The Full Buck Moon

 

"I will never be a morning person, for the moon and I are too much in love."

~Christopher Poindexter

Full Buck Moon

Tuesday, July 29th, 2026

The Moon And The Clouds And My Camera

 

“The moon is a loyal companion.
It never leaves. It’s always there, watching, steadfast, knowing us in our light and dark moments, changing forever just as we do. Every day it’s a different version of itself. Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light. The moon understands what it means to be human.
Uncertain. Alone. Cratered by imperfections.” 

― Tahereh Mafi

  Shatter Me

 

There is nothing more to say, that is a magnificent quote. But I will add a little about this photo. It was done last Thursday, just as it appeared out my front door, using no special lens to refine the details of the moon. Frankly, I kinda liked the way the clouds looked as they crossed the moon. So I guess this post is mostly about how the clouds and the moon look together! What do you think?

 

 

The Last Love Of 2023

 

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering 'it will be happier'...” 

~Alfred Lord Tennyson 

 

 

It's the almost last of the year 2023. Well, what I mean is, it's December 30th, and that means it's time to clean up my desktop, and put away the last of 2023. My files. My photos. My compilation of the trumpiness of Trump. And it's a last chance to put the past in, well, the past. The picture you see above is the last of the autumn leaves of 2023. It's raining now, and we are well on our way to storms that will rob me of any bit of autumn that endures, but hey, what a way to go! I kinda love the soggy cereal look of the leaves and I sorta look forward to that stage of things. You must solider through the work of the year, to arrive at a time of fun and splendor. Of autumn leaves and sweaters and hot chocolate. See, I am not mourning autumn 2023, I am looking forward to, and planning for, autumn 2024! But back to the photo portion of this post. Below you will find some final impressions of 2023 that I photographed. I hope they make you smile. 

 

 

There's Always The Moon

 

"You are my fantasy on a cold dark night,

 my muse during the light of day

 and the one wish my soul would make."

 

Grace Willows

 

I wanted to see the alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, but it was not meant to be. I missed it. A silly common cold got in the way. But I did get to see them fairly close together and that was fun. I wish I could have gotten a good photograph, but that wasn't meant to be either. Still, I always have the moon to keep me company. He's always there, like the most dependable friend any mere mortal could have. I love the moon, and I never get tired of taking his picture, so yes, I guess he is a friend at this point. And what could be wring with that? If you look just to the left of the palm tree, you can see two white dots, which are the two planets. So, I kinda photographed the event, right? Oh well, there will be more celestial events, and I will try then too. Never stop trying... right? Never give up! Good things are coming our way! Now, if I could just stop worrying about the lunatic in the White House. Please hurry, Joe!

 

 

~Carly

Stockton, California

December 22nd 2020

 

 

 

 

Memento Mori

"All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person's (or things's) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time's relentless melt."

~Susan Sontag

Memento Mori

(Remember You Must Die)

It's time to close 2018. It's so strange how every year has the same amount of days, with the exception of leap years, and yet each year can seem to defy reason and science, by appearing to go by faster or slower than what the calendar says. That's always been a true phenomenon, but never like the last few years. There is time and then there is Trump Time. Trump Time... where days seem like months, and months seem like years.

Trump time is exhausting, and kinda scary. I feel myself aging at a much different rate, but then again, maybe I am just feeling my age more as I grow older. I am not sure how I will feel when this mess is finally over with, and I am not even sure it will ever be over with, so all I can do, is the best I can do, to hold onto my sanity, and thank God that my camera helps me do just that! It helps me process what needs to be felt and done to move forward with life.

In looking through my photos for 2018, I found I had a lot more good days with the camera, than bad. This year was eye opening, in many ways, but nothing was more eye opening than having a Stockton Police officer, knock on your door, LOUDLY, at 7:30 AM, as they chased two carjacking suspects through your backyard and into your pool house! SHIT! At first, I thought it might be the Secret Service, pounding on my door, because of some mistaken remark I made online, led to an investigation of me for threatening the president! Had I gone and done it this time? Had I finally been too damn mouthy on Twitter? Was that third time calling the president a SHITGIBBON going too far? Was this, finally, my arrest?

It, of course, wasn't, but I can imagine the day that it could be that happening. Not that I go around threatening Trump, but what's in my head doesn't matter, it's how he chooses to interpret things, that matters, right? That's another scary, surreal thought, that anything that one says online, could be used against them in such a frightening way. I had to be dead, because everything was just surreal! It made for a bad day, but that day was a necessary evil, because that scary day finally got it through to me that I wasn't dead, and that everything happening in the world was, indeed, real. Including a carjacking suspect, hiding out in my pool house!

You see, that had been my assumption, since before Donald Trump became president, but especially after he took the oath of office! Every single day of his presidency has rolled from one surreal day, to the next, each filled with one FRESH HELL, after another. So one day, in a fit of exasperation, I said out loud to myself... "When did I die?" I felt in that moment that life had become so surreal, that I couldn't possibly be alive! And I went forth with that delusion until that fateful day, the carjackers went through my backyard!

Great! I'm alive. All This Is Real!

Well, autumn and vacation came around, about four and six weeks later, respectively, and it was time to pick up the camera again, for both my sanity, but for the love of all things autumn, which traditionally includes the annual cascade of leaves, our anniversary and our vacation. I couldn't have an autumn where I didn't search out leaves for my project,  and I felt like if I did skip a year, that it seemed like I would be giving up. I am not quite at that point yet, but I get tired, often, and just want to walk away and never look back! Stick my head into a book, and not come out. 

