Autumn Leaf Of The Day #68

 

"No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace

 as I have seen in one autumnal face."

 

~John Donne

The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose

 

And just look at that face! A green leaf in the waning days of autumn. The autumn of autumn. Beautiful. But today I am thinking about Christmas. It's time to start buying presents, and I have NO IDEA what to get, as usual, for dear hubby. He is the hardest person to buy a gift for that I have ever encountered. I have been blowing the fine art of Christmas presenting, when it comes to him, for 32 years now and beyond! I ask him what he wants, and I get grunts! So, dumb presents make their way under the tree, while I get absolute gold! Arrgh! So, I have no doubt this year will be any different, but I have an idea from Shutterfly, so maybe all will not be lost. We will see. I will let you know on December 26th!

 

I love this time of year. I really do.

 And this year I feel more like myself. One day at a time, right?

 

~Me

 

Crunchy Leaves And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #67

 

"There's an endless autumn in me,

 scenting my thoughts like campfire smoke."

 

~Jarod K. Anderson

Field Guide To The Haunted Forest

 

This year has been so dry and the leaves are damaged. It's noticeable, if only republicans would just look around them. But, between you and me, I believe they fully know that Climate Change is affecting California to a devastating degree. Autumns will be less colorful in the next few years, and if there are many colors to be found it will be , like Plumas or Butte counties. I can't get there as easily as I once did, and that makes me sad. I will keep looking for autumn all around me, and I am fairly sure I will get back up in the hills at some point next year, but I know autumn is the time for last hurrahs, and I am feeling my life is wanting me to do as much living as I can, because winter is coming, and it brings glorious darkness with it!

 

 ~Me

Nature's Art And The Autumn Leaf Of The Day #66

"There is something so incredible and

 nostalgic about the cascade of autumn leaves.

 

 ~Joe E. Wheeler

 

Just a leaf.

 Sometimes that is all I want to say. Isn't this leaf a work of art? 

~Me

Stay I Say To Him And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #65

 

"Stay I say to him. Stay in the car. 

Stay in this moment. 

But of course he never does."

 

~Nora Nowlin

If He Had Been With Me

 

Meet the Pied-billed Grebe. What a sweet little bird. Look at his face, so curious. So gentle. He is the one bird that always reminds me of a stuffed animal. A stuffed animal. I really love this little fella, despite the strange call it has. That's just him. To me it sounds like the "bah" sound that sheep make. I should try to find a big group of grebes on YouTube that I can embed in a future post. In the meantime, look at that awesome reflection. I am thinking about entering the Audubon photo contest, which is held after the first of the year. I doubt I could win, given all the amazing entries they receive. Still, that's such a cool accomplishment, that would carry me all the way to my untimely death at the possible talons of an eagle, or the paws of an indoor orange tabby cat. 

 

 

~Me

Happy Thanksgiving And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #64

 

"Thankfulness creates gratitude

 which generates contentment that causes peace."

 

~Todd Stocker

 

Last year we didn't celebrate much, then on Christmas, of course, we both got Covid-19 ( Omicron ). We are sick every year on Christmas, well, at least every year since we moved to the San Joaquin Valley, however this year is different. Alan is retired now, so the likelihood of his getting sick, and passing it on to me, is almost zero. While we will never know for sure, Omicron was just as likely to be spread by someone causally walking past you, as someone you worked with, even if your coworkers are giant idiots! Anyway, I have an amazing amount to be thankful for. We are happily married. Dylan is still doing well, as are my other cats. I am enjoying birding with Alan, and I have a brand new box of books to read through the year. I already have a small library, and now more has been added to it. The Republicans didn't get that "Red Wave" the expected and I am enjoying making holiday graphics, like the one above, from my own photos. 2022 has been a fairly good year, I sure hope 2023 won't hold it against us. 

 

I will let you know in a year how it goes!

 

 

~Me

Blue Skies, Smiling At Me And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #63

 

"Once in a while I am struck all over again

 by just how blue the sky appears on wind played autumn mornings, blue enough to bruise a heart."

