Autumn Leaf Of The Day #11

 

"Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower."

~Albert Camus

Winter? What Winter?

 

"Color doesn't just add something to a certain something. It gives it life."

~Anthony T. Hincks 

We have had a series of winter storms come through the last few days, so the sky has been dark, and the trees are now merely skeletons, but with the few leaves hanging on, there is color that encourages me to keep looking up. This Sumac tree, in Lincoln Center, continues to surprise me with it's will to live on, and not let go of autumn! Winter? What winter? What is this winter you speak of?  *wink*

Just A Bird In Autumn Leaves

 

"I can hear a new story in each leaf that falls."

~Isabelle Izzie Meditates Baker

This gorgeous bird is an Audubon's warbler, but he looks very much like the Yellow-rumped warbler. You have to look closely, and know the differences to be sure. For me, the main difference is that Audubon's warbler has a bright, beautiful patch of yellow under his beak. That splash of yellow is a very much welcome sight, as we head into the dark days of autumn. Oh my, I am apparently already grieving autumn's death. I'm trying to take heart, because I have more beauty to share, like my sugar maple in the front yard, which will hit full autumn glory in a few days. What would I do, if I didn't have my birds, my maple tree and so much color, to look forward to?

The world's best husband, and the kitties are pretty nifty too!

San Francsico On A Warm Autumn Afternoon

 

“It seemed like a matter of minutes when we began rolling in the foothills before Oakland and suddenly reached a height and saw stretched out ahead of us the fabulous white city of San Francisco on her eleven mystic hills with the blue Pacific and its advancing wall of potato-patch fog beyond, and smoke and goldenness in the late afternoon of time.” 

 
~Jack Kerouac,

  On the Road 

 

San Francisco in autumn! Oh my, I spent a lot of time there in autumn, because October is our official vacation month, and there is a lot to do in San Francisco. Airplane flights over the city, Coit Tower, with it's gorgeous views from the observation deck, the SkyStar Ferris wheel at Fisherman's Wharf, there's too much fun to be had. So, why is Trump eyeing San Francisco? Assholeisness, and selfish fuckery political opportunism! There is no reason to bring his storm troopers here. Crime has fallen, and he knows it! And anyway, if it's so bad here, why did he back off, after the Tech giants called and asked him to? It's a bunch of shit. Pardon my expletive! But I mean it. Trump has managed to reach out and ruin several plans I had to make this vacation amazing. I couldn't have lunch at the Golden Gate Bridge... closed due to the Epstein shutdown. The Battery Overlooks... closed to the Epstein shutdown. I can't even visit some places, like the river walk at the Cosumnes River Preserve, here in the San Joaquin Valley. I don't go to San Francisco often, so having my favorite places lost to the shit, hurts deeply. One good thing though, at least for now, Trump has called the invasion of the Bay Area off. No storm troupers, but who knows when he'll get another bug up his ass.

 

I want to show you the beauty I manage to find. Hope you like the photos!

 

Here's what I saw on my visit, just a few days ago...

 

 

 

 

 

The Golden Gate Bridge, As Seen From Marin County, Fort Baker 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #33

 

“If only it could stay like this forever,” she mumbled “A world where autumn never ended.” 

~Diana Jaques,

  The Falling Leaves

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #29

 “Change is coming, she whispered to the bugs bouncing off her window. 

You can’t escape it.” 

 
~A. Lynn,

 Itsy's Ugly

 

Yosemite was just beginning to turn, but there is a lot of beauty all the same. Just wait until early November, the leave should be breathtaking! I hope the Republican shutdown will be over by

  then!

 

 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #24

 

“And I feel as I always do that Autumn is loveliest of all.

 There is such a sharpness with the sweetness—”

 
~Katherine Mansfield 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #2

 “Autumn is a love affair with the earth, where every leaf is a love letter.”

 
~Jayita Bhattacharjee 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #77

 “Nature is an alchemist,
gathering the last of summer’s green
and turning it to gold.” 

~Laura Jaworski 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #73

 

“Rest your eyes well before September

 because with all its colours autumn is coming to visit them!”

 
~Mehmet Murat ildan 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #42

 

I like best of all autumn, because its leaves are a little yellow, its tone mellower, its colors richer, and it is tinged a little with sorrow and a premonition of death. Its golden richness speaks not of the innocence of spring, nor of the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and is content. From a knowledge of those limitations and its richness of experience emerges a symphony of colors, richer than all, its green speaking of life and strength, its orange speaking of golden content and its purple of resignation and death." 

 

~Lin Yutang

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #38

 

"Autumn dresses up in gold, the richest season."

 

~Angie Weiland Crosby

 

 

The Color Of Summer And Autumn

 

"Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful. It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary."

