World Listening Day 2019

FEMALE CARDINALS ARE  FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

Today is World Listening  Day (WLD) It is (according to National Today) an event which "is put on every year by the World Listening Project, a nonprofit organization that is 'devoted to understanding the world and its natural environment, societies and cultures through the practice of listening and field recording.' They explore acoustic ecology, a discipline that studies the relationship between humans and the natural world as mediated through sound. It falls on July 18 to honor the birthday of Raymond Murray Schafer, a Canadian composer and environmentalist who is seen as the founder of acoustic ecology. World Listening Day was established in 2010, and each year the holiday has a specific theme tied to it... 

This year’s theme is 'Listening to the Ground,' which asks us to consider the sounds of the literal ground in all its surfaces, from soil to asphalt, whether we’re losing metaphorical ground, and whether we can find new ground by listening for it..."

It is also Thursday, the day of the week which is often called Throwback Thursday (TT). Therefore in the honor of WLD and TT, I thought you would appreciate this passage (short) that was included in my 2-5-2019 post here on Blogger re Wilbur, the pig from Charolette's Web, a book by E.B. White:

"I worry about Fern. Did you hear the way she rambled on about the animals, pretending that they talked?' (Mrs. Arable the wife of Wilbur's owner speaking about her daughter to her husband.)

''Mr Arable chuckled. '''Maybe they do talk,''' he said. "I've sometimes wondered.

'''I don't think it's normal. You know perfectly well animals don't talk.''' (Mrs. Arable replied).

'''Maybe our ears aren't as sharp as Fern's," "Mr. Avery said."

I also featured this passage within a 2016 blog posting when I explained that Cam, the Northern cardinal who used to visit my (featured in the photo atop this entry, where she is in my rooftop garden) always believed that it is important for everyone of us to have sharp ears and she spent time taking care of hers!

It's the Chinese New Year of the Pig! (Tuesday's Truths WK 113)

On this first day of this Chinese Year of the Pig, I thought you would appreciate this passage (short) re Wilbur, the pig from Charolette's Web, a book by E.B. White:

"I worry about Fern. Did you hear the way she rambled on about the animals, pretending that they talked?' (Mrs. Arable the wife of Wilbur's owner speaking about her daughter to her husband.)

''Mr Arable chuckled. '''Maybe they do talk,''' he said. "I've sometimes wondered.

'''I don't think it's normal. You know perfectly well animals don't talk.''' (Mrs. Arable replied).

'''Maybe our ears aren't as sharp as Fern's," "Mr. Avery said."

I featured this passage within an entry here on Blogger a few years ago (2016) when I explained that Cam, the Northern cardinal who used to visit my (featured in the photo directly below, where she is in my garden) always believed that it is important for everyone of us to have sharp ears and she spent time taking care of hers!

CAM

Cam included her philosophy in her volume one of her book series, Words In Our Beak.

Throwback Thursday: On this day 12-6-1930...

THE NEW YORK GARBAGEMAN, by E.B. White was published 88 years ago today. White, as many of you undoubtedly know is the author of a number of works, including Charolette's Web. Over the years I've published a number of entries here in Blogger re White and if you'd like to read them; here's the link: https://bit.ly/2Umfks4.

Here's to Chris Deatherage!

The text image atop this entry is a letter written by the writer E.B. White to Gene Deitch on 2/3/1971.

At that time, Deitch had been hired by a Sagittarius Pictures to produce a feature-length animated movie to be based on White's book, Charlotte’s Web.

It was very important to E.B. White (as you can see in this letter), that in any animated feature based on his book, Charolette's (a spider) voice should remain true to her very being. And so should the other voices in the story, including Wilbur (a pig) and Templeton (a rat).

Because of my love for Cam (the cardinal pictured below)...

CAM, THE NARRATOR OF "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

...who I've been helping give voice to her book, Words In Our Beak Volume One (the hardcover variety can seen in the next image)...

SEE PRESS RELEASE

... I can certainly relate to how vulnerable White must've felt when entrusting his beloved characters to others involved in any project related to his story. My heart goes out to him upon learning how much he endured while going through the this process.

I am very blessed that my book formatter, Chris Deatherage, (who also serves as an editor) truly understands voice and spirit, and he definitely removes his hat when he enters my rooftop garden where Cam spends much of her time and where her story is set.

Cam and I are awestruck upon having seen the fantastic work that Chris has done with formatting and editing volume two of our book series.

ADDENDUM FALL 2018: 

The digital versions of Volume One within the Words In Our Beak book series that are mentioned in this entry may only remain available for a limited time, but hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can now be found wherever books are sold.

MY BOOK SERIES

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2021:

When the third volume of the hard-cover version of Words In Our Beak was released, I withdrew from promoting my former versions of Words In Our Beak. 

The very first one is an iBook and went into Apple's book store in 2015.

This was followed by an ePub version...

... that is available on Amazon and was also published in 2015.

Subsequently, Words In Our Beak's digital versions were published as a soft-cover book (with slight variations) by MagCloud in 2017.

Its press release can be read by clicking here.  

Now with the release of BIRD TALES....

... I've been advised to make mention of my early versions of volume one of Words In Our Beak, they do vary ever so slightly in content from the hard-cover version of volume one.

As of this addendum, I do not intend to create digital or soft-cover versions of Words In Our Beak Volume Two or Words In Our Beak Volume Three.

Identifying With E.B. White (Again)

Anyone who follows my musings here on Blogger must know how much I appreciate the works written by E.B. White, who wrote numerous essays for The New Yorker.

