Things change, and I ruminate over them, watch them change, sometimes pretend I have some control over them. I have been through a lot in the past couple of years, but who hasn’t, really, and in any case I have reached an age where I am thoroughly not fascinated with myself. All that said, I am about to embark on an enormous change, albeit potentially a temporary one, since I am really a chicken all in all and, to be honest, if someone offered me an interesting job tomorrow I would seriously take it and give up all these silly notions of freedom and adventure and new things to see and learn.
In short, I am going on a road trip. On this trip I am going to look for birds, talk to people who work with or look at birds, and as I go along I am going to make drawings of everything. Birds, people, and places. I guess that doesn’t quite account for “everything” in my vision, but it does provide me with a focus and a starting off point. I will be blogging with alarming regularity (a big wink to anyone who still reads this blog despite the, er, dearth of posts), and will be updating via our love/hate of this century, Facebook. My Birdspot page on FB can be found here.
In sum, here are the salient points of this post:
1. It is likely that I have lost my mind. Please do anything (cross fingers, pray, whatever) to help me to avoid hitting a large mammal in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere with no cell coverage.
2. This lovely but overpriced Manhattan studio apartment will be available as of Nov. 1. This probably should be #1, but whatever, I’m more worried about hitting a deer.
3. If you have an interesting job lurking somewhere that you think I might be perfect for, now would be a good time to pipe up. Especially if that job involves birds in Central or South America. Benefits would be a nice change, too, but perhaps I shouldn’t push it.
The image above is watercolor on paper, on a 15 x 11″ sheet, and is a study of baby shorebirds. Do you want to know what they are? Clockwise, from bottom left: Avocet, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willet (Eastern, for those of you who are finding loads of Westerns here on the East Coast, but more on that in a future post…), and Long-billed Dowitcher. Precocial, all of them. The Short-billed had been on this planet a mere 12 hours before expiring. So much life, so little time. Detail below.
I think all sorts of metaphors employ themselves like happy workers with benefits when it comes to one’s personal journey. I like the image of “Walk through Trees”. It’s not so much the tree affection thing, nor even the more appealing love of lichens, but instead a specific image I have in mind.
I know a place called Bonham State Park. It’s a little WPA/CCC park built during the depression, with a quaint stone ranger station and a bit of cross timbers (i.e. hardwoods, cedar and juniper, spaced a bit) in lieu of open fields.
It’s not what you’d call a birding mecca–one sees mostly turkey and black vultures, huge cadrons of November robins, mallards, Canadas, mockingbirds, cardinals and vocal red-bellied woodpeckers.
But the trails are there–little used, surrounded by woods, lightly travelled, the kind of place in which the journey is less about destination than about the simple meditation of travel. This kind of “Walk through trees” has a lot of living and the passing of things and seasons about it–just as your image here
has a lot of life and joy and sadness and reality about it.
I like that you say “who hasn’t?” been through a lot. Whatever “this” is intended to be, surely it is intended to be a lot–a handful of fresh and sometimes tart blackberries, a walk through trees.
Perhaps you should have a job. Perhaps you should not have a job. Perhaps everyone in the world tells you perhaps, and you’ll find your own maybe and what ifs.
What’s great now is that you have a plan–a walk through trees, amid birds,
and perhaps fields, and perhaps through places which serve a good breakfast at midnight and pack an inexpensive but wonderful sandwich at dawn.
and if you ask me, not that asking me is particularly revelatory, if in your life you have to go through a lot, it’s fun to just once walk through trees, and sketch birds, and learn and think and be.
If your travels are going to bring you to south Arkansas (from which I hail) or north Texas (in which I live), or southern Oklahoma (which is just unknown and amazing when it comes to birds), then I’d be delighted to offer suggestions of cool places to see the guidebooks might not tell you about.
These images, by the way, are wonderful–if one must walk for only 12 hours, what a great thing that you were there as archivist to this beauty.
Good luck. Find some amazing birds!!
I can’t wait to see your genius flourish with this forthcoming adventure!
Thanks, guys. @Justin we’ll have to try for a drink or three before I launch! @Alina: your support has been unbelievable, no matter how batty I have been. @Gurdonark: that is quite possibly the most beautifully written comment I have seen on any blog, ever.
The paintings are lovely, so delicate. I always look forward to seeing your work and hearing what you are up to. I don’t twitter, tweet, don’t know what permalink, trackbacks are but enjoy your writing and your adventures so much. I took a roadtrip (much smaller in nature) long time ago, at a difficult time in my life; it was very adventuresome for me and although parts were terrifying and solitary, I came back with “fresh eyes”, new sense of excitement and hope and confidence in my self. I hope your journey fulfills your expectations and leaves you with calmness and a renewed sense of wonder. Looking forward to the road trip images.
If your travels take you north (my guess is not as you mentioned looking for work in South America ) you might want to brave the cold and visit with Adirondack Naturalist and bird enthusiast Ed Kanze. He lives up near Saranac Lake NY. We have followed his adventures and reflections on birds in several publications for years and I had the pleasure of finally meeting him this past May.
“Kanze has a vast knowledge of the natural world, and he complements it with a fine writing style, a sense of humor, and a joyful exuberance. His essays sparkle while they inform…. We are lucky to have Edward Kanze as a resident writer-naturalist in northern New York. His pedigree is long and his writing precise. But more than that, Kanze brings a tremendous enthusiasm and delight to his descriptions of everything he observes around him.” —Betsy Kepes, book critic, North Country Public Radio.
Check his website out at http://www.edwardkanze.com/index.html
His contributions to nature conservancy through his writings, photos, guiding and lectures are unparalleled. He happens to be a really friendly guy as well…..
Bon Voyage
Batty??? We’re ALL batty!!!!