Tyler Likes To Help

 

"I believe cats be spirits come to earth. 

A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud, without coming through."

~Jules Verne

Tyler likes to help. He loves my desk. He loves my chair. And he loves my computer. Simon does too, but it's my pink eared black cat that likes to be helpful in my office. All he wants in the way of salary is snuggles, a supply of catnip fish and tinkle balls, and, of course, nom noms.

 A better assistant I'll never find!

Just Remember... your cat likes to help!

Inspiration

"One shouldn't be fooled by how quickly they startle. Bluebirds just like open spaces, that's all. Open fields where they are free. And when they find a place, they come in hoards, and they keep coming. They're faithful little settlers. They know when they have found a place of beauty."

~Ashley Clark

Paint And Nectar

Just a splash of color, on a cold, dark, rainy day. I hope to see a lot of more, Western Bluebirds, through this spring. They are one of the most beautiful perching birds in the valley. I count on them for inspiration. 

Autumn Leaves Like A Koi Pond

 

“October, baptize me with leaves! Swaddle me in corduroy and nurse me with split pea soup. October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace!”

 
~Rainbow Rowell

   Attachments

 

Beautiful October! My favorite month of the year! Our wedding anniversary is tomorrow, our made up holiday, "Family Day" is coming up on the 23rd, and of course, Halloween is just 2 weeks away! There's so much more about October, and autumn in general, that make this the best time of the year! It's all there, just waiting for me! The rain brings me new opportunities with lighting and colors that my camera has craved. We had a brief rain a couple weeks ago, and I went leaf peeping afterwards. I found these leaves curbside, and right off, to my imagination, they reminded me of Koi pond! What do you think? Soggy leaves, or Koi pond?

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #15

 

"There's nothing in life quite like Autumn. Misty mornings and rainy afternoons.

 The crisp cool feeling that hangs in the air. A sense of warmth that comes from within.

 It's nothing less than magical, really."

 

~Unknown

 

 

 

 

 

On An Rainy Day In Autumn

 

 “Night, which in Autumn seems to fall from the sky so suddenly, chilled us...” 

 
~Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly,

  The Crimson Curtain     

 

 

I took these photographs on a slightly rainy day in autumn.

 This Great Egret took my breath away. They are such elegant birds.

 

  

Welcome To Spring

 

“Clean air; bird song; fresh flowers;

 and the leaves unfurling on the twigs.”
~Pierre D'Alverne 

 

A little later today we say goodnight to winter. I am a bit blue about that fact because I enjoy the dark rainy day, I like when the wind blows so hard that it makes spooky noises in the house. I like watching old black and white monster movies, because being scared shouldn't be held to autumn exclusively. But as I sit here mourning winter, I realize that I also enjoy the warmer summer days. My arthritis really enjoys it! And I adore Jelly Belly Jelly Beans. Every single flavor! Which I tend to crave this time of year. In autumn, its candy corn, in winter, Ghiradelli chocolate. Summer finds me crazy for old fashioned candy, like Whoppers and Mounds bars. It's all good, but I just bought a 4lb bag of Jelly Belly for the season. It helps me deal with Trump bullshit, but I will save all that for another day.

My Rainy Day

 

“If you want to get lost without getting lost, a rainy day is exactly the day you are looking for! Everyone you see here and there is immersed in their own world under their umbrella, almost teleported to another place, lost in an abstract world!” 

~Mehmet Murat ildan

 

We never made it to Bodega Bay, we changed our mind and decided to go Monterey on Monday. The birds are slightly more intriguing there right now. Auklets and puffins have been spotted! I am really looking forward to getting a photograph of them. And the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary is right there in Pacific Grove. But I need to rest up for that long of a drive, and I actually like being home today. It rained, and I had a chance to catch my breath. I had a busy week, searching for birds for this year's album. God they are so beautiful! It was a fun week, but since I had Covid-19 my energy level sometimes falls to nearly zero. Sigh. I don't mind saying, I am paranoid about getting it again. I sometimes feel 20 years older than I am right now, but birding helps, and playing board game with dear hubby, and watching movies, and yes, watching it raining outside! It is a real gift! Not only is it beautiful, but it inspires me hold the good memories, and plan for new ones. Hopefully Monterey will be a blast, and put me one with all the beauty it has to offer. If you have been there you know exactly what I am taking about. Monterey has healed my broken heart so many time I can't count. Here's to Monday, and all the gorgeous nature waiting for me!

 

 Stockton, Ca

Monterey, Ca

Please wear a mask.

