Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Interpretations

A constant visitor (you know who you are) sent me a link to a YouTube video that evidently a reader made about my books. At first I couldn't get it to work, so I finally asked my teenager to fix whatever has been keeping me from watching online videos (just a setting, as it turns out.)

It's beautiful, and melancholy, and I liked it very much. It's always interesting, too, to see how someone else interprets your work in another medium. I don't know if you're out there, Sarah, but thanks for taking the time to make it. I have to get the album with that song on it now.

Yesterday I received a couple copies of the new audio reissue of my Rebecca Kelly novel Going to the Chapel, which I didn't realize was going to be released so soon. Sherri Berger does a nice job of reading my work (way better than I could) but I had to laugh; the narrator before her makes an oops and calls me "Rebecca Clark." It's also a little weird to hear an audio interpretation of my work in the car that isn't coming out of my mouth. They sent me only two copies (which means one for me, and one for Mom) but I'll order some more from Oasis to give away here in the near future.

As for the last of the unexpected interpretations, remember when I heaved a sigh of relief over the happy ending of our last backyard drama? That wasn't just for the birds. With Shy Thing, Martin and Teresa gone now I could finally go out, clean up the porch and get rid of some of the plants a late frost killed, like this one (click on images to see larger versions):



Now I can understand how things can be interpreted differently, especially from different points of view, but that photo emphatically says dead plant to you, right? Me, too. In fact I don't know anyone who would look at that plant and think Ooooooh, pretty.

So you can imagine my reaction when I went to empty the pot into my barrow, and something flew out of it. Want to guess what it was?



Uh-huh. And do you know what she was doing in there? Napping, you think? Hiding out from her boyfriend, perhaps? Saying a prayer for the poor dead plant, maybe?

Ah, no.



Forgive the quality of the photos, but the bird in question is about the size of a healthy mouse and the eggs are the same size as peanut M&Ms. Which is good, because the space she's nesting in is about the same size as a treat-size package of M&Ms.

P.S. I give up.

15 comments:

  1. *hugs* on the new bird nesting. I hope all goes well with Mama and babies.

    For the record, I have a new music artist to go buy courtesy of your youtube video-maker. Vienna Teng is an artist I don't think I've ever heard before. I love her voice and that style of music so I'll be picking up her CD's and mp3's.

    Have a great week, Lynn!

    ReplyDelete
  2. How nice to have a fan video and he nest birds are too sweet good thing you saw them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hope she comes back. We have a space above the front porch where a bird nests every year. I've tried to get my husband to cover it so we don't have them there....see we have robins nest and if humans scare them...they don't come back.

    We find broken eggs and some broken birds every year. I want the pain to stop. So hope your momma bird comes back and they get to be a family.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ooo, you have a wren! From the stripes along the side of her head, I'm guessing it's a Carolina Wren. When I lived in Tallahassee, one nested in my geraniums. They're such neat little birds.

    Sorry, I'm a little nuts abouts birds... Congratulations on the fan video. That's awesome. =o)

    ReplyDelete
  5. How evocative. Definitely puts you in the mood for all things Dark.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Aw, how sweet. It puts me in mind of homilies about Making Do (with what you've got), or the silver (feathered) lining in every cloud (dead plant).

    Maybe St. Francis is telling you to stop using the garden to distract yourself from the current project. (ha!)

    Cheers to you,
    lynD

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous12:33 PM

    LOL...you might as well hang up a sign...HOME FOR BIRDS

    ReplyDelete
  8. You evidently give off "come nest in my yard" vibes. :) And that's not all bad.

    Very haunting video!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ha! And all those birdhouses sitting around empty.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous7:36 PM

    Lynn,
    Do not give up! Just think of your home as a safe harbor for unwed mother birds! And be thankful it was not a pygmy rattlesnake!
    Tami
    Jacksonville

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous9:47 PM

    Late last week, I realized that the mourning dove that seems to always be standing beside the driveway when I pull my car out in the morning is actually nesting near by. On a windowsill, to be exact. She curled up in the corner of an upper window of the front vestibule which we never use, because the garage is in the back.
    Although the windowsill is quite long, whenever someone came home to the nest, they would stand on top of anyone already curled up napping. Odd. Mr. Dove flew in while I watched, stood on Mrs. Dove's back, and proceeded to shove a twig in under her. (Maybe his rudeness is to blame for her having moved out rather quickly? - I haven't seen either of them this week, and I look every time I'm entering or leaving the driveway now.)

    ~ Mitch

    ReplyDelete
  12. My grandparents had a house surrounded by trees. Where did the daft birds build their nest? In the hanging basket next to the front door.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Did you know the over 80% of the bird populations nests on the ground or less than three feet above it?
    I always wondered where the birds went on those terrible windy days or during bad storms. They are down, near the ground!
    I found that out the year I found tiny, blue birds nesting at the base of one of our oak trees.

    Neat Pics. When we had our front deck put up, every bird within five miles tried to set up nests along the inside beams. One day I pulled out 22 nests. I came back one hour later and most of them had been rebuilt.

    I ended up screening in the deck to keep them out. I don't mind birds, but they were pooping all over the new lumber and constantly squabbling.

    Besides, there's a forest twenty feet from my house.

    Give me a break.

    Raven

    ReplyDelete
  14. My property extends 100 feet into the nature preserve behind the house. The birds here nest in the climbing rose bush (full of thorns, I might add) right next to the back door.

    I have a crazy woodpecker who thinks my metal chimney stack is a tree. He pounds on that thing for two weeks in the spring. Shakes the whole house and we've tried everything, but he won't go away! Last year, there were two more. Must be the kids.

    Years ago, when my girls were little, I had an Aerostar van. One spring, I kept hearing what I thought were birds chirping when I was driving it. Come to find out, sparrows had found a hole in the frame (factory done) and built their nest in there. They did it three more times that spring and summer!

    If your house kept leaving, don't you think you'd find someplace else to build it?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Just shows that you have a nurturing personality. And they'll keep the bugs down in summer. Nice to know dead spiders are good for something.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.