Please Don't Take Us To Your Leader + The Leaf of The Day

"I wonder if aliens deny that we exist?'

~Anthony Hicks

About a year ago, Alan discovered a really great market in Lathrop, California, called Power Mart. It was fairly close to where he was working, and their prices were reasonable, as was the variety of items that they carried. That's kind of unusual for a mini-mart, but what made it truly unique was the fact that it had apparently been a fairly convenient place to pick up a few grocery needs, if you were from outer space!

According to Roadside America, there are several Power Marts that stretch between Sacramento and San Francisco! I am not sure how I missed these markets, but I was happy to find this one. It's absolutely adorable and it was fun to photograph the astounding number of cute aliens throughout the place!

If you're into the whimsical, this is definitely the place for you! 

So, that was my summer, 4th Of July, close encounter, and I am pretty sure what caused them to crash, was the thought of Donald Trump proposing America create a "Space Force." Not out of fear mind you, but because it's pretty much the stupidest waste of money ever proposed by a sitting president. Especially, when you consider we already have NASA! You know, the NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION!

He's so embarrassing!

#13 Leaf Of The Day

October 4th, 2018

Ione, California

~Mood: Happy

~Me 

Power Mart #104

192 Lathrop rd, Lathrop, California

209-858-4998

Read All About It Here.

 

By Land And Sea + The Leaf Of The Day

"Above all, life for a photographer 

cannot be a matter of indifference."

~Robert Frank

Photography is my passion. I work hard at it. I love it, I breathe it. I want to be really good at it. I am at my happiest, when I have a camera in my hand, and I am discovering a new bird, or landscape I haven't seen before, or even a random slant of light or shadow. But I have been becoming indifferent inside, sometimes to life itself, with Donald Trump in office. It's affected every aspect of my life. Things I used to look forward to, are now pushed away by me, into a box of quiet darkness. 

If this mess ever ends, I would like to resume my life again. I fight the depression with all I have, but a lot of joy is simply gone. As we begin our vacation next week, Alan and I have a couple things planned that may provoke some feeling again. I take groups of photos like these, to try and stretch my creativity muscle, because I know that depression is treated using a number of different elements, and art is one of them. So I really am trying!

This group of photos are not my best work, they just aren't, but they are an attempt at moving away from the sadness, and toward happiness. There was a time when I would rather take photos than breathe, but with Trump in office, I feel like all my energy is gone. Just gone. And if this weeks news hasn't been horrific enough, later today we will be getting a "Presidential Tweet" that tests the Emergency Broadcast system. And we are given NO CHOICE! The call will come, whether we want to receive it or not!

 Yet another intrusion from Donald Trump.  

Will it ever end?

Altamont Pass

By The Pacific Ocean

If how I feel inside couple be summed up by a photo,

 it would be this one. Foggy. Dark. Quiet.

#12 Leaf Of The Day

October 3rd, 2018

Ione, California

~Mood: Quiet

~Me

 

Where Memories Gather

"Stop looking at the walls, look out the window."

~Karl Pilington

The Ricky Gervais Show

Seasons 1-3 

Okay, so I began removing some of my photographs off the sidebar. I might take even more of them down, because as my pal Jeff once advised, the sidebar was "too cluttered and would have a more impressive look to it, if it wasn't so busy." He was right, but I had such fond memories of all the photos I had posted there, that it was difficult to take them down. I wanted to hold onto each and every moment and memory, that I had created in the Bay Area!

 When I began blogging on Ellipsis, I had designed my blog for myself, and not for those who may visit. There is some logic to that, in that there is no real way to know who has come by, or how many consistent readers I have on a weekly basis, so I decorated the blog, as I would my home! But in the last few months, as I pondered whether or not I needed cease my blogging all together, I began to see how a new outlook on the blog might be just what I needed to inspire me pick the camera back up, and look for the unseen or overlooked!

