Iris Day 2021

While cutting through The American Museum of Natural History's Theodore Roosevelt Park (on my way home from the greenmarket and compost drop off) I saw patches of Irises, the flower variety featured in the images atop this entry. 

My seeing them reminded me that Iris Day (celebrated one week and one day ago) was an event I've written about in bygone years here on Blogger. In case you didn't catch my 5-8-2017 post about this holiday, you may reference it by clicking here. 

Whenever I see Irsies I think of Vincent van Gough and today was no exception. 

However, in addition to recalling this artist's paintings of irises, I also thought of what Mary Oliver (the poet) had to say in relation to them:

"Praying

It doesn’t have to be

the blue iris, it could be

weeds in a vacant lot, or a few

small stones; just

pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try

to make them elaborate, this isn’t

a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which

another voice may speak.”

These words are something I constantly need to be reminded of when I sit down to write most anything.

European starlings contine to enjoy my garden. (Saturday's Sentiment)

European starlings the bird type featured in the image atop this entry (visiting my roof extension garden) were brought to NYC from England 131 years and one month ago yesterday (3-16-1890).

April's Inspiration

I recently discovered the poem, "Spring," by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which is posted atop this entry, and because we are now in National Poetry Month, I'm calling attention to it, on some levels, it reminds me of what T.S. Eliot has said re the month of April, and it is posted directly below.

I've published posts re Eliot's quote including ones from 2019, 2018 and 2011 and because I'm familar with his darker interpetation of what this month means, I wasn't surprised to read the words of Edna St. Vincent Millay when it comes to April.

However, I wonder if E.B. White might've been surprised to hear her words about this month, given what he wrote about this poet in his mini New Yorker essay, "WRITER AT WORK" (published in 1927).

Mockingbirds and starlings have common behaviors! Tuesday's Truths WK 208

For this 208th segement of my Tuesday's Truths series, I'd like to tell you a behavior that the bird types (European starlings and Northern mockingbirds) featured in the photos atop this entry have in common.

My eyes are on the House sparrows...

HOUSE SPARROWS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

HOUSE SPARROWS ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

I came across the photos (which are posted directly above) just the other day when organizing my photo-library. They were taken on October 24th 2015, which happens to be the day my dear friend, Donna DeSolis (DD) might've been celebrating her birthday with me had she not died a few months prior (in June of 2015). As readers of this blog may recall, I created at the request of DD's son a video commemorating her life and it may be viewed on Vimeo and/or You Tube.

As for these two pictures I am which I am now referencing they feature House sparrows enjoying a meal from a bird feeder in my rooftop garden. The sparrow with dark features an a black "bib" is a male. In a recent entry here on Blogger, I discussed this characteristic (bib) which is a feature of male House sparrows in a recent entry here on Blogger. However, my seeing these photos at this time caused me to think of a poem by Mary Oliver, which is posted below.

In the song sparrow's nest the nestlings,

those who would sing eventually, must listen

carefully to the father bird as he sings

and make their own song in imitation of his.

I don't know if any other bird does this (in

nature's way has to do this). But I know a 

child doesn't have to. Doesn't have to.

Doesn't have to. And I didn't.

Ms. Oliver is referring to a song sparrow in this particular poem, "Blue Horses" (from "To Be Human is to Sing Your Own Song"). I have pictures of that bird type too within my photo collection, an example of one whom I saw in Central Park is featured in the next image.

SONG SPARROWS ARE FEATURED IN OTHER BLOG POSTS

However, it the House sparrow whom I've included in my three volume hardcover book series, Words In Our Beak.

MY BOOK SERIES

Friday Follow-up to Yesterday's Blog Post

JEWEL, THE MUSCOVY DUCK IS FEATURE IN V 3

I'm following up on yesterday's blog post, where I discussed my reacquainting with Jewel, the Muscovy duck featured in volume three of my book series, Words In Our Beak.

MY BOOK SERIES

Upon seeing the content of my Muscovy duck entry (which was posted on Facebook on 7-8-2020), bird rehabber, Amanda Remsberg, commented saying, "That’s amazing. Her kind originate from Central America, I’m not sure how she has adapted to the winters there. I’m glad she is thriving!"

As some of you might recall, I wrote about how "supposedly one of the workers at this [Boat Bain] office puts out a bowl of fresh water for Jewel on a regular basis" (in a 2017 entry here on Blogger) after I first encountered Jewel.

I'm not sure if the man seen in the picture atop this person is the one who does this (puts out fresh water) and I suspect others (including residents of the houseboats) do as it well, for Jewel was flapping her wing (while on a pier near to several house boats) as if she were trying to get someone's attention...

