Autumn Leaf Of The Day #62

 

"Some of the days in autumn carry the whole memory of summer, 

as a fire opal carries the color of moonrise."

~Gladys Taber

I love The Ducks Of Autumn

 

"In November, some birds move away and some birds stay. The air is filled with goodbyes and well wishes. The birds that are leaving look serious. No silly chirping now."

Cynthia Rylant

These birds, the Northern Shoveler, have amazing color to them, but you can really only see it on sunny mornings! A deep green color on their heads, and a beautiful orange rust on the back. I could watch them swim all day!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #61

 

"Life starts all over again, when it gets crisp in the Fall."

~F. Scott Fitzgerald

An Autumn Day At Yolo Bypass

 "Be thankful for what you have,

 your life is someone else's fairy tail."

~Wale Ayeni

The last time I visited Yolo Bypass Wilderness Area was about late September, and it was unbearably hot, with temperatures left over from summer, so I wasn't photographing autumn lit trees, I was photographing praying mantis and gorgeous dead thistles. Wednesday it was all about the seasons, moving the year along. I don't think winter is insinuating itself in autumn's life, but it autumn was entertaining winter with moody lighting, beautiful ducks, and a lot of potholes along the unpaved roads, from two recent storms. We are now in the between season!

American Wigeon, Cinnamon Teal and Northern Pintail

Autumn Birds, On Woodbridge Road

"There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy."

~Ralph H. Baum

I was having so much fun photographing this gorgeous Great Egret the other day! I was on Woodbridge road, to see if any new birds had migrated in. And yes, some had indeed come home for the season, and while I have some fairly nice new photos, it was the birds that are here all year, that I had the most fun with. The Egrets, the Kingfishers, and the Blue Herons were being very accommodating to my photography! They are all such gorgeous birds, it made my day to be able to see beauty everywhere! As great fun as they were, the arrival of the snow geese made me warm inside. I guess you could say, it was a very good day!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #60

 

"The thinnest yellow light of November is more warm and exhilarating

 then any wine they tell of."

~Henry David Thoreau

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #59

 "In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets."

~Cynthis Ryland

In November

If It's Autumn, You May Need Flu Buddy

 

"Covid-19 devours you from the inside."

~Steven Magee

Covid-19 Isn't Over

The Bird Flu Isn't Over

The Annual Flu Season Has Only Just Begun

Get Flu Buddy. Or Nyquil. Or Theraflu.

Get updated vaccines. Just prepare. Okay?

And when you are out shopping, wear a mask, please.

Trump's lies are coming to the forefront. If he lied about the Epstein Files, then what else did he lie about? Don't take chances with your health, or mine. When you are out shopping for the holidays, you will be packed in with people you don't know. Why are you trusting people you don't know with your health?

Isn't it ironic that Trump got his updated Covid vaccination during his last bi-annual physical? Yet he and Kennedy say Covid is no big deal, and they both perpetuate the lie that the vaccinations can be dangerous.

After all that's happened, do you still trust these people?

Autumn Movies... St. Elmo's Fire

Bill To Jules...

"Jules, y'know, honey... this isn't real. You know what it is? It's St. Elmo's Fire. Electric flashes of light that appear in dark skies out of nowhere. Sailors would guide entire journeys by it, but the joke was on them... There wasn't even a St. Elmo. They made it up. They made it up because they thought they needed it to keep them going when times got tough, just like you're making up all of this. we're all going through this. It's our time on the edge."

~St. Elmo's Fire

I have favorite movies that I like to watch in autumn, and this movie is at the top of the list! It's from 1985, a time when I was going though a lot. My mother's health was failing. My job was a bitch at times, and I eventually quit, after calling my bitch of a boss, a bitch. I had some friends to lean on, but they couldn't fix everything. Like being, by today's standard no big deal, but at that time it was a huge deal, especially after quitting my job, suddenly, as an act of standing up for myself, but really, it was not a good time to make an impulse decision.

The job was interesting but demanding, no real room for advancement, and there was a lot of abuse by the boss I mentioned. Despite I had a chance to grow by moving on from a job that was a brick wall, I crashed from exhaustion and depression. I became the character of Jules. I hadn't seen the movie before my own life crashing, so I didn't know it would affect me.

