In Thailand.
Join her.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Elephants, music, magic
Jami Sieber is an amazing musician, dreamer, and one of the best spirits I have ever met. She plays music with elephants and they with her. She has learned who they are. Astonishingly, she shares her music, time, and expertise with regular folks like you and me.
In Thailand.
Join her.
In Thailand.
Join her.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Carried
Anyone who knows me has had to listen to my rants against technology, despite my making my living with it. But a recent flu helped me nail down what exactly I object to most. The insistence on the binary. Computers are so literal. Most of us grew up hearing stories of how machines would take over, becoming smarter than us. What's become apparent is that we are simply growing more to think like machines, in the binary, no shades of grey. What makes us human-animal. We get impatient when we can't get an answer right now, or the answer isn't definitive. No need for machines to take over, we're almost them. Human-machine.
I was astonished by how much the flu laid me down. As with everyone else who got it, it seemed to work with whatever they were prone to, a customized presence in the body that stayed for a brutal three days or so, then left slowly, reluctantly. Every time I'd try to get up, I'd have to lie down again, and wake up a few hours later wondering what had happened and where the day had gone.
Of course, this was completely excellent for the pets. Yes! A human lying down all day. For 17-year old Dimitri, it meant a full body of places to rest, from chest to feet. For 14-month old Bodie the pup, it meant many opportunities for surprise licks (dead sleep to wide awake via tongue is a very favorite sport).
But at some point, when I was at my sickest, they stationed themselves in a perfect harmonic convergence, one small old one at my feet, one large young one at my head. I was vaguely aware of sighs and then nestlings, and a large paw draped over my own sticking out from beneath the covers. There was a deep stillness, and I slept as if carried on pillows by animals, through a gentle path that ultimately let me back to health.
The crux of it was the floating, then rising, then licking, petting, more floating, gazing, then deep sleeping. All nuances with no edges, all without any "parameters," "settings," or "end date." Just drifting. A guest in the house of animal.
I was astonished by how much the flu laid me down. As with everyone else who got it, it seemed to work with whatever they were prone to, a customized presence in the body that stayed for a brutal three days or so, then left slowly, reluctantly. Every time I'd try to get up, I'd have to lie down again, and wake up a few hours later wondering what had happened and where the day had gone.Of course, this was completely excellent for the pets. Yes! A human lying down all day. For 17-year old Dimitri, it meant a full body of places to rest, from chest to feet. For 14-month old Bodie the pup, it meant many opportunities for surprise licks (dead sleep to wide awake via tongue is a very favorite sport).
But at some point, when I was at my sickest, they stationed themselves in a perfect harmonic convergence, one small old one at my feet, one large young one at my head. I was vaguely aware of sighs and then nestlings, and a large paw draped over my own sticking out from beneath the covers. There was a deep stillness, and I slept as if carried on pillows by animals, through a gentle path that ultimately let me back to health.
The crux of it was the floating, then rising, then licking, petting, more floating, gazing, then deep sleeping. All nuances with no edges, all without any "parameters," "settings," or "end date." Just drifting. A guest in the house of animal.
Dancing Coyote
From a birding site, left me breathless. I don't dare reprint the pictures because I never heard back for permission, so just go.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Here again
OK, it's stupid. Not that there are legions of Animoush fans but there are a few of you and you are very polite, and then sometimes a bit persistent, about asking where the next post is.
The truth is, we got a new dog. I wanted to post the requisite dozens of pictures of him and then got completely waylaid by the most ancient kind of superstition: If I post a picture of him, he'll die, like the last dog.
Like he will never ever die if I don't do that.
Call me this but there it is.
But what can I say, it's the end of an era and a new beginning. While some would want to interpret the Mayan calendar to mean some kind of science fiction Rapture, I believe that as always, it is more of the same only more intense. We've all felt the quickening. And many people have left the building or are trying to get out the door as fast as they can.
As one who is staying but may not have always been committed to, I will say that I am going to drop this kind of paranoia. It just wastes time and keeps me from posting cute pictures of animals and their wondrous connection to peeples. But I'm still not going to post a picture of Bodie (yet).
Still, please welcome into your consciousness Master Bodie Seamus Sullicake, one year old shepherd chow husky mutt mix with a meticulous practice of passing everything of interest through his mouth.
Happy New Year, and I promise I will illuminate the backlog, on many levels.
Read on, there are two more posts!
The truth is, we got a new dog. I wanted to post the requisite dozens of pictures of him and then got completely waylaid by the most ancient kind of superstition: If I post a picture of him, he'll die, like the last dog.
Like he will never ever die if I don't do that.
But what can I say, it's the end of an era and a new beginning. While some would want to interpret the Mayan calendar to mean some kind of science fiction Rapture, I believe that as always, it is more of the same only more intense. We've all felt the quickening. And many people have left the building or are trying to get out the door as fast as they can.
As one who is staying but may not have always been committed to, I will say that I am going to drop this kind of paranoia. It just wastes time and keeps me from posting cute pictures of animals and their wondrous connection to peeples. But I'm still not going to post a picture of Bodie (yet).
Still, please welcome into your consciousness Master Bodie Seamus Sullicake, one year old shepherd chow husky mutt mix with a meticulous practice of passing everything of interest through his mouth.
Happy New Year, and I promise I will illuminate the backlog, on many levels.
Read on, there are two more posts!
And ANOTHER thing!
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=f32e4309-24ae-4fa6-bf83-89f19ffa8f98
Courtesy of my wonderful neighbor BWren.
Comfort to Newtown
Doing what they do the way they do it so particularly, stunningly well.
http://thebark.com/content/bringing-comfort-newtown-conn
From The Bark Magazine
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)