Weekend Do: Feathered Fowl Edition
June 10, 2011 § 15 Comments
I haven’t yet posted a Weekend Do edition and thought I’d write my first one on birds in honor of Pakou facing her fear of them in her last post. And as Portlandia pointed out, everything becomes way more hip if you put a bird on it. Thus, today will be my hippest post yet. Are you ready for hipsterness?
HIPSTER BIRD!
1. Do let your ears take flight (metaphorically, please) with my music playlist all about birds. Includes:
- Sparrow and the Wolf by James Vincent McMorrow
- Gather, Form, and Fly by Megafaun
- In Our Talons by Bowerbirds
- Parrots in the Tropical Trees by Breathe Owl Breathe
- Cage the Songbird by Low Anthem
2. Do observe how beautifully birds move, whether off your back porch or via these two dancers portraying a hummingbird and flower.
3. Do remember your literary birds. My favorite bird books are Mo Williams’ Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Lorrie Moore’s collection of tongue-in-cheek stories, Birds of America, Dashiell Hammet’s The Maltese Falcon (the originator of the hardboiled detective), and Anne Lamott’s inspiring Bird by Bird for writers.
“I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.”(from Wallace Stevens’ poem 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird)
4. Do incorporate some bird decor into your living area. It’s essential. Go for pretty…
Check out these paintings on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mincingmockingbird
…or practical.
I never take a shower without my rubber ducky.
5. Do forget all about birds and sleep in or seriously relax this weekend.
Abi, you are so awesome at writing these posts! Yesterday I was sitting on Leah’s front porch on the phone. There is a bird’s nest between the eave and the square column of the porch and the whole time I was on the phone, there was a mother bird flying in and out feeding the baby birds.(which we can hear chirping all the time.) It reminds me of the time I watched a pair of blue jays feed their baby. They were in the tall cedar tree next to our front porch in Sheboygan. And then I’m also reminded of our recent afternoon watching the swallows over the lake. Beautiful birds, beautiful experiences.
Birds! Rubber duckies! Calvin & Hobbes! Love. : )
Abi, fabulous. It’s well timed: my fiancee and I just bought a house and the previous owner was a duck hunter. (The basement bathroom is all decked out in duck wallpaper and duck shaped towel holders. There are duck stickers in both door windows and in the garage windows.) Wes and I want to name our house, and sort of want to have the name to honor the previous owners. I like watching birds (vs killing them) so we were thinking some kind of bird name would fit well. The best we’ve come up with is “The Aviary,” but we don’t love it. You are so wonderful with words – let me know if you have any ideas. And think you for the post. It was a wonderful, sweet and slightly quirky way to start my day, and a good way to brainstorm about cute bird based house names. :-) Miss you!
I think you’re totally write about birds being hip. I live near an art college in baltimore and it seems every girl that goes to school there has at least one tattoo of a sparrow or raven or some kind of bird.
gah! That’s what I need, a bird tattoo. I’ll get a pirate-y parrot one on my left shoulder and then I will be both hipster and ironic. Which might be redundant. :-)
I’ve been going back and forth about bird art for my walls. Trendiness makes me feel shy (as does buying things in general), but this post makes me want to “put a bird on it.” Mmm… listening to your delightful playlist reminded me of some favorite bird songs. Sufjan: Majesty Snowbird, Seven Swans, Lord God Bird. Iron & Wine: Bird Stealing Bread. The Apples in Stereo: The Bird that You Can’t See. Wovenhand: White Bird, Kicking Bird.
…and Iron and Wine’s On Your Wings and The Rooster Moans, Little Bird by The Weepies, and Finch on Saturday by Horsefeathers – once you start looking, there are bird songs everywhere! Might have to make a 2nd playlist….
Great post! I love the Etsy art. Local author Keven Henkes has a children’s picture book, Birds, that I love as well. And I’ve always liked this bird poem:
“A thrush, because I’d been wrong,
Burst rightly into song
In a world not vague,
not lonely,
Not governed by me only.”
— Richard Wilbur
thanks, Abi!
Mmmh. Thanks for sharing. I almost included Mary Oliver’s poem Wild Geese in this post: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2002/06/21. She’s so great.
Whoops! That little poem of Richard WIlbur only makes sense when you have the title with it! “On Having Misidentifying a Wild Flower.”
Oh, my, “On Having Misidentified a Wild Flower.”
Thanks for the Calvin and Hobbes mention.
Dave
Gotta share my favorite birdsong: Pablo Casals’ Song of the Birds on the cello.
…. sorry to double post… this was the link I meant to add
These are lovely! I really enjoy the cello…