An Autumn Day At Yolo Bypass

 "Be thankful for what you have,

 your life is someone else's fairy tail."

~Wale Ayeni

The last time I visited Yolo Bypass Wilderness Area was about late September, and it was unbearably hot, with temperatures left over from summer, so I wasn't photographing autumn lit trees, I was photographing praying mantis and gorgeous dead thistles. Wednesday it was all about the seasons, moving the year along. I don't think winter is insinuating itself in autumn's life, but it autumn was entertaining winter with moody lighting, beautiful ducks, and a lot of potholes along the unpaved roads, from two recent storms. We are now in the between season!

American Wigeon, Cinnamon Teal and Northern Pintail

Raindrops On Safflower Clover

"Yellow is the color of the sun.

Blue is the color of the sky.

Green is the color of grass.

Brown is the color of your eyes.

Black is the color of the night.

Orange is the color of truth.

Red is the color of love.

And...

Rainbow is the color of you."

~Anthony T. Hincks 

It's a new year, but you already know that. But I am going to stress it again, because it applies to my struggle to find inspiration, after autumn dies each year. Winter is difficult, especially in that I can't get out to do photos as much as I would like to. My Fibromyalgia, with the seasonal migraines, and the body aches tend to be worse in cold weather. My mind is happy, but my body is weak. Sometimes it's a matter of pushing though, sometimes there is just no way to make it happen.

But all is not lost. I downloaded a few self guided public art tours. And I have some ambitious plans for the coming weeks. There is actually a lot to photograph in my area, like the awesome art scene, and movie locations, it's just a matter of working on the logistics of the day out. It will happen. I am already much more enthusiastic than in recent years, so I am not going to push, I am just going to let the muse take me where she will. 

Like the photo above. There was an amazing winter storm rolling in from out in the Pacific. I feel like my beloved Bay Area was sending me a lifeline. It is also pushing through to the Sierra. It's so strong, that it will be a blizzard by daybreak. That will mean some great opportunities to visit some snow in the Western Slope of the Sierra, or perhaps as far as Lake Tahoe. I will just have to check the road closures, and hope for the best. But for yesterday, I decided to photograph some pretty Clover grass, with raindrops on them.

It's a start.

~Mood: Inspired

~Me

Fra-Gee-Lay

"For me, the subject of the picture is always more important than the picture."

~Diane Arbus

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and now New Year's is over. It's January 2nd, which means, I will be taking down the decorations and putting away the sparkle. No matter how much I might not be in a festive mood, I always feel a bit sad putting away the little elves and shiny ornaments. We had a scaled down Christmas and it was a giant relief, as opposed to past Christmases when Alan and I over did the decorating. We found a cute artificial tree at IKEA and some adorable mini decorations of bows and stars in gold and silver, and of course we had our traditional Santa Claus hat at the top of the tree. It was mostly a Christmas of new decorations, but Alan and I did keep one tradition, we still purchased each other, and for each cat, one new ornament from the Tilden Park Holiday Carousel. It was a blue teddy bear wagon for the Alan, and he bought me a sparkly cupcake ornament. For the cats, we bought each of them a red and green mint candy ornament. They were captivated by the sparkle, and to our astonishment, only patted them gently to see them sway and shimmer in the light.

We have very well behaved little boy kitties!

Alan's

For Hendrix, Dylan and Joey...

And Mine...

As for the ornament at top of the post, well you probably recognize it from the movie A Christmas Story. I bought Alan and extra ornament, because we had a date to go to the Orinda Theater, on December 11th, to see the movie, but unfortunately we weren't able to due to an extreme rain storm that hit the Bay Area on that very day! We were both terribly disappointed. It was a free showing, which included a visit from two of the stars of the film, and it was a great opportunity, however the rain was absolutely epic, so date night was cancelled. When I saw the Christmas Story leg ornament, online, I couldn't resist! I also purchased a cute cookie cutter of the same design!

It wasn't quite the same, but it made Alan smile, so it all worked out well!

That's what it's all about for me... seeing Alan relax a little... and smile.

He has the best smile!

Mr. Parker: You filty sicken hook-aid! Oh, smelly wok buster! Grout shell fratten house sticklr fifer! You bladder puss nut grafter! Dorton hoper...

Ralphie as Adult: What happened next was a family controversy for years.

Mr. Parker: You wart mundane noodle! You shotten shifter paskabah! You snort tonguer! Lame monger snaffa shell cocker!

(The sound of the lamp breaking is heard next)

Now in the movie, Mrs Parker claims that she accidentally broke Mr. Parker's major award, so we will assume it was a happy accident for her, a terrible one for him, But all kidding aside, I would never break any major award of Alan's, particularly one as nifty as this one! Hell, I would probably demand we buy another one exactly like it... you know... for living room symmetry!

;)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Fra-Gee-Lay

Ornaments (Photo Group Posted)

Photographed 1/1/2015

10:28 PM

HTC Vivid