Walking In Autumn In 2005

The Wooden Bridge
Cull Canyon Park, Castro Valley, Ca
Autumn, 2005

"I am made for autumn. Summer and I have a fickle relationship, but everything about autumn is perfect to me. Wooly jumpers, Wellington boot, scarves, think first, then thick, socks. The low slanting light, the crisp mornings, the chill in my fingers, those last warm sunny days before the rain and the wind. Her moody hues and subdued palate punctuated every now and again by a brilliant orange, scarlet or copper goodbye. She is my true love."

~Alys Fowler

I am posting from the archives today. I have been crazy busy with trying to get everything put back into the computer. The programs, the passwords, the speed dials, you name it! And as if putting all the stuff back in it's proper place wasn't taking enough of my time, factor in the piece of malware I accidentally downloaded last night! It's called do.Search. It isn't quite malicious enough to be considered a virus, but beastly it is all the same! Basically, it attaches itself to all your browsers, and sends you ads from certain companys you probably had no use for... ever! Desperate much? Anyway, it hides so well in your system, that removing it on your own is pretty much impossible. So, what could I do? I had to purchase and download a special utility to remove it! Sheesh! What a world! At least it's all kinds of beautiful outside! Hopefully I will get back outside tomorrow to do some brand new photography. Who knows, maybe I will take a walk on this very same bridge, and up date how it looks this year!

Wish me luck!

Mood: Slightly irritated, but otherwise HAPPY.

~Me :)

WA #315: The Thief Of Time

"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back."

-Harvey MacKay

Weekend Assignment #315: It seems that we're all too busy these days to get around to everything we'd like to do, even if we had the money and means to do them. Is there a particular activity that takes up far too much of your time, and thus prevents you from getting around to other things?

Extra Credit: What is the #1 activity you wish you had more time for?

-Karen

I almost didn't do this week's assignment, because it doesn't really apply to me personally. I am okay with how I time manage things, and for the most part I manage to do all I would like to do, but there is an exception... time with Alan.

If you go back a few years, everything was flowing relatively smoothly, then came the forced furloughs by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The money we have lost has created a time loss as well. First of all, Alan doesn't get a day off without pay as other state workers do... that would create more time for us...because of his job, he still works the same amount of time, the state simply pays him less. Sigh. That creates the need for him to accept all the overtime he can find, and because of the of the original pay differential, it doesn't even make up for what we have lost. The fact is, we spend a lot less time together because of the forced furlough situations.

We make up for it the best we can, but it has been a long time since we could just get up and go on photo jaunts like we used to. We haven't been over to San Francisco since late December. There was a time, just a few years ago, when we went there every week and walked along the Marina Green, or biked in Golden Gate Park, or just window shopped in Union Square. We love San Francisco, it's beautiful, and there is always something to see or photograph. Hopefully, we will be getting over there soon, now that summer is soon approaching. I hope so. I miss it so. We also enjoy going to comedy clubs in different parts of the Bay Area, because lets face it, who doesn't enjoy laughing? Anyway, you see, it's not my time that's being stolen, it's Alan's, but then again, when you are married, what affects one, affects the other. That's just marriage.

:)

Extra Credit: As I said, we love to laugh. I wish we had more time to go to the comedy clubs. We have a good friend who is a performer and he gets us tickets, it's just difficult to find the time.

-Carly

PS... We had a wonderful turnout last week, I want to personally thank everybody who made our first week on the new blog a success! I hope you will continue to join us. It's easy, just click on the link above to be redirected to the Weekend Assignment blog!