 

~Sanober Kahn

 

The sky has been amazingly beautiful lately. Of course I credit the leaves with that. Just look at those bright orange leaves. But wouldn't any color standout against a sky that blue? Well, maybe, but in all fairness to blue, I think God chose the right color to put in the sky. All the variations of blue are so beautiful,  and it's keeping my eyes focused upwards, into the sun's warm light. Blue is also the color of my love's eyes. He has the most beautiful eyes, although it was his sexy knees that first caught my eye. He was a high school athlete, track, to be exact, which explains his gorgeous knees! Anyway, his blue eyes have also encouraged me to focus upwards, in mood and in life in general. That means everything to me.

 

 

~Me

Uncanny Witcher In It's Changed Trees And #62

 

"Autumn is a classical music, when it begins, the gravity disappears."

 

~Mehmet Murat ildan 

 

 November ... with uncanny witcher in its changed trees. With murky red sunsets flaming in smoky crimson behind the westering hills. With dear days when the austere woods were beautiful and gracious in a dignified serenity of folded hands and closed eyes ... days full of a fine, pale sunshine that sifted through the late, leafless gold of the juniper trees and glimmered among the grey beeches, lighting up evergreen banks of moss and washing the colonnades of the pines. Days with a high-sprung sky of flawless turquoise. Days when an exquisite melancholy seemed to hang over the landscape and dream about the lake. But days, too, of the wild blackness of great storms, followed by dank, wet, streaming nights when there was witch laughter in the pines and fitful moans among the mainland trees. What cared they? Old Tom had built his roof well, and his chimney drew."

 

L. M. Montgomery

 

November is almost over, but I am already missing it. It has been, well, absolutely stunning! Almost as delicious as October, and I can't even believe just how much I mean that! 

 

~Me

Now For Something Different And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #61

 

"Joy ... in the fall, winter, and always in the mountains where people are few, wildlife is abundant and there is peace in the quiet."

 

~Donna Lynn Hope

 

I post a lot of photos of birds, so many in fact, that one might imagine that I only seek out, or come across, birds. That is certainly not the case, I am lucky enough to see a lot of other happy little creatures. This year for example, I saw my very first ground squirrel, and there were a ton of rabbits all through the valley, from Galt to Davis! I liked that very much. I also encountered some not so awesome creatures, such as field mice and even a couple coyotes. They were nice to observe from a distance, as was this pair. I think they were curious as to whether I had brought them an apple or some carrots, but they didn't spend too much time on it. They politely posed for this photo and then they were on their way, as it should be. It was nice. I could have stood there all day chatting, but it was cold, and it was time to rejoin the human world. Unfortunately. 

 

~Me

Autumn In Sacramento

 

"Happiness is to get lost in an autumn forest,

 and not to be found is ever a greater happiness."

 

~Mehmet Murat ildan

 

I was walking next to the Crocker Museum when I took this picture, and while this walk was not in a forest, I couldn't have been happier. Although, I wouldn't mind giving it a try. Walking in a warm, orange, russet, and yellow autumn forest would give me enough happiness to see me safely other side of this life, with no regrets or fear, where I am pretty sure it's autumn 24/7, and it smells and tastes like cinnamon.

 

 

~Me

Scarlet, Saffron And Russet

 

"Autumn that year painted the countryside in vivid shades of

 scarlet, saffron and russet,

 and the days were clear and crisp under harvest skies."

 

~Sharon Kay Penman

Time And Chance

 

 ~Me

Happiness In Autumn

 

"Seamlessly, like an autumn leaf change color,

 my will switched powerfully."

 

~Aspen Matis

Your Blue Is Not My Blue:A Missing Person Memoir

 

 The picture above is not the first I took that day, but of the two that apply to this post, it is my favorite. This gorgeous Snowy Egret had a series of rocks along the Clifton Court Forebay that were his, and his alone, full stop! I watched as he chased away little birds, big birds, other Snowy Egrets, and once even a grebe! He found a home and he was happy on his perch, on the pretty rocks. Who could ask for more?

