A Twilight Visitor To My Door In Autumn

 

“His eyes reflected the open grey of the autumnal sky.” 

~Juliet Marillier,

  Daughter of the Forest

 

The Praying Mantis is such a delicate creature, and yet does so much work in the garden, devouring naughty little creatures, such as aphids. This one is a California Praying Mantis, and it's gorgeous! Harmless to humans, it simply visited the corner of my condo, posed for the million pictures I took of it, and quietly went about it's way. Praying Mantis do most of the hunting at night, and that's kinda cool. I guess that's why I rarely see them in the daylight. I am enjoying discovering new things to photograph, especially the critters I would ordinarily run from! I am becoming brave in my old age!    

 

 

Deer Crossing

 

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” 

~John Muir 

 

While out waiting for bats one evening, on the Franklin Boulevard Bridge, I was enjoying that night's twilight of mild summer temperatures, when I spotted a group of deer wading through the Mokelumne River toward the southern bank, and let me tell you, it was just what I needed to see, when I needed to see it! The Mexican Free-tailed bat is a yearly visitor to the bridge, with numbers that on some years reach as many as 200,000, but for some reason their numbers don't seem to have nearly that many this year! When that happens, the photographer in me has to rely on other things in nature to photograph. Birds, dragonflies, even spiders are some of my favorite subjects, and I do have plenty of those to share, but I had been hoping to see something new to try, and then the chance presented itself. It was one of those magical moments, when the camera was with me, and the camera was charged up, and the camera actually had a memory card in it. You see, I tend to forget all those things from time to time. But on this night it all came together.

 

As I said, it was magic!

 

And there's a lot more to share with you!

 

 

November's Moon

 

AUTUMN AIR

The autumn air is clear,
The autumn moon is bright.
Fallen leaves gather and scatter,
The jackdaw perches and starts anew.
We think of each other- when will we meet?
This hour, this night, my feelings are hard.” 

~Li Bai 

 

I love photographing the moon and autumn leaves in the same shot, although sometimes it seems almost impossible, and therefore completely frustrating. Either the moon is out of focus or the leaves are, but that dynamic came be quite pleasing to the eye. I got lucky with this shot, while the moon is a bit fuzzy, it is bright and clear, so the detail comes through. I don't know, I kinda like it. It's the moon, in an a clear twilight November sky. Autumn was smiling down on me, and it made me smile back! I used to try to photograph all the full moons in a year, but sometimes the sky refuses to cooperate. The clouds of January and February were brutal, so it's really hard to plan for it, and it looks like the roughest part of the Atmospheric River will take place in those two months again. 2024 will promises to be as wet or wetter than this year was. That will make for quite a challenge. Maybe I should simply plan to do a photo as close to the full moon as I can, and not worry so much about whether stage it's in. Like with this shot, it's not quite full, but it still made for a beautiful photo.

 

 

Migrating, Perhaps?

 

“The wind makes you ache in some place

 that is deeper than your bones.” 

~Stephen King,

  'Salem's Lot

 

Just a couple months ago I was standing on the Bat Bridge, wishing for a cool breeze to float by, and now it is here. Not unusual for November, in fact I happen to love it, I just wish the wind would usher in more birds. So far the variety has been bleak, at least it seems that way to me. Maybe that's why I see a bird in those autumn clouds. A Bank swallow to be exact. I watched them fly in and out of their nests, under the bridge on, Thornton road, last spring, and now I see a big one soaring through the clouds on it's way to who knows where? Migrating perhaps. Do you see the bird shaped cloud? How about you? What do you see?

 

Now do you see the birdy?

BATS! It's The End Of Summer!

 

“The basis of all human fears, he thought.

 A closed door, slightly ajar.” 

~Stephen King,

 Salem's Lot

 

I always thought I would be afraid, if I ever encountered a bat, but as it turns out, nope, I wasn't scared at all, and I found that out, just the other night. You see, hubby and I were driving home, along Franklin blvd, on the bridge that goes over the Mokelumne River, when suddenly thousands of the Mexican Free-tailed bats, flew really low over the road! It was an astounding sight, and equally astounding was the fact that there were folks on both sides of the road taking photos, and videos, and enjoying the experience completely!

