the promise of life and the reality of death on a wednesday morning

we went for a walk down our  street this midweek-morning, 'cos that's where his nose led him; it's snowing lightly with an easterly wind and I just followed not really caring where we were heading, focusing on not being put off by the weather; we found the dead blackbird by the roadside, if we had gone my way we would not have found him. Of course I took a picture and of course I took him home with me....He's lying on a table being dead (almost sounds like an oxymoron) and if the rats don't eat him he'll rot away and I'll probably clean his bones and who knows one day a friend for ghost bird.

This bowl of daffodils has been outside since last year, sitting patiently in their original container, I'd meant to plant them in one of the beds after blooming and never got round to actually doing it; they are showing promising signs of life; I took them indoors to be able to follow their growth and watch the flowers appear

yesterday's office doodle; it started out as an 'abstract' and then the large bird on the left materialized and it appeared to be pecking on the circle, which could then be a fruit or a large nut and the whole looked like a nest and so I deliberately put in the young bird


once, in the other life, before i made the BIG change, i was so restless. and working at the University, i checked the boards. there was a job opening in Natural History. it was to be responsible for maintaining a colony of dermastid beetles and receiving all and any carcasses that might appear in front of the door in the mornings. rodents, deer, snakes. whatever. to prepare them for the beetles...Give them to the beetles and watch. when the beetles had done their work, remove the skeletans and prepare them for cataloging. i was SOOOOOO excited. but then found out that it was a grant. a 2 year grant and my kids were little and there was none of the "professional courtesy" medical benefits for me and my family.
i do hope Blackbird becomes a welcomed friend of good would That be?...
Saskia said…
nature has a great way of cleaning up 'mess' :recycling as it is meant to be; the rats have not been here (yet) for Blackbird, the sun and warmth have arrived, soon we'll have flies, they can lay their eggs in the dead bird and new life springs forth; and then the bones and feathers perhaps transformed into a new companion for Ghost Bird et al.
Nice to know you do not shy away from these matters
helen said…
I collect dead creatures too Saskia...when we had Tilly I tended to bury them in soil - in pots if they were small - and wait for months before digging them back up. Now, I can leave them in a quiet corner of the garden again. Feathers and bones....THE best treasures and gifts.

Ghost bird is really something.
Saskia said…
oh I remember Tilly, such a wonderful dog!
what a good idea to bury them in pots, that way they don't get lost
once i saw and stopped for a Great
Snowy Owl along the side of the freeway. it was perfect. except for being dead. (?) it was
just so overwhelming.
i called all around to many
taxidermists to see if anyone
wanted it...talked to one, telling him maybe i could call the University?
EVERYONE said...NO. there is a huge Fine for posessing such a thing, didn't matter the circumstance. NO.
so i buried it. all that beauty.
i hadn't thought of this in years
Saskia said…
what a shame Grace, we have all kinds of rules and regulations here as well about which animals can and can't be stuffed (rather an impolite sounding word for such a delicate task...)Taxidermists who do have the 'wrong' kind in their freezers get huge fines, so they usually don't take these kind of risks, even when like in your case it was no one's fault; I have heard a story about a local guy who was so fed up with all the red tape involved, he stuffed a bin bag with all the animals he wasn't allowed to mount and drove off to the local police station and dumped the bag on the desk of the police officer who'd fined him, a very unwelcome surprise!

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