I've included copies, and/or excerpts from many of them in my cyber venues. White's also known for the many books he's written, including Charlotte's Web, which is one of my favorites. I have referred to this book a number of times within my blog entries. In fact, the picture atop this posting was included within one of my 2010 Blogger posts where I referenced an excerpt from a collection of White's essays, as well as an excerpt from Charlotte's Web.

If you know Charlotte's Web, you may recall that when one of the characters, John Arable (who is a farmer), discovers a new piglet is a runt, he decides to kill it. His eight year old daughter, Fern, persuades her father to let her keep the piglet as a pet and she names him Wilbur. Fern takes care of Wilbur for a while until he needs to be moved to a farm where he becomes very lonely. He soon is befriended by a spider named Charlotte, who not only keeps him company but also provides him with encouragement weaving the words "SOME PIG," "TERRIFIC," and "RADIANT" into her web.

Words are missing from the spider's web seen in the image atop this entry, and even though there is a bee within this spider's web in this picture, Cam and I could use some words of encouragement.

Thanksgiving is one week from today!

Thanksgiving is one week from today! The characters who have visited my home during this time period over the years, are back to warm my heart and home with their ideas about life. The photo atop this blog entry features a Thanksgiving scene currently taking place within the shelves of an armoire that I call my story-box. This piece of furniture is in my main living area. Regular readers of this blog, or of my entries on tumblr and hometalk, as well as my posts of Facebook, know that the story-lines created by the characters visiting me, change with the seasons and given holidays. In any event, this year my whimsical characters are spending Thanksgiving within a grove of candy-corn trees where quails like to be, as a moon watches over them. This is evidenced in the top half of the image.

All of the characters spending time in the proximity of the candy-corn tree grove have been coming here for a number of years; with the exception of the love birds who love birds. The two of them are wearing black bomber jackets and can be seen in the close-up photo posted below.

You might recognized them, dear reader, as I've featured them in my cyber-venues, including a post here on Blogger this past February. The Thanksgiving-themed characters that are socializing behind these Love Birds have all been coming to my place for nearly five years! Each of those characters has spent time in the armoire and in my indoor garden of succulents.

The pilgrims riding a turkey (one can be seen at the left of the Love Birds and one can be seen at their right), were featured in entries on Blogger, tumblr and Facebook. A closeup of them can be seen in the following image.

In their earliest years of visiting my place, the turkey-riders confined their antics  to my succulent garden.

The Luck of the Irish — NOT SO LUCKY FOR PIGS!

A little over three weeks ago, March 1, 2016, I announced here on Blogger that it was #NationalPigDay. In that entry, I had pictures of pigs that have visited my home from time to time, including a different image of the pig that is featured in the photo (accompanying this entry) of her in my succulent garden, where she has been spending the month of March.

The month of March is known as Irish American Month, and today, March 17th, NYC will have its annual parade. The parade is in honor of this heritage, and in honor of of Saint Patrick’s Day.

At the time that I posted my March 1st entry re pigs, I did not know that they are a part of Saint Patrick’s history, but since that posting, I’ve read the following:

“…when (Saint) Patrick was traveling with some sailors on land after they docked their ship in Britain, they had trouble finding enough to eat while crossing through a desolate area of land. The captain of the ship on which Patrick had sailed asked Patrick to pray for the group to find food, since Patrick had told him that God was all-powerful. Patrick told the captain that nothing was impossible for God, and he prayed for food right away. Miraculously, a herd of pigs appeared after Patrick finished praying, in front of where the group of men was standing. The sailors caught and killed the pigs so they could eat, and that food sustained them until they were able to leave the area and find more food…”

I don’t eat meat and have an appreciation for these creatures as Charlotte (from Charlotte’s Web) did! Therefore I found this information to be disturbing! For while pigs may have met luck to the persons traveling with Patrick, this animal type was not so lucky…

A Bit More Info Re #NationalPigDay!

Earlier today (here on Blogger), in honor of this March 1st holiday of #NationalPigDay, I posted an excerpt from E.B. White's, Charlotte's Web. I specifically referred to the passage where Charlotte advcated for a pig that her father was about to kill. (If you'd like to refer to that Blogger entry, please click here.)

Meanwhile, Charlotte can be seen in the first image accompanying this entry. She is holding the pig she saved. She ultimately named him Wilbur. However, Charlotte is not the only one who appreciates this animal, which may be fairly obvious, given there is at least one holiday dedicated to honoring this creature.

According to Holiday Insights, "Ellen Stanley, a Texas art teacher created National Pig Day in 1972. Her intent was to to recognize and be thankful for pigs as intelligent domestic animals." Holiday Insights goes on to say that "there is no evidence to suggest that this is truly a 'National' day, which requires an act of congress." BUT thankfully, lovers of this animal are not waiting for an act of congress to make this holiday official, for we all know congress can't agree on anything!

Day of Christmas Eve with a special posting: SOME WRITER!

It is the morning of Christmas Eve 2010, and in the spirit of giving and sharing, I am providing this 'extra' December post that contains one of my favorite Christmas essays by E.B. White, who gave me such joy as a child by bringing the fictional characters of Wilbur, Fern, Avery, Templeton and Charlotte into my life through his beautiful book, Charlotte's Web, which Santa left under the tree for me one dark Christmas morning. Today in honor of E. B. White, Charlotte and her web, I've posted an image of a spider's web at the top of this post — because the days when I first met Charlotte, I  suppose I was looking for someone like her as I needed encouragement during those dark days, and, E.B. White provided it for me through her.