Blogger Patricia Youngquist is an author and a photographer. Her recent e-book, BIRD TALES, is interactive and includes the Blue jay featured above. Prior works include versions of WORDS IN OUR BEAK, where the stories are narrated by Cam, a female cardinal. Additionally, some of her photographs have been licensed by Fine Art America to reproduce as wall art and on to an array of surfaces for various products! Do view both side-bars for specific details on all of this.
The cartoonist, Charles Schultz, died nineteen years ago today on February 12th in the year 2000.
He was 77 years of age. Now, as a small way of paying homage to him, in this 114th segment of my Tuesday's Truths series, I've posted a comic strip (Red and Rover) by Brian Basset.
According to a number of sources, including one related to the symbolism and meaning of certain birds, "Jays mate for life, giving them the symbolism and meaning of faithfulness and accord."
Because of this undisputed fact of their faithfulness, images of Blue Jays rendered on to cards make a perfect Valentine's Day card for the one near and dear to you.
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...
...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.
"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.
Tuesday is here again, and you know what that means, dear reader — if it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr. However, before I send you there, I would like to share a few thoughts about November, since today is also November First.
This past Thursday, when I was walking home to my studio apartment in the Upper Westside of Manhattan, the rain was falling heavily, and even though it was only somewhere between five-thirty and six in the evening, it was quite dark, prompting me to think that soon we'd be changing the clocks (fyi, the date to do this is the second Sunday in November to leave daylight savings time), and that it would be getting darker much earlier in the evening.
The other day I noticed a Mourning Dove in my rooftop garden who was holding up his wing (as seen in the photograph atop this post) in such a manner that I suspect might've been as an act to attract a mate.
Spouse's Day is celebrated on January 26, 2020 (today). It is a day to enjoy and appreciate your better half.
Northern cardinals (known as Mac and Cam) seem to show how much they care for their spouse by feeding each other. This can as seen in the image directly above which has been rendered on to a greeting card and is available via my shop that's located on Fine Art America's site.
With the Valentine's Day holiday approaching in twenty-three days, it's the perfect opportunity to begin (if you don't already) to keep in mind, "Understanding your partner requires the capacity to listen. Really listen. Couples are advised to hear each other’s complaints without feeling attacked, and as great as this sounds, it’s often unrealistic."
My maternal grandfather, Albert Elmer Herman Louis Melahn, died on this day of January 24th in the mid to late 1970's. He was sixty-nine years old. He can be seen in the photo directly above with my grandmother, Clara May Fitchie Melahn where they are standing in front of one of their favorite restraunts that was located in Crystal Lake Illinois.
This photograph was one of my dearly departed grandmother's favorites, perhaps because of the memories she had of enjoying meals with him at one of their favorite places. For years after his death she laid the framed photo facedown on an end-table. Evidently looking at the image made her miss him even more. I am their first grandchild and the loss to me was great as well which is probably how most people feel when their grandfather dies.
Blue jays visit my garden frequently and the other day was no exception. My latest visitor can be seen in the image atop this entry as well as in the ones directly below.
Upon my seeing this creature, I thought of some lines from a poem by Eleanor Farjeon which go like this, “A new day. A blue jay. A new beginning...."
You may recognize her name as she wrote the hymn, "Morning Has Broken," which is usually associated with Cat Stevens whose recording of it popularized the song.This bird type, which sometimes gets a bad rap, has influenced me from an early age when I drew (albeit not very well) the creature's picture.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day; and the text-image posted above features what Shakespeare's Ophelia had to say re the eve of this holiday. I discussed her speech in a prior post here on Blogger, back in 2010! And, now, with the soon to be 2017 Valentine holiday, I am thinking of Charles Schultz and his cast of characters re this event.
