The Birds Of Monterey Bay

"When the autumn meets the tranquility,

 there you can see the King of the Sceneries!"

~Mehmet Murat ildan 

As much as I love an autumn landscape, with nothing but red, yellow, orange and brown leaves floating from here to there, it isn't the only thing to appreciate about my favorite season, sometimes it's just the amazing color of the sun, and the way it makes everything around seem so tranquil. As you know from my previous post, Alan and I spent a day this past week, in beautiful Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel. I love it there, I really do, but since moving to the Central Valley, I don't spend nearly enough time along the coast. In fact, this was our first visit back, since we moved here in 2015, so it was an especially nice journey back! While I didn't see as many different sea birds as on previous visits, the ones I did see were quite spectacular, and if I didn't know better, I would think they were posing for the camera!

October 17th, 2018 was a wonderful autumn day!

#30 Leaf Of The Day

October 20th, 2018

Pacific Grove, California

Photographed October 17th 2018

~Mood: Happy

~Me

Art About Town: Sacramento... Sakti By Gerald Whalburg (2012)

Still

In the fall, I believe again in poetry

if nothing else it is

a movement of the mind.

Summers ball together

into sticky humps

spring evenings are glass beads from one mould

for standard-sized 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.

~Jaakko A. Ahokas

Some, Art About Town, for this post. I am tired tonight. World weary. I guess it's to be expected, so close to what will be the most important midterm election of my lifetime. I just want to drown in autumn leaves and art. I have done my share of drowning in politics, which seems to be the only news we have anymore. No stories of kittens being rescued from storm drains. No stories of people being saved from house fires by their neighbors, just politics, sadness, fear, frustration, and all of it coming at us so fast that one fears looking away. But we have to once in a while, right? Even if it's just once in a while, so we don't miss an autumn leaf turn and fall gently to the ground, or to admire a lovely piece of art.

There are TWO Leaves Of The Day in this post, because I accidentally uploaded the wrong one to Twitter. So, I decided to fix the matter by making it a double leaf day.

 Now, for your viewing pleasure... 

 #28

#29

~Mood: Tired
~Me :)

The Decline

"Change is an unsuspecting and finicky foe. You don't realize the strength or grip until it's too late."

~Dave Cenker

Second Chances

A short break from the usual autumn tribute. No pumpkins in this post, decorations, or thoughts of ghosts, just a collection of beautiful butterflies! Lovely, and gentle! Fragile and too few! On past visits to the Monarch Sanctuary, in Pacific Grove, California,

the eucalyptus groves were dripping with thousands of monarchs, resting in the leaves, until the sun turned, and they all flew at once into the warmth of the late afternoon sun! It was enchanting! But yesterday, Alan and were shocked to see only about 15 total! It was very sad, and really quite disturbing!

The earth is hurting. Climate Change is real, and it's at the most serious point it has ever been, yet it is being blatantly ignored by the American government, who should be leading the world in connecting the scientific facts and evidence to common sense approaches to reversing the damage already done! The most recent climate study is frightening! Total devastation could happen within my lifetime, And believe me, based on the obvious lack of butterflies, bees, and deer that usually wander all around the sanctuary, coupled with the decline of the number of different bird species in the are, that had seemed to drop off as well, it left me not just depressed, but also truly scared! 

#27 Leaf Of The Day

October 18th, 2018

Stockton, California

~Mood: Quiet

~Me 

Different Worlds Are Sometimes The Same Worlds

"Ghosts have a way of misleading you; they can make your thoughts as heavy as branches after a storm."

~Rebecca Maizel

Infinite Days

 Isn't she lovely? She is the new girl in town, and apparently the lady friend of the ghoul I introduced to you last year! She lives right down the road, and I guess she spends her days asleep, like I do, and does her chores at night! I've been a night person my whole life, so I can definitely relate. Once a pattern of behavior is set, good look changing it, especially when you've been doing it forever! She and I have a lot in common. We both haunt the places we love, we are both crazy in love with our favorite person, and we both seem to wait all year for autumn, and especially Halloween, which if you look on the calendar, is the exact halfway point of the season! She and I live in different worlds, but isn't it strange just how much we share? Until she tells me otherwise, I think I'll call her Lucille!

 "For dreams too are ghosts, 

desires, chased in sleep, gone by morning." 

