The Promise From The Ellipse

 

“But when you can’t sleep at night, how can you dream?”

 
― Kamala Harris, 

 The Truths We Hold: An American Journey

75 thousand people showed up to the Ellipse, and the National Mall to hear the closing statement by Kamala Harris. And she rocked it! She was determined, straight forward, optimistic, dynamic and more than anything, not insulting to the very people who support her! I feel encouraged after her speech. The vibe lifted my spirits. If you didn't watch it, please do now. It's worth watching, especially if you haven't quite made up your mind. We are standing at the crossroads of freedom and a dictatorship. I choose freedom. How about you?

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #38

 

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

 

~Angie Weiland Crosby

 

 

Our Future, Our Fate

 

"There is no season when such sunny and pleasant spots,

 may be lighted on and produce so pleasant effect

 on the feelings as now in October.

 

~Nathanial Hawthorne

 

I want to think about autumn, but things like this keeps happening...

 

Trump's campaign is trying to throw this "comedian" under the bus, by saying his "humor" does not align with their values, but they vetted him, and they loaded his jokes into the teleprompter, so once again, as far as Trump's little MAGAt posse goes, Trump gets a pass. He had nothing to do with the grotesque jokes made by the comic, and we should all just ignore the fact that each of his surrogates said pretty much everything Trump said was in the same vein as the vileness this guy spewed. It was one racist, misogynistic, lie after another. So make NO MISTAKE, that rally Trump held at Madison Square Garden was a political NAZI rally, not an American political campaign event. They are now saying the quiet part out loud. Nazism is running for president, and it's hidden in a cult of personality. So how do I get in touch with the autumn inside me, when this might be the last free election we spend as Americans.

 

 One week from today will decide our future. Our fate.

 

 

Autumn Lead Of The Day #37

 

“For these beings, fall is ever the normal season, the only weather, there be no choice beyond. Where do they come from? The dust. Where do they go? The grave. Does blood stir their veins? No: the night wind. What ticks in their head? The worm. What speaks from their mouth? The toad. What sees from their eye? The snake. What hears with their ear? The abyss between the stars. They sift the human storm for souls, eat flesh of reason, fill tombs with sinners. They frenzy forth....Such are the autumn people.”

 
~Ray Bradbury 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #36/Help Me Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

 “I love the Autumn,
And yet I cannot say
All the thoughts and things
That make me feel this way.

I love walking on the angry shore,
To watch the angry sea;
Where summer people were before,
But now there's only me.

I love wood fires at night
That have a ruddy glow.
I stare at the flames
And think of long ago.

I love the feeling down inside me
That says to run away
To come and be a gypsy
And laugh the gypsy way.

The tangy taste of apples,
The snowy mist at morn,
The wanderlust inside you
When you hear the huntsman's horn.

Nostalgia - that's the Autumn,
Dreaming through September
Just a million lovely things
I always will remember.” 

~Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis 

 

With a little bit more than a week to go, until the election, I am a nervous wreck. My final order from the Harris/Walz store hasn't arrived yet. It's a Kamala Harris poster, and a set of "Ka-Ma-La" campaign buttons. I am hoping it will get here soon, so that I can put it in a frame on the wall. I waited on putting Hillary's poster up, and I was really sad on election night that I hadn't. It was at least a couple years before I finally did add it to my office. And then we had to move, and well, shit happens. We finally put the poster in our upstairs hallway, and now I can see here from my office. I am hoping to put the poster that's coming, next to Hillary, in the hallway, but I might also bring both of them into my office, after the election. We will see how thing go. Anyway... I need strength. And I need my Kamala Harris poster.

 

 Autumn, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, help me.

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #35

 

“Autumn is no time to lie alone”
~Murasaki Shikibu,

 

  The Tale of Genji

 

I get a little sad when a leaf lying alone. But I feel joy in giving it some immortality through it's portrait. It deserves that.

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #34/Ed Sullivan And The Mamas And The Papas

 

“Yes, Halloween excites me. That whole time of year, autumn, I find exhilarating. A passionate season. The others are so bland. In the fall, you see opportunities for change. Real change. Possibilities present themselves. None of the renewal and redemption cliches of spring. No. Something darker and more primal and more important than that.”

 
~Alice LaPlante 

 

Old Sacramento, October 2024

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #33

 

“If I could write words
Like leaves on an autumn forest floor,
What a bonfire my letters would make.

