Wait... Monetery?

 

“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a

 new day with no mistakes in it yet?” 

 

~L.M. Montgomery 

 

Honestly, I should never blog when tired, drunk or sleepy. The other day I titled a blog post, A Winter's Day In Monterey, or so I thought. What I actually titled it was, A Winter's Day In Monetery. A simple slip up, but nonetheless embarrassing. I can provide tons of reasons for my error, and excuses too, but I know I just need to slow down and proofread before I hit the little publish button. It's what would be best for everybody. Unless there is such a place as Monetery, California. It definitely sounds like it could be a real place. Don't you think? Maybe it's just off Rodeo drive or something. In any case, I am thinking of running for mayor or princess of Monetery. Do I have your vote? 

 

 

The Birds Of Monterey Bay

"When the autumn meets the tranquility,

 there you can see the King of the Sceneries!"

~Mehmet Murat ildan 

As much as I love an autumn landscape, with nothing but red, yellow, orange and brown leaves floating from here to there, it isn't the only thing to appreciate about my favorite season, sometimes it's just the amazing color of the sun, and the way it makes everything around seem so tranquil. As you know from my previous post, Alan and I spent a day this past week, in beautiful Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel. I love it there, I really do, but since moving to the Central Valley, I don't spend nearly enough time along the coast. In fact, this was our first visit back, since we moved here in 2015, so it was an especially nice journey back! While I didn't see as many different sea birds as on previous visits, the ones I did see were quite spectacular, and if I didn't know better, I would think they were posing for the camera!

October 17th, 2018 was a wonderful autumn day!

#30 Leaf Of The Day

October 20th, 2018

Pacific Grove, California

Photographed October 17th 2018

~Mood: Happy

~Me

By Land And Sea + The Leaf Of The Day

"Above all, life for a photographer 

cannot be a matter of indifference."

~Robert Frank

Photography is my passion. I work hard at it. I love it, I breathe it. I want to be really good at it. I am at my happiest, when I have a camera in my hand, and I am discovering a new bird, or landscape I haven't seen before, or even a random slant of light or shadow. But I have been becoming indifferent inside, sometimes to life itself, with Donald Trump in office. It's affected every aspect of my life. Things I used to look forward to, are now pushed away by me, into a box of quiet darkness. 

If this mess ever ends, I would like to resume my life again. I fight the depression with all I have, but a lot of joy is simply gone. As we begin our vacation next week, Alan and I have a couple things planned that may provoke some feeling again. I take groups of photos like these, to try and stretch my creativity muscle, because I know that depression is treated using a number of different elements, and art is one of them. So I really am trying!

This group of photos are not my best work, they just aren't, but they are an attempt at moving away from the sadness, and toward happiness. There was a time when I would rather take photos than breathe, but with Trump in office, I feel like all my energy is gone. Just gone. And if this weeks news hasn't been horrific enough, later today we will be getting a "Presidential Tweet" that tests the Emergency Broadcast system. And we are given NO CHOICE! The call will come, whether we want to receive it or not!

 Yet another intrusion from Donald Trump.  

Will it ever end?

Altamont Pass

By The Pacific Ocean

If how I feel inside couple be summed up by a photo,

 it would be this one. Foggy. Dark. Quiet.

#12 Leaf Of The Day

October 3rd, 2018

Ione, California

~Mood: Quiet

~Me

 

Late Summer Album 2017

"Autumn is the time of year when Mother Nature says, "Look how easy, how healthy, and how beautiful letting go can be."

~Toni Sorenson

This set of photos were taken a few days before the end of the summer of, 2017. It wasn't officially autumn, but autumn was definitely making itself known. The light was autumn. The air was autumn. The sky was autumn, and all of it came together in one of the loveliest sunsets I have ever seen along the California coast! I'm thinking about the transition of seasons, because we only have a little over a month to go, before winter comes roaring in.

 There is a fair amount of snow coming into the Sierra this week, as it usually does about this time every year, so I will probably make my way up to the Sierra to photograph it, but I will still be holding onto autumn in my heart until the very last moment. Winter will bring it's own special beauty, and I will be happy to photograph it, because letting go is a good thing, after all, I need to begin planning for next autumn. There will be places to go, and leaves to photograph, and that takes planning! But for now, here is a look back at late summer 2017, by the Pacific Ocean.