~Libba Bray

Lair Of Dreams

#26 Leaf Of The Day

October 17th, 2018

Ione, California

 ~Mood: Quiet

~Me

The Only Thing You Have To Fear Is Donald Trump Himself

"I enjoy the spring more than autumn now.

 One does, I think, as one gets older."

~Virginia Woolf 

Jacob's Room

My whole life I've heard and read, what a melancholy season autumn is! But it has never felt that way to me. I've always thought that, of all the seasons, autumn is the only one with a sense of humor! It's death reminding you, with the ultimate "joke's on you" prank, of turning all the leaves on the trees into beautiful colors, of red, gold, orange, mustard, and sometimes purple, that shine in such vibrancy, that death is the furthest thing on your mind! 

But, rather than a joke, or a set time to be melancholy time, maybe autumn is more like a yellow signal light. The message is a simple one, it's time to slow down. It's time to reconsider how fast you and your life are going. I don't see the melancholy in that. Even as the seasons of autumn and winter converge, I don't feel the sadness others do, not as long as I can find autumn leaves fighting off the skeleton trees that winter causes. But actually, if truth be told, I don't feel depressed in winter either. 

Winter has ice ghosts. Shadows that sometimes scare me more than any shadow I've seen in the last days before Halloween.Winter is black and white, and therefore it makes me search for the color, and it's that feeling of a treasure hunt that sends me out into the cold of life, determined to live. I refuse to give up. I push back. I have pushed back so hard on some years, that I was able to take pictures of autumn leaves, still on trees in March, because I was determined to search for them! The leaves were literally sharing a tree with the cheeriest of spring blossoms, and I would have never seen them, if I hadn't pushed through! 

We aren't going to get out of life alive.

 And there is no easy way out, it just is what it is.

So I'm going to grab my camera and enjoy the scavenger hunt. 

And pretend Donald Trump doesn't get us all prematurely killed.

Well, this post just took a seasonal turn... didn't it?

I went and did it again!

I dwelled on my biggest fear!

The scariest thing since

 Frankenstein

 Michael Myers and Dracula combined!

Boo! And Boo!

 "Don't Boo... VOTE!"

~President Barack Obama

(A real president)

 #25 Leaf Of The Day

October 16th, 2018

Stockton, California

~Mood: Happy/Not Happy/Happy/It's Complicated

~Me

 

Art About Town: Sacramento. Arpeggio IV By Bruce Beasley

"In Heaven it's always autumn."

~John Donne

Alan and I went to lovely Sacramento yesterday, to enjoy the autumn sun, the leaves which are just beginning to turn, and the amazing amount of art work that can be found all over the city! I love Sacramento for so many reasons, but the art probably tops the list! From huge sculptures like this one, to the colorfully painted electrical boxes that dot the town, art is everywhere! This particular piece sits outside the Crocker Art Museum, along with several other sculptures, but rather than show all of them, I thought it would be nice to spread them out over several upcoming posts. For now, concentrate on that late afternoon sun, and this absolutely fabulous sculpture, Arpeggio IV, by artist, Bruce Beasley! And know, there will be plenty more, Art About Town, posts to come!

Arpeggio IV 

By Bruce Beasley

Crocker Museum

Sacramento, California

October 14th, 2018

 

#24 Leaf Of The Day

October 15th, 2018

Stockton, California

~Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Art Like A Falling Yellow Leaf

"Sadness, is an autumn, within an autumn."

~Mehmet Murat ildan

The Orinda Theater, which I spoke about in a previous post, is a gorgeous independent movie house, which opened on December 27th, 1949. Well past the age of the Art Deco movement, yet all through the theater are window panels and architectural lines, reminiscent of that earlier era of design! That theater is fabulous, and I will be doing a more in-depth posting about it at a later date, because I love supporting little individual gems, such as single movie houses, but for now, just gaze at that gorgeous window panel.

I snapped this photo when Alan and I were at the Orinda the other night, to see, Beetlejuice! Look at that panel, isn't it absolutely enchanting? That style just mesmerizes me, and it doesn't hurt that it somewhat resembles a falling yellow autumn leaf! Maybe its my love of autumn, the way it reminds me of the art deco movement, or vise versa. I'm not sure, but I think as I travel along during this vacation, I might see how many more art deco designs I can find to admire, while I'm searching out those falling yellow leaves!