Perhaps this is on my mind because, yesterday, here on Blogger, I posted an entry as a way of paying homage to Charles Schultz, who died seventeen years ago on February 12, 2000. After all, this is a holiday that he embraced in many a poignant manner! One of the ways can be seen in the following picture;
and another way can be seen in the following image of Schultz's comic strip,
which is from the Facebook Page for The Charles M. Schultz Museum. Moreover, Schultz's Valentine's Day scenarios have been depicted in video format, and a number of them, including the one posted below,
can be seen on You Tube. This particular one makes me think of my figurine (pictured below),
that is rendered in the likeness of a mailman delivering valentines. Knowing how saddened and disappointed Charlie Brown was at his not receiving Valentines Day wishes, causes me to want to stress the importance of folks reaching out to the one, or the ones, that they love, by sending a gift or a card.
In terms of Valentines Day cards, I have designed three (postcard style) that would be very appropriate to give to love birds who love birds. My cards can be seen in the following pictures.
All of the images on the cards are from Cam's book, Words In Our Beak, Volume One.
This book makes a great Valentines Day gift! And, because it is available in iBook and ePub format, the book can be given to one you love immediately; which is a good thing, since, to quote Ophelia, "To-morrow is Saint Valentine's Day!"
ADDENDUM FALL 2018:
The non-hardcover version (or 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. 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 viaFine 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.
When I am in my garden on a cold January day and notice few geraniums who are poking their heads through the mulch (as that flower type is doing in the photo directly above) that was put there to protect them during a cold winter days, I think of some lines from a The Rose, a song written by Amanda McBroome.
Her song was made popular by Bette Midler and the lyrics I'm thinking of go like this, "...just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow, lies the seed that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes the rose."
In this instance, my geraniums weren't lying beneath the bitter snow (although they were doing that last month), they are lying beneath layers of mulch put in their container when iI did my annual garden winterizing ritual.
Atop this entry is a copy of a Mutts cartoon created by Patrick McDonnell. It was initially posted in celebration of the 2018 Winter Solstice and I thought of the sentiment expressed by Mooch during the nor'easter which occured in NYC this past Monday (2-1-2021).
This past Monday, here in NYC, we had a nor'easter (which I wrote about in a recent post here on Blogger). Now, six days later wet, heavy snow has been falling since early morning but this did not deter avian creatures from visiting my place, as evidenced in the photos atop this entry.
I've been very overwhelmed by my circumstances which have been aggravated by a number of consequences re the coronavirus pandemic. I'm now behind in every level for many of my tasks from the mundane to major projects and it's getting out of hand.
It's been very cold and I've been wearing layer upon layer, but Mourning doves don't have to bundle up when the temps are so low, all they do is puff up (as evidenced by the image atop this entry which was taken in my garden the other day). Another way they may be keeping warm is by their love for their partner.
In less than three weeks time, it will be Valentine's Day and what a great excuse to send someone a card through snail mail; but since it truly does tend to be snail, it's not too early to start getting cards for the special people in your life.
Valentine's Day isn't just for couples. It's also an occasion to show friends, family, and other special people how much they're loved.
This two hundred and one segement of Tuesday's Truths is to alert you to the fact that National Bird Day has come and gone for the year 2021. It was celebrated three weeks ago on 1-5. Information re this holiday can be found in a number of places on the web including a page for National Day.
In bygone years, I've published posts about this occasion as I certainly appreciate any occasion that aims to raise awareness about members of the animal kingdom and I don’t think it needs to be limited to one day.
But this segement is also designed to let you know that if you missed this year’s National Bird Day, just make it a point to do something that will benefit our feathered friends, such as making sure any bird feeder you have is clean as well as replenished.
They will truly appreciate your efforts as evidenced by this male house finch (in the photograph directly above) who is enjoying a snack from a feeder in my garden.
Another thing you can do is to make sure your bird bath is clean and if winter temperatures are prevailing, make sure the water isn't frozen.
Today, January 21st, is the annual day to celebrate Squirrel Apppreciation Day. I've written about this holiday within a number of venues including entires on this blog.
On July 8th 2020, shortly after NYC started to begin easing up on lockdown restrictions (many of which were subsequently put back in place) which had been in effect since March due to the devastating consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, I had the chance to watch squirrels from my window for they began to visit the Ailanthus Trees in my buildings courtyard and as you might surmise from the photo-ops atop this entry, their antics gave me many reaons to smile during those isolating times.
