Anyway, some photos of my trip to Miami and the Keys, where I just spent the last four days with my brother and father. We had all sorts of weather in those days--a wet, prolonged, slop of a storm; its dry, windy aftermath; and one of those iconic afternoons where the sun soaks into everything: foreheads, leaves, feet, rooftops, deck planks. I'm still holding that heat inside my ribs, twenty hours after my return, as if it's still growing me.
7 comments:
I love these photographs, and I especially love your comment about the sounds of the birds as heard indoors. That same strangeness stuck me when I was in Florida a couple of years ago. The unfamiliar gull, dove, and parrot calls made me feel very far from home when I heard them from inside a room.
- Bob Tarte, author of "Kitty Cornered" and "Enslaved by Ducks"
Thanks, Bob. That's what struck me on this visit to Florida: those bird sounds taking me away from myself as I sat at my brother's dining room table. Just last week, when I was teaching my Monday night class at Rutgers, I heard a robin singing at twilight. I looked over at my student, Alisha. We both heard it at the same time, and smiled in recognition, as class went on. It made me wish for more moments like that.
That's great you could share that moment. I've had lots of peak experiences with birds. I'll never forget that one and only trip to Florida. The Laughing Gulls, Eurasian Collared Doves, and Fish Crows were in a whole different world from Michigan. I was in Florida to talk at a workshop, but all I could think about were the birds.
I must look up Eurasian Collared Doves and Fish Crows. Where was your workshop?
I was doing a talk on podcasting, of all things, at a writer's workshop that Kate Sullivan of Wordsmitten was presenting at Florida State University in Tampa. I had only started podcasting and had little of value to say o the subject, but I couldn't resist the free trip to Florida to see shorebirds in March when there was still snow on the ground in Michigan.
Paul, we've got a pet African Collared Dove named Howard who looks like he's only a few genes away from a Eurasian Collared Dove. My wife gave him to me as a first wedding anniversary present. He just turned 21!
Bob, that's great to hear about Howard at 21. I want to see his picture. I'll be checking your Twitter feed.
I've also read at a couple of colleges in Tampa Bay during March and April (though not Florida State) and I know exactly what you mean about the allure of those birds when it's still cold back at home.
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