If I could speak words of water,
You would drown when I said
"I love you.”

 
~Spike Milligan 

 

I absolutely love October. Always will! I may have used this quote before, but using it again makes me smile. It fits how I feel about every autumn day.

 

 

Breaking News: No Sympathy For Rudy Giuliani

 

"Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent."

 

 ~Terry Goodkind 

 

Poor Rudy? HELL NO!

 

No pity. No feeling sorry for Rudy Giuliani. NO SYMPATHY! I only feel compassion, love and deep respect for Ruby Freeman, and Shaye Moss. I hope their future is filled with the comfort they deserve, the kindness they are due, and the respect they deserve. I am so proud of them for seeing this process through. I wish them a wonderful future!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #32

 

“Wild is the music
of autumnal winds
Amongst the faded woods.” 

~William Wordsworth 

 

Today is Family Day, and Half Moon Bay, and possibly San Francisco, awaits! It's an adventure, one that I love dearly, and so I am along for the ride. 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #31/Don't Dream It's Over

 

“I wonder if leaves feel lonely when they see their neighbors falling?”

 

~John Muir

 

I choose the leaves I feature from many different cities in Northern California, though most of them come from Stockton, Sacramento, and Cull Canyon Park, in Castro Valley. I love the beautiful leaves I find there. Each and every one! They pave my way. They make walking on my own sidewalk less lonely. Leaves on the sidewalk, in autumn. reminds me to feel joy and to not give myself to the dark. Autumn and all it's colors live in me.

 

Don't Dream Its Over

By Crowed House

 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #30/Don't Wanna

 

“Well, the old Autumn didn't know anything about reality. The old Autumn was quite happy living in a childish make-believe world where bad things didn't happen and where you could make up whatever silly story you liked and tell yourself it was true.” 

 
~Liz Kessler

  A Year Without Autumn

 

I don't wanna. I am tired. But onward I go! It's only two weeks until the election, and the slogan I must remember is, "When We Fight We Win!" So I get up every day, and I keep track of what's being said, and I try my best to ignore the polls. They are unreliable. Look what happened to Hillary Clinton. All the polls said she had it sewed up, and look what happened, her loss was one of the most devastating events in my life, but I am a little bit smarter now, or so I believe I am, I know that polls are bullshit. Right? We must pray at this point, or surround yourself with positive energy and thoughts. Keep your eyes clear and hope alive. We must speak to folks when possible and ignore those who refuse to see the speak with respect. We cannot despair over what we have no control over!

 

I want to quit Twitter/X for good. Just pull the plug completely. Sigh. But I can't. I have to continue to push back on the disinformation. That is what I can contribute... telling the truth. So, I get up every day, knowing I have to fill myself up with the media sources I trust, and fight back. That's my fight. Realistically, I am reaching about half of my 1,600 or so followers. If just one person who follows me sees my words understands, then I have done something for the American universe. But make no mistake, I am not unaware that my words will never save the world, but they will get me home. Lets face it, the real fight will more than likely begin on November 6th, 2024! And preparing for that is something I don't wanna do! Mostly because I don't know how to do it!

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #29/McUnhinged

 

“There was a filmy veil of soft dull mist obscuring, but not hiding, all objects, giving them a lilac hue, for the sun had not yet fully set; a robin was singing ... The leaves were more gorgeous than ever; the first touch of frost would lay them all low to the ground. Already one or two kept constantly floating down, amber and golden in the low slanting sun-rays.”

 

~Elizabeth Gaskell

 

Twitter is a Hellscape. Trump is simultaneously full of shit, and terrifying. I am tired, sad and scared for my future. I feel like shit, and I am tired of his unchecked threats! The link below is to the stupidest move a presidential candidate has ever engaged in. I feel like I am losing my mind! Can this all actually be real? The fucking McDonald's was closed. It was pretend! What 78 year old man does that? He could again be in charge of the nuclear codes, in three months or so. Why is this race so close? Fuck you, Donald Trump!

McUnhinged

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #28/The Energy Eater

 

“When you fall in love with a work of art, you’d die to meet the artist. I am a student of the galleries of Pacific sunsets, full moon rises on the ocean, the clouds from an airplane,

 autumn forests in Raleigh,

 first fallen snows.
And I’m dying to meet the artist.” 