So, the collections in this post, are a last look back, at the photographs that graced my sidebar from 2006 until now. They all mean a lot to me, but I have a new folder for them, and it feels good to start looking for the reality I am in right now, as opposed to the life I had in Berkeley. In 2015, life picked me up, twirled me around in a shit storm, and threw me hard into the Central Valley, and into the city of Stockton, where I landed with a HARD THUD! It was difficult to come to terms with those facts, but I've been lucky to have had Alan by my side, as we dealt with it together. I'm so lucky, and so blessed to have people who care about me, and who give me strength.  

But revamping Ellipsis, is another necessary step toward moving forward! We have decorated our home, one room at a time, and with each coat of paint, or one more carefully chosen painting, or rug, or toss pillow, home becomes a little more HOME. Decorating a new place takes time, and in a weird way, the house will guide you with lighting, and natural sounds, until it all comes together in your imagination. As that process nears completion, I am finally coming out of that three year fog I was in, and accepting that it all goes together, even my blog, because it is a part of my creative reality, even if no one reads my blog or sees my photographs.

Ellipsis is a place for my memories to gather.

And it's time to make new ones!

 

Autumn trips. Time spent in Golden Gate Park. Sunsets from the Berkeley Hills. My rose garden. My beautiful Golden Gate Bridge. I love looking back on those days, even as I plan new trips and new photo opportunities. 

I'm excited!

#11 Leaf Of The Day

October 2nd 2018

Ione, California

~Mood: Excited

~Me :)

 

Under Construction And The Leaf Of The Day

"Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves,

We had our summer evenings, now for October eves!"

~Humbert Wolfe

As you might have noticed, I have been working on editing the design of Ellipsis. I had a lot of gadgets and photographs that no longer applied, so it's time to move on to a more enthusiastic outlook and design! It will take me a few days, so bear with me if the blog looks a little odd, I have a pretty good idea how I want it to look, but it's going to take me a little while to get there! All things in their own time, right?

#10 Leaf Of The Day

October 1st, 2018 

Stockton, Ca

~Mood: Creative

~Me :)

 

Rhythm Of The Wind

"If you move faster than the music, it will look strange; if you move slower than the music, it will look strange! Be like autumn leaves which follow exactly the rhythm of the wind."

~Mehmet Murat ildan 

Sometimes in autumn, I like to post pictures of big piles of leaves, and here we have the first one of the season! There are oak leaves and Dogwood, and I think there might be a few Japanese Maple leaves mixed in, although that tree looked pretty green, so I am not really sure about that. Anyway, I am surprised to see leaves turning this early, I just hope there will still be color late into the season, and not all drop off by Thanksgiving. Cross your fingers for me, because I have a lot of day trips, and leaf destinations planned!

#9 Leaf Of The Day

September 30th, 2018

Stockton, Ca

~Mood: Happy

 ~Me

Falling

"Sometimes I wake up and lie still enough to hear a petal drop from the vase of flowers. Sometimes I lie awake and wish there was someone to hear my falling."

~Simon Van Booy

The Illusion Of Separateness 

Aren't they pretty? I found these lovely flowers last summer, and couldn't resist photographing them. I am not sure what they are called, but their colors were so striking! It was the 4th of July, and Alan were on a relaxing ride, when we stopped at a park to eat lunch, and there they were looking so vibrant and cheerful. All my favorite colors, everything about them was perfect! The only problem was... they weren't autumn leaves! I would rather have a bouquet of autumn leaves, than a bouquet of flowers any day, but when it's especially hot outside, like early July tends to be, one will dwell on the upcoming season, and that wonderful first chill of the year! There really is nothing quite like it!

If you happen to know the name of these flowers, please let me know in the comment thread!

