Three Birds In One Late Autumn Day

Lesser Goldfinch

December 18th, 2017

Cull Canyon Park

"It was a beautiful autumn day,

 with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it."

~Diana Gabadldon

Outlander

Yellow Rumped Warbler

December 18th, 2017

Cull Canyon Park

We are nearing the last day of autumn. Just two more days to go, a day-in-a-half really, and most of my favorite trees have but a few leaves remaining! In my travels, however, I did come across one or two trees, that seem to just be just getting started, so I will be visiting them during winter, as much as possible. I like to continue photographing leaves for as long as I can, but they aren't included in each individual year's autumn leaf gallery. But this year, I have decided to consolidate all of my leaf photos, from all the past years, into one album, so the full collection is available in one place. I will post a link to it, when I have it set up, which hopefully will be sometime around New Year's Eve!

 Yesterday, while out and about, searching for the last little whisper's of autumn leaves, I came across some gorgeous little birds, with their winter plumage on, just waiting for that cold winter weather to begin! Maybe I will take on birds for a winter project. It's been chilly the last few weeks, but not winter cold, it has been autumn cold. Cold air, bright sunshine, and the deepest bluest skies Ive seen, since, well, since late last autumn! LOL. In other words, another season has come and gone, just like it should! I love finding new birds, and yesterday, I found three new ones for my bird gallery! That made me quite happy!

 There are plenty of places to go birding in the Central Valley, it's just a matter of doing a little research! The Delta is a great place to start, and I have heard that there is a large population of Egrets there! And there are also some rare birds to be found, so it's kind of an exciting thought! And while I am busy with my quest for pictures of the Summer Tanager, and the Vermilion Flycatcher, Autumn will be back before I know it! Just a mere three seasons from now, and I will be here, eagerly awaiting it's return, pretty much from the beginning of summer, but spring has all those gorgeous blossoms, so don't think I am forgetting that! So, with a little luck, I will be a busy girl with the camera in 2018! 

Lesser Goldfinch

December 18th, 2017

Cull Canyon Park

Society Finch

December 18th, 2017

Cull Canyon Park

#19 Leaf Of The Day

December 19th, 2017

 Castro Valley Community Center

Art About Town: Sacramento (Untitled) Dart Golden 1 Center

Untitled

By Gale Hart

Golden 1 Center Public Art Collection

Sacramento, California

December 11th, 2016

"It is good to love many things, for the therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done."

~Vincent Van Gogh

Sacramento has an amazing amount of public art. I don't know why I don't get up there more often, but I am going to try to explore around the capitol in 2018. I know, I know, I have said that before, and then I get bogged down with other things, and I allow the depression to dictate what I do, but I love public art, and the truth is, San Francisco is a lot for me. The drive, the time it takes to get there... it's a lot for someone with Fibromyalgia. Sometimes the pain is more than I can take, and then I am flat on my back for several days. Usually it's worth it, just to be back in my favorite neighborhoods, and at my favorite places around the city that makes me so happy, but this past year, well, it has become apparent that I need to explore the beauty closer to my new home.

I think I have to make myself accept the fact, that I don't live in the Bay Area anymore, and I need to enjoy Sacramento for all the fun it offers, the comedy clubs, the bookstores, the Gold Rush history, the train museum, not to mention, the amazing public art, that makes me so damn happy! I took this photo last year, and this is my first time posting it. I am kinda glad I held onto it, because today, I came across it, while looking through my archives, and for some reason, I saw it through different eyes, than when I first photographed it. I had a new attitude I suppose! Life out here in the valley isn't so bad. It's not San Francisco, but it's got it's own charm, and I need to make friends with it!

Today's Leaf As Seen From Two Different Perspectives...

#18 Leaf Of The Day

December 18th 2017

Stockton, California

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

At Christmas... Wrong Will Fail, Right Will Prevail

"And in despair I bowed my head;

 'There is no peace on earth," I said; 'For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!'

The pealed the bells more loud and deep:

'God is not dead, more doth he sleep!

The Wrong shail fail,

the Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men!'"

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 Christmas Bells

We did it! We put up some Christmas decorations! A little scaled back this year, but the tree is up, and the teddy bears are on the job, and we both feel a little better! The holiday blues are fading a bit, but we both know this coming week will be a bit hectic! We have some business in the Bay Area. Neither of us have done our Christmas shopping, and as you probably know, there is a rumor on Capitol Hill, that Trump will commit the ultimate act of Obstruction of Justice, by firing Robert Mueller!

