THERESE RITTENBACH
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The Life Romantic
A blog about finding the romance
in everyday life

Halloween Spirit in Alameda

10/30/2015

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The Haunted Mansion
Detail photo of one of my Halloween shadow boxes

HALLOWEEN is my favorite time of the year! The scents of autumn float in the air with that marvelous combination of crispness and woodsmoke and best of all, houses around the neighborhood transform, sometimes over night, into witch's dens, vampire enclaves and haunted graveyards. 

Here in Alameda we're especially fortunate.  The Halloween spirit runs strong. Houses all over town don cobwebs and moody lights in preparation for the onslaught on Halloween night, when hundreds of children from around the Bay Area flood the streets in search of candy and a good scare. 

Below are some photos from this year's crop of neighborhood spooks and specters.
 And in the case of my neighbor just a few doors down, every Halloween is a chance to outdo himself with an even more unique and magical frontyard installation than he created the year before. He’s done everything from a mad scientist’s lab to death in the old West to a carnival of the insane and Halloween under the sea. This year, he’s taking us on a rocket ship to a haunted alien planet.
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Where do you find romance?

10/9/2015

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I've been asking this question of people as I've been developing content for this blog. And here's what a few of you have been saying:
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In gratitude

Shelley R. says every night, she and her husband toast the day and tell each other something good that happened that day.

My husband and I do something similar where we say what we're grateful for as a form of saying grace before a meal.
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In the little things

Ralph B. tells me it's in the little things he does for his wife day in and day out.

​He also says he's become more romantic as he's gotten older.

​What about you?

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In a grand adventure

Over this past summer, a writer friend of mine went on an epic road trip through the cemeteries and small towns of the South, looking for information about her family roots. 


Where do you find romance in life?

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The Life Romantic

5/11/2015

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What is does it mean to live a life romantic? Romanticism, as it first unfolded in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, was a reaction against Classicism, Rationalism and the Enlightenment. Artists, musicians and writers dove into imagination, nature, even their own psyches to produce some of the world's most beloved and memorable works (think William Blake, Beethoven and the Bronte sisters). 

But what does it mean to be a Romantic today?  My own personal and subjective view (something Romanticism is all for) is that a Romantic today values those things in life that make it worth living: the hug of a loved one or the support of a good friend in a time of need; indulging in a delicious meal or savoring a spectacular sunset; getting lost in play and freeing the imagination. Some may say a Romantic sees life through rose colored glasses, but I prefer to think of it as living a rose colored life. Choosing to see the glass as half full and celebrating life's beauty. 

This blog will explore the many ways anyone can live a life romantic. Hope you enjoy!
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    Romanticism celebrates imagination and play;  the emotional and the irrational; the visionary and the transcendental.
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    About Me

    I live with my eccentric husband of almost fifteen years in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm an accountant by day, an aspiring novelist by night, and an artist at heart 24/7.

    ​For more about my fiction, visit my alter ego, Tess Rider, at www.tessrider.com.

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Website Design by Therese Rittenbach
  • Home
  • Photography
    • Ardenwood Farm
    • Cemeteries
    • Gold Country
    • Halloween
    • Hearst Castle
    • Jack London's Estate
    • Rose Gardens
    • Sonoma County
  • Fiction