 

Well, we circled back, and hubby decided to check what was happening. I stayed in the car. There was NO WAY I was going to get out of my lovely and very safe, Mini Cooper, just to stand in the midst of a million or so vampires. Nope. Not on this earth.Well, Alan was gone for about 30 minutes, so I was kinda sure he would be wearing a cape and fangs when he finally got in the car, but again, nope! All he was wearing when he got in the car, other than his clothes, of course, was a really big giddy smile. He went on to explain that standing on the bridge, as the bats flew off into the Twilight, in search of their meals,  was a really cool experience and he believed we should comeback the next night, so I could give it a try!  

 

I wasn't completely sure that was something I wanted to try, but after some thought, and a little reading on the Internet, I found out the specific species of bat that called that bridge home, was not something I had to worry about! It's called the, Mexican Free-tailed bat. It migrates from deep in South America, and it only spends a little time in this area, mostly the summer months, then it will continue on it's way north as Autumn comes. We might be able to see them at the Yolo Bypass early in October, but for the most part they will be on their way possibly this week, so we found out about them just in time.

 

I did something new. I got to be brave one more time. That is a good thing. Alan, and a medium sized bat, helped me gain a little more bravery in life, funny that! I am still conquering fear at 61 years old! It's not over for me! I can still move past the things that hurt me, and hold me back, which is a good lesson, because this has been one cruel summer. I lost my niece. She died. I also lost my nephew. He died too, but it was by his own hand. He committed suicide. I wish I knew why. I wish I understood my niece's car accident.

 

In addition, I wish I understood the death of my favorite actor, Treat Williams. He died on June 12th. According to the police report, he never had a chance. I think when all is said and done, and I know everything about their deaths, I will have grown a little more, because it all still hurts me, scares me, and in fact, devastates my whole being.

 

So, in the meantime, life goes on. There will be victories, and probably more pain along the way to closure, but there will also be great joys too! Like finding out that bats are sort of cool, and not at all interested in hurting me, as they go about their life. I love all the nature in the Central Valley, and as much as I hate to admit it, this place is starting to feel like the best home I had ever lived in! So I am a little sad that my new friends will soon be on it's way, just when I got to know them.

Oh my.

 

 

Least Sandpiper And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #31

 

"It was one of those days you sometimes get latish in autumn when the sun beams, the birds toot, and there is a bracing tang in the air that sends the blood beetling briskly through the veins."

 

P.G. Wodenhouse Jeeves And The Old School Chum

 

More from my visit to San Francisco, and Marin County. The tiny, yet fierce, Least Sandpiper, which is also the smallest of all sandpipers. So beautiful in flight, but then what bird don't I enjoy seeing flying? Especially in autumn? But there is something about these little birds. I am not sure why I feel so much affection for them, but I do know why I respect them so much. The oldest lived to be 15 years old, which is kinda stunning for something so fragile. This little 5 inch bird has survival power! Strength like that gets my love.

 

~Me

Discover The Delta And Where Is My Book?

 

 

"Photography is what emotions look like."

~Jon Luvelli

 

I can't find my book. Last month, I bought a new book, Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. Yes, I know, it's about teen angst/romance but it in all fairness, I wanted something different, and besides, I had recently watched just about all of them during a week of unwavering, relentless insomnia, and I thought I would see if the book was better written than the movie was. Shrug. I got through the first chapter, and half way through the second, when it went missing, but up to that point, no, it was fairly spot on. 

 

What does this picture have to do with my misplacing my book? Nothing really, except that the day I photographed this water tower, January 3rd, I was thinking about the story of Twilight. How Bella had just arrived to a new place, Forks, Washington, and felt out of place. I have been in the San Joaquin Delta region now, going on six years, and I still feel out of place. I am only just now finding my way, by discovering the beauty of migrating birds. It's easier for teens to seek the adventure I suppose. To welcome the angst. At my age, not so much. I would be happier with life being normal again. Something like 2013, when we found Joey, and Robin Williams wasn't dead. 

 

One more bit of angst with Trump to get through... the second Impeachment trial, which begins next week. I have no idea how long that will last, or if there will be another day similar to January 6th, but there is some comfort in knowing how it will end because I have very little faith in anyone in the Republican party doing the right thing. They are scared of Donald Trump, He's their vampire. So the horror story will play out as most horror stories in the real world do. History won't be kind to those who seek to harm, we all know it, and they know it too, that's what makes it all so perverse, and yet, when all is said and done, at least there are still things we can all count on. 

 

Republican's are vampires and cowards

and new books will go missing. 

 

~Carly

A Central Valley Sunset In Two Acts

"You are my soul on a cold dark night, my muse during the light of the day and the one wish my soul would make."

