I Saw The Sign

"If you had a million days to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the "Fuck you" signs in the world."

~J. D. Salinger 

I saw that sign the other day, and it reminded me of the song from the 90's. I immediately began humming it, and I have been humming it since! Don't get me wrong, I love, Ace Of Base, but I can't get the song out of my head! Of course if you drive around Stockton you will see all kinds of signs. Some seem more like omens, rather than a perplexing. The city of Stockton really needs to do better about things like this... and the crime rate. It's apparent the powers that be have missed the sign!

Speaking of missing the sign... folks really need to stop doing this. Park the damn car in the space. The hashmarks are not part of the space! This is becoming one of my favorite pet peeves. As a handicapped person, I have lost the ability to park in a space, because of fellow handicapped people engaging in this behavior. JUST PARK IN THE DAMN SPACE! To be fair, I see non-handicapped people parking in these special spots as well. Sigh. All I can say is... READ THE SIGN!

It is, what it is!

The Common Raven And Leaf Of The Day #21

 "Farther west, a raven floated down the road like an escort,

  a companion, making sure I got home okay."

 

~Rick Bass

The Sky, The Stars, The Wilderness

 

When I think about ravens, I don't generally think of comfort. I think of the poem, The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe. Although, from time to time, I think about the raven that lived in Herman and Lilly Munster's clock, who always quoted that famous poem with, "never more, never more." Which seems fairly morose or, perhaps, I don't know, bleak. At the end of the day, I think it's just a bird, doing bird thing. I did spot he, and his mate, at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, where there are birds. Shock. Awe. Or maybe I am about to be hit by a nuclear missile. I mean a lot of other folks will be there with me when it happens, but that kind of thing always seems so personal when it plays out. Don't you think?

 

 

Great bird for October.

 Good Omen bird.

 I mean good bird to associate with bad omens.

 Sigh.

~Me

Woodbridge And The Cosumnes RIver

"In order to see birds, it is necessary to become a part of the silence."

 

Robert Lynd 

 

Northern Mockingbird

Woodbridge

Lodi, California

January 3rd 2020

I happened upon my new hobby of, watching and photographing birds, kinda by mistake. It was this past November, and it appeared that we in, San Joaquin County, were going to be asked to stay indoors as much as possible, because of the surge of Covid-19. I was also anticipating autumn ending soon, and with it my Autumn Leaf project, so I did a quick search online to see what my options were. Purely by accident I found a link to an article about delta birds, and the Sandhill Crane in particular. A bird so revered in my area, that it has it's very own festival, held annually in November, in Lodi! Well, as you might imagine, the festival for 2020 was cancelled, due to Covid-19 concerns, but the Woodbridge Ecological Reserve was open, and nothing was mentioned about it being off limits.

 

White-crowned Sparrow

Woodbridge

Lodi, California

2020 kicked my ass, and the ass of most folks I know. My nerves have felt shot. Too much Trump. Too much tragedy. Too much self whining. Too much! I wanted some peace and quiet, so it sounded like a fairly nice place to visit as a change of pace. A real chance to get out of my own head for a little while, and besides, there might be one or two new kinds of leaves to photograph! I never would have guessed how much joy that place would bring me, on that late autumn day. It was quiet, except for the sounds of the hundreds of different birds and water fowl, and the occasional human who had no clue about how successful bird watching is best done with eyes open and mouths closed. Humans! Oh well, I am happy to say, that birders and fellow photographers get alone nicely. Politics doesn't come up, when you are too busy sitting on a bench listening to a nearby bird, or watching the majestic sight of a large flock of crane returning home from wherever a crane goes for the day, or watching a sunset over Mount Diablo. 

 

 

I started keeping track on day one of the beautiful birds I was photographing, and from there I discovered the Cosumnes River Wildlife Reserve, in next door Galt, California. And as of the new year, I am now keeping a Google album which I hope to fill with at least 300 new bird sightings for the year. That's my goal anyway. Between the two different reserves, I am well on my way. Realistically, I will only be able to visit there on the weekends, but there are always a ton of different types of birds at both places, and sometimes on power poles between them, to add to my album. Just last Sunday, I photographed about 25 or so, distinct birds. It was thrilling. I like having a new subject to photograph, and new places to visit. I have read that the coastline from Point Reyes to Bodega Bay is a birders paradise. I can't wait to visit, later this year, possibly in the spring, because it's also a photographers paradise. And don't tell anyone, but you can find a lot of autumn beauty just inland, at the wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties. 

The quiet has never been so beautiful.

And look, there is a little autumn left to make me smile!

 

Oak Tree

Cosumnes River Wildlife Reserve

Galt, California

 

 

~Carly

 

 

Could A Bad Hairstyle Be Considered A Head Wound?

"He felt alone, prey to the tedium, to the dreariness of time, especially at the approach of twilight which, during those late-autumn days, came in through the windows, settling on the furniture with a laden pallor, sending the mirrors into mourning at light's farewell... ."

~Georges Rodenbach

The Bells Of Bruges

I found that address sign in San Francisco, on November 25th, 2016. I though it was amusing because not only was it Black Friday, but it was only a few weeks after the 2016 National Election, and I was pretty sure America had just voted the Anti-Christ into the presidency! LOL. I was NOT in a good mood, and everything seemed more and more dark with each passing day, and Black Friday seemed not just metaphorical, but downright ironic! That's just a little taste of just how sick my sense of humor can be!

