Day 5032: Austin's New Book & Newborn comforts Mom.

"Shaded of Poppy": junk collage, photo, digital.

 

                                                                       

  

Want music?

    Click: Norah Jones, Chasing Pirates.

2GN2S

I am betting that many of you may follow Austin Kleon? 

He usually checks in with me and many others through Friday's e-mail with lists of stuff.  Paid subscription people hear more often and get specials. I have four of his earlier books, but now he has a new book...

As an art teacher the, constant question I hear was how to be inspired, motivated, productive etc. Austin addresses theses queries of artists everywhere.

It's true. We, so called adults, figure out so many way to prevent ourselves from doing. His books cut through all the pseudo-stuff and inspire, so that we can do what we already know how to do.

You might like it, I did.

Roy Center, Byron Fenema, Dave Hines, me, Bruce Butler,  Sensei, Jim Turner, Leo Nakamura, Jim, Mark Martinez

Demura Sensei's Hombu Dojo, Santa Ana, CA. 1991

The newborn elephant would not leave her mother’s side. Not for food. Not for water. Not even for the caretakers trying to guide her away.

Inside the sanctuary, veterinarians had already spent two exhausting nights monitoring the fragile pair after a difficult delivery. The calf appeared physically healthy. Her heartbeat was steady. Her breathing was normal. Yet something about her behavior felt different from what rescuers usually see in young elephants.

Instead of exploring the enclosure with clumsy curiosity, the tiny calf remained pressed tightly against her mother almost constantly.

Whenever the older elephant shifted away, the baby quickly followed. If caretakers tried leading the calf toward warmer bedding or safer corners of the barn, she immediately returned to her mother’s side, touching her trunk, leaning against her face, and making soft low sounds that echoed through the quiet shelter.

Then the veterinarians realized something heartbreaking. The mother elephant was the one struggling. Exhausted from labor, dehydrated, and physically weak, she barely had the energy to stand comfortably. And somehow, the newborn calf seemed to sense it long before the humans fully understood. Throughout the night, the baby refused to rest unless she was touching her mother.

Caretakers watching from the barn windows slowly stopped speaking altogether because the scene no longer looked like a mother protecting her calf. It looked like the calf was trying to comfort her mother.

By sunrise, something extraordinary happened. The older elephant slowly rose to her feet again while the tiny calf stumbled excitedly beside her legs. The rescue team erupted into applause, not because of equipment or medicine, but because they had just witnessed something deeply emotional unfold between two animals that needed each other equally.

Sometimes survival in the animal world is not driven only by instinct. Sometimes it looks astonishingly close to love. If animals can recognize fear, exhaustion, and comfort in each other this deeply, how much emotion do you think humans still underestimate in wildlife?

 

  

 

A 6 minute video, Happiness Alert,  here.

 

Just because ...

Double-crested Cormorant

This bird looks like it has two tiny pigtails on its head.

The Double-crested Cormorant lives near lakes, rivers, and coastlines across North America. During breeding season, it grows two small feather tufts that stick out from each side of its head, making it look a bit like a little girl with pigtails.

A skilled underwater hunter, yet one of the funniest-looking birds during nesting season.

Thursday's Smiles ... 

 

Hoping you see all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

Day 5031: Just thinking outloud ... & The Wolf.

 

"Memories of Home": junk collage, inks, photo, digital.

                                                                       

  

Want music?

    Click: H.E.R., Best Part.

2GN2S

Just thinking out loud ...

Oh it hurts when somebody you love is hurting. I know I am not breaking new ground with this thought, but I just got off the phone with a dear friend who is bravely facing a tremendously hurtful situation that she can't fix and I can't fix it either. I think it's natural to want to fix and make it all better, but oft times that is not within our pay grade?

Aunt Fern

I often think back to my Aunt Fern, my Mothers oldest of four sisters, who said "God doesn't give us more than we can handle." and I remember thinking, but not saying, "well he's pushing it on this!"

I told my friend that a few people think I am psychic, and some are pretty sure I am a witch because I do get strong feelings that often turn out to be true. I choose to believe in those feeling, as they have guided me, mostly well, through the years. 

But sometimes, something that doesn't turn out the way I think it should, later turns out to be for the better good? In my 84-1/2 years, this has been the case many times. But for now, it hurts.

Well I know it is June, as I changed my calendar by artist, and good friend Terry Garrett. He does such beautiful work. Thank you, Terry!

  

The wolf does not touch the dead — not man, not beast — its honor stands above hunger. It loves only once, for life; never crossing bloodlines, never betraying. If its mate dies, it chooses solitude over replacement. It knows its young, and when its parents grow frail with age, it returns bringing food, bringing loyalty.

When you kill a wolf, it holds your gaze — no fear, no hatred — until its soul slips away. Smarter than the cleverest dog by far, yet it cannot be tamed; no leash, no whip can command its spirit. They say the wolf is the villain — But sometimes, what they call evil… is simply misunderstood.

 

  

 

A 4+ minute video, Artist's Air Sculptures,  here.

 

 

Just because ...

Black-capped Chickadee 

Wednesday's Smiles ... 

 

Hoping you see all the good things in your day.