From the time of the first cave people, we've been transforming bird images into artwork and putting them on items in our everyday lives. We've drawn them on dirt walls and pottery, weaved them into baskets and fabrics, painted them onto airplanes, billboads, kites and cars, hats and shirts and yes, even matchbooks. I am a lucky person. Not only do I have the awesome outdoor birds here at MasterWorks Studios to observe and entertain me, but I have awesome sweet human friends that give me bird "things" for my indoor collection!I have birds on my walls, desks, tables and nightstands. It'd be safe to say they are in every room. Images of birds are on my coffee mug in the morning, on my singing bird clock throughout the day and on the walls of my halls.
Why is it we are so fascinated with birds? I believe it is because they are like works of art - beauty for the eye, ear and soul. And they can fly! I'm sure I'm not the only one that has had dreams of flapping my arms until I get them going fast and strong enough to lift me off the ground! Ann Murray sings "and if I could you know that I would fly-ey-ey-ey-ey....away with you!" In the Caribbean song "Yellow Bird" the singer laments "Yellow Bird, You can fly away in the sky away, you're more lucky than me...I wish I was a Yellow Bird, I'd fly away with you!"
Birds are living miracles. How do they live outdoors in below-freezing weather? How do even the tiniest of them fly for thousands of miles every winter and return to the same tree every spring? How does each one have its own beautiful song, totally different from all the others? There is nothing like the song of a bird for hope and insipiration and soothing of the soul. Emily Dickinson states it so eloquently on a bird bookmark I received recently:
Hope is the thing with feathers,
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without words
And never stops at all.
God, thank You for the beautiful gift of birds. And thank You for the beautiful gift of friends that bring joy to my heart and bird gifts to enjoy inside on this cold cold day.