 Alan was patient with me, as he wasn't exactly thrilled with Trump being elected either, but he was pretty sure Trump wasn't smart enough to be the Anti-Christ. My argument to his argument was, if Trump was the Anti-Christ, wouldn't he pretend to be dumb, and thereby throw everyone off the scent? After all, the Anti-Christ is described as the liar of all liars, right? So my argument made perfect sense, at least to me! Well, we debated it, and batted it around, and finally agreed to disagree, because if this was truly the last days, what difference would it make, and if it wasn't the last days, again, what difference would it make, so maybe we could just focus on something else a little more pleasant?

He moved on. I didn't. Because since Trump took office, he has only proven how completely evil he really is! Dumb and evil! He and his minions! Because they are so DUMB AND EVIL, things only continue to deteriorate. Vladimir Putin and Russia continue to interfere with our midterm elections. North Korea is laughing at us, and have NOT taken steps to denuclearize. Trump has done his best to push all our allies away. The Stock Market is in trouble. He's desperately trying to start a trade war. More and more long time retail chains are going out of business. BABY PRISON. And to top everything off... there was not just possible complacency in the murder of a Washington Post journalist, but perhaps conspiracy! 

Don't you just love Jared Kushner? 

 So, there you have it! Whoops, turns out there is just one more thing... that devastating Climate Change report from a couple weeks ago, which pretty much says, the Earth will be finished in roughly 20 years if things don't change, oh yes, that minor detail, doesn't that just bring everything together in a nice and tidy basket of Apocalyptic MAGANESS? It's all quite reminiscent of a certain book, what was the name of it again? Oh yes, I remember, REVELATIONS!

But I could be wrong. Maybe it's just the MOST IRRITATING TIME I HAVE SPENT ON EARTH, WITH EACH DAY BRINGING A NEW LOW OF RIDICULOUSNESS!

If this isn't the end times, 

then God really should have written one more book! 

He and I need to talk, 

there are a few things I need him to clear up!

#34 Leaf Of The Day

October 24th, 2018

Photographed October 14th, 2018

Sacramento, California

~Mood: LAUGHING WHILE CRYING WHILE SCREAMING!
~ME   ;)

Seeing Tomorrow

"The excitement of dreams coming true

 is beyond the description of words."

~Lailah Gifty Akita 

Friday night, into Saturday morning, I dreamed about pheasants. They were just walking all around me. Mostly female, but there was one or two males as well. It was so odd, because it was so specific! I hadn't seen pheasants since moving to Stockton, and I was a bit perplexed about why I would dream something like that. I looked up the meaning of the dream, in an online dream dictionary, and as it turns out it's a pleasant enough omen. It means that I am moving into a more centered existence in both my creative and personal life. I like that! It's been a hell of a couple years, I need this time. I need some contentment.

With the renovations going so well, and the financial situation coming to a clearer place, I think I can finely stop and breathe. And maybe get back out with the camera! I miss that passion. I wish the photo I took last night had come out better, but the pain from my fibromyalgia was hindering my ability to get a really stunning shot of that beautiful bird. Hopefully he will be in the yard again tomorrow, and I will be able to have a really nice session with the camera! Sometimes I dream. And sometimes they come true. Shrug. I guess it happens to everyone once in a while.

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Come On Number 4!

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people."

~W.C. Fields

Remember yesterday when I said that it was going to rain... well... yep... it rained! And RAINED. And RAINED. And even as I write this, not only is it raining... we are waiting for the lightning and thunder! So, no new photos today, but instead I have some photos from one of the activities Alan and I did on our vacation in October, that I haven't had a chance to share with you before now.

Horse Racing At Golden Gate Fields!

 

We we were kids, Alan and I used to go to the Alameda County Fair, and we would always take in a race or two. And sometimes when we hung out before we were a couple, we visited the track at Bay Meadows. Oh my, it was lovely there. It seemed a little smaller than Golden Gate Fields, of course it was probably the exact same size, it just seemed that way to me. It was a beautiful place. We had a lot of good times there, and one especially profitable time that pretty much paid for a our wedding cake! LOL. Alan always taught me to never bring more money to the track than I can afford to lose, and never, ever gamble out of boredom. Not just good advice... GREAT ADVICE. No matter how a day at the track has ever been, he and I have never walked out of a race track or a casino, for that matter, down in the dumps over a loss.

 

That feels good!

One the day we went back in October, I brought enough of my own money for a couple races. In the first race, the horse I bet on came in 3rd... why did I bet to win, and not to place? Sheesh. In the second race I placed $8.00 on the #4 horse to... ahem... win. Wow... it's not that it came in dead last, it didn't, but it didn't win either! Goodbye $10.00! LOL. I was there more for the photography, than the gambling anyway. Alan on the other hand, did quite well. Well, actually for the first couple races he didn't win, but between the 2nd and 3rd races an odd omen took place. A seagull pooped from on him from on HIGH, missing me completely, but hitting Alan square in the chest as if he had a big target there! LOL. At first he was fairly pissed off, but as he was getting up to visit the men's room, a little lady of about 80 stopped him and said... "Don't frown dear, it's the best thing that could have happened... you'll see."

Alan didn't think much of it, and kinda chuckled as he continued on his way.

Then...

No joke...

He won the next 8 races in a row, and came home a very happy fella.

We didn't break the track or anything, but it was nice to see him happy and relaxed, with a couple less worries off his mind. He works hard all year, and to see the vacation lift away all his worry lines, and frowns does a happy wife good. He deserves it!

There is no proof the bird pooping on him had anything to do with his good fortune, or that the nice little lady knew what she was talking about, and I know that sometimes perspective is everything, but it's nice to think of that day, and consider the little bit of magic that just might have been flying by.

And thank the birds in the sky that he didn't bet on the Number 4 horse like I did!

Happiness.

~Me :)