“I don't know if I ever told you," my therapist said. "But I'm a birder. I love birds. And when they hit a window like that, or get hurt in any significant way, they have this ritual. They shake off the pain. They shake off the trauma. And they walk in circles to reconnect their … Continue reading Quote for Today: Sherman Alexie
birds
Reinventing Ninfa: Il Giardino di Ninfa, Part 2
The 17th century saw the death of ancient Ninfa, once sacred to water nymphs. Has she returned to those roots? Earlier this week, we spoke of the tumultuous history of the Italian city of Ninfa. You can read that post here. She began as an agricultural community crowned by a temple dedicated to water nymphs and grew into … Continue reading Reinventing Ninfa: Il Giardino di Ninfa, Part 2
Quote for Today: Willa Cather
Carl sat musing until the sun leaped above the prairie, and in the grass about him all the small creatures of day began to tune their tiny instruments. Birds and insects without number began to chirp, to twitter, to snap and whistle, to make all manner of fresh shrill noises. The pasture was flooded with … Continue reading Quote for Today: Willa Cather
Quote for Today: Doris Lessing
Over the plains of Ethiopia the sun rose as I had not seen it in seven years. A big, cool, empty sky flushed a little above a rim of dark mountains. The landscape 20,000 feet below gathered itself from the dark and showed a pale gleam of grass, a sheen of water. The red deepened … Continue reading Quote for Today: Doris Lessing
Birds in Human Form: Lemi Ponifasio’s Birds with Skymirrors
Birds with Skymirrors is a provocative and beautiful dance work choreographed by Lemi Ponifasio, one of New Zealand's most famous artists. It was inspired by a walk on the beach on the Pacific island of Tarawa, during which Ponifasio observed seabirds flying with pieces of plastic hanging from their beaks. The dancers embody the movements of … Continue reading Birds in Human Form: Lemi Ponifasio’s Birds with Skymirrors
Quote for Today: Monique Duval
She decided to free herself, dance into the wind, create a new language. And birds fluttered around her, writing “yes” in the sky. ― Monique Duval
Quote for Today: Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. … Continue reading Quote for Today: Mary Oliver
Alien Birds of New Guinea: The Birds of Paradise Project
Evolutionary biologist Ed Scholes and wildlife photographer Tim Laman have spent a great deal of the past ten years in the untamed wilderness of New Guinea studying the family of birds known as Birds of Paradise. The 39 species which are native to this range of forested islands are anomalous. Nowhere else on earth have … Continue reading Alien Birds of New Guinea: The Birds of Paradise Project
Quote for Today: Margaret Atwood
We ate the birds. We ate them. We wanted their songs to flow up through our throats and burst out of our mouths, and so we ate them. We wanted their feathers to bud from our flesh. We wanted their wings, we wanted to fly as they did, soar freely among the treetops and the … Continue reading Quote for Today: Margaret Atwood
For the Wanderers: Aves Errantes by La Mano Ajena
La Mano Ajena, Alien Hand, is a Chilean band comprised of Rodrigo Latorre, saxophone, guitar, flute, keyboard and theremin; María Fernanda Carrasco, vocals, keyboard, melodica and percussion; Danka Villanueva, violin and marimba; Gabriel Moyla, accordion and saxophone; Jair Moreno, clarinet; Álvaro Sáez, drums, darbuka and djembe; and Cristian Aqueveque, bass, all of whom began their … Continue reading For the Wanderers: Aves Errantes by La Mano Ajena