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Friday, October 12, 2007

' Summer's gone but a lot goes on forever. '






A Black-capped Chickadee has been hovering around the autumn remants of my little slab garden the past couple of days. This guy keeps flitting from bamboo sticks to tall plants to somewhere so near the window it seems he might gotten in somehow. Today I took a better look and found my feathered friend's focus -- the dried seeds from the mini-sunflower Caroline gave me at the beginning of the season. Of course, I overwatered the plant and, alas, it would certainly have lived longer in the deep dark earth. . .luckily I had the foresight to capture it on film before execution day. Then I had absent-mindedly stuck it behind my 'gate' to dry. Chickadees are a favorite of mine and I was delighted to know they hang around Minnesota year round. Their dee-deeing reminds me of an experience I had many years ago. That's a story for another day, but suffice it to say that when I hear them I know God is watching over me.



Speaking of birds, I heard about a community garden called the Hua Mei Bird Garden in the Sara Delano Roosevelt Park in New York City's Chinatown. It seems that early each morning, Chinese men bring songbirds, including the garden's namesake, the scrappy little Chinese Hua Mei, in fancy bamboo cages. In 1993 legend has it that three Chinese men hung birdcages between two trees in this park because they wanted to establish a bird garden like the ones in their homeland. A segment on NPR's All Things Considered in August includes some of the sounds in the park on a Saturday morning.


Enchanting.



"On weekdays, a dozen songbirds can be heard in the park, on weekends as many as 50. Most of the men who come to listen to them are retired; the oldest are in their late 80's. We are old men. We like bringing the birds and drinking the coffee. We feel better.” (NYTimes-July/2007)


A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. Chinese Proverb




Happy Weekend!

6 comments:

Jo said...

Well your post just started it off well. Happy weekend to you too.

Tom said...

A beautiful touching post, your picture are stunning and your words bring out the best in them.

Marianne said...

Thank you so much, I'm enjoying thinking about the elderly men and their birds, the care they take with them, listening to their songs in the park!
A great weekend to you!

Christy Woolum said...

I agree with your title. A lot is stil going on here. The quote you used about the bird and the answer is one of my favorites. Happy week-end to you also.

Granny Smith said...

What a delightful post! The old men in the bird garden inspire one to appreciate all the small pleasures of life.

Thank you,
Phyllis

Rena said...

Flowers and birds..what a lovely post. I enjoyed listening to the NPR story too!