So much is simply out of our control. We can't make Trump, suddenly give a flying Gingerbread Man about his country! If he makes a move to fire Mueller, it could very well turn into a Saturday Night Massacre, ala, Richard Nixon. The difference is,  more and more Republicans are bowing down to Trump, and ignoring the Constitution. Also different, Nixon didn't have it's own propaganda network, financing his delusions of innocence. And finally the scariest of all... Nixon was the leader of a cult, HELL BENT on accomplishing the Apocalypse or a civil war, whichever comes first! Not to mention, Nixon actually loved his country, Trump has NO IDEA what love is, be it love between family, or love of country. He is all about the money.

Merry Christmas!

I guess all we can do is forge ahead, and hope the rumors are wrong, but firing Mueller on December 22nd, is just the kind of pussy move Trump would make. He is the biggest coward to hold any political office, let alone the presidency. I guess when it comes to him ever being held accoutable for his misdeeds, we will just have to wait and see, and hope for the best outcome. I wish his cult followers could love their country, more than they do their fantasies of a neoconfederacy. Oh well, like my Ommy used to say...

"If wishes were horse, beggers would ride."

I guess the updated version would be...

"If wishes were horses, Roy Moore would have ridden well."

And, by the way, why hasn't that jackass conceded the election yet?

#17 Leaf Of The Day

December 17th, 2017

Knight's Ferry, California

Mood: Guarded

~Me

 

Here's Your Fucking Christmas Card ( Rated R For Colorful Language )

"Money's scarce and times are hard

 so here's your fucking Christmas card."

~Phyllis Diller

Disclaimer: If colorful language gives you the vapors, move along, because there is enough in the post to... well... give you the vapors!

I wish I hadn't waited so long to come across that quote, because I swear I would have sent Trump as nice Christmas card, with just that quote written inside! Do I dare and Tweet it to him on Christmas Eve? Will the Twitter gods, kick me off Twitter for a third time? Can you believe it? I have been put in a Twitter corner twice, for being disrespectful to our DEAR LEADER. Honest to Gingerbread men, what the actual fuck? We have free speech in America, at least we did. Honestly, I don't know about that anymore. He routinely breaks their TOS, but no one else can. Sometimes it feels like Twitter is one of Trump's biggest enablers, and in a way, they are. He can't be kicked off their platform, because the president's tweets are newsworthy. I guess it will be newsworthy when he bombs the shit out of North Korea, provided there is anyone around to read about it on Twitter... if Twitter still exists.

But that wasn't what this post was going to be about. I was going to write about how much I enjoy sparkly Christmas ornaments, and how much I would like to be able to collect enough to fill the Christmas tree eventually, but once again, all I can think about is the horror that sits in the White House, and who insists there is a War on Christmas, which of course, there isn't! But the insane GOP Right in this country insist it does, and each year, into battle they go, and then they make a stop at Amazon.com, to purchase a Trump, MAGA/Made in China, piece of shit ornament! Because everyone knows that the three wise men brought the baby Jesus, gold, frankincense and myrrh, and an ornament from the Trump campaign store!

Sorry, as I said in my last post, I am not feeling the holiday spirit.

But I wish I was.

Tomorrow, when I wake up, I'm going to try again. Really I am.

#16 Leaf Of The Day

December 16th, 2017 

Berkeley, Ca

 Mood: GRRRR

~Me 

Dance Of Depression Plum Fairies

"THE HOLIDAYS ARE RUINED!

This book is one page long and just contains that one sentence."

~Amy Poehler

Okay, whether I like it or not, I have to face Christmas! But I am not in the mood... I am just not. It has been such an odd year, everything has seemed upside down, and it feels like every day might begin, but end before it naturally should. Trump can't stop running his mouth, North Korea has a missile pointed at us, and... .

I could give the long list about everything he does that scares the ever loving SHIT out of me, but why?