~Grace Willows

I love that quote. I find myself daydreaming more in winter than I do in summer. I am not sure why. Although, now that I think about it, it might be because I find it so much more difficult to carry a coherent thought in summer, than in winter. Anyway, I saw this gorgeous tree on the way to Ione last night, and was lucky enough to get a good shot of it was we drove by it. It's now one of my "not bad for out of a moving car" portraits. I played a bit with lighting and color, and came away not being able to decide if I preferred it warmer or cooler. The sunset going on behind it was a great big fussy golden/red winter angry sky, which may be why I created and alternate universe of cool blue to enjoy it. Cold. Winter. They go together, but on the other hand, the sky in gold and red could have been a metaphor for a romantic cozy fire on a cold winter's night.  

Interpretation is in the eye of the beholder.

Mood: Happy

Me  :)

Facing Inner Darkness And Bad Vacations

Saturday November 2nd, 2019 

Stockton, California

Autumn is the time of balance and of sacrifice, a time when the light is defeated by darkness, a time when night takes over and brings the coming winter. The ancient wisdom says that those who long for light must face their inner darkness and overcome it."

~Tony Riches

The Secret Diary Of Eleanor Cobham

This is one of the last photos I took, while still on vacation. I was tired at this point, and just wanted the whole thing to be over, but I was not cynical about photography, and I was happy to still fit in a little time to celebrate the shadows and the twilight on the last evening before the clocks changed. Personally, I love moving the clock backward and gaining that extra yummy bit of autumn, but not if it meant I had to deal with one more hour of that vacation. I decided to not think about it, and just move on.

#54 Leaf Of The Day

November 15th 2019

Photographed November 3rd 2019

University Of The Pacific

Stockton, Ca

Nikon

~Mood: Happy

~Me

The Solice In The Golden Sunsets

"It is the hour of pearl... the interval between day

 and night when time stops and examines itself."

~John Steinbeck

Cannery Row

I appreciate sunsets, especially the golden ones like this. 

And just think... tomorrow... it will happen again!

"It's all fine to say, "Time will heal everything, this too shall pass away. People will forget"... and things like that when you are not involved, but when you are there is no passage of time, people do not forget and you are in the middle of something that does not change."

~John Steinbeck

Cannery Row

Leaf Of The Day

Mood: Quiet

~Me :)

Reflection Of The Twilight Time Of Day

"Sunset is the opening music of the night."

~Mehmet Murat ildan

This will have to be another brief blog post, as I am tired and I still have a ton of things to do. This post is another view of the amazing sunset of last Thursday. Honestly, the colors in the sky that early evening just mesmerized me! I simply couldn't look away! This is a slightly earlier version of the sunset, as apparent by the muted tones. I decided this would be a nice one to do a little editing magic with. I am pretty happy with the end result!

Muted Twilight Reflection...




Both versions bring about very different feelings for me. Very different memories. I like when I pull some distant memory from a newly taken photo. I am constantly learning from my photography. It is what keeps my mind free of cobwebs, and useless chatter. Photography allows me to really experience my life, and the world I would have missed otherwise.

A Little Night Music...



Mood: Happy

~Me :)

The Photographers

"Life is a journey, photography is thy shepherd."

~Destin Sparks

It was nice to get in a little bit of photography as the sun went down on the Independence Day! I don't get that opportunity very often, especially in the summertime, but holidays like Independence Day, and the fact that we don't have to be up early the next day means being able to photograph some spur of the moment subjects. Like the one you see above. As the sun was going down, the bright glow turned everything north of Yerba Buena Island a gorgeous silvery/green glow. Alan and I have briefly stopped on the island to see if we could get a good parking spot to view the fireworks, alas it was not to be, but we did pass the photographers lined up on the side of the cliff facing the city. I couldn't pass it up! I had to shoot past Alan, who was driving, but it was worth a bit of a body contortion to get the shot! Oh my... we had a lot of fun! Alan is a pretty good sport! I kinda like that guy!

:) Look at what the camera and I saw...











Everybody was taking pictures. Most just turned their engines off, and turned their cameras on, and enjoyed the fabulous fireworks display! For a photographer like me, life doesn't get much better!

:)

Mood: Happy

Me :)

The Ghosts Of 5:31 P.M.

"The people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this you keep them alive."