I'll find autumn in anything I guess!

#23 Leaf Of The Day

October 14th, 2018

Ione, California

~Mood: Happy
~Me :)

Falling In Love In October

"May you fall in love in October

and all the beauty it brings,

May your life be as colorful as

the turning of the leaves,

On each blessed autumn day!"

~Charmaine J. Forde

As of today, Alan and I will have been married 28 years! We began dating in late august, of 1988, but we knew it was really love in October! Alan proposed to me, the following year, on October 8th, 1989, and we were married one year later, on October 13th, 1990! Everything went wrong with the wedding, it was a true comedy of errors, from uncooperative, insane relatives, to the wrong cake being delivered, that, by the way, tasted like Certs breath mints, to someone stealing the pew decorations, before we could do our wedding photos... lol... everything went wrong, but the only thing Alan and I concentrated on was he and I, because that was all that mattered! Which is not to say there wasn't a few shit fits thrown about it later, there were, by both of us, but our love for each other, had nothing to do with it! As it was then, so it is now, it's just he and me.

AND

HE AND ME
ARE FOREVER
WE!

 #22 Leaf Of The Day

October 13th, 2018

Little Farm

Tilden Park

Berkeley, California

~Mood Happy

~Me :)

 

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

"October, baptize me with leaves! Swaddle me in corduroy and nurse me with split pea soup. October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace!"

~Rainbow Rowell

Attachments

Alan and I went on our first trip to Berkeley, of the autumn season, yesterday and the leaves were glorious! We didn't make it downtown on this trip, we spent our time in Tilden, just enjoying the fresh air, and the landscape. One of my favorite trees, located near Little Farm, was beginning to show some happy color. Oranges and hints of purple mostly, but there were some green and yellow making a showing as well. It will be another week or so, before the colors go deeper, and then the window for it won't be open long, so it's a matter of keeping watch as much as possible.

 I am not sure how often I will be able to visit, because we have a lot of destinations planned for this vacation, but for the first day, all in all, it wasn't a bad start. After the leaf peeping, it was down to Orinda, for a free showing of Beetlejuice at the lovely old Orinda Theater. If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you probably remember that we, traditionally, start our vacation each year, on the second Thursday of October, which is free movie night at the Orinda! It began four years ago with, Rosemary's Baby, and now it wouldn't be autumn, or vacation time, without it!

 Can you believe, Beetlejuice turns 30 years old this year? It came out just 6 months before Alan and I began dating! The last time either of us saw it, we were just friends, and now, all these years later, we are just two days shy of our 28th wedding anniversary! It was a pretty strange feeling to realize that that much time had gone by. Other than the strands of white hair we both have now, and my arthritis, standing in line felt exactly the same as the first time we  went to see the movie together, in 1988! 

Time goes by so fast, when you laugh together as often as we do!

#21 Leaf Of The Day

October 12th, 2018

Cull Canyon Park, California

~Mood: Happy

~Me :)

 

HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS And The Leaf of The Day

Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

California Academy Of Sciences

Golden Gate Park

San Francisco, California

October 20th 2010

"When the wolf howls and the moon dims

hope fades with the waning light

Evil lurks at every turn as shadows waltz

across the ebony night.

Behold the midnight hour

where all of reason takes flight."

~Grace Willows 

Our vacation Begins Today! What does that have to do with that charming creature above? Absolutely nothing!

Yay!

The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach is one scary bug! Bugs and creepy crawlies are scary enough for me with just their appearance, but now they have some that also hiss? Hissing from a cat can be scary, because it usually means, they are about to scratch the living fuck out of you, but a hissing cockroach, that's crossing a line I simply refuse to deal with! This little specimen was behind glass, and I couldn't look at it for about 20 minutes or so. Once I did, it took forever to get my courage up to photograph it, even knowing full well, there was no danger, whatsoever, of it attacking me! In the end, I did get my courage up, and I took the photograph. It was cool that it all happened in October, because one expects to be frightened in October, but damn, I don't think I want to meet that guy in a dark alleyway, in the dead of night... in October!