Bitching won't make my depression magically disappear. It won't make it 2016, on the night of the election, when Hillary Clinton won. It won't make any of it make any sense at all. Bitching, at most, will relieve a little bit of the tension, I feel in my mind and my body. Reality, is reality. Hey, at least the last few days have had some bright moments to them. Omarosa has been fired from her "job" as "White House Liaison for African American Outreach". That's been an amusing tale, and I am sure it was quite the political and holiday spectacle, but that's one Christmas party I am happy to have missed! Anyway, it made me smile, so there's that.

Over all, I'm tired, that's all, I am just really tired, but I am hanging in there, waiting for someone to ride in and save the country, like a shining knight saves the damsels at the end of most animated movies and children's books. I wished I really believed that would happen. Deep down. But every day there are rumors of Trump, firing the one person who could actually save us, Robert Mueller. If that happens, there would be an immediate Constitutional crisis, throwing us further into chaos, and making us even more vulnerable to hostile foreign nations. And then there are our other problems, which again, we don't have a lot of control over, but hopefully, some of this will be straightened out, when the clock strikes midnight and 2017 becomes, 2018. 

There are a couple more weeks left in 2017, and I am going to try to get through them, with a smile on my face, and a little bit of joy, here and there. We are putting up a few decorations later today, and tomorrow we plan on visiting the Christmas Carousel in Tilden Park, and then perhaps we will visit either San Francisco, or Sacramento, on Sunday, to see what kind of festive decorations they have going on there! I think that leaving the house, and jumping into some seasonal bliss my help the cloud I am in. We'll see. Wish me luck, okay? I am really going to try to put a happy face on all this, and who knows, maybe it will stick!

#15 Leaf Of The Day

December 15th 2017

Stockton, California

Mood: Tired

~Me

Tiny Dancing Diamonds

"I love autumn despite the drench weather. I think it symbolises the end of misery and the beginning of glee. It gives hopes that sooner or later, flowers will bloom again, green buds will sprout from trees, and that which is dead will come back alive."

~Aishah Madadiy

Bits of Heaven

Here is the last of the photos from my trip to the Haggin Museum and Victory Park. There were several water fountains in the park, but it was this one, just to the left of the entrance, that I enjoyed the most! The sun was shining down, almost directly over it, and the sky was so blue, that it just looked like diamonds dancing in the air. It was lovely. It was peaceful, and as I mentioned before, in a previous post, I could have stayed there all day! Bright sunny days are great for photographing fountains, but I have never photographed a fountain in the fog! 

Hopefully, I will be able to this winter! I really hope it will be a, cold and foggy, Christmas day, because who wants 70 degree weather for Christmas? I guess, a lot of people on the east coast do, and I guess I take California weather for granted sometimes, but just once I would really love to spend a Christmas, in a place with lots of snow. To me, that would be a bit of Heaven. Alan, the boys, and me, all cuddled up, with all the lights out except for the Christmas tree, watching the snow come down. Heaven on earth... definitely Heaven on Earth!

#14 Leaf Of The Day

December 14th, 2017

Stockton, California

Mood: Happy

 ~Me :)

Dark Leaf Collection

"Leaves grow old gracefully, bring such joy in their last lingering days. How vibrant and bright is their final flurry of life."

~Karen Gibbs

So, I've decided to try working with different textures as backgrounds, for my Leaf  Of The Day photos. Ordinarily I like to photograph them, exactly where they land, but, if necessary, I will sometimes position them in a different area. Working to find the most eye pleasing natural backgrounds, inspired me to try some fabric backgrounds to give them a more interesting appearance. I started out with a plain black background, because the leaves I picked last Sunday were so dark, and moody. Some leaves end the season with a big blast of color, others die quiet and solemn.

The leaves have seemed much darker this year, than in previous autumns. From the start in September, I noticed that almost everywhere I went, they had a distinctly darker color to them, and  some were almost completely black. It has been a nice surprise for me, because of the depression I have been fighting. The leaf colors have made me feel more comfortable, like they shared my mood, and understood! It has been nice. It has given me new ideas, like trying fabric backgrounds. Autumn ends, but my project continues until I find my last leaf. Sometimes I can still find some wonderful leaves, well into January, so I have a lot to work with, to help me process the way I think of things in my life, and it also helps me by inspiring with new approaches for my project next year. 

2017 Dark Leaf Collection

Hope You Enjoyed The Collection!

#13 Leaf Of The Day

December 13th, 2017

Stockton, California

 Mood: Inspired

~Me :)

Autumn And My Friend The Duck

"Rest your eyes well before September

 because with all it's colors autumn is coming to visit them!"