A Splash Of Color

December 15th, 2014

Cull Canyon Park 

It rains.

And rains.

And rains.

But there is a sky above the rain

Nothing can rot the sky.

Earth has turned to mud.

What of it?

The heart of the planet is made of fire, of ardent sun.

~Visar Zhiti

The Condemned Apple; Selected Poetry

It was a rainy day. Cold. It was December, so of course it was cold, but I had the best time taking this photo! Everything looked black and white that day, except for that beautiful robin, sitting in the tree. I love days like this. What might be otherwise sad or lonely suddenly a splash of color, or maybe a laugh happens, and the whole day becomes something completely different.

You know. Life. 

And now for a new photo...

 January 2nd, 2017

San Ramon, California

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Beware The Man You Think You Know

Quincy School House

Quincy, California

October 15th, 2016

  

Songs Of Sapphique

"Walls have ears. Doors have eyes.

Trees have voices. Beasts tell lies.

Beware the rain. Beware the snow.

Beware the man you think you know."

~Catherine Fisher

Incarceron 

As we inch closer and closer to Donald Trump taking office, I am finding myself thinking about different years of my life. I sometimes think about the first I heard about him. I think about how disgustingly seedy his life seemed, when the details of his first divorce came out. I remember thinking that it was a shame that affairs happen in marriages, but I remember thinking Ivana Trump was probably better off without him. 

I remember looking at pictures of the "other woman" and thinking despite the fact that she had slept with a married man, there was something gentle and likeable about her. I remember when Marla and Donald got married. She looked so pretty, and so glamorous. She looked happy, he looked like every other picture I had ever seen of him. He almost had this implication of "next" written on his appearance. And as it turns out... I was right. Marla would be thrown aside about 10 years or so down the road. Just as predicted by some of Trump's lawyers and friends.

And now the seedy, unfaithful husband will be president in 10 days and the joke is on his supporters because Donald Trump doesn't care about anyone but himself. He surrounds himself with YES people, and resists any kind of critique with not just dismissal, but aggressive dismissal. He thrashes and destroys anyone who dares question him. Whether they have his best interest at heart or not. If it's one thing we don't need in a president, it's a childish, aggressive narcissist who refuses to listen to anything that doesn't suit his predetermined ambition or inner dialog. 

We, America, are about to enter into the most dangerous time of my life, and that includes the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of JFK and the attempted assassination of Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. All things that seemed to bring us together as a nation. But things are different now, and Trump doesn't want us to come together. So, I don't know what things will be like a year from now, assuming a year from now exists. Trump seems to get a great deal of joy out of seeing American's turn on each other over him. His decisions are dangerous and at least some of his early supporters seem to be waking up to that fact, but it's pretty late in the game to have an epiphany. I don't want to see another president impeached, but Trump seems like he is barreling toward that end with his alliance with Putin, and his MANY conflicts of interest. And there is nothing anyone can do but hold on, and hope that Trump can be stopped before real damage is done to the United States. 

Rainy days make me think about what's about to happen. I can't get out and do any photography, and my body tends to be in more pain on days like this one. This week is full of rain, and jammed packed with senate confirmation hearings of some people who have NO business anywhere near holding a government office! Also later today, is President Obama's farewell speech to America. I don't know if I can watch any of it. I have mixed feelings about him as a leader, but I never went to bed frightened for my life or with a sense of foreboding like I feel with Trump. 

I have appreciated many things President Obama did in office, and other actions by him perplexed me and exasperated me to NO END. There is ten days left, and then the world will literally change forever! As I sit here right now... I don't see anything good coming from Trump taking office. Even when George W. Bush was in office, I had to reluctantly admit he loved his country, it's a lot clearer now that he still loves his country, and I can see where I was wrong about him to a degree. It was a complicated time, much too complicated for one post on this blog. 

If Trump manages to stay in the White House four years I will be 59 years old, should I survive. The thought of him in office eight years is almost more than I can take. The GOP is poised to do away with the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and they want to privatized Medicare. Trump's followers either weren't paying attention, or just plain didn't care because now it seems like they are caught off guard by the predicted cuts to most social programs. I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry that they got so caught up in the gitchy, never boring, "reality" of Trump's candidacy that they voted against their own interests! We on the left tried to tell them. We tried. God HELP US WE TRIED! It's no solace that the people who will probably be hurt the most by Trump, will be his own supporters!

But in that we are all on a collision course with fate daily, there is nothing that can be done. So I am just listening to the rain, trying to hold on and photograph the rain for what it is, a cold distraction from how cold and dark life is sometimes. It's strange how beautiful and scary a rainy day can be depending on what window you are looking out of.

