Singing For The Whales!

In which the Cantiamo Girls Choir of Ottawa sings some fabulous African songs for whales. The Whales seem to love it! I’m deeply moved and delighted when I witness or experience heartful exchanges between humans and wild nature.

Have you shared magic moments between yourself and a creature of the wild? Feel free to share your story in the comments box below!

The Wolf, The Fox, And the Weasel

A few songs have everything to do with my soon-to-be-released children’s magical nature novel. I just came across a version of a song that I’ve played on the harp for a couple of decades now, and which is a variation of “I Hear The Wolf And The Fox And Weasel” (or vice versa), which appears briefly in the book.

I don’t know what I like better about this video–the wonderful double-reed music of bombardes and bassoon, the song in both English and French, or the fun put-together picture of the Weasel, Fox, and Wolf.

For more about my relationship with this song, please see my article, written in 2005 or so, Songline: I Hear The Wolf And The Fox And The Weasel

Enjoy!

Chickadee Mysteries

The garden is lush with the vigorous growth of late spring. Hawthorn is budding, amidst leaves that reveal (to me!) faces, the Green Man in miniature throughout the tree. In the hedge, tiny Chickadee perches on a blackberry vine, pecking at the underside of a leaf, zipping to another part of the shrub, and busying itself with the underside of another leaf.

I assume that the Chickadee is nibbling something, but what? Questions sift through me–what does a chickadee eat? Where does a chickadee nest? What do the nests look like, what are they made of? I imagine that if I passed good time out here by the Hawthorn, and watched my friend Chickadee, and attempt to follow him with my eyes, with my feet, I would in time learn his secrets. Or some of them.

I realize that I have learned many secrets regarding chickens from hours of watching and appreciating, and just getting to know the practical individuals that are chickens. Surely I could put in the same kind of curiosity, time, loving sense and learn about the chickadees.

Maybe you would like to do this too.

Watch Robin or Crow, Jay or Song Sparrow? Where may a little or large bird in your backyard lead you?

 

Chickadee - art by Jane Valencia (c) 2001
Chickadee – art by Jane Valencia (c) 2001