Ophelia's (and a Northern Cardinal's) Note: "To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day"

CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

I observed a pair of Northern cardinals this past weekend when I was walking through The Ramble in Central Park. Now, as I look at one of the pictures of them, I let my mind wander as to what they might be telling each other. Perhaps because tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I thought of Ophelia's (from Shakespeare's Hamlet) quote upon studying the expression on the female's (bird at the top of this photo).

"To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, 

All in the morning betime, 

And I maid at your window, 

To be your Valentine. 

Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes, 

And dupped the chamber-door; 

Let in a maid, that out a maid 

Never departed more."

I think you must admit, dear reader, that this female bird's non-verbal communication could be interpreted as a reminder/warning/hint for her mate to do something.

Tuesday's Truths, the seventy-fifth week. Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day (ETC)

Cupid (the figurine seen in the image atop this entry) joins me today in welcoming you, dear reader, to the seventy-fifth week of my Tuesday's Truths series. He wants to make sure that we heed the certain words (posted directly below) uttered by Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, 

All in the morning betime, 

And I maid at your window, 

To be your Valentine. 

Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes, 

And dupped the chamber-door; 

Let in a maid, that out a maid 

Never departed more.

For indeed, tomorrow is Saint Valentines Day! This year it coincides with Ash Wednesday, which means today is Shrove Tuesday.

Therefore, because Valentines Day is on Ash Wednesday (marking the onset  of Lent), you may not want to give your special someone chocolates, or champagne, but, you probably want to give the person who is near and dear to you a special gift! May Cupid and I suggest giving him/her a version of the book, Words In Our Beak Volume One.

"WORDS IN OUR BEAK" MAKES A GREAT GIFT ANYTIME

Here's the info on how to buy all the versions:

HARDCOVER:
Book Seller Info: http://bit.ly/2AFZDCz
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2zxVujM
Barnes & Noble On-Line: http://bit.ly/2AAnB26
book culture On Columbus: http://bit.ly/2FsC1Uf

SOFTCOVER:
Magcloud: http://bit.ly/2nrBJDj

DIGITAL (TWO OPTIONS):
ePub: http://amzn.to/2kzWGw0
iBook: http://apple.co/2nHZMBq

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

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.

Moreover, I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop garden in NYC,  Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

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.

SUMMER 2020 ADDENDUM: 

                             

"Never say never," the saying goes, and I suppose that applies to saying, "I no longer....," which I did in my 2018 addendum and now I'm here to announce at the advice of Chris Deatherage, my book series formatter, who is also my web-master (for patriciayoungquist.com) I now have some versions of the greeting cards that are referenced in this blog post available via FAA, please click here to view them.

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.

"Rosemary is for rememberance"

HERBS IN MY ROOFTOP GARDEN

This is the 363rd day of 2010, and there are only two more days of this decade (in the Gregorian calender) after today passes. The promise of the onset of a new year is an occasion for me to send a card to people who bring meaning to my life. 

While you may not have time to go on my on-line viewing sources to choose a card for you to do the same, I do have a beautiful selection of cards in the store-front pages of my web-site, and I hope you will make it a New Year's resolution to reach out to your colleagues, friends and family from time to time by sending them a card for the array of events that  are bound to occur during the course of  the new year for all persons.

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's Day

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupped the chamber-door;
Let in a maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.

Yes, Ophelia, you are right; tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s Day, and while I’ve yet to create a card specific to this occasion, I have been somewhat sentimental about it. Pictured above is one of my first valentine’s received in grade school — fourth grade — when as students we were assigned to bring Valentines to class. This one was from Michael Brink, a boy who lived in a much more posh area than me. I felt so good that it said “song of love” perhaps like Laura in Tennessee Williams’s play The Glass Menagerie, but after he sent me that card, Michael never spoke to me in grade school or high school. I haven’t saved the valentine because I harbored a crush on him. I just liked the card and the feeling I had when I first received it.

Another Valentine’s card (posted below) that I’ve saved is from Catherine, the subject of one of my black and white portraits and also featured in my black and white prints including Dinner is Served, Cocktails and Engaging Conversation, and Thanksgiving in Riverdale, the print discussed in my eighth posting. All these prints can be viewed in the black and white gallery on my web-site.

Catherine sent me this Valentine upon my receiving five straight “A' s” in undergraduate school and included her acknowledgement of this in the card:

I had saved this correspondence because not only had I been inspired by Catherine in a way that caused me to photograph her, but I had hoped to write about her one day. As you will see, in her obituary posted below, she was an interesting woman.

Paper cards stored in desk drawers provide great inspiration on days when there seems none to be had. Just looking at them can cause a wealth of ideas to come forward during dry spells in the creative process. There is nothing that comes close to a personal card to preserve a moment and I offer a wide variety of unique cards that can be viewed more closely on my web-site.

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop garden in NYC,  Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

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.

SUMMER 2020 ADDENDUM: 

                             

"Never say never," the saying goes, and I suppose that applies to saying, "I no longer....," which I did in my 2018 addendum and now I'm here to announce at the advice of Chris Deatherage, my book series formatter, who is also my web-master (for patriciayoungquist.com) I now have some versions of the greeting cards that are referenced in this blog post available via FAA, please click here to view them.