Friday, April 29, 2011

Meta-lect 74



26 April 2011. Chickadee, must be the call. Late April days, morning sun. The routine--or so it might be. A large bowl with five handfulls of peanuts, unsalted, a scoop of black oil sunflower seeds, plus two kinds of seeds for the feeder on the tree--millet for the song birds, especially. Chair and small table, the weathered wood--many mornings here.

Quizzical look from one of the squirrels. (Which generation now?) Importunate jay...

Walking yesterday with Ahron, up the hill, winding along paths taken many times before...

Late in the evening--Eagle track. "My feet are lonely..."

Meta-lect 73



25 April 2011. Blustery morning, clouds, then sun...then clouds again...

Thinking of the valley...Consumnes River meeting the Mokulmne, riparian marshes, birds of so many kinds.

When will we return?

Friday, April 22, 2011

Meta-lect 72 (Tijerilla)


22 April 2011. "More song birds..."

The tijerilla, a little fellow. Boxes and boxes of white tissue, tossed onto wooden floor...

Alex last night, with Sarah--astride the maquina. Showing him the photo, from three weeks back--also in the night, against Wurster's brown walls and long flourescent lights. He points to the polished floor, smiling...

Ways of pleasing... Ways of being...

Hannah Lee's poem, her father's voice, "I hope I have given you everything you need...

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Meta-lect 71 (Cormorán de cuello negro)



20 April 2011. Warm gray skies, layers of cloud, sun hidden within...

Hidden within. B's description of the malachim--angels' voices--just after the end of the seder. Counting of the omer, first night as well...

A rock cliff in the south--Patagones. Cormorán de cuello negro--the dark-necked cormorant. Its scruffy head, oily and black, lines of a diver, single small dark eye outlined in gold...

Malachim...

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Meta-lect 70 (Stellars Jay)



19 April 2011. Scattering the bread yesterday, almost evening--back yard under the birch tree. Millet rolls, broken into smaller pieces, a few remaining bagels with small black seeds. Poppy, I think. Blue bells under the lilac, in late light. Graceful patch of blue flowering grasses...

A peaceful evening--respite, time coming to a stop...

As all time must. And then moving on...

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Metalect 69 (Pato Overo)



April 14, 2011. Mild sun. But what is mild sun?

Two figures on bikes--father and a young boy, maybe eight. An awkward balance as they begin to head across the hump of Solano, leaning into the rise. His yellow slicker with straight black patches, gear box over back wheel. Helmets, "as required by law..."

As required by law. To dip each dish in boiling water (the glass ones only), then silver and the rest, 10 seconds fully submerged, bubbles and steam. The order of things. Boxes of Safeway matzoh--wrapped in celo, five up--Streits, Yehudah, Manishchewitz (with that spelling, it should be more expensive). But tell this to the ducks. A smallish pato overo this morning--another Argentine veteran of rivers and lakes. The name referring to touches of white imposed on a darker ground--as in the coat of a horse. Un overo...

Or a chestnut mare, not too tall, and nicely rounded...

Giallo di Napoli...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Meta-lect 68 (Pato Zumbullidor Chico)



13 April 2011. Rainy Wednesday, downpour for a few minutes, then touches of blue sky through kitchen window to the north. April now...

And the pato zumbullidor chico--what a mothful for this little fellow. A diver, by name--creature of " marismas, bañados, ríos lentos, lagos y lagunas, en especial de agua dulce, pero tambien si ellas son algo salobres..." Algo salobres...a little on the salty side...

As with us all--ocean folk--gray morning, walking down Wisconsin Street to the Strand, beach rocks, then sand, the water completely glassy, three foot swell, gray-green, with just the beginnings of a curl...

Ha-shem...

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Monday, April 11, 2011

Meta-lect 66 (Sirirí colorado)



11 April 2011. The march of time. But wait, it's April...

Such a pun, on a Monday morning--late, now, gray layer of clouds after first bright rays. But let's not read this psychologically. For all days are gray. As with the fan painting on the back shelf at Mythos, yesterday evening. Finely worked, on silk--presence of the Chinese past, rendered here in a few strokes of gray-black ink, the hills and sky, water below, mankind's bridge, smaller, and off to the left. Peaceful, but not without a certain gravitas. As always, when one recalls the Southern Sung--bitter times to the north, invaders, warring clans. Flight and refuge, a life re-built, in the image of a life before...

Valiant melancholy...

Friday, April 8, 2011

Meta-lect 65



April 8, 2011...

Meta-lect 64 (Calandria)



7 April 2011. Sun, but chill. Ducking into Joi, the nail place up the street. Middle fingernail silk repair--come back at 1:30. Connie starting in with someone in back corner--the row of high chairs for pedicure--therapy and repair...

But why all this? When the breakfast club sits quizzical? Natasha at back door, two small mews, her head tilted a little to the side.

I remain the maitre d'--four handfulls of peanuts, one of black oil sunflower seeds, some pieces of challah, near the birch tree, and a cup of songbird seed with extra millet...scattered under the lemon...

B's poem last night. Brahms, with Alyosha, sitting outside, all the others, too, gathered round. Lydia, Sterling, a circle of concern... Composing a chorale for their voices...

Monday, April 4, 2011

Meta-lect 63x.jpg (Pato Crestón, o Juarjual)‏



4 April 2011. Pouring down sun, waft of pollen in backyard air--an almost invisible puff, pine cloud...

The Juarjual, or crested duck, drawn against the odds. Ushuaia, in the south...her black bill, luminous eye...

Evening meals, prepared, then prepared again... Lentil soup, vegetable saute (halved tomatoes, green onion, garlic, yellow pepper, spinach leaves...)

The world...

Friday, April 1, 2011

Meta-lect 62 (Pato Gargantilla)



1 April 2011. Sunny and warm. Blossoms on the pear tree this morning--lower ones opening first, a graceful white...

Pato Gargantilla--the White-cheeked Pintail, here made perhaps too human, a look of apprehension, learned from the movies, or from the faces of character actors. Bert Lahr, press photo--the cowardly lion, eyes turned much to the side. The face behind the face...

B, looking up, white room, calm...