~Rob Montgomery

As Alan and were traveling though Crow Canyon the other night, I was snapping photo after photo because it was pretty close to sundown, and there was some wonderful shadows and last light of day to play with. I love this time of day for taking photos, but I don't enjoy this time of day for driving. I guess it's my 50 year old eyes failing me, but I just don't see as well as I would like to, so I happily hand the key to Alan, and sat back, and enjoyed doing photos while on the move. Like with the sunset photos I took last month while we drove along Grizzly Peak Blvd, it was impossible to know if I was getting anything good enough to post, and taking the time to check each photo would have meant losing a lot of chances. So, I snapped when it felt right, and crossed my fingers.

When I got home and took a look at the pictures, I found about 4 or so out of the group of 20 photos that I was pleased with. The one posted above struck the loudest cord. It immediately reminded me of a photo I had taken about 30 years ago while on a ride through a different canyon, while my friend Judith drove. Even 30 years ago I preferred to hand the keys to someone else during twilight if at all possible. Hmmm... maybe it wasn't my 50 year old eyes after all! LOL. Anyway, Judith and I were coming back from having spent the day in San Jose. Judith participated in Dr. Who meetings that were at that time held at channel 54. She had spent the day picking up materials for the meeting that was to be held the following day, and I was simply along for the ride.

We left the studio fairly early in afternoon, and with the extra time we decided to take the long way back to the east bay, by way of connecting the canyons, starting with Calaveras Canyon. We were having a good time talking about the upcoming Dr. Who meeting, and the prospect of maybe getting George Takai for the Star Trek convention she was also working on. The slow ride back home was fun and relaxing, and I had a nice opportunity to take some photos as the spirit moved me. There wasn't digital back then, so I had to be a bit more picky about what shots I took. The music on the radio was good, the conversation was fun, we could really make each other laugh over the stupidest things, and it was an amazingly clear night at the end of a week of heavy rain. I couldn't have been more comfortable, but then IT happened.

"IT" being a MASSIVE case of the wiggins. We had just finished laughing our butts off at something... I don't remember what... and there had been a momentary lull in the conversation when all of a sudden Judith and I both turned and looked into the back seat of the car, for no apparent reason, well, except for the overwhelming feeling that something... or ... someone... was sitting there with us! We both got the feeling at the same exact moment. We both looked back at the same time! Suddenly, there was a decidedly heavy feeling in the car! As we turned to each other, we both began to laugh nervously. "Did you...?" Judith asked. "Yes," I answered. "I just felt like there was someone telling me to look in the backseat." "Me too" she said.

I can tell you this, you never saw two people get the hell out of a canyon so fast! There was a heavy feeling in the car throughout the drive back to HWY680! Judith and I decided to stop for a bit and in the clear light of a very well lit Denny's,  and my friend and I decided to talk about what had just happened. Was it a case of both of us experiencing the same subliminal thought? Had a certain stretch of the road jarred some distant memory of a show we may have both seen at some point? We couldn't say, so we began to consider and discuss what was happening just prior to the feeling of  suddenly something riding along with us in the car.

Let's see. Neil Sedaka and Elton John were singing Bad Blood on the radio. That wasn't it. There were a couple cars ahead of us, and a couple behind us, so it wasn't like we were all alone on a deserted road. It wasn't completely dark yet, but rather on the edge of twilight, so yes there was still some light. We had been discussing how many lists it took to put on a proper science fiction convention. That wasn't it. What else... what else? Scent, could it be something associated with scent? After all, the senses store memories we aren't always aware of. Did either of us smell anything unusual just prior to the thought we shared? Nope. I hadn't, and she didn't think so either. We talked for about an hour, but nothing really seemed to fit.

We never really figured it out. We tried a couple times to make it all happen again, just to put the questions away, but had no luck recreating the incident. Finally, we just let the whole thing go. It was just one of those weird, unexplainable things that happens in life to keep it all interesting. Maybe someone was there, maybe there wasn't, but either way we were none the less for wear, and had an interesting story to share. It was all good. What can you do, right? I just put it in a file with all the other silly times Judith and I had in our friendship, and there were a million of them.

A couple years after that incident, Judith and I had a falling out, and our friendship never recovered. There was no way to fix it, but neither of us held onto the badness, it just wasn't really who we were as people. We grew apart, and just kept going our own way. My pal passed away in 1992 of a heart attack. I was so sad when I heard of her death because her heart simply gave out, and I didn't understand why God or whoever makes these decisions, didn't give her a warning or a second chance. Something. But that was the grief. It just was what it was. She was just gone. I missed my friend, but I don't know that I would have done anything different in the path of our friendship.