Never watch another news/political analysis show again. Never go back to Twitter. Never engage in the real world again, but I know I couldn't do that. Sometimes I feel stuck in reality, a place where being aware of life is a good thing, but in this case, is the last place I would ever want to be thinking straight. Fantasy, for too long a time isn't healthy. Reality, especially now, definitely isn't healthy for too long a period of time, unfortunately, that doesn't leave much time.

I guess photography is my best vehicle for surfing fantasy and reality. I did some photos this year that I really care about. Most of them done during autumn, but certainly not exclusively. I am going to try to do some kind of photography, at least once a week this year. It can be difficult to find the right subjects, so I am going to attempt some artsy photos of average, if not mundane, subjects around the house. If Andy Warhol can make art out of a soup can, why can't I?

 What I Saw In 2018...

In No Particular Order

Military Submarine Outlook Station 

Circa WWII

HWY 1 South of San Francisco

October 24th, 2018

The "Bijou"

Our home theater, finally finished.

July 15th, 2018

Rare Mammatus Cloud Formation

And A UFO?

December 24th, 2018

Stockton, California

There's No Mail, Like Snow Mail

Camino, California

March 2nd, 2018

My Favorite Autumn Leaf Portrait

November 17th 2018

Stockton, California

Beware Of Snakes In A Cemetery

Ione Public Cemetery

Ione, California

 October 24th, 2018

My Favorite Book Of 2018

"Fear" By Bob Woodward

Dippin Dots

Cannery Row

Monterey California 

October 17th 2018

My Favorite Autumn Sunset

October 24th, 2018

Ione, California

My Favorite Black And White Photo

June 10th, 2018

Stockton, California

My Favorite Leaf Of The Day

"Fleur-Di-Lis"

December 9th, 2018

Stockton, California

My Favorite Public Art Piece

"Peace" By Stephen Kaltenberg

 October 21st, 2018

Sacramento, California

My Favorite Church Photograph

Ione Catholic Cemetery

Ione, California

October 25th 2018

My Favorite Cemetery Photograph

Ione Public Cemetery

Ione, California

October 25th, 2018

 
Angel Monument

Ione Public Cemetery

Ione, California

October 25th 2018

The Old Frosty

Ione, California

August 25th, 2018

Blue Bunting

September 2nd 2018

Davenport, California

 Early Winter Sunset

December 24th 2018

Stockton, California

"Incoming"

Pacific Grove, California

October 17th, 2018

Art Deco Glass Panel

The Orinda Theater

October 11th, 2018

Orinda, California

Smoke From The Camp Fire (Paradise, California)

 Turned The Moon An Eerie Shade Of Red

A Bright Red Glow OF The Sun, Filtered With Smoke From The Camp Fire, Reflecting OFF The Bricks Of Preston Castle

November 11th, 2018

Ione, California

Happy Independence Day 

July 4th, 2018

Stockton, California

Open Window

October 24th 2018

Lockeford, California

And there you have it! The year 2018 in photographs. On to yet another year, but hopefully, the new year will bring a lot more good news, than bad, and maybe even some clarity and hope. You just never know what will be waiting for you. Maybe I will take my best photograph ever! Or perhaps I will be in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time to capture an image that will be something truly unique or historic! Or maybe I will just continue to photograph things I love, and just try to make it through another year of my life. It's all good. But, I am reminded daily of, Memento Mori.

It's Life.

Happy New Year

2019

~Mood: Quiet

~Me :)

Moon Phase Waxing Gibbous 71% Full

"Moonlight is sculpture, sunlight is a painting."

~Nathaniel Hawthorne 

Not a lot to talk about tonight. At least not a lot that I feel like talking about. I am working on some projects around the house, and doing some research into what we will be doing, and where we will be going, on vacation in a couple weeks. I know we have a date to go to a movie in Orinda... that is set in stone... but that's about all I am absolutely sure of. We will have four weeks, and I know I am ready to spend as much time with Alan as possible. He is so much fun, and we always have a good time together.

I think we will be doing some long car rides in search of leaves, and adventure in places we have never been to before. There might even be a new lighthouse or two to visit. We'll see. One thing I do know, I am looking forward to doing a lot of moon photography, weather permitting. Maybe some sunrise photography from Twin Peaks. There is so much I want to do, and so little time.

Picking up the camera again has been good for me. It clears all the head noise and puts me in a very nice state of mind. I need that right now, as the year moves along, and more Trump/American devastation unfolds, my heart seems to break daily, but I'm hanging on, thanks in part to my cameras, and the moon in the sky.

Like the moon tonight, I am about 71%.

Leaf Of The Day

September 30th 2017

Stockton, California

Mood: Quiet

~Me

The First Moon Of Autumn

"For the time being

 Words scatter

 Are they fallen leaves?"

~Ruth  Ozeki

 A Tale For The Time Being 

We took a drive to Old Sacramento last evening, to see if the leaves have started changing yet. It was a pleasant drive, almost no traffic going in our direction, and Alan and I always enjoy a car ride together. It was fun, but just as I thought, not much color just yet. It's pretty early, but in a month or so, that will all be different! The trip wasn't all for nothing, even with what seemed like hopelessly green trees, I managed a few nice specimens of early color, deep brown and some long dead, but subtly attractive grey nicely shaped leaves.

"The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to."

~Carl Sandburg

The leaves of early autumn are important too, sometimes it's not about the outrageous color, sometimes it's about the slightest hint of beauty peeking through, that makes the biggest impression. Like with the moon. I love photographing the moon when it is full and bright, but this little whisper of light makes my heart jump sometimes. Someday I want to get a telescope, and get up close and personal with that comforting light in the sky. Shrug.

                                    One day... Some day.

 Leaf Of The Day

September 23rd 2017

Old Sacramento, California

 Mood: Happy

~Me