My friend and I are having a BioShock infinite conversation and she whipped out "Bioshock infinite is good! When it's not trying to be a 'better' (in Ken's eyes) version of Bioshock 2" and she's right.
Nostalgia for a place. This is my favorite meadow on this day in 2020 just before the Department of Environmental Protection and a local nature conservancy brought in a bunch of big yellow machines and damaged it forever. I loved it! 💙
"Don't worry about a thing
'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright"
Singing, "Don't worry about a thing
'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright!"
Rise up this morning, smiled with the rising sun
Three little birds pitch by my doorstep
Singing sweet songs of melodies pure and true
Saying, "This is my message to you-ou-ou"
Singing, "Don't worry about a thing
'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright"
Singing, "Don't worry about a thing (Don't worry)
'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright!"
Rise up this morning, smiled with the rising sun
Three little birds pitch by my doorstep
Singing sweet songs of melodies pure and true
Saying, "This is my message to you-ou-ou"
Singing, "Don't worry about a thing (Worry about a thing, oh)
'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright (Don't worry)
Singing, "Don't worry about a thing (I won't worry)
'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright!"
Singing, "Don't worry about a thing
'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright (I won't worry)
Singing, "Don't worry about a thing
'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright!"
Singing, "Don't worry about a thing (Don't worry about a thing)
'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright
On a day like today was borning a great star. A big actor, a handsome actor, a cute boy and the most important; the love of my life: Timothée Hal Chalamet.
Today we present a chromolithograph of a male Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea), a male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus), and a male and female Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) from a painting by German naturalist and artist Anton Goering (1836-1905), reproduced in our 2-volume set of Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty by the late-19th-century director of the Milwaukee Public Museum Henry Nehrling, and published in Milwaukee by George Brumder from 1893-1896.
The Tanager and Grosbeak are currently in the Cardinal family, while the Towhee is a sparrow. All three are fairly common in our neighborhood, but unfortunately, we rarely see them. However, we do hear them, or at least we think we hear them, since the song of the Tanager and Grosbeak are similar, and even worse, they both sound, to our ears, somewhat similar to the very common American Robin, which is an unrelated thrush:
Scarlet Tanager song
Rese-breasted Grosbeak song
American Robin song
Fortunately, the Towhee has a very distinctive call that we find easily recognizable:
Eastern Towhee song
Because German was prominently spoken in Milwaukee through the middle of the 20th century, these birds are also identified in Nehrling's book by their common German names:
"I'll post another snip tomorrow". And then I didn't lol. But I DID hit the 10k marker for the WIP! (not counting the...11k in notes. Look I've had a...week..... Oh my god this WIP is only a week old...) In celebration, have a more amusing excerpt this time! Dialogue my beloved.
Previous excerpt [here]! Next excerpt [here]!
~~
The smirk miraculously returned. “You will believe many things you never imagined if you are able to remain here long enough. And if anything is to be gained from this conversation, let it be the lesson to watch your tone among the sacred animals, as I seem to have never learned.”
This time I cocked my head. “Right...and what are the sacred animals?”
He looked startled by that. “The birds created in His image, of course. You met one upon your arrival. That ghastly beast with an attitude that bullied me into guiding you upstairs.”
A beat of confusion, then understanding. “Oh! You mean that beautiful—”
“Slander!” croaked a voice from above. The old man swore and spun around, and we both noticed a large raven perched above us beside a venting window. “Another week!”
“Oh, you bastardly little snitch,” the old man growled under his breath, wincing when the bird began to jump about, grating voice breaking into a strange, unearthly cackle.
“Two!” it cheered, then leapt from its perch, honking with apparent delight as it spiraled overhead against the high ceiling.
Suddenly I was relieved that I’d been polite to the golden bird.
“Is that...a common punishment?” I asked. “To be given a duty you dislike?”
The old man turned to me with a scowl. “What? Oh. I suppose it’s common enough. You’re just as likely to be fed to the little beasties for your crime, however, so I don’t advise testing your luck. He’s capricious, our Burning One.”
“Three!” the raven cried gleefully.
“There was nothing slanderous about that and you know it, bird!”