 

~Me :)

 

 

Think Of All Your Favorite Autumns

 

"Squeeze your eyes closed, as tight as you can, and think of all your favorite autumns, crisp and perfect, all bound up together like a stack of cards. That is what it is like, the awful, wonderful brightness of Fairy colors. Try to smell the hard, pale wood sending up sharp, green smoke into the afternoon. To feel the mellow, golden sun on your skin, more gentle and cozier and more golden than even the light of your favorite reading nook at the close of the day."

 

~Catherynne M. Valente

The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland

 in a Ship of Her Own Making 

 

Some days, mostly in autumn, at least for me, it is easy to sit quietly in a park and imagine what it would be like to live a never ending world of soft golden light. The year is wise now. The year has learned things, and now there is a quiet riot of life going on, and it is invigorating. A chill in the air, a gentle breeze sending cascading leaves to my feet, and wild birds call from all directions. I saw a large group of White Pelicans fly over so silently, had I not been looking up, I would have missed them. Autumn's gift is to encourage us to keep looking up, both in spirit and creativity.

 

 

~Me

Welcome Friends!

 

"Fall has always been my favorite season.

 The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale."

 

~Lauren DeStefano

 

The Snow Geese have arrived on Desmond Road!

 And isn't it beautiful?

 

~Me

 

 

It's The Cold And Flu Season

 

"In her finest gold tipped pen,

 nature writes the poem of autumn upon the earth!

 

~Laura Jaworski 

 

The leaves are falling really fast now. Gold is the color of the earth, to be sure. It hasn't been the most brilliant of autumn seasons, but so far it's been quiet and low drama, so that's good. I took a few days off from leaf peeping, and bird watching, to enjoy a cold ... not Covid. That's a nice feeling. My first simple cold since the virus entered my life, and changed everything in my body, seemingly forever. I am back, and 100 percent, and I have beautiful news to share, but not until tomorrow, so for now, here are the leaves I didn't post, all caught up!

 

Beautiful!

 

And today's ...

~Me

Windy Days In November And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #50

 

“The wind makes you ache is some place that is deeper than your bones. It may be that it touches something old in the human soul, a chord of race memory that says Migrate or die - migrate or die.” 

 

~Stephen King

 

Yes, yes, I know. I used that quote just a number of posts back, but yesterday was like that. We are in November and the wind does something to one's bones. I want to find some real autumn color, autumn is a madness that only lasts a little bit of time, and then the death of a year come.s That makes a difference to me. I was sick for a large part of 2022. We held off a disaster with the midterms, now behind us, but there is unpleasantness in front of us, with Trump's impending announcement, and or, his impending indictment and arrest. God, how I am looking forward to his perp walk. Oh my, I digress. Here is the thing, I want more autumn color but it's like 2022 needs a little more inspiration to bring a little more color. Autumn is in my bones and I am waiting for now.

 

 

~Me

Thinking About Politics And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #49

 

“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express

 their choice are prepared to choose wisely.

 The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.” 

― Franklin D. Roosevelt 

 

I have heard my whole life the following words, "This is the most consequential election of our lifetime, it's the democracy, stupid!" so, it seems like we whined for nothing, because in those other years we weren't fighting the effect a known liar had on the electorate as a whole.The BIG LIE as told by Donald Trump and pals has completely replaced common sense and critical thinking, with voting with one's, ahem, "gut." But this time, democracy is at stake because the education of critical thinking has ceased as a tool of voting for so long, it's now a dead process for choosing a candidate. Will a snake oil salesman, Dr. Oz, win tonight, simply because he is recognized from TV? Will Val Demings be successful in Florida because she is an excellent candidate who will protect Roe v Wade? How about the issue of abortion in states with it on the ballot? Will it be shored up or will the right to govern our own bodies be lost forever, at least in those states? (Shakes head back and forth). I will keep you posted.

The night will tell. And democracy is indeed hanging by a thread!

~Me