At the fountain

-

Lured by a free outdoor concert I took a trip to town on a glorious Sunday afternoon. Me and my camera. Among the things I wanted a picture of was the sparrows' favorite drinking spot.

I had noticed them a couple of times before as I walked by on other occassions. They had found the perfect perch (though I think it's actually a carp - HA!) in one of the city's older fountains, featuring a crying boy, which is understandable as he is perpetually showered by four fish.

The sparrows were there again today, so I walked over and got my camera ready. The sparrows, of course, scattered. Darned skittish birds, they are. So I waited. And they didn't take long to come back, though a bit cautiously:

They didn't wait long to move around to the other side of the fountain:

And there they are, on this one particular fish in the fountain, drinking and bathing.

Other birds are not able to balance on the bronze fish's back and drink. They rely on puddles formed on the wall surrounding the fountain:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I love you. Thank you.

-
Image
Some time last month, I was listening to a new spiritual podcast, and the speaker said that we can all heal ourselves and each other by stating, "I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you." Apparently, this series of four short statements healed all the patients of a psychiatric facility, simply by being uttered by a doctor while he was looking at the patient files. I was intrigued. So I googled the phrase and discovered it comes from a Hawaiian spiritual ritual called ho'oponopono .* I found a blogpost that described this "cleaning" process. I found an online article claiming that you can heal the whole planet with ho'oponopono because everything that comes into your sphere of experience is your responsibility.** I searched Amazon for books describing ho'oponopono. I bought Mable Katz 's book "The Easiest Way" .*** And her title may not be an exaggeration. After reading her short book, I have replaced my usual rit...
Read more

Getting my beliefs challenged

-
I own the extended DVD set of "What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?" , also known as "Down the Rabbit Hole". I can't remember now how my browsing the internet today started, but I ended up learning a lot about the science in "What the Bleep": It's terribly inaccurate. There are other inaccuracies or downright errors, but for the most part quantum mechanics only work on quantum levels, not at sizes like a basketball or a universe or even a mere atom. And that spoils all New Age claims that it is quantum physics that explain the Law of Attraction or any other woo-woo belief, like spontaneous healing, psychic phenomenon or near-death experiences. Dang. I was so hoping science could explain these things by now. My surfing has brought me to The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry . There I have found good writing, and proper skepticism. Not the finger-pointing pooh-poohing of beliefs, but rather a behind-the-scenes look at some claims and what's factually ...
Read more

The ho'oponopono adventure continues

-
Image
Ever since I discovered the ho'oponopono practice of forgiveness and healing about 3 years ago , I have used it, pursued it, and experienced healings big and small. I have taught it to a few friends. To my delight, they have embraced it and discovered for themselves the instant peace that comes with cleaning (as using ho'oponopono is called; you are cleaning your subconscious of unhelpful beliefs). My friend Alice showed me this picture she took from her hotel window in London: Every morning, I started my day by looking out that window. ILY, ILY, ILY. It was a beautiful way to start the morning. Every day, I felt the embrace of the city and I'd like to think that the city felt my ILYs. We certainly had nothing but pleasant interactions with people (and in fact, a few times, we had people offer unsolicited help!). I responded to her with this: The ho'oponopono "trick" of repeating to yourself "I love you" when in a negative situation really...
Read more