Leaves

I went out walking to see if I could photographically capture some of the leaf madness that is Sacramento at this time of year. Could I manage to be in the right place at the right time and shoot a storm of leaves if the wind whipped them up?

Alas, no, it didn't happen.

Funny, that, because the leaves are everywhere.  The wind today is at times ferocious, forcing me to turn my back to it to avoid being pelted with leaves, small branches and dirt.

The photo goddess did not smile upon me.

I wonder how many tons of leaves are collected off these streets each year? They are dutifully blown practically each day. The sound of leaf-blowers is everywhere, disturbing the peace. The leaves are corralled into piles along the curb, waiting for the city to come scoop them up with large, also noisy, trucks.

What would happen to us if the leaves were never cleaned up?  How high would the piles be?  Would it be like snow, banked up against the buildings?  Burying cars, streets and sidewalks?  Would roof-tops collapse under the weight?

The Community Garden

Garden's Resident Cat

Happy December!

Quiet

Yes.  I have been quiet.  I feel the autumn upon me.  Long slow walks through city streets; leaves turning brilliant hues as photosynthesis shuts down and the trees rest for winter.  I feel the same process in my own body...becoming still and shutting out light and sound.  Most everything is too loud for me now.  The computer screen is too bright.

I am enjoying the quiet.  Peace to you!

Day and Night

Are you as confused as I am about Daylight Savings time? Why do we continue to do this? Are we really saving energy? Well, turns out we do. Enough to power 122 billion U.S. homes for a years time.

As it turns out, however, this daylight savings time schedule messes with our bodies' natural clock and people are at greater risk for heart attack in the weeks following the spring change. I guess you really can't fool mother nature. But I already knew that: we've discovered it on countless fronts, yet we, being the arrogant humans we are, keep trying to reverse the flow of this mighty river. Sigh.

Now is the time we descend into the darkness of winter. Our bodies slow down but the world around us demands we keep up the pace. Those of us who have jobs, anyway. Those of us without jobs are much more free to adapt to the winter's somnambulance.  Articles abound on how to beat the winter blues.  It's everything you already know and nothing you wish for: I want permission to eat more chocolate and drink more hard liquor during the trying months of winter.  But no, the experts suggest that I get more exercise and socialize more.

Bah humbug.

Summer Seven

Thanks to Joanna for getting me going on this.  A blogerrific way to wrap up the end of the season.

An Off-The-Top-Of-My-Head List of Summer Happenings...

1. First and foremost – my grandson was born (August 2) and I was there for his arrival!  Nothing, I mean NOTHING, beats that.  That makes this the best summer EVER. 
2. I spent my first summer in, oh, 38 years, living inland.  Not on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.  It was hot – afternoons have not been the time for venturing out in the world.  Though it was, by all standards, a mild summer, for me it was much hotter than my normal.  I think I coped very well, considering.
3.  I organized a reunion for my alternative high school that was well attended (we were a small group to begin with) and I now have photos to document how well we have all aged.  It’s been a long strange trip, my friends.  Graduated 1975.  (Cough.)
4. I went to baseball games.  Several of them.  Minor league stuff and a total trip.  At times exciting, other times boring as hell.  The hotdogs were good – the frozen malteds were terrible.  This is how much I love my dad.  I attend baseball games with him. 
5.  I went to a nightclub – by myself – to listen to a band that I love.  So no one could go with me?  I took myself.  It was fun.  I watched people – mostly younger than myself – do their mating dances and I felt liberated.  I was just there to hear some killer music and that’s what I did.  Thanks to the band, Walking Spanish. 
6. I read some good books, saw some good movies.  That’s what sweltering hot summer days are for.  “Languid,” is the word that comes to mind.  I bless the air conditioning at the Tower Theater.  The popcorn needs improvement, sorry guys.  I did love the time the gal behind the candy counter went gaga over my nail polish – she really liked it, and she was young and hip and I was flattered. 
7. Oh, and I went to a marijuana festival out in the middle of fookin nowhere with my nephew.  Marijuana is not my drug of choice, but I was having terrible headaches and I thought I’d try the medical marijuana cure.  Not so successful, but an interesting trip into the sub-culture of  “let’s pretend we have medical needs so we can score pot legally.”  But who am I to judge?  It’s just stupid: legalize it already.  I felt really out of my league with that crowd.  They are either super well-adjusted or they are addicts.  I cannot tell which.

Yesterday I saw pumpkins and gourds for sale in the grocery store.  The weather has turned cooler - 82 degrees.  Say good-bye to summer.  At least in my neck of the woods.  The folks of the Great State of Texas would disagree, I'm sure.

The Rose

A phoenix rising

Thirty feet above the ground

Bursting from some old scrub bush

Dark with dead limbs

A yellow flame

Of cool moist flesh

A solitary bloom

Against an azure sky

The long view...I can't even see the rose at the top. Can you? One long cane, no leaves, climbing up and up and up. We see it well from the second story windows.

Autumn Leaves

The falling leaves drift by my window
The falling leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sunburned hands I used to hold

Since you went away the days grow long

And soon I'll hear old winter's song

But I miss you most of all, my darling

When autumn leaves start to fall.

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all, my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall.

I miss you most of all, my darling

When autumn leaves start to fall

Johnny Mercer