#8 Leaf Of The Day

September 24th, 2018

Cull Canyon

~Mood; Tired

 ~Me 

 

An Amusing Eye For Autumn And The Leaf Of The Day

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

~Albert Einstein

I had to have a diabetic retinal scan last summer, July 3rd to be exact, and I thought the image came out kinda cool, so I took a picture, of the picture, because I knew I would be ready to resume  blogging right about now, and this would give me something interesting to write about. The test result was fine, no eye damage from my diabetes, which is awesome, because I love photography, and I would be lost without it, even if I do experience a lack of inspiration from time to time. But hey, with autumn upon us, and an eye for the unusual, my inspiration is definitely ready for some playtime. Maybe resting my eyes for a few seasons helps!

Spider webs are a new photographic adventure for me. On the one hand they scare the crap out of me, on the other hand, maybe I will discover spiders aren't the scary monsters I think they are! Oh who am I kidding? Spiders are hideous, but I want to experience a greater challenge in my photography, and I can't think of any better way, than to photograph something that scares me! All this fear could be avoided, if women were allowed to be kissed by a muse the way men are! Damn misogynistic Greek Gods! Zeus sends his nine daughters to inspire men in the arts and sciences, and what do we women get? 

The strength to discover our own creativity!

And to be fair, there is no muse that inspires photography anyway!

#7 Leaf Of The Day

September 28th, 2018

Cull Canyon 

~Mood: Happy

~Me 

 

 

Floating On A Harvest Wind And The Leaf Of The Day

Harvest Moon Coneflower And Milkweed

"Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul... but I must confess that I love you only because you are a prelude to my beloved October."

~Peggy Toney Horton

This is another gorgeous flower I spotted the other day, among the spider webs and Milkweed. I loved that three little pieces of the Milkweed are poised on the petals of the Harvest Moon Coneflower, they remind me of when I was a little girl, and a small fluffy weed would float by in the wind, and my friends would discuss whether it was good luck, to catch what we all believed was a random fairy, on their way to somewhere important. It was quite the debate among my fellow kindergartners. I didn't take a position, my ideas floated on the wind, just like the little weeds I thought were fairies, then one day my father sat me down and began to teach me critical thinking, and that is the day I began to grow up.

Dad said...

 Look at life from as many different perspectives as possible, and then make up your own mind, based on the information you gather. Know all the sides of an issue, so you can debate them with confidence. Play devil's advocate from time to time, so you can better understand the other guys perspective. It's work, but when you do make the really big decisions in your life, you will be more at peace with it, if you know you did your best, based on the information available to you at the time.

I'm paraphrasing, of course, but his advice turned out to be the best advice ever given to me. Lord, I don't think he saw this time we are living in coming, how could he? But I know he didn't really think the world was going to get any easier, when it came to politics. Although, when he passed away in 1995, he was very happy with Bill Clinton as president, and thought we were on the right track. He never really paid attention to the personal lives of presidents, he taught me that when you vote for a president, you aren't voting for a moral leader, you are voting for a politician.

Dad was right... and that's what I have done most of my adult life, but it's difficult to not bring my values into the political mix, when you have the evangelical community supporting someone who couldn't be farther from representing Christian values! I never gave Bill Clinton a pass for his skeevy behavior, but with Trump we are definitely in dangerous, uncharted territory, so my values are tested daily, and sometimes hourly. Sometimes I don't know what to do on the inside, when he scares me the way he did yesterday!

Hide? Pray? Get drunk? Close my eyes and pretend it's 1995, and speak to dad as if he were here? Yesterday, Trump gave an 88 minute rambling press conference, that was about as batshit as it gets. And all anyone could do was ride it out, and hope it would eventually end. And thankfully, it did, and without his beginning WWIII, but as I sat there praying for the presser to end, I realized the one thing I resented about dad teaching me critical skills, is that I know we have a dangerous president in the White House, and there seems to be no one who can stop him from acting on any impulse he has, no matter how dangerous that impulse might be.

I love, and miss my dad so much right now!

