling, and landlord the ghost!

Mood: Quiet

~Me 

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 68~ It's Just So Dull :)

Chip Conley: "How often are you up in Sacramento?"


Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom: "Like one day a week, tops. There's no reason... it's just so dull... Sadly, I just, ugh, GOD."



I am still in a bit of a Fibromyalgia funk, still widespread pain, but I haven't lost my sense of humor. LOL. For today's posting I bring you a different bridge. This is the Tower Bridge in Sacramento. The bridge itself actually sits on the banks of Old Sacramento, which in my opinion is the most picturesque part of the city. Oh don't get me wrong, there is a lot to admire and photograph in Sacramento, especially in autumn, but I always gravitate toward the Old Sacramento area because it's such a lovely peaceful part of town. The wooden streets, and shop fronts right out of the old west, not to mention just down the road is the California Railroad Museum, It is pure charm to be sure, and I haven't spent nearly enough time there with my camera.And as much as I am looking forward to exploring Old Sacramento, I also have the Governor's Mansion on my list of THAT WHICH MUST BE PHOTOGRAPHED while on vacation in October. Exploring the whole town is something I am looking forward to.

 

So, how about that quote of Gavin Newsom's? LOL. Delightfully honest isn't he? I have been to Sacramento in the summer... OMG... It's 1000 degrees and boring as hell! NO JOKE. But poor Gavin, I think he is talking Sacramento at any time, any season! LOL, Personally, I agree! And I miss Gavin Newsom now that he is Lt. Governor, because he brought a lot of honesty to San Francisco when he was mayor as well. Given the mess with Ross Mirkarimi, I wonder how differently he might have handled things. Shrug. I wonder if Mirkarimi would be throwing around the same allegations he has with Mayor Lee. Shrug again.The world will never know I guess.



Since Gavin Newsom left San Francisco, he is rarely in the news anymore, well except for this flub. LOL. But see, I understood what he meant, I think most folks did, but it was still amusing. Newsom can be so delightfully honest about how he feels about things, and that's what I love most about him. You pretty much get the truth from him. He is kinda cut from the same cloth as Joe Biden, and that is a good thing. :) Those two are honest, and while some folks insist on calling that honestly flubs, I don't, as I am an occasional flubber or is it flubeee... myself. LOL. Those two are characters... and there is always room for a little more character... right?


Wink. ;)

~Me  :)


Today's Link


JR
http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/07/apadf6-66.html