I am reblogging this tale of our sweet Barn Swallow named Braveheart for Through Open Lens. It is a shortened version of the longer story of his whole life with us.
Month: April 2017
Roots
The instructions are to “Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt”.
No words yet but the symbolism of this discovery while emptying a discarded, cat-destroyed houseplant has me thinking….
Earth for WPC 4/18/17
What an Earth Day morning I’ve had…nothing short of miraculous!!
I apparently woke myself up before daylight fretting about how I could respond to the WordPress Photo Challenge this week. The topic this week is Earth, perfect given today is such a special day, but overwhelming in it’s vast and endless possibilities. As is often the case, I just can’t choose one picture! So here is a photo journal in honor of Earth Day.
I love photographing plant life!
I am thrilled with landscape shots, especially mountains
Sunrise and sunset are, in my opinion, Natures purest art form, and it’s a brand new canvas every day!
I love animals, especially birds.
Don’t even get me started on water. Ahh, the ocean…
All of these things seem to capture Earth for me…
I thought I might do this post about the pair of Bald Eagles that have been hanging out in my tree for the last 3 weeks. They were there with me this morning for 2 hours during a stunning Earth Day sunrise…
But, I have been collecting photos in a particular and slightly odd category for quite a while, just waiting for the right “topic” to inspire me to post some of them. Today seems like the day.
Contrails
It started with a very powerful waking dream one afternoon. In my non-chemically altered state (I promise) I became a native inhabitant of the Northwest, maybe 200 years ago. Here’s what I dreamed.
One day I was simply enjoying the afternoon sky when all of a sudden I saw a strange narrow white cloud, shooting a perfect line across the bright blue expanse. It was moving rapidly and though quite pointed at the front end, it spread out into thicker rows of tiny clouds, all in a straight-ish line. I thought this must be a special message from Father Sky and wondered if I was supposed to find a man to interpret. And then I knew…Father Sky and Mother Earth were one in the same…both identically important and equally powerful. Even more significant, that one could not provide it’s individual sustenance to and for EARTH without the other. Different, but equal. Differing, but the same. Separate, but connected.
When I shook myself out of my revery, all I could think of was that Contrails did not exist back then and if one had streaked across the sky, how in the world would it have been explained by any who had witnessed one? Can you imagine? What would you have thought???
Maybe this doesn’t seem like an Earth Day post to you but there you have it.
Happy Earth Day to all and don’t give up.
WordlessWednesday 4/19/17
Song Lyric Sunday 4/16/17 Rain
https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-41617/
Oh, I so wanted to find another song than the one I immediately thought of. I wanted a dark and meaningful Dylan song or maybe one about the Northwest. We do have that reputation up here for rain after all.
I even found what I thought might be a fun song that fit for today. It is Easter (whatever that means to you) so when I spotted the song Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen, I thought “How perfect!” But what a depressing song that turned out to be!
So I’m back at my original thought, the obvious one I was avoiding.
I grew up in San Diego and though the Beach Boys sang about us, they were not actually a part of us. Nope, instead, we had the one hit wonder, the Cascades. They lived and performed among us all over San Diego. (Were you there then, Mr. Fish???)
I remember this one dance I went to………..Well, anyway, here is their song.
Their history, if you are interested.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cascades_(band)
PS I actually did like this song but at the time, it just didn’t fit the deep and intellectual reputation I was trying to build for myself. Plus, I had already been on a blind date with the drummer of the Association!!! I was cool.
Surprise for WPC 4/12/17
I was sitting outside, at the table on my sister’s deck, trying to capture a good photo of one of her many hummingbirds. She has several feeders as well as a ton of flowers all around so the photo opportunities were abundant. I even put a feeder right in the center of the table, inches away from me but still was not that happy with the shots I was getting.
I got this one…
And then this…
But the one that surprised me was THIS!! Look carefully. (I call it “Incoming”!)
And then my favorite.
I almost erased it until I really looked at it!!!
SURPRISE!!!
I’m so glad I didn’t delete it. I LOVE this picture!
Who knows what else we miss when we don’t really look closely….
WordlessWednesday II, 4/5/17
WordlessWednesday 4/5/17
Song Lyrics Sunday-4/2/17 Music of the 80’s
Helen from https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/ has asked for some “hopeful” music from the 80’s. I’m not sure my selections are what she had in mind. Because my very first thought was Joan Baez and her song (and album) Children of the 80’s, all I could think of after that was all the great political and protest music that came out in the tail end of that Disco-laden era.
Actually, now that I think of it, there really isn’t anything much more hopeful than younger generations filling our hearts, minds and EARS with thoughtful and inspirational music, even if it is protesting the current state of affairs!
In the 1980’s, I attended Antioch University to finish my Masters. We were encouraged to be creative in how we learned about our chosen subjects. I took a class I expected to be dry and factual, called One World-the History of Political Science. I hated both history and politics. My professor could see how much I dreaded this class and suggested that I create an informative project about “politics” as I personally defined it. I designed an auditory presentation called Music of the 60’s vs Music of the 80’s. Going in, I had assumed the music from MY time of Flower Children, Hippies and Protesters would insultingly overshadow the inane stuff I was hearing on the radio in my house. My son would have been a young teenager then. Rupert Holmes singing about Pina Coladas, Captain and Tenille, Bananarama, Come ON!
Man, was I ever shocked when I started actually researching current music. I talked to local band members like Heart, Queensryche, and Soundgarden. And all the folk singers I could find-Riley and Maloney, Tom Dundee, Jim Post. I started really listening to the non-mainstream (the tail end of disco and it’s spinoffs) type music. I interviewed disc jockeys from several local radio stations.
What I ended up with, almost accidentally, was a 90 minute tape that blew my professor’s mind. He lobbied for, and won me 10 credits for my 3 credit class.
Here are just a handful of songs I had in my project.
If you want to hear more great 80’s Protest or political songs, check out this great site.
http://www.inthe80s.com/protest.shtml
Thanks to Helen, and all the participants in her challenge, who make my musical week!
A Good News/Bad News PS
That tape got destroyed in a basement flood not long afterward. I was SO crushed!!
BUT, my son Michael informs me that the music I was so judgmental of was not at all to his liking either, just happened to be on the radio. We now enjoy mostly the same stuff.
https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2017/04/01/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-4217/