#6 Leaf Of The Day

September 27th, 2018

Cull Canyon, Ca

~Mood: Sad

~Me

Art About Town... Placerville, California ( Druid Memorial ) And The Leaf Of The Day

"The holy grove, carved a century ago by the druids, was designed to amplify emotion to a cathartic crescendo. You see, druidism (as did most early religions) realized the essential truth that faith is an emotional, rather than a logical, response to the world.

 They designed their places of worship around this fact. Love, fear, guilt, rapture, these are religious words. Believers feel their belief. Skeptics contemplate their doubt."

~Scott David Howard

Three Days and Two Knights

Placerville, California, is a strange place. For a town that only has a little over 10,000 people, it has a lot of stories in it's rich past! Firstl of all, the town has had four names, Old Dry Diggins, Dry Diggings, Hangtown, and eventually, Placerville. The Gold rush, as you might expect, played a big part of it's past. I will share some new photographs and describe it's "Old West" persona in a different post, because it is a truly fascinating place, with some quirky and off beat characteristics to it. A part of the town is even said to be haunted, and has been featured on more than one paranormal research and reality show!

 But for this post, it's all about an interesting memorial that sits on the opposite side of town. Alan and I must have passed this memorial a hundred times, over the years, as we went to Lake Tahoe or Apple Hill! But it wasn't until this past summer, that I took the time to check out what it was. As it turns out, it is a memorial dedicated to Fredrick Seig, who created the first Druid grove in California, in 1859. The memorial was presented to the city of Placerville, by the Fraternal Order Of Druids, on September 5th, 1926. While I know that memorials are not, technically speaking, public art, I think this memorial is so interesting and quite lovely, so I am adding it to my own Art About Town, public art series. It's fascinating, don't you think?

Like I said, Placerville is an Old West town, and I am thinking about taking a day in October, and just walking from one end of town to the other, just to see all the interesting details, and learn about it's past! There is a lot to take in, from the "Hangman's tree" to all the historic homes around town! There are some really great mid-century signs, mixed in with more modern buildings and businesses. There is a bell tower in the center of town, that was erected in the 1800's to alert firemen, should a fire breakout, and the town even has a link to John Studebaker, the automobile maker! So, there's a lot to look forward to, as I move through this autumn, searching for autumn leaves, and learning about the contribution of California to the history and lore of the Old West.

 #5 Leaf Of The Day

September 26th, 2018

Cull Canyon

~Mood: Creative

~Me

 

Haunted Houses (Part One) And The Leaf Of The Day

"Every small town has at least one house the children whisper about; the type of house that has always been abandoned; where once pristine white paint has faded to a grimy gray; where the windows are boarded, and the lawn never grows; where children hold their breath and close their eyes as they pass by. A house that sounds like it contains an army of whispering spirits when the wind whistles through the nearby trees."

~The Blood Brothers

The House On Creep Street

Yesterday, after all my doctor appointments and medical tests, I treated myself to a trip to Cull Canyon, to see how my favorite autumn tree was progressing. It's coming along nicely, but perhaps a little too fast with the color. I don't want to lose the colors too early in the season, and yet at the same time, we are due for a cold wet autumn and winter, if the Farmer's Almanac is correct, so time to get out there and get things done!

While I was photographing some newly fallen color, I spotted the remains of what was once, last summer, a nice patch of Butterfly Weed. I love it! It's great for attracting hummingbirds, and butterflies, and on it's own, has always reminded me even on the hottest of summer days, that autumn was just around the corner! It has a brief summer life, and just happens to be all the lovely colors of autumn.

This patch was dead and dying, evident by the huge amount of spider webbing covering almost everything! Mums, the Butterfly Weed, some showy yellow flowers, and some gorgeous leaves that drifted into the spider's home! Well, actually, it had to have been a lot of spiders, a group or condominium of spiders, and not just one, because of the amount of webbing around, otherwise it would have been a spider the size of... well... I don't to think about the size it would have to have been!