 
~Yasmin Mogahed 

 

Just for fun and chills, I give you, Kolchak: "The Energy Eater. It was a favorite of mine when I was a child. In fact, I never missed an episode. How about you? When you were a kid, did you wait all week for Friday nights, so you could watch Karl Kolchak defeat the ghosts, witches, demons and ghouls that came his way? I did, and then promptly had nightmares for the next week, until Friday night came around again! So much fun! This episode is really a metaphor for how I am feeling right now. I am getting my energy drained daily by this election. 17 more days to go, and I am terrified. We should all keep the eyes on the prize and don't look down, I get that, but damn I need some good news. I go to bed every night with such fear for this county, and unlike the fear of the next episode of Kolchak:The Night Stalker, I don't look forward to the next episode of, Oh My God, What Did He Just Say/Do? I don't know, I think I just need more of the things that scare me in a good way, like a show with monsters, where it is all resolved by a good guy, in under an hour! How about you, are you doing okay? Share in the comments if you feel like it.

And now...

Kolchak: The Night Stalker...

  "The Energy Eater"

Enjoy!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #27

 

"And all the lives we ever lived

 and all the lives to be are full of trees and changing leaves..." 

 

~Virginia Woolf

 To the Lighthouse

 

Not Shocked, I Tells Ya!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #26/Fallen Leaves

 

"The trees are about to show us how to be

 gracefully strong in the face of change.” 

~Unknown

 

 I will never see enough of autumn. I miss my little autumn leaf.

I love you, Dylan.  

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #25/Red Flag Warnings For All

 

"The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes

 from the summer cottons into its winter wools."

 

 ~Henry Beston

 

It has been hot. Really hot. Relentlessly hot, all summer, and now well into October, and it will be 78 degrees later today. Yes, that's hot for October! STOP IT ALREADY! There will be no appreciable rain or cool weather for at least the next month. Sigh. We, in the San Joaquin Valley, are under a fire watch for the next few days, with the possibility of rolling blackouts. Here's a question, that I guess history will have to answer, are either of the two candidates planning to address Climate Change in any serious way? One of them caves to big oil, the other hasn't said much. Are we all on our own as far as the change in the ecosystem goes? It feels like its late to help us. Is it everything almost over anyway? Why isn't the conversation taking place in any real way? Just look where Climate Change falls on the list of issues for voters this year...

Why are we still not having more meaningful conversations

 about this issue?

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #24/Pennywise The President

 

“Everything's a lot tougher when it's for real. 

That's when you choke. When it's for real.” 

~Stephen King,

  It

 

“I started after him...and the clown looked back. I saw Its eyes,

 and all at once I understood who It was."
"Who was it, Don?" Harold Gardner asked softly.
"It was Derry," Don Hagarty said. "It was this town.” 

 
~Stephen King,

  It

 

I get up every day thinking that it will be the day when I hear that Donald Trump had fallen15 points behind Kamala Harris in the polls. Not only has that not happened, but Harris is the one slipping downward, despite the violent speech and promise of installing a fascist state once elected, coming from Trump. It's like living with Pennywise the Dancing Clown every day, and the citizens of the United States are just as cowardly and forgetful as the citizens of, Derry Maine. The people of Derry ignored the danger that cycled around every 30 years or so, but in America's case, it seems our memories fade a lot sooner than that. Case in point, did COVID fatigue cause you to forget the real danger Trump posed during the pandemic?And did you forget he incited a mob to attempt to overthrow the United States? I can go on with his list of evils, but do you really need me to help you remember, or do you know deep down, without me reminding you of a thing, that Donald John Trump poses a real and genuine threat to our very lives?

 

"Beep, Beep, Ritchie." 

 

~Stephen King,

IT 

 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #23/When We Fight, We Win!

 

“If you're going to die, then die. If you are going to live, then fight.”

 
~Emilie Autumn 

 

We must enjoy autumn for all it's beauty, but this year, we must also find out strength to fight! Donald Trump is a breath away from winning the election, and frankly I am terrified. We all must do everything we can to defeat him on election day. Volunteer. Organize. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Donate up and down the ballot. We can do this, but we have to find our fight. It's not a fucking reality show... it's our life right now... and in the future.

HELP!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #22

 

“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

 

 

Happy 34th Anniversary, My Love

 

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,

 while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
 

~Lao Tzu

 

He has been by my side through the happiness, and the tragedies. He is my strength, he is my hope, he is now and forever, my everything. He and I and our kitty-cat children are a family. Strong in love. Forever in love.