play freebird.

i wish that this was longer so i could have it on all day in the background while i'm working.

so nice.

powerlinerflyers from wes johnson on Vimeo.

{via kottke}

pica pica.

one for sorrow
two for joy
three for a girl and
four for a boy
five for silver
six for gold
seven is a secret never to be told
eight is a wish and
nine is a kiss
ten is a bird you must not miss.

seeing a single magpie is bad luck. to ward off misfortune say this rhyme or greet him with "hello mr. magpie, how is your wife?".

{two magpie drawings from the feather book}

falling & laughing.

in the new vice there is an interview with edwyn collins, the singer from scottish twee pop band orange juice. in 2005 edwyn suffered two major brain hemorrhages that left him unable to walk, talk, or use his right hand. his brain also lost the ability to work out letters and words. over the next three years he began drawing animals, mostly birds, with his left hand as a way of teaching his body and mind how to work again. he recently had a show of these bird drawings at smithfield gallery in london.

{click drawing to download falling and laughing}

nesting.

my grandmother and grandfather were birders. their hobby took them all over the word, to each of the 7 continents! i think that because of this i've always had a sort of special scientific interest in birds and someday i would love to take up birding myself. today jeana sohn posted these stunning images from a recent article in audubon magazine about bird's nests.

the article is a really great read, especially the section about the actual construction of the nests. when we were young my mom would cut our hair at home and afterwards we'd gather up all of the clippings and throw them off the back porch so that the birds could use them in their nests. i always liked that idea. maybe this weekend we'll go out to fairmount park and i'll finally force cris to let me cut his hair and we can throw it out to the birds for their nests and then count as many different species as we can!

edit: i just checked and of course...it's supposed to rain all weekend. so much for that!