"I went to bed and woke in the middle of the night thinking I heard someone cry, thinking I myself was weeping, and I felt my face and it was dry."Then I looked at the window and thought: Why yes, it's just the rain, the rain, always the rain, and I turned over, sadder still, and I fumbled about for my dripping sleep and tried to slip it back on."

~Ray Bradbury

Green Shadows, White Whale: A Novel of Ray Bradbury's Adventures Making Moby Dick With John Huston In Ireland

Mood: Quiet

~Me

 

A Life Lived In Frames

"Photography is a reality so subtle

 that it becomes more real than reality."

~Alfred Stieglitz

Christmas came a little early. Alan gave me the go ahead to purchase a new camera. Getting out to do some photography had been good for my soul this past month. I had forgotten how much better I feel when I can step out of my own thoughts, and into the natural and real world. There is beauty in the world, and I love being there to document it. There is also a lot of pain in the world right now, and I know I will be there for that too. It will, perhaps, be unavoidable at times. America is about to go through a troubling, dark time. We can hope for the best, but I think we should probably brace for the worst. But we will have time to speak about that later, for now here are the first few images I captured with the new camera...

The camera and I need to get to know each other. It will come with time. So far I am happy with the results. Both photos were taken on a rainy day, which plays with the lighting at bit, and as I was losing the light pretty quickly, the focusing was getting more and more difficult. All relationships take time, and commitment.

That was my life yesterday, lived in frames.

 Leaf Of The Day

November 21st 2016

Mood: Quiet

~Me

 

Rainy Day Roses And Cats

"The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play.

 So we sat in the house. All that cold, wet day."

~Dr. Suess

The Cat In The Hat

I woke up yesterday morning, to the sounds of rain softly tapping the rood, and my cat Dylan purring as he slept on my arm. He is a complicated cat, but when Dylan tells you are loved, you can believe it because he doesn't lie! He makes me feel like a success because he is very picky about who he trusts, and who he loves. Believe me, you haven't been ignored until you have been ignored by a cat, and no cat is more adept at ignoring than my Dylan. He loves me to the point of green eyed jealousy and allows only me to put him in his cat kennel for those odd times we have to take a ride in the car! He is a complicated cat, but he is worth all the fuss we go to from time to time. He just needs a little more understanding than most. And really don't we all need that from time to time? 

As if waking up the way I did wasn't enough to get my day off to just the right start... I woke up to this gorgeous pink rose bloom in the yard by the pool! Isn't it stunning? I am looking forward to nurturing it along this winter, and planting some new varieties next spring. Roses, and miniature Japanese Maples are on the agenda. Ideally my yard will look like an autumn wonderland next year at this time, but we'll see. There is a lot to come to terms with between now and then. Hopefully we can get some bills under control, and I need to get my homesickness/grieving under control, but in some ways I am already feeling better. With every new amazing autumn leaf I find, I feel a little better. It's all a matter of putting one leaf in front of the last, and moving on. 

Rainy Days and Tabby Cats certainly help!

Leaf Of The Day

November 9th 2015

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Something Interesting In An Ordinary Place

"To me, photography is an art of observation.

 It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... 

I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them."

~Elliot Erwitt

Here is my first portrait of the year! I love taking candid shots of people just living their life. It all began with brides in Golden Gate Park, and from there the project has just evolved. I try not to disturb the subject, because it alters the view of the every day life. I just enjoy seeing people being people. In this case, however, I was a bit annoyed that with an entire parking lot, let alone a very nice car, this man chose to stand next to my car to smoke his cancer stick. Why do people do that? I don't want the smell of their stinky habit in my car anymore than they do! People... please don't do that! Oh well, at least I got a photo out of it! And in a weird way, by the time I had taken the photo set, I was glad I got a chance to capture not just the man, willing to stand in the pouring rain to smoke, but for the chance to photograph the rain as a starring component.

So... any thoughts? Care to caption the photo? 

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

 

A Preview Of Spring And Happy Hanukkah!

"Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair... "

~Susan Polis Schutz

Can you believe all that color? I cam upon these gorgeous purple flowers, while photographing leaves at the Brazil Room in Tilden Park, here in Berkeley. I couldn't resist taking a photo. They were so vibrant, and so lovely, that they were distracting me from the leaves, which almost never happens. As seasons go, I find spring to be my least inspiring. It's such an easy season to find beauty, that there is nothing very challenging about it, but still, when I come across something as beautiful as this flower, especially on a cold, rainy, almost winter day, I begin to look forward to the possibilities of spring. 