~Mehmet Murat ildan

Another look, at the time we spent in Victory Park last Sunday. The fountain to the left side of the museum, made an already stunning landscape, all the more charming, and the beautiful ducks that were alternating between swimming and sunning themselves, brought it all together, to make for the best autumn afternoons I have had all season! I wish I had that day back right now because, to be truthful, I could live in that day for the rest of my life, at least that's how I feel right now, but who wouldn't want to live in a warm day in autumn, filled with every color imaginable, a slight coolness to the air and delightful wildlife to share it with? 

My new duck friend looks pretty happy!

#12 Leaf Of The Day

December 12th 2017

Berkeley, California

Mood: Happy
~Me :)

The Haggin Museum And Victory Park

"Come said the wind to the leaves one day, 

Come o're the meadows and we will play.

Put on your dresses scarlet and gold

and the days grow cold."

~1880's Children's Song

For the first time since moving to Stockton, in 2015. I ventured out yesterday to see, and photograph the outside of the Haggin Museum! It sits in the middle of the GORGEOUS Victory Park, and too my delight, provided me with a lot to enjoy, and photograph! It is definitely one of my favorite places, now, because I need the amazing comfort it brought me! All the colors of the trees, kissing autumn goodbye, and amazing pond, with some very cooperative and photogenic ducks, and water fountains, and several folks walking adorable dogs, on leashes of course, all decked out in the finest holiday sweaters! Is the anything more fun then seeing a dog, rock a really great sweater? 

The sun was perfect, by the way, warm, but not summer oppressive, and not winter cold. It was one of those perfect autumn days! Alan and I sat on a bench, for about 45 minutes, just drinking it all in, then I walked around, and just lived in the moment, with my camera, preserving forever, a day I really needed! As beautiful as it was, I hope I will be able to see it again, through the lens of my camera, on a nice foggy day, before autumn is officially gone. Autumn trees take on a sad beauty, that helps me let go of the one season, I truly live for. The color of the remaining leaves, at the end of a year, gives me a strange kind of hope for the year yet to come, even with it's uncertainty!

Years can take some odd twists and turns, but I can get through it by focusing on the last season of the year, and my hopes for the next new start! I will be visiting the Haggin Museum and Victory Park again, hopefully in December, but maybe when January rolls around I will venture in to see the variety of exhibits! It has quite an eclectic collection of art, exhibitions, and it even touches a bit on the history of Stockton. For now, at least until January, I want to focus on the incredibly beautiful park surrounding it! I have to hold onto every last minute, of the autumn of, 2017!

 I will be featuring a different set of pictures from this photo shoot each day this week, so be sure to check back!

Lady Walking Dogs In Sweaters

Autumn Tears

Little Lady Bug Friend

#11 Leaf Of The Day

December 11th 2017

Victory Park/Haggin Museum

Stockton, California

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Autumn Roses And Curses

"Autumn, that season of peculiar and inexhaustible on mind of taste and tenderness, that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read, some attempt at description,

 or some lines of feeling. She occupied her mind as much as possible in such like musings and quotations."

~Jane Austen

I reached into the archives for this rose photo, from 2013. My current December files are a bit anemic! I need to get back out with the camera, and maybe I will later today, we'll see what the day brings. I am trying to ignore the fact that it is December 10th, a slightly amusing, and slightly dreaded day in our house, because of all the hilarity over the years, and of course the fact that it's cursed. 27 years in a row, we have some kind of financial boo-boo occur. It's been everything from getting robbed... twice... to someone renting a car in my name, and then crashing it, to last years adventure. 

We stopped into our local Bargain Market, to pick up some plastic food containers, and a few other items, but when we went to the check out, sure enough, it happened... the total for 3 small items came to $109.89! Alan and I started laughing, because we knew what it was, but the checker, well, not so much! It took roughly 30 minutes to find out what had gone wrong with the scanner! The containers should have scanned at $9.00 but obviously, they didn't! Then to make it all more fun, it was ultimately discovered that, only the set we picked up had the problem! The rest of the same lot was fine. Oh December 10th, it just wouldn't be the holiday season without you!

#10 Leaf Of The Day

December 10th, 2017

Stockton, California

Mood: Amused

~Me