 

 ~Siobhan Vivian,

 Same Difference

 

Sunflowers in autumn, my goodness, is there anything more uplifting then the color yellow? These beauties grow wild along the roadside, all through the San Joaquin Valley, from early summer, through mid-autumn. And I always smile when I see them return each year, because I know autumn is on it's way! I thought posting these photos on the first day of October, my favorite month, would be uplifting for my mood, and hopefully for those who visit this blog.

 

 And The bees love them too!

Solar Eclipse 2024 And Puppies And And And...

 

"Nations, like stars, entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Down and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.

 

~Victor Hugo 

 

It was a morning. There was a solar eclipse, and there was a group of puppies roaming the neighborhood to help us enjoy it. I hope to update this post later today, with pictures of the puppies, but for now just know they are... awesome. Labradors... I think. One is a gorgeous mink brown, the rest are black with white spots, although a bit different on each one. I call the brown one Peanut. The smallest one is black, with white on his chest. He has one blue eye and one brown. A little slower then the rest of the litter, but friendly, and he seems a bit shy, or maybe. He's a great dog. I call him Aidan. All of them will be, and I wish them the best of luck. It's apparent someone dumped them here, sigh. So they deserve some luck. They are so wonderful, and my heart aches to take them in, but... well... kitties live here right now. It's just bad timing.

 

 

Now, onto the Solar Eclipse and other stories in the news. First of all, it was only a partial eclipse in my area. About 35%. Still it was fun, and I enjoyed attempting some photos. It's a bright sunny day, cold, you can feel the snow in the Sierra, but as days go, it was a stunner! So it was fun. It was nice to stretch my photographers legs and try for a difficult subject. I am happy with the way it turned out, but I think I did better last fall, with the eclipse. Shrug. The next total eclipse will be in 20 years. I will be 81. While I may stop blogging by then, I am hoping my camera will still be by my side and ready to go. Perhaps by then, I will be good enough, with even difficult subjects, that I will be able to stun the world with my beautiful photographs of the total eclipse of the sun. We'll see! In other news, Donald Trump is still trying to stall his hush money trial, and Marjorie Taylor Green hasn't been raptured yet! Weird... right?

Finally, macarons, new shoes, new toothbrushes, and a new wheelchair, all appeared in my life, all on the same day of the eclipse and the puppies. Some days are like that. No matter what, puppies should always be involved in any day.

More later.

 

 

Everything Autumn Everywhere All At Once

 

“And that afternoon, as the sun slanted low through the changing autumn leaves, I remembered to savor the moment, soak in the beauty, breathe deeply and feel the immensity of God.” 

~Cindee Snider Re,

  Discovering Hope:

  Beginning the Journey Toward Hope in Chronic Illness

 

It's Autumn, and as I have mentioned in several posts, I feel pressured. I feel rushed. I feel inspired, but I feel like fitting in the time to savor the incredibly healing benefits of even one glorious Oak tree or grapevine, is selfish. However, sometimes one should say, well, fuck it, and head out to the farmland and the city parks, and simply let the season thrill you, and heal you. Never underestimate the power the natural world plays in the well being of the body. It's been a tough year for me. It was a mixed bag of blessings and grief, but my therapist encouraged me yesterday, during our regular monthly session, to treat myself with some kindness. Love. So, Autumn is peaking in my area right now, and I am out in it with my camera, documenting what I see, feel and smell. All it takes is one incredibly lovely oak tree and I instantly feel myself reach a state of calm. Hearing the migrating birds fly over has the same affect, and a sweet potato for dinner helps me sleep like no drug can. I feel pretty good, except for my arthritis, but even that hasn't stopped me too much. I am reaching happy. How about that?!

 

Homemade Minestrone Soup

Northern Harrier And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #46

 

"At no other time than in autumn does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth, in a smell that is in now way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honey t sweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost."

 

~Rainer-Maria Rilko

Letter On Cezanne

 

Click To Enlarge

Sometimes, when I am out taking pictures, I wonder what some of the artists I have admired most like, Cezanne or Monet, would think of the beautiful autumn scenes I am currently enjoying. I am sure they enjoyed as much their scenery, as I do, Monet had quite a beautiful garden, but I just mean right now in time when we are standing on the precipice of losing so much. The drought, no doubt caused by Global warming, has inflicted a lot of damage to the ecosystem of California. I mentioned a while back about the Monarch butterflies all but having disappeared from Pacific Grove, and right now, Yolo seems to have a lot fewer birds than last year at this time. The hawks and vultures were out and about the other day, but there were very few ducks, geese or even Ibis to be seen! So, I made the best of it. I got a better picture of a Long-billed Curlew then I had on file, and of this fella too, the Northern Harrier. I have been seeing more and more of it. I just saw one on Desmond road the day before I visited Yolo, and while there I saw another one. That's more than I saw all of last year, which is a shame, because what a work of art it is!

 

 

 

 

~Me