The Third Act

Happy Halloween!

It's a delightfully chilly, autumnal day.  The weather was perfect for a fire in the fire pit, as I carved this year's jack o lanterns.  

I hope everyone has a safe and fun evening!

 

 

 

 

late bloomers

The morning glories really had a hard time getting going this year.  Haven't we all??  But, I did find two blossoms on some vines at the end of the driveway...their first blooms.  I'll leave them on and hopefully set seeds, so they can have an earlier chance next year (maybe?).  I do love the blue and white together...and these are very large flowers.

After warm, wet weather yesterday, it's still squishy damp out (although not actively raining) but decidedly cooler.  It looks like it might be a nice, sunny, cool Halloween tomorrow...hurray!

 

 

Give a witch a home...

This witch was by the curb in a pile of "free" stuff.  Now, I'd seen her other years, when she was clearly playing her part in my neighbor's household.  I always thought she was quite fetching.  But apparently she is no longer needed.  So, I've given her a home, here with all the other little witches and skeleton and iconography of various sorts.

 

 

Wednesday

Been on the run all day and now time for class.

Enjoy these fall-ish images around Baba Yaga's house...

 

 

 

dark morning...

Dark and damp today.  Eighth (is it?) straight day of fog in the morning.  Now, this isn't bay area fog, but still.  Moisture hugging the tops of the trees, wet leaves down below...you get the picture.  How dark, you ask (okay, maybe you don't)?  Dark enough for the flash to fire on the Instax Wide (for which it's impossible to turn the flash off....and in fact, if done so the film would end up completely dark) consistently.  Will the mornings be lighter in a week?  Yeah, for a time anyway...it's the season of darkness coming upon us.  The inevitability of the cycle.  I'm okay with that...and even if I'm not, it won't change anything.  We're all slogging on through these days of diminished light...both metaphorical and literal.

 

 

 

Monday

Oy...back to work, running from the podiatrist to the gig this morning.  Home now and, phooey, I still need to do my blog!  Fortunately I have a couple Instax photos in reserve. 

From the orchard to the pie crust!  It's a good apple pie.  I'm still eating it...with some saved in the freezer.

It's shaping up to be another busy few days, so...hopefully I can get more sleep tonight.

In the mean time, ice for my foot, leftovers for dinner and...down time.  

There's one more page I want to work on for my art journal class this week, but I think I need to recoup some energy before I can venture in that direction.

 

 

a shout out...

...and in solidarity...to all those suffering through these uncertain times.  I know it well...the morning tears, the loneliness, the continual bootstrap-picking-up and self-motivating to get creative and moving.  We can do it.

It's raining this morning.  I don't mind, since it's much cooler and feels more like autumn.  The colors in the trees are more intense when they're wet.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in our own little worlds...

...we measure the success of a day, on what we personally deem relevant.  At least, that's how it shakes out for me.  I got the lawns mowed and the driveway looks tidy.  I was able to harvest something from my garden that was beautiful, or tasty or healing.  The crust on my pie is actually flaky and delicious!

Sometimes it's more heart based, emotional...  I got to talk to my kids...both of them!  I made a connection where there was true exchange.  That long cry helped in the end.  I managed to find hope, in some very small way, for the future.

Sometimes it's about how the spirit has been energized...  The gold in the trees is more intense this year!  The pinging of the acorns falling delights and inspires me.  That piece of artwork I completed is more satisfying than expected...and others appreciated too.  My work has touched others.  I...feel seen.

Sometimes it's not about one day...but other stretches of time.  Sometimes it's only a moment.  But more often than not, it isn't success by the standard definition , but rather a success of spirit and soul.  And it will be different for all of us.  And that too delights me.

This is the last day of 'RoidWeek 2020 and it's been a lovely one.  We're almost to the end of October in this crazy, upsetting, uncertain year.  We've made it this far!

 

 

 

 

Explore

Many, many years ago, a number of my photographs ended up on Flickr's Explore page.  Over time, with more and more people on the site, and with me not adding to groups and such (which garner more image views), my photos stopped appearing there.  In fact, over the past several years, I've not even thought about that page.

This morning I checked my Flickr stats and was rather shocked to find the views had jumped profoundly.  It took a while, but I discovered a few photos had landed in Explore for October 22.  I think this was owing to 'RoidWeek and the fact that I'd taken part in the interviews on the Flickr blog.  It's kinda weird.  I mean, I'm happy people are looking at my images, but it's definitely a more alien experience for me.  It makes me think, "oh, now I need to up my game" which is totally not the case, haha!  

In more ways than one, it feels like I'm stretching myself.  I'm working hard both physically and mentally...and being my own cheer leader emotionally (which can be daunting).  Without the foundation of close, intimate, home based relationship however, my edges feel like they're fraying a bit.  I can't tell if what I'm experiencing is physical or psychological in nature.  There's an ungroundedness, a buzz of energy that doesn't feel rooted in substance, almost a light headedness.  It could be I just wore myself out yesterday pushing through a few hours of manual labor in my yards.  The body just might be telling me to slow down, or even stop for a day.  But it pushes into anxiety territory that has the potential to spin my head off in "something's really wrong with me" territory.  I do have a physical coming up next week, so I think until then I need to reinstate some meditation, stretching and breath exercises...perhaps that will help.

In the mean time...more photos, more art, and the creative stuff that uses energy constructively...

 

 

 

October 22

How's that for a mundane title?  Truth be told, after several months of daily blog posts, I ran out of creative writing energy long ago!  I do continue, however, to maintain my enthusiasm  for photographs.  Granted, these little instant images are still from a couple days ago (having blown through two packs of film) but I intended to divvy them out for at least a few days' posts.

This week has been warm.  I'd complain, but what good would that do?  In fact, many people love that it hasn't gotten cold yet (well, that the cold hasn't showed up with any consistency).  I haven't had to turn the AC back on, or even the fans, so it can't be that bad (she says as she looks for wood to knock).  

Speaking of weather, this is an interesting article from the Washington Post yesterday.  Several private meteorologists speculate on snow for this winter.  Last year was a total bust.  It was the first year since I moved here in 2014 in which there was no appreciable snow in Richmond.  Quite disappointing.  So...there are some signs of hope among the views in the article.  But who knows?  Surprises seem to be the name of the game for 2020...oy.