Gathering Leaves And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #10

 

Gathering Leaves

By Robert Frost

 

Spades take up leaves

no better than spoons,

 And bags full of leaves  

are as light as balloons.

 

They make a great noise

of rustling all day

like rabbit and deer

running away.

 

But the mountains I raise

elude my embrace

flowing over my arms

and into my face.

 

I may load and unload 

again and again

Till I fill the whole shed

and what then?

 

Next to nothing for weight

and since they grew duller

from contact with earth

next to nothing for color.

 

Next to nothing for use

but a crop is a crop

and who's to say where

the leaves shall stop. 

 

The leaves above are from a Judas tree, that exists for the time being, at a park and ride in the El Dorado County town of, Ione, California. You may remember me mentioning Ione, when I post about one of my favorite spooky places ever, Preston Castle. Anyway, it has been one of the best sources I have had for finding autumn color in a safe place, and by that, I mean as a place easy to get to, off the road, and not too far into the Sierra foothills. But the last couple years it has become more and more apparent that the town of Ione would rather watch these trees die, than give them a little water. I don't live there, so I feel funny about complaining, I don't know what their budget is, I just know my heart hurts for these beautiful trees. The drought has destroyed so much of the beauty of California, and I feel these trees are just one more casualty. Pray for rain in California, or do some positive visualization, or please, if you can, send some hope their way. I don't want to see their beauty lost forever. 

 

Also from the Judas tree...

 

~Me

Autumn Picnics And Todays Autumn Leaf Of The Day #9

 

Still

By Jaakko A. Ahokas

 

In the fall, I believe in poetry again

if nothing else it is

a movement of the mind.

Summers ball together

into sticky lumps,

evenings are glass beads from one mould

for standard-size youth

winter a smooth heaviness, not even cold.

But the mind trembles

here, on the brink 

the mind trembles

there is life, after all,

there is life, still

unbelief left. 

 

A mother, father, and two baby Clark's Grebes frolic in the warm afternoon sun, in early autumn. The father swims a short distance away, and returns a little bit later with the perfect meal for their picnic... a shiny silver colored fish. He hands it off to one of his children, and floats over to his wife to give her a kiss. They are a happy American family, enjoying life in their home, the waters of the Clifton Court Forebay, in Byron, California. There is just something deeply magical about the sunshine in autumn, that no other season enjoys.

 

 

 

Today's Autumn Leaf Of The Day...

~Me

 

 

Autumnal Rainbows And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #8

 

"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

 

White-faced Ibis are beautiful, full stop. As a juvenile they shine with iridescent dark green feathers. There are other colors mixed in, but as they fly overhead all you can see is either green or black feathers. These two Ibis are among the most lovely I've seen, and with the autumn sun shining through their feathers, illuminating a beautiful rainbow, I can't think of a more fascinating or photogenic bird. 

 

 

~Me

Draggin 2021, Plus The Autumn Leaf Of The Day #7

 

"Don't drag your feet in 2022. Drag a corpse instead.

 It's the only way to kill 2021."

 

~Anthony T. Hincks

 

See that stair goblin. It's not a ghost or a monster or even 2021 sitting there, it's my sweet child Joey. He loves cuddles and smiles. He loves to take mad dashes up the stairs, around the bedroom, and then back downstairs to the living room and kitchen. He, and his brothers, Hendrix and Dylan, are the light in my life. The people who provide me with joy and meaning. I get to take care of them, and in return, they take care of me, well actually, us. Now that my dear hubby is retired, he gets to spend every day with them. 

 

My life is small right now. As my last friend has passed away, and it's difficult to make new friends, but it's okay. In some ways I am kinda glad it's just us. Last year was a shitshow. The thought of never seeing 2021 again never fails to make me smile. Say it with me, it was the year of one of the worst moves I have ever had, and hubby and I both got Covid-19. We missed most of the birds on the Pacific Flyway, and someone stole Christmas packages off our porch, with both of us sitting in the living room. But I think my favorite, OH MY GOD moment of 2021, might have been when someone totaled our new SUV and the cars belonging to 5 of our neighbors, one beautiful morning last October. Sigh. what a year.