I miss her when I watch Star Trek sometimes. I miss her when I do something incredibly stupid, and I know I need to lighten up. I think about her when I see a really good spooky movie, because we both had always enjoyed that kind of thing. I think about how infuriated she would have been over George W. Bush and his presidency. I think about what a nincompoop she would have thought Sarah Palin was and is. I know she would have enjoyed meeting my cat Elvis. Everyone did. I know all that because she was my friend. Sometimes, well rarely really, I can sense her nearby, especially when I hear that old Herman's Hermits song, Henry The VIII. Every time I was in her presence and it came on the radio she would crank up the radio really loud and sing along for all she was worth! It was hysterical. Goodness... she could make me laugh!

I thought about her when I saw this picture the other night. I haven't felt her visiting me in a long time, I assume she is in the part of the heavenly afterlife known as SciFiVania. LOL. She is discussing Star Trek episodes with Gene Roddenberry. Or begging James Doohan to speak in "Scotty." She might be following H.G. Wells about the afterlife, discussing how time machines could absolutely work, and thanking him for having thought of it. Or she might be driving Henry The VIII crazy by singing that song to the top of her ethereal lungs. I can just imagine his reaction, especially when I think about all the different reactions it elicited in the living, depending on how much you liked her. LOL.

I see her off somewhere, grinning ear to ear because she now knows what happened on that canyon road all those years ago, and I have to wait until forever claims me before I find out. In other words, she is off somewhere... just... being... Judith.

"Trust me, you see the dead walking around, you learn not to scream, laugh, or piss yourself pretty quickly."

~Stacey Kade, The Ghost And The Goth


:)

~Me

The Gates Of Heaven

"Sunsets are so beautiful that they seem as if we are looking through the gates of Heaven"

-John Lubbock

Here is my last summer sunset for 2008! We had an unusually mild summer this year, there were only few days that I can were summer like. Even yesterday, when I took this photo, I was wearing gloves. Strange summer. The sunsets this year have been magnificent, I didn't photograph as many as I should have, but I plan to rectify that. I am hoping to make autumn, all about the sunsets! Wish me luck, now that I have said my plans out loud... lol... you just know something will try to stand in my way! We'll see.

So tell me, how was your summer in terms of the weather? Are you looking forward to autumn arriving? Tell me everything.

-OndineMonet
"Gates Of Heaven"
Point Montara Lighthouse
Montara, California
September 18th, 2008
Twilight

John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment # 158: Your Favorite Time Of Day

"It is impossible to believe that all the past is, but the beginning of a beginning, and that all that is and has been, is but the twilight of the dawn. It is possible to believe that all the human mind has ever accomplished is but a dream before the awakening."

-H. G. Wells

Weekend Assignment #158: What's your favorite time of day and why? It doesn't have to be a specific hour and minute, mind you: "early morning" or "sunset" works just fine too. Although if you do have a very specific time, by all means note it.

Extra Credit: What's the longest you've ever stayed awake?

It's an interesting coincidence that John Scalzi chose this topic for this week's edition of the Weekend Assignment, in that my previous entry was basically dedicated to how much I had enjoyed a recent sunrise. :) I enjoyed it so much so, that I have been using the photo I took that morning as a tool in my meditation practices when I need to feel renewed. I do enjoy a pretty, golden sunrise, but I am not a morning person at all. I am a night person, so I guess if I am to share my favorite time of day, I would have to go with the twilight.

Yes, twilight.

The above photo was taken last October, while I was visiting the California coastal town of Cambria. Everything that makes me feel good inside, was so much a part of that day. It was my 16th wedding anniversary, it was October, which is in my favorite season of autumn, I was near the ocean, we had just enjoyed a really delicious meal, and I was with Alan. What more could a girl ask for? Well, how about the perfect sunset, and a guy who understands and loves them as much as I do? :) So we stopped at a nice spot along HWY1 and got out a blanket and our cameras. Sigh. Alan knows I come alive at twilight. We sat together and took photos and snuggled under the blanket, and took photos and snuggled a little more, until the darkness washed all but a small bit of life away. I love the twilight, there is just a romance in it like no other time of day. :)

"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."

-Crowfoot

Extra Credit: The longest I have ever been awake is 37 hours. I was a long time ago, when I was about 18 or so. Some friends and I held a game night at our church and we were playing the Monopoly game from HELL. LOL. Alan won by the way. :)

-OndineMonet
"Together At Twilight"
Cambria, California
Moonstone Beach
October, 2006
Twilight