maya and a bird

My sister loves every winged thing that exists. She's been trying to convince my dad (who only likes cats) for two years that she needs a bird. As a replacement for her lack of a bird, she often goes outside and finds nests of cardinals and mockingbirds. She has been attacked by many a momma bird.

red-tailed hawk

I saw a red tailed hawk today in flight down at Phinizy Swamp. Phinizy Swamp is now my favorite place in Augusta. It just beat the Savannah River Walk. My sister joined a bird watching club there, so I spent a few hours there waiting for her this morning, walking through the swampy landscapes (which can get quite incredible). I saw a couple of different birds of prey and a large blue heron while I was there.

This is an 8"x10" watercolor and ink painting. This will be on my etsy shop shortly and also on display at the bean baskette café at the library.

your precious long face

My aunt and uncle live in a suburban Pennsylvania in a town called Sinking Springs.

Just a few days ago, I was taking a gravel road back to their house during a run, and while doing so I stumbled across this little dead baby deer. I found her at the top of a grassy hill and I almost ran onto her body accidentally. After I registered what she was, I couldn’t help but stare at the fawn for a few minutes. I’m not really a death-centered person in general, but for some reason this little deer struck me as very interesting and a little bit nice in her fallen state. She didn’t smell bad; Her fur and bones seemed to be, for the most part, all that was left. 

discoveries

there's a light in the wings, hits this system of strings,
from the side while they swing,
see the wires, the wires, the wires

une promenade du matin

Nor'eastern Sketches

I found these bad boys on my computer. I drew them in New England not but a month ago.





Oh, and.....I'M GOING BACK TO THE NORTH!!! FOR THE THIRD FREAKIN' TIME THIS SUMMER. CAPS LOCK.

FYI, I LOVE CAPS LOCKED CONVERSATIONS WITH LIZ.

grandpa's hands

the swamp after dawn

The southern lands are pretty in their own marshy and humid way. And sometimes I don't respect that enough.

After a little morning jog around the hood, I rested and drank water in the piano room. I heard movement upstairs and saw my mom walking around with her purse on her shoulder.
"Maya and I are going to Phinizy Swamp. You can join us if you'd like."
"Okay."

Tatyana's Letter

I've been reading some of this Alexander Pushkin guys' stuff lately. I watched the film Onegin the other day and it hit a note, so I checked out his poems. I love this following passage as the young impressionable Tatyana writes a desperately honest love letter to the worldly and handsome Onegin. Keep in mind that this was all written in Russian and translated to rhyme in the English language.


"Another!… No, no one on this earth
Is there to whom I'd give my heart!
That is ordained by highest fate…
That is heaven's will - that I am yours;
My life till now was but a pledge,
Of meeting with you, a forward image;
You were sent by heaven of that I'm sure,
To the grave itself you are my saviour…
In dreams you have appeared to me,
Though yet unseen, I held you dear,
Your glance and strangeness tortured me...
Before you the tears roll down my cheek,
And your protection I beseech
Deserving, I know, reproach and scorn."

In Onegin's later utter refusal of her offer of love he responds,
"But I was not born for happiness;
It is foreign to this tortured mind;
Your perfections are so much nothingness
To me, I am of the unworthy kind.
Believe me (my conscience is here guarantor),
As spouses we would suffer agony,
For, however much I adored you first,
Custom would cool me instantly.
Then you would weep, but all your tears
Would leave unmoved my stony heart
You interpret my heart, my nature,
as you wish to believe it.
In truth, I have no secret longing to be saved from myself."


Yes.
Pushkin I think, might just be Russia's Shakespeare.
(OR is Shakespeare England's Pushkin? TWIST!)