 

So if I could, I would drag 2021 behind my little red Mini Cooper. I would take it straight over the Altamont Pass, and through a corn field, before finally drowning it in the delta. But I can't, so when something comes up that even remotely has to do with 2021, I pretend it is nothing more than a residual haunting. A ghost that sometimes floats through the room, says boo, and then disappears out the wall of our kitchen. The ghost of 2021 will rise up from time to time, and I will get the wiggins, but then it will stop and I will be fine. At the end of every day, I know Joey will be on the stairs, waiting to walk me to be and tuck me in, and all will be right with the world.

 

 

~Me

He's Home, And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #6

 

"I've always marveled that geese can feel a call stirring, rise on hardy wings to engage it, and without contemplation, compass or map complete the feat. And could it be that they achieve this astounding accomplishment because far too often contemplation. compass or map rob the call by sterile analysis when we should liberate the call through expectant obedience."

 

~Craig D. Lounsbrough 

 

He's home! My favorite of the species of goose. The king himself. The Greater White-fronted goose has finally arrived in lower Sacramento county, after a long trip from Siberia. I have been checking, pretty much since the end of August for it, at all the usual spots. Cosumnes. Woodbridge. Stone Lakes. Even the Clifton Court Forebay, with no luck at all, but on Sunday, there he was, relaxing in the water off Desmond road. Visiting all those places paid off by awarding us at least one new bird each time. And if there wasn't a new bird for this year's file, there may have been more than one moment of deep cute, such as a mother Grebe, floating happily in the water, with one of her babies on her back. Sigh. But knowing he is back moves me a little more toward normal. I am thinking about my projects, and not about painful memories. I am planning to set a new goal to find. The Caspian Tern, or maybe a Black Oystercatcher. So many birds await!

 

Clark's Grebe with baby.

 

 

~Me

Canada Geese, Late In The Day. Plus Leaf #5

 

"If, of all the seasons, there is a season in which a person completely forgets himself and constantly watches the magical environment, it is undoubtedly autumn!"

 

~Mehmet Murat ildan

 

 That old familiar song... honk... honk honk. I am not completely sure what the geese are saying, but it sure sounds like, I love autumn, to me!

 

 

~Me

 

The Red Dragonfly Of Summer And The Autumn Leaf Of Late September

 

"Autumn was San Francisco's summer. The days were bright and warm, scented with drying leaves and fading flowers and the ever-present salt air."

 

~Susan Wiggs

The Lost and Found Bookshop

 

 Finally, a dragonfly. I hoped to be able to photograph one over the summer, but either it was too hot to think about venturing outside to do some photography, or when I did get out to the delta and it's sloughs, there was nary a one to be found. Ironic that I saw some along Desmond road yesterday, happily dancing about in the late afternoon sun. Autumn isn't exactly their season. Or is it? I don't know much about them, except that they are pleasant little creatures to photograph, and they eat nasty things like mosquitos. Anyway, I have had several days in a row of happiness, and I hope to keep up that momentum. I just want to be happy again, which I think I will be, I just need more time I guess.

 

~Me 

White-faced Ibis In The Autumn And Leaf #3

 

'Or maybe spring is the season of love and fall the season of mad lust. Spring for flirting but fall for the untamed delicious wild thing."

 

~Elizabeth Cohen

The Hypothetical Girl

 

Oh my, the sight of White-faced Ibis flying over the freshly mowed farmland of Desmond road... sigh... took my breath away. It would not have been as pretty in any other season. Autumn carries a magic in it's life, and hopefully one day I will be able to explain it and you will understand why I feel so alive right now. I mean, damn, White-faced Ibis! A beautiful country road in the Central Valley, the warm autumn sun, and the birds are only beginning to visit!

 

Of course I am drunk on happiness!

 

  ~Me

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #2

 

"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 autumnal beginning as if last year's mistakes had been wiped clean by summer."

 

~ Wallace Stegner

Angle Of Repose

~Me

 

Welcome Autumn And Leaf Of The Day #1

 

 "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 favorite pipe and lights it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since he last saw you."

 

~Stephen King

 Salem's Lot

 

"But when fall comes, kicking summer out on it's treacherous ass... ."