St. Elmo's Fire is a coming of age movie for adults, right out of collage, who find themselves saying to themselves, "what now?". I needed that message. This is a really good movie, and it features an autumn background. It's an autumn movie. If you haven't seen it, watch it. I think you'll love it for the romances, the passion, and the reality of life that I believe is probably  relevant even today, 40 years later!

Note: Rob Lowe received a Razzie award for worst supporting actor. I couldn't disagree more. His character, Billy Hixx, was actually the heart of the story, and Lowe played him perfectly. 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #58

 

"The Fall will always be yours and mine... "

~Jennifer Elizabeth

Autumn's Pavements

"You make an autumn mist taste like champagne

and turn winter rain into the elixir of life itself."

~Sanober Kahn

I just love walking, or rather wheeling around,

 in my wheelchair, in autumn.

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #57

 

"The heat of autumn is different from the heat of summer. One ripens apples, the other turns them to cider."

~Jane Hirshfield

Autumn

It's been cold and rainy the last few days. I think the rest of autumn is going to be cold. We only have around a month to go, and it will be snowing down as low as 4,000 ft later this week. The Sierras are going to be beautiful! Lordy, where did I put all my sweaters?

Autumn's Pacific Flyway

 

"Autumn is a place where words fall short. It is a magic that must be felt breathed, experienced, and treasured."
~Laura Jaworski

Pintails. Shovelers, and my favorite of all, the Greater White-fronted goose! That's him in the background, photobombing his friends, but of course, he'd call it watching over his pals. Northern Pintail, with their elegant lines, blue bills, and gorgeous tails are a pleasure to photograph. As is my favorite goose. A lot of different birds are starting to come into the valley, from the Pacific Flyway. Pretty soon the Snow geese and the Ross's geese will arrive. I am betting it will be next week, or maybe the first week of December. I can't wait for their return! The more the merrier!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #56

 

"You have so many autumns, so many selves, like autumn leaves are waiting to be shaken down."

~Zhou Mengdie

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #55

 

"The music of the far away summer

 flutters around the Autumn seeking its former nest."

~Rabindranath Tagore

Just An Autumn Caturday

 

"I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. 

A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through."

~Jules Verne

Can you believe how much Tyler has grown? He was born sometime around the end of April, but we recognize his birthday on June 9th. That is Simon's birthday, and sadly it was the day Hendrix passed away. I will share a post about Simon soon, but first I will have to get him to settle down long enough to get a photo! He's like a live wire, but that's a good thing. Both kitties are healthy, and happy, and strong! They have arrived at that special age where it's time to get them neutered, and chipped, and that will happen next week. A lot of dogs and cats go missing in Stockton, if that ever happened to Joey, or Simon, or Tyler, I would be completely lost. They are all my honeylambs!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #54

 

"I can hear a new story, in each leaf that falls."

~Isabelle Izzi Meditates Baker

Autumn's Sandhill Crane

 

"Birds are the eyes of Heaven."

~Suzy Kassem

Rise Up And Salute The Sun: The Writings Of Suzy Kassam

These birds are so unbelievably beautiful, that you should believe me when I say, I will never be able to photograph them in such that will pay justice to their grace. All I can do is try, and try again, but personally I know it can never be done. These birds live in my heart.

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #13

 

“November is usually such a disagreeable month...as if the year had suddenly found out that she was growing old and could do nothing but weep and fret over it. This year is growing old gracefully...just like a stately old lady who knows she can be charming even with gray hair and wrinkles. We've had lovely days and delicious twilights.”

~L.M. Montgomery,

 Anne of Avonlea

This autumn's November, has leaves that are much more muted than in previous years, but there are also trees making a big show of the bright vivid colors hiding among it's other less showy colored leaves. Dogwood trees do that, as do Liquid amber, but I can always count on a particular tree, in Cull Canyon park to provide these lovely shaped yellow leaf clusters. They go from a dull greenish color of summer, to this bright, happy, Meyer lemon color. I wish I knew the name of the tree. I really need to try harder to learn my leaf identification. Hubby even suggested adding the names of the tree the leaves come from, to my leaf portraits next autumn. Good idea! But I better start learning them, beginning on the first day of winter!