“Feathers fall; soft as a song, light as morning dreams.”
― Eirene Evripidou
We think of feathers as soft and lovely but during WWI in England, women gave white feathers to men not in uniform in an attempt to shame them into enlisting, using white feathers to signify cowardice. Other less negative meanings have included peace, pacifism, and courage. To me, this feather was a small, beautiful sighting as I went for a walk, another chance to be amazed at the way errant feathers cling to plants.
It’s been a beautiful month of blacks and greys, but how can we already be in the last month of the year? I’m excited to be putting up Christmas decorations and as we have a smallish artificial tree that is decorated mostly with bird ornaments and other nature items, it seems appropriate to end this month’s theme with a bird photo.
“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”
― Robert Lynd
“Birds chirping around you is a beautiful realisation that life is incredibly good. Let this sound be a gentle break in your routine.”
― Hiral Nagda
…and he does pretty well. Can’t remember where I heard that saying but it seems to fit here.
It may not have been singing in the dead of night but it certainly had something to say! And these birds can say what they say at the top of their lungs.
I’m just in time to sneak into this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge–feet and shoes. I’m not horsing around because these shoes really nail it, though I’d be a bird-brain to think they fit on these feet. Yep, I haven’t lost my sense of humor over vacation (or it hasn’t improved, whichever) but we made it safely back after a wonderful vacation which you’ll learn more about in the following days. Happy August!
Today’s challenge is “Getting Away”, something I enjoy doing as often as possible. However, we aren’t the only ones who like to get away.
Here’s what getting away looks like in McDowell Forest Preserve, Naperville, Illinois. I came around a corner of the trail to find both a fawn and a doe. I froze, allowing me to appear unthreatening for at least long enough to get some photos.
(I’m going to publish this post with four photos, the first of the fawn. But although all the photos show up in the draft, the preview doesn’t show it. I’ll see what happens and if it doesn’t work out, try editing the published version. Ahh, WordPress, why do you do these things??)
The doe was on the move at this point.
OK, I’ve tried everything I can think of to get that photo inserted but WP won’t let me do it. So instead I’ll use another one. This buck was happily standing in the path looking at me until a cyclist, out of my line of sight, came zooming along.
Getting away in Wyoming might look like this and it wasn’t even Thanksgiving! I love the expression the eye seems to have.
And getting away at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, Arizona might mean flying high. This guy seemed to have been carrying some sort of foliage with him.
Whatever getting away means to you, I hope you’ll be able to enjoy it as soon and as much as possible.
This, that and the other thing 