Has there ever been a better description of how it feels to finally be rid of brutal summer days? It's finally here, weather that isn't 114 degrees! Yep, we broke records again this year, but the leaves that are still alive are off to a beautiful start. Life. Is. Good. Mostly.

~Me

 

 

Goodbye Summer, And Thanks For The Cheese!

 

"One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day... ."

~Aristotle

What a fantastic day. Autumn is in the air. I am actually feeling better. I am able to eat more foods and, oh yeah, a little bit of American justice took place. History will play things out the way it will, but for right now it seems Donald Trump is finally getting his, and as the end of summers go, that is not a bad way to celebrate. Do worry, no hopes are raised, but I am guardedly optimistic, which is better than I have felt in a long, long, very long time.

With this post I am back to posting regularly. Daily leaf and bird photos as my feathered friends find their way along the Pacific Flyway. Good things are ahead, and it's magical.

~Me

Blue Heron, Gone Fishing

 

"Creativity is the Blue Heron inside us waiting to fly;

 through her imagination all things become possible."

 

~Nadia Janice Brown

 

 Meet the second bird in my series of posts about the gorgeous birds of 2022, the Great Blue Heron. I have seen a lot of them so far this year, which is in contrast to last year when I only saw perhaps 4 or 5. It's nice to see that their numbers have increased here in the valley. Great Egrets seemed to be increasing in numbers as well. I have no idea what that means for the upcoming Pacific Flyway for this year, but it will be fascinating to watch!

 

 

~Me

September 3rd 2022

 

105 To 87

 

"The month of August had turned into a griddle

 where the days just lay there and sizzled."

 

~Sue Monk Kidd

 The Secret Life Of Bees 

 

August sizzled, with many days hovering around 100 degrees, and now September is beginning around the same. I hate the summer, and never bought into the "fun in the sun" nonsense. Do I like the beach? Absolutely! I LOVE the beach, but I love the beach in May and October, otherwise it can be beautiful for other reasons, like winter sunsets and photographing incoming storms. Photographing lightning coming off the Pacific ocean can be beautiful and challenging. I tried it many times when I lived in the Bay Area, but as I was discussing in my last post, the delta is drying up, so those opportunities are not presenting themselves as before. Is there any good news on the horizon? Yes! As with most Septembers, autumn will be shoving summer out on it's treacherous ass (see my favorite quote by Stephen King) soon! The projected forecast for 10 days from now is a high of 87 degrees! Hope is on the way! I love autumn!

~Me

September 1st 2022

 

 

Cobbler Crust

 

"It looked like the world was covered

 in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon."

 

~Sarah Addison

First Frost

 

I know I push autumn to start early every year, but as I looked around at the YOLO Bypass Wildlife refuge yesterday, it really seemed that autumn had crossed the seasonal threshold sooner than usual. Not that I am complaining, mind you, I was simply pleasantly surprised. I always enjoy the arrival of my favorite season, but global warming has me terrified, and I know that what I saw yesterday was not a matter of the seasons having a bit of rivalry, but rather a matter of the earth saying "fuck you humans, you're causing my early demise, so here is a visual." Yolo was dry, and devoid of plants and birds. I only noticed one dragonfly, and I was there for over four hours! Everything is changing, rapidly, in the valley. My usual go-tos for birding opportunities along the delta were all dried up early this year. It's not going to take long before California won't be California anymore. 

 That all being said, we had a good time visiting the refuge. There were some lovely residents still keeping a watchful eye until their friends return. The Pacific Flyway returns in about a month, and hopefully we will see some natural correction in the weather soon too.

 

~Me

August 30th, 2022

 

 

 

European Starling

 

"On the single strand of wire strung, to bring our house electricity, grackles and starlings punctuated an invisible sentence."

 

~John Updike

 

Yesterday, while traveling along Woodbridge road, I spotted what I thought was a new bird, well, a new bird for me anyway, but as it turns out it was simply the juvenile phase of the European Starling. Birds are so interesting. I love learning about them, and seeing their different patterns. The Starlings are a particular favorite of mine. I can't wait for winter when they will be back in great numbers. I love watching them fly together in their strange and beautiful smoky sky dance. It's downright magical. 

 

~Me

August 28th 2022