It will be here soon enough.

:)

The Leaf Of The Day

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Signs Of Good Things To Come...

"The voice of beauty speaks softly; it creeps only into the most fully awakened souls."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

I love winter for so many reasons, and hate it for one. I hate it because it completely swallows up autumn, and takes away the beautiful colors that can only be seen during my favorite season. Autumn will always be where my heart lives, but look at these blossoms, is there anything quite like the first blossoms of hope that smile on you in the middle of winter? It was a blissfully beautiful day. Dark, cloudy, and just enough mist in the air to qualify as spooky! 

Mist that will turn into rain tonight. But there, in the middle of all the darkness, in the middle of the stick forest, was a tree, bursting with fragrant pink flowers. Hope. You wouldn't believe how beautiful the air smelled the moment I took this photo. I am not sure what kind of blossom it was, but it was beautiful. A true sign of good things to come! This same tree, will turn a lovely gold and cinnamon when autumn comes back around later this year. My heart is happy.

Mood: Inspired

~Me :)

The Black Friday Season

"If I had a necklace made out of tiny suns, I'd only wear it at night when you could really see it. Sadly, I don't have a necklace like that. The closest thing I have is a necklace made out of those glow in the dark stars you stick to bedroom ceilings. But I only wear that on special occasions, like bedtime."

~Jarod Kintz, This Is The Best Book I've Ever Written, And It Still Sucks

The time has passes so fast between the end of our vacation, on November 7th and now. So, I guess that pretty much means, I am having more fun now, then I did on vacation, or... no wait... YES... I am having more fun now then I did on vacation! LOL. It's not that every minute of our vacation was lousy, but when you go out for a day and come home to a crappy neighbor, well, it can knock the wind out of one's sails. You know? And now, since Donny and Nina have moved, even the stormy, windy days are amazingly beautiful again! But then again, I always did enjoy a nice, dark, gloomy day, with rain pattering on the roof, and some insistent cuddling by my cats!

Thanksgiving is coming up this week, and Alan is doing a major amount of overtime! That means lots of time to myself, time to do things like cooking, and photography, and looking up juicy dirt on wacky celebrities on the Internet! Oh, and politics... one of my very favorite pursuits! And I will more than likely be doing all those things, plus scoping out the best Black Friday sales, being held on Thanksgiving this year! I don't usually partake of the sales on Black Friday, Alan and I like to go to Union Square, in San Francisco, order something delicious like Hot Chocolate and Cappuccino, and watch other people go crazy spending money! But this year, in that we won't get to have Thanksgiving morning, or Black Friday the way we traditionally do, I think I might join the Black Friday crazies, if the price is right!

A change of pace is a good thing once in a while!

And to make it all a little more special.... rain is predicted for later in the week, just in time for the holiday and the aftermath! I love putting on my Jersey Housewife coat (it's faux leopard don't worry) and my wool mittens, my warmer than warm scarf, and my suede boots and hitting a good sale! Gosh, how I miss my Jersey Housewife coat in the summer. :( But the real joy comes when I finally get home, and the house is quiet, except for the rain outside and the heater warming the house, and the cats chattering to the birds in the tree outside the window. And oh how dark the clouds make the day perfect! Sunshine is so common, the dark is where everything looks new, and different. You can think in the quiet. I love a dark rainy day!

:) Black Friday has become a season all it's own!

See those leaves, they are actually more of a pastel pink, and a subtle mauve. But at night, they transform into the earthy brown color you see. Funny how different things look in the dark.

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

On The Last Full Day Of Summer

"I have an affection for those transitional seasons, the way they take the edge off the intense cold of winter, or the heat of summer."

~Whitney Otto, How To Make An American Quilt

Because of when I do my photography, and do my blog posting, I am usually one day behind things. I eventually get there... lol... so no worries. With our 5 week vacation starting in about a week, I know I will be coming and going much more than usual, so perhaps I will work on changing my posting schedule a bit. We'll see. Anyway, here is what the last day of summer, 2013, looked like for us in the Bay Area.

In my opinion, it was perfect! I love the way to earth looks, and smells, after the rain!


Padre Picnic Area
Tilden Park, Berkeley, California
September 21st, 2013


Little Farm
Tilden Park, Berkeley, California
September 21st, 2013


Lake Anza
Tilden Park, Berkeley, California
September 21st, 2013

I love working with the transitional lighting on rainy days! So pretty!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)