JEWEL, THE MUSCOVY DUCK IS FEATURE IN V 3

... when I saw her the other day.

Thursday's Testimony: Clouds and Jays Inspire Mary Oliver (AND Yours Truly)

Upon my seeing clouds (reflected in the windows of a building across the courtyard as seen in the image atop this entry); coupled with my seeing a Blue jay enjoying nourishment (from a feeder that's in my garden)...

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOK SERIES

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOK SERIES

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOK SERIES

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOK SERIES

... I thought of a meditation which references a poem by Mary Oliver. 

This meditation "establishes an atmosphere of loving kindness with the “smile”; relaxes and awakens through the body; and guides us into a spacious presence. We then rest in that presence, letting go of any controlling, and simply allow life to be as it is. It’s in “letting be” that we come home to the luminosity and tenderness of natural awareness......We close with a verse from Mary Oliver…"

I lounge on the grass, that’s all. So

simple. Then I lie back until I am

inside the cloud that is just above me

but very high, and shaped like a fish.

Or, perhaps not. Then I enter the place

of not-thinking, not-remembering, not-

wanting. When the blue jay cries out his

riddle, in his carping voice, I return.

But I go back, the threshold is always

near. Over and back, over and back. Then

I rise. Maybe I rub my face as though I

have been asleep. But I have not been

asleep. I have been, as I say, inside

the cloud, or, perhaps, the lily floating

on the water. Then I go back to town

to my own house, my own life, which has

now become brighter and simpler, some-where I have never been before….

On another note, Blue jays are referenced in my book series, Words In Our Beak...

MY BOOK SERIES

...which are a great read anytime, but especially during the lazy, crazy days of summer.

Easter Sunday 2020

In a recent post on my personal Facebook Page, I made a commitment to share a poem a day during the month of April in honor of this being National Poetry Month.

In the event the text of this poem too small or too pixelated within the golden backdrop that I created as an image, here's a copy of Oliver's poem:

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful
than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone–
and how it glides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance–
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love–
do you think there is anywhere, in any language
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you
as you stand there
empty-handed–
or have you too
turned from this world–
or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

Because it is now Easter morning, I chose The Sun, by Mary Oliver, for today's selection to post there but wanted to share it here too. Re this poem, Robin Bates writes, "I have periodically turned to Mary Oliver to provide Easter poems, even though she seldom speaks overtly about religion. A number of her lyrics reenact the progress of Easter week, from dark suffering to miraculous release and ecstatic union with the divine. In 'The Sun,' Oliver’s main focus is on the moment of transcendence."

Crabapple Blossoms

MY ROOFTOP GARDEN

The other day (Tuesday, 4-7-2020) in a post on my personal Facebook (FB) Page, I mentioned that I had just remembered that April is National Poetry Month and shared a Mary Oliver, then I made a commitment to post a poem (or lines from a poem) every day (on Facebook) during this month.

Because a strong wind knocked down my crabapple tree last night (as see in the photo atop this entry photo which was also included in a posting story in my Friday evening Facebook post on my business page, I've decided today would be a good time to share the poem Crabapple Blossoms, by Carl Sandburg.

It's 2019's first day of fall in NYC.

In honor of the onset of Autumn in New York, I'm sharing some comic strips by Patrick McDonnell whose strips (Mutts) almost always warm my heart.

On this first day of fall in NYC, we don't have much fall color and won't for a few weeks, so, on this first day of fall, I'll leave you a poem (Song for Autumn) by Mary Oliver, and with photos of what the leaves on the trees in Riverside Park will look like in the coming months, that as if they repeat what they've done in by gone years.

Song for Autumn
(By Mary Oliver)

In the deep fall

don’t you imagine the leaves think how

comfortable it will be to touch

the earth instead of the

nothingness of air and the endless

freshets of wind? And don’t you think

the trees themselves, especially those with mossy,

warm caves, begin to think

of the birds that will come — six, a dozen — to sleep

inside their bodies? And don’t you hear

the goldenrod whispering goodbye,

the everlasting being crowned with the first

tuffets of snow? The pond

vanishes, and the white field over which

the fox runs so quickly brings out

its blue shadows. And the wind pumps its

bellows. And at evening especially,

the piled firewood shifts a little,

longing to be on its way.

It's Honeybee Awareness Day!

Today is National Honey Bee Day (formerly National Honey Bee Awareness Day) which is set aside to raise awareness re bees; hence my choosing to include the picture directly above of a bee who visits my indoor succulent garden.