Late Summer Album

September 2017

(Some photos where previously posted in September)

#16 Leaf Of The Day

November 16th 2017

Cull Canyon

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

A Late Summer Twilight By The Pacific Ocean

"The pacific is my home ocean; I knew it first, grew up on it;s shore, collected marine animals along the coast.

 I know its moods, it's color, its nature."

~John Steinbeck

Travels With Charley: In Search Of America 

Saturday was a lot of fun! I wasn't sure at first I would be going because the my orange monster cat Dylan gave one of his early morning meowing concerts... LOUDLY! He is the most beautiful cat I have ever seen, orange like a coastal sunset, but he is also bossy, quirky and one of the great pet loves of my life. A curse, and a blessing all rolled up into nine pounds of fur!

Anyway, we left Stockton at about 1:00 PM, and made a couple stops in the East Bay, before heading to Half Moon Bay, and then to Pigeon Point Lighthouse and coastal overlook, which is about 30 minutes north of Santa Cruz. I did some shots of the lighthouse, but the lighting wasn't great so I am planning to revisit next month while we are on vacation.

It was a good day. I was in pain, so I didn't do as much with the camera as I would have liked, but Alan and I did a lot of talking, and a lot of laughing, and listened to a LOT of 80's music! We pretty much sang all day! God, we are old ones now, and eyeing retirement in a few years, and I am sure when that day comes, there will be a lot more photography, and music, and dancing around in my granny panties at the ocean. Well, probably not that last one!

The best part of Saturday was the complete lack of political obsessing by me. I didn't check my phone to see if there were missiles on their way from North Korea. No fretting about the last or even the next stupid thing he might be planning or doing, nope, the day was all about the music, the creativity, and the pure fragrant smells of being by the Pacific Ocean!

Where do the days and the years go?

Wasn't the 1980's like 15 minutes ago?

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

 

 

Yeah, What He Said

"Sometimes I arrive just when God's ready to have someone click the shutter."

~Ansel Adams

Yeah, what he said! If I take good pictures, well, it's because I know the basic function of a camera. I mean, how do you take credit for a sunset? Or a cute animal? Or sometimes... just being in the right place... at the right time? I suppose it takes a creative urge to capture the fleeting, or the selfishness of keeping a moment forever. Maybe it's the pursuit of the unobtainable. Maybe that's it. Who knows. I do know that I love the surge of adrenaline of snapping a photo, and accomplishing something personal, that I can share. You see, being a private person means there is very little I am prepared to share, but by sharing my photography, well, that tells you all about what truly makes me... me.I didn't have to know the man in this photo, I got to know him silently, as he thoroughly enjoyed his dinner, a beautiful sunset, and some meditation!

 And a little while later, I got to say...

 Yeah, what he said!

This is just one set of many photos I have recently added to my Flickr account. Click on the link to see whats past, whats present, and what might come in the future!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

On All Hallows Eve... A Look Back At October 2014

"The wind outside nested in each tree, prowled the sidewalks in invisible treads like unseen cats. Tom Skelton shivered. Anyone could see the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows Eve. Everything seemed cut from soft black or velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plum of funeral parades. From kitchen windows drifted two pumpkin smells: gourds being cut, pies being baked."

~Ray Bradbury

The Halloween Tree

Well, the vacation is almost over, as is my favorite month, October. It was a busy month, filled with long drives, and leaf gathering, not to mention all the fun of San Francisco. I have mixed feelings today, as Halloween is my favorite holiday, and yet it comes at the very end of my favorite month!

That's a difficult dynamic.

Oh well. I am not that sad really, I know I romanticize it a bit, but really isn't October amazing?

Let's have a look back... Shall We?

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Whew! 31 pages... that's a new record number of photographs for a single month! We had a lot of fun, and it was just what I needed to shake off all the gloominess 2014 had. We are still on vacation through Wednesday of next week, so there are a few more vacation photos to come.

Stay Tuned!

Leaf Of The Day

Mood: Happy

~Me :)