My.Third.Eye Photography

More Leaf Love

Urban Leaf Found Art

Thanksgiving Colors

As my mother used to say, "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get." Which is why I haven't been posting much to either of my blogs (this one or My Great Breast Cancer Adventure).

But I seem to blog in waves. I get bursts of energy around it, and so I manage to keep them going despite the fact that Facebook and Twitter seem to be usurping much of the "social technology activity" now. Blogging, which a couple of years ago seemed so cutting edge, is beginning to feel antiquated. Too many words! God forbid we should write more than a few pithy sentences or, better yet, a string of acronyms.

As for paragraphs, huh? What are those? Nobody knows. OMG, they are vanishing along with fully spelled out words.

BTW, I am writing this on the day after Thanksgiving. The color of these leaves reminded me that there's still a whole pumpkin pie in the kitchen, because I had the foresight/wisdom/intelligence to get (as in buy not cook) two of them from Canyon Market. I did however whip my own cream. LOL   Oooooh, is that breakfast I hear calling? It has a cinnamony, nutmeggy, gingery sort of a voice, with a dollop (really big dollop) of creaminess.

It still feels holiday'ish to me today, even though Jack has gone off to work and I am about to plunge back into the Writing Salon website update, which I've been up to my ears in for well over a week now. Wish me luck on getting it finished before next year arrives!

Rain Zen

Gutter Surreality

 

Sidewalk Gift

I've been reading like a fiend lately (well, relatively speaking). In the last two months or so, I've re-read Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman and The Time Traveler's Wife (also a re-read). (I finally saw part of the movie they made from this book, and it was terrible in comparison to the book, really not worthy of the book). Then I read Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman, The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond, The Writing on the Wall by Lynne Sharon Schwartz, and Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Now I'm reading The Fatigue Artist, also by Lynne Sharon Schwartz (whose work I came to admire long ago when I read her novel, Disturbances in the Field). 

I managed to get all this reading done ONLY because there was little else I could do while sitting there hooked up to a Vit. C infusion IV in my right arm (I'm right-handed but they can't use my left arm because it might provoke lymphadema because I've had lymph nodes removed on that side). And now that the infusions aren't happening (though they'll be starting again soon), I read while lying on my bathroom floor during my daily "liver detox" treatments. That's about 20 minutes of reading time, twice a day. Who knew liver detox could be so entertaining and educational to boot?

I've been saying "Who Knew?" a lot lately. Maybe it could be the title to my as yet unwritten memoir. ha ha.

Fooled You!

I bet you thought that that last slideshow of leaves, a few days ago, was everything I had to offer.

Oh ye of little faith in the magnificence of obsessions!  I've got tons more. That's why I had to get a bigger hard drive...from 80 piddly gigs up to 320. Maybe I'm a hoarder. Have you seen that new reality show yet? About hoarders? Oh my god. Jack thinks it's the dumbest and most boring show. Not me. I am riveted. Fascinated by the mysteries of the human brain. Of our species. Of humankind. The nooks and crannies of our mysteriousness are endless. We know about one speck of a speck of what there is to know, and that's being generous.

Oh Great Mystery. When I am short on prayer time, that is my Cliff Note prayer. "Oh Great Mystery." I whisper it to myself over and over, with reverence. It does the job.

So maybe I'm a leaf hoader. Maybe it's a gene. Anyway, I need to wrap this up and move on to more Writing Salon scheduling and dog-feeding and breakfast-eating.

Move your cursor OFF of the video block if you want the writing and arrows to go away. Or click on the tiny square of arrows to get full screen view (which really is much better).

An Obsession: Urban Leaves, San Francisco Style

I wonder what coalescence (or collision?) of factors cause something to become an obsession. You don't know an obsession is coming until it hits you, and you don't have any idea how long it will last, once you've been hit.

My last big obsession, taking photos of leaves, sounds so mundane, doesn't it? But man, I was swept away by it, and it added this whole gigantic new dimension to my life. I knew that every time I walked out my door, I would look for and FIND the most wonderful leaves, and that I would be so deliriously caught up in the happy creative process of trying my best to turn them into stunning photographs.

From Fall of 2008 until late Summer of 2009, my obsession raged. But when Fall of 2009 came round, the weather turned out to be quite different than it had been in the Fall of 2008, and the show of leaves was, to my surprise and disappointment, nowhere near as magnificent. But after I got over my disappointment, I felt grateful that I had been able to take advantage of all those months when the weather had produced such a glorious abundance of stunning leaves.

At the moment I am not caught up in a magnificent obsession, but I feel a deep sense of happiness when I think about the last one and look forward to the next, whatever it may be.

Here's a slideshow of my favorites. If you press the tiny square box that contains four arrows (on the lower right) you can get the full-screen version:

Buy my art at Imagekind

My Leaf Obsession Continues

Untitled

Untitled

A Harem of Leaves

Leaf, Lampost, Car

A Soft, Dappled and Sunlit New Year's Day

Yellow Moment

As Yet Untitled

Urban, Fallen, Autumn

Maple & Diagonal

Unexpected Convergence

Plain and Simple

Thanksgiving Sidewalk Decoupage

Elements of Alchemy

Assertively Red

Sidewalk Kiss

Untitled

Autumn Sidewalk Script

Geishas

Rain Jazz

Mission Magnolia

Autumn Hopscotch

Whimsy

Leaves Over Metal

Gutter Craquelure

Urban Oriental

It Has All Been Arranged

Fairytale in Concrete

Etched