Anyway, it seemed as if the web was, at this point, more haunted house, than actually a current residence! I spotted a small spider within all the chaos of the web rooms, along with what appeared to be both victims and squatters! Aphids. Gnats. Small moths. Small black bugs that may or may not have been tiny beetles. A ladybug or two, feasting on the aphids. It was quite the horror show! A true haunted house!

I have become very interested in spider webs in the last couple years, both occupied and abandoned! I am scared to death of spiders, that fact is pretty well known amongst my friends, but last year I found myself photographing a bunch of colorful leaves that had collected in the home of a particularly wily white spider! I kept a nice distance, thank god for cameras with long lenses, but I was kinda hooked from then on. Yesterday, I captured two different haunted spider houses, this set is the first, and I will post the second later in the week.

Can you spot the spider?

Just click on the photo to enlarge it!

 

#4 Leaf Of The Day

September 23rd, 2018

Stockton, California 

~Mood: Tired/Creative

~Me :)

 

The First Autumn Sunset Of 2018 And The Leaf Of The Day

"That old September feeling, left over from school days of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air... another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year's mistakes had been wiped clean by summer."

~Wallace Stegner

Angle Of Repose 

Okay, so, as it turns out, the Central Valley can put on quite a sunset that isn't half bad! I had gotten addicted to the sunsets in the Bay Area, especially as viewed from Ocean Beach, or the Berkeley Hills! Oh MY GOD... the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge was everything to me, but that's just not my reality anymore. And with Grandpa Crazypants AKA Donald John Trump, in the White House, who knows how many sunsets we will get! Right? 

Wait, I promised I wasn't going to dwell on His Orangeness, and anyway, I'd rather concentrate on the stunning sunset nature treated me to, on the very first day of autumn! I took this photo on the way back from a car ride to Ione, my new spirit spot in the valley. The ride out there from Stockton lets me process my thoughts and feelings, provoked by the world in general. I grab my cameras, put some tunes on the playlist and off I go!

I saw my first owl ever, on last nights drive! There he was, just sitting by the side of the road! Too bad I was passing him at 55 mph and didn't have the camera in my hand! LOL Anyway, I will see another one eventually, I am in the Central Valley now, and life is full of barn animals, GIANT SPIDERS, and glowy sunsets, just not sunsets over the Golden Gate Bridge. No, it's not HEAVEN out here, but it's not HELL either. It's somewhere in-between... like purgatory!

By the way, is there anything more lovely than sunset at a decommissioned nuclear power plant? Damn romantic too!

Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant

Central Valley

September 23rd, 2018

Twilight

LOL. 

#3 Leaf Of The Day

September 24th, 2018

Stockton, California

~Mood: Encouraged

~Me

Through Lovely Autumn

#2 Leaf Of The Day

September 23rd 2018

Photographed September 9th, 2018

Ione, California

 

 "In every change , in every falling leaf there is some pain, some beauty. And that's the way new leaves grow."

~Amit Ray 

Just a, Leaf Of The Day, post for today. I am a little tired from doing some required medical tests, and spending some time with Alan. But we will talk again soon, one leaf at a time, through lovely Autumn.

~Mood: Tired

~Me  :)

And So It Begins... Welcome To Autumn, 2018

"But when fall comes, kicking summer out on it's treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since he last saw you."

~Steven King

Salem's Lot

I know summer has a few more hours, but I am kicking summer out on it's treacherous ass! I've longed for autumn all year, I just want to run through big piles of leaves, and feel that sweater weather chill, and think again! But ass much as I am thankful for autumn, I have to admit I have to be thankful for the summer too, because the weather was just right for producing some early autumn leaves! That hasn't happened since we moved to the Central Valley, it was usually well into October before the trees began to really light up with reds and oranges and golds, but this year the summer seems enthusiastic to begin it's long nap, and hand things over to Fall.

