one of the aspects i enjoy about your birdbox series,
enok dear, is its process and the way that
plays out here, on the internet environment you have
expressed such familiarity with. it started out
as a bit of an experiment, a tentative feeler towards
conversation, and has gradually gained
confidence as you find a birdbox voice: more of us jump onto
the edge of the openings you have
provided, look inside, jump off and fly away, come back for
another peek. i think you enable our
playfulness to emerge, or memories to be reignited, and for
many of us to integrate that with our
serious working selves.
there you are, sticking seriously at the playful task.
thankyou.
hilary

Dearest Hilary! - Something strange happened yesterday
when I was in Volda, our nearest small town.
The Sunday people enjoyed the nice weather, some of them
downtown to look around and have an icecream
and a cup of coffee. I bought myself a hot dog and sat down
at the pavement bench.. - Look! I said to
my wife. And we both were thrilled by an incredibly tiny
sparrow child, so tiny and so much of a
beauty, sitting on the ground. I felt he looked at my fast
food, and I broke off a crumb of the
bread, reached out and was about to serve it on the ground
for my feathery guest. However, look! The
little one, almost as small as an colibri I thought, flapped
very rapidly his wings and hovered in
the air like a helicopter. He touched the crumb between my
fingers with his beak, but I was too slow
to understand, and was pinching too firmly the little piece
of bread. He sat down again, and I felt
we looked into the eyes of each other. I reached out once
more, he repeated the helicopter manoevre
and this time we succeeded in the transfer. I have never
experienced that sort of communciation! He
sat down on the asphalt once more to enjoy his meal, but had
to make a quick escape. A bigger bird,
one of his older relatives, was after him to rob him.
     I do not know the end of this crumb of a story, but I
still feel the sudden sweetness of the
touch of that baby's beak.

Enok

16th June 2003

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