 #20 Leaf Of The Day

October 11th, 2018

Stockton, California

~Mood: Scared

~Me :)

Come Little Leaves... . And The Leaf Of The Day

Tilden Park, Berkeley, California

November 11th, 2018

Minolta

"Come little leaves," said the Wind one day, "come to the meadows with me and play. Put on your dresses of red and gold; for summer is past, and the days grow old."

~George Cooper

I photographed this little leaf on November 11th, 2008. I think it might have been what sparked my interest in starting this yearly project. I love doing it very much, and it has become as important to me as Halloween and Thanksgiving are! After autumn closes the door for another year, I will still be searching for leaves as far into the other seasons as they go. So, as you might have guessed, I have a hard time letting go of things I care about, even leaves. LOL.

It's only 29 days until the midterm elections. Less than a month. It seems like things could be a slam dunk, but I can't let myself go there. I knew there was every potential for Donald Trump to win the 2016 election, but I put it away, out of my head, because who could take him seriously? He had no experience in politics, so who in their right mind, would vote for him to become the most powerful person in the world? 

Well, as it turns out, I guess there are enough people in America willing to have brain surgery done on them, by whoever gives the best pitch, rather than which doctor has the most experience. So, if you happen to be a janitor, but you think you'd be just nifty at brain surgery, rest assured there will be someone who will let you do it, because you're different than any other surgeon they had ever met before! 

My stomach is in knots. It's not like we will see any peace if democrats manage to take back either the house or the senate, or both. We will have to continue to endure Trump's abuse, and daily barrage of nasty attacks. We will continue to be trolled by he cowardly little anonymous cultists, and it might get even worse than it had ever before. He's scared of the Mueller investigation, and he should be! Mueller is more than capable, and that's already been proven by multiple indictments, and those who agreed to testify on condition of being immunity from prosecution.

But if we lose, we will still be beaten, and stepped on, because winning has never been enough for him. He can't just be gracious, he has to be smug, and nasty, and cruel, like it's his lifeblood, like it's what keeps him alive. It's not enough to just breathe air like the rest of us do, he has to beat, demean and abuse people if he wins too. The pain he inflicts won't stop either way the midterms go. 

Sometimes I think I will never know another day of peace again.

Ever.

And I'm just sad, all the time now, except when I am photographing the beauty of autumn leaves, because I know they have nothing to do with him.

Nothing. 

Don't get me wrong the depression fluxes in severity, but it never really stops. So, is this how the rest of my life will be? Not one day without psychological abuse? Am I really going into my old age, with this reality? Will I ever go a day again, without hearing the name Trump? Or feeling the pain of the decisions he has already made, like the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court? 

The leaf at the top of this post, was photographed exactly one week after the 2008 Presidential election. I was so much happier then. Even if John McCain had won, I wouldn't have been the happiest person in the world, but I wouldn't have been depressed to the point that I am right now. Sarah Palin, as vice president, would have been annoying, occasionally funny, really absurd, but she wouldn't make me worry about being hit with a nuclear missile. 

Well, probably not, anyway.

#19 Leaf Of The Day

October 10th 2018

Stockton, California

~Mood: Sad
~Me   :)

 

The Willet And The Leaf Of The Day

Willet

November 9th 2007

Emeryville, California

Minolta

"Autumn is the greatest reminder: it reminds us how dreamlike beauties our earth has and it reminds us how all these beautiful dreams can easily vanish."

~Mehmet Murat ildan

That beautiful bird is a Willet. I photographed it on November 9th, 2007, just after the cargo ship, Cosco Busan, crashed into the Bay Bridge, and dumped 53,569 gallons of Intermediate fuel oil into the San Francisco Bay. This accident devastated wild life for months afterward. If you look closely, you can see some of the oil this bird is standing in. It was heartbreaking! I hope nothing like this ever happens again, but there is a part of me that fears it will.

With national environmental protections being eroded every day, it's just a matter of time. Fortunately we have had two governors in a row, one Republican, one Democrat who have understood the importance of conservation and preserving the coastline in California, and for that I'm grateful.

I hope it stays that way, but unfortunately there is a part of me that believes it's only a matter of time before there is another accident, perhaps on a larger scale. I pray I'm wrong. California is safe for now, I think, but not necessarily true for the rest of America. When did preserving the only Earth we have, become a partisan issue?

#18 Leaf Of The Day

October 10th, 2018

Ione, California

Samsung 7

~Mood: Quiet

~Me :)