  

There is a lot to get through in the next 3 months. Our vacation. Our anniversary, and of course, the midterm election. I am going to have to ease back into the politics, right now I am trying to not think too far ahead, but now that I will be posting daily, I will have a few opinions to share as we move along. I will also be getting you caught up on the photography I did this past year, and never found the energy to share. I think I did okay, and I think it will be fun to share it. So, without any additional wordiness, here is the first Leaf Of The Day, for autumn, 2018!

Photographed September 9th, 2018

Stockton, California 

~Mood: Creatively Enthusiastic

~Me

 

Established August 23rd 2003

"The restlessness and the longing, like the longing that is in the whistle of a far away train.

 Except that the longing isn't really in the whistle... it is in you."

~Meindert DeJong

The Little Cow And The Turtle

Here we are again! Another anniversary of Ellipsis! It continues to amaze me, that I haven't given up on this blog full stop. God knows I have been neglectful of it this year, posting my last entry for Valentine's Day! Giving up in winter, something I don't think I've done before! But, see, I just haven't been feeling it, it being the creative will to take pictures, and share the silly stories of the absurd things that tend to happen in life. My life. 

It's no mystery why I've felt so lost, creatively, it's the same thing I have been whining about since 2016, one Donald John Trump. His daily meltdowns, laughable/tragic/scary as fuck "leadership" drive me to a deep, dark, place inside me. I don't know half the time if I'm hiding in there, or lost and can't find my way out, or even if I want to be out.

I am on Twitter daily. I keep in touch with those I love. My friends. The celebrities that keep me sane, with their political views, or creativity, or positive energy. That's fun, and really kinda awesome, because who knew that there would ever come a day, when I could reach for a star, and not just interact, but let them know what their creativity has meant to me!

I missed that chance with John Ritter. Robin Williams. Anthony Bourdain. And countless others! Shrug. I don't know, I think about what I would have said to those who changed my life for the better, but they are stars in the sky now, and all I can do is look up at them, and smile, and hope somehow they know, I wouldn't be who I am, had their creativity not touched my life. 

So, it's not like Trump has taken my whole life from me. No, I can't lay that blame on him, but he sure hasn't helped things. It's on me to get back up! Autumn is just around the corner, and I am going to do my Autumn Leaf Series again. People on Twitter seem to enjoy it, so that will help! I hope. I saw a photograph on actor, Treat Williams, Twitter timeline today that took my breath away, and made me long for the excitement of feeling creative again! 

Nothing lasts forever, and that includes the Trump era! This week seems especially hopeful regarding a final legal end to this nightmare! I don't want to discuss it here, I will let history do that! I also just want to breathe right now, enjoy the turn of events that may soon lead to the veil being lifted, and the surreal fading away. Hope is a four letter word, and I hate it's guts, but it's a necessary evil, so we, me, can keep getting up, and remembering why I began this blog in the first place... to share my love of what's there, and what isn't there. You know what I mean?

Take that beautiful train. Some look and see a train, I looked and saw history! I saw transition. For some who rode it, hope played a part, as did convenience, and comfort, and maybe even creativity as well. I was also reminded of the creativity of different painters, and how they looked at trains, but saw art. They didn't paint their paintings to look like photographs, they made their paintings to reflect what only they saw, and that's my process too!

 I don't take photographs to look like photographs, I take photographs to look like what I see, as opposed to the bare bones of what's really there! I like to think of my photographs as instantaneous paintings! At least I try to. Only the viewer can tell me if I have succeeded! Art is in the hands of those who take the time, to stop and look. Sometimes you have to look inward, and through hopeful eyes at whats in front of you.

"Iron Ivan" 

Read all about this lovely old train, by visiting the historical landmarks page, of the town of Ione, California.

 Just click on "Iron Ivan" above!

PS: Thank you, for sticking with me all these years! There will be more photo entries on Ellipsis, so please check back soon. Autumn is just around the corner, and that means one thing... leaves!

Mood: Grateful

Me :)