The Bees and the Wildflowers in Central Park (Friday Follow-up to last Friday's Post)

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

Last Friday, here on Blogger, I posted an entry stating, "My seeing a bee taking nourishment on an Echinacea flower in Central Park... caused me to think of these lines from HUM, a poem by Mary Oliver:

"'... The little

worker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks.

Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understand

that life is a blessing...'''

And I mentioned that "Bees are featured in my movie, Here's The Buzz (which can be viewed on my Vimeo Channel)... Bees discussed in my book series, Words In Our Beak."

THE WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

Soon after that entry was published (the following day) I encountered bees again when I took a walk in Central Park. Only this time they were nibbling on wildflowers as seen in the first picture included with this entry as well as in the ones directly below.

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

As I stated in the first paragraph here, in the aforementioned post, I referenced a stanza from Mary Oliver's poem, HUM. In this followup post, I have referenced (below) stanzas from another one of her poems HUM, HUM; a poem which also speaks of bees:

"One summer afternoon I heard

   a looming, mysterious hum

 high in the air; then came something

like a small planet flying past –

   something

not at all interested in me but on its own

way somewhere, all anointed with excitement:

bees, swarming,

not to be held back.

Nothing could hold them back."

The Bee & The Echincea

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

My seeing a bee taking nourishment on an Echinacea flower in Central Park (seen in the photographs posted above as well as the ones below)...

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

... caused me to think of these lines from HUM, a poem by Mary Oliver:

"... The little

worker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks.

Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understand

that life is a blessing..."

Bees are featured in my movie, Here's The Buzz (which can be viewed on my Vimeo Channel). And the Echinacea flower is featured in another one of my movies, The Echinacea Elaborates (which can also on Vimeo). Moreover, Bees and this plant variety are discussed in my book series, Words In Our Beak.

THE WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

April's Last Day Tuesday's Truths WK 124

CLICK FOR IMAGE CREDIT AND POEM INFO

It's the last day of April, the month T.S. Eliot deemed (in The Wasteland) as "the cruelest" and the month Mary Oliver described (in her poem Blossom which is posted atop this entry) as one where "...the ponds open like black blossoms..."

As for me, I've often referred to April as the month where April Showers take away May flowers as they have been doing this month; evidenced in the following pictures(respectively) of the Spring Green, Red Riding Hood and Day Dream tulip varieties).

OTHER TULIPS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

OTHER TULIPS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

OTHER TULIPS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

Many tulip types (other than the ones featured in this entry) are featured in volume one of my book series, Words In Our Beak, where the stories are set in my rooftop garden and told from the perspective of Cam; a female cardinal.

Saturday night's alright for posting?

Today I got delayed  due to preparing for upcoming meetings so this entry will be short. First let me say, I have been posting on this blog for nearly nine years and I've never published an entry on a Saturday night! Since that is what I'm doing now, I hope Saturday night's alright for posting which makes me think of Elton John's song, Saturday Night, and in honor of the fact, I've posted a You Tube Video featuring it atop this entry.

In any event, earlier today while in Central Park, I came upon numerous (probably hundreds) of turtles in Turtle Pond.

Yesterday wasn't a good one for a fish in CP!

As I was crossing Oak Bridge in Central Park in the early evening yesterday, it was especially peaceful because the guy who normally disrupts the sound of birds singing by playing show tunes on his loud instrument (while sitting on this bridge) was not there. I was blessed to spot a lone Great Egret (who can be seen in the image directly above) making his/her way in a seemingly methodical manner as he/she walked across the lake.

Paying Homage to White, Oliver and Millay (Tuesday's Truths WK 119)

Welcome to the 119th "episode" of my Tuesday's Truths series. I am honoring it by sharing the mini essay posted atop this entry which was written by E.B.White and published ninety-two years ago today on March 26, 1927.

The Feast of The Annunciation (Monday's Meditation)

NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS HAVE A STORY IN VOL 3

I'm in the process of preparing a submission for an exciting project, so I've been going through hundreds of my photographs featuring birds who visit my garden as well as my images of avian creatures who visit nearby parks (Central plus Riverside) and who spend their time on the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean.

BUT I have a confession to make, trusting my choices of pictures and words to include in my proposal is mind boggling. Unfortunately, I've been turning to many people for their opinions because  I have somehow convinced myself that the thoughts of others are more worthy than mine. In this sense, I've been like a mockingbird,* the bird type seen in the picture atop this entry with his/her beak open ever so slightly.