AT ARM'S LENGTH

Shiny things. That's what crows usually give humans they consider friends. But apparently, several of my feathered friends in Iwatsuki saw me helping insects in distress and thought I'd like bugs more than most normal people. One day, I noticed they brought me a milky white ermine moth, probably traumatized from having been transported there between the beaks of its captor.

But another "insect" gift given me was a sparkly butterfly bookmark, not from the crows, but from my sister Janice. She had actually bought a craft set and made it for me, so there's only one butterfly like this in the world. I use it to keep my place in my daily journal, so I see it every morning. Yup, this butterfly sees the cold winter season too, unlike his living cousin. Oh--here's a photo of a little feller up in Iwatsuki. It frustrates me no end that the real thing is much prettier than what I can get with the camera, but even the photo is better than the computer image!

It was that same species butterfly I saw outside the hotel last year. I'd asked it to show me its wings on the inside because I knew they were so pretty, and it stayed still, then we could see it was straining to open them up for us. See what it looks like? There were no butterflies this year. Besides, my camera ran out of juice. But on the bridge, a teeny tiny spider came scurrying up to us. Outdoors and garden spiders are so pretty, I said to the spider, and got a pic with my old flip phone.

I think it liked me. After a little while, it jumped towards me, but because it's so little, its thread was too short and yanked it back. I wasn't exactly disappointed that it didn't make the leap, since my automatic reflex would've been to brush it off anyway. I like spiders and snakes, but only at arm's distance. Maybe God loves unconditionally, but I can only like them conditionally. I jump if they get too close.

I don't understand how that happened, because I still remember my sisters and I used to catch the termites in the woodwork of our first house--catch them and pluck off their wings. And don't we look like sweet little angels? We had everybody fooled!

FUDE ART WANNABES

When my children were little and had to study Japanese calligraphy in school, it was not one of their favorite subjects. I secretly envied them because I've felt an attraction to using the fude brush.  I'd heard about Sumie-E, an old art discipline of scribes of the Orient, and I found myself charmed by its emphasis on simple lines. I'd wondered often if I could dabble in it, since I lived in Japan now.

But writing with that brush and ink, well, that was something my children disliked, I could see it was not something they would have the slightest desire to teach me.

I gave up the idea--thought I'd go back to doing "normal" art--techniques of the proper use of the fude brush really requires the personal instruction--whereas I could get plenty of other art teaching online.

My artist crow friend at the park, Ble Currie de Sans suggested I try "Kanji Art"; maybe it would be simpler than "Sumi-E" since I already knew some kanji?

Last year, gave me a chance to try it. Friends from Africa had a baby and named it "Tendo". I'm sure they'd want their child to know the "Heavenly Way" as well as to make known it known all his life, so I chose those 2 kanji characters for his name. I haven't studied any proper "shuji" (Japanese calligraphy), here is my first attempt at "Kanji Art".

Unfortunately, neither picture for today's post are done with fude brush; I need a teacher to show me how to use it properly.

CONFUSED CROW？

The announcement sounded over the neighborhood loudspeaker: "This is your Crow Host." There was a long pause, followed by, "I'm not sure which way I'm supposed to face." What?

As it turns out, he was perched in the middle of loudspeakers pointing in four different directions.

Gotcha.

(Ooh. I thought about coloring in these pictures, but that turned out worse than these black and white ones (and I don't even like them) so will post the lesser of the two evils. This happened once before and it didn't work then either. I still don't know how to color multiple crows right. One crow by itself, I can manage, but when I get one crow in front of another, it gets all funny. I'll show you later.)

WITNESSING HELP

Just right. I wanted to sketch the crow leaning against the branch, but something was missing...when the Hiyo bird came along and perched on a nearby branch and the two birds peered at each other, it seemed to add a note of interest to the picture. Besides, behind me, I heard someone say to a companion,

"Look! That looks like a Hiyo bird!"

I swung around and responded to the comment, motioning to the sideburns down the bird's cheeks. "That's what it is!" 

Usually, I can't talk to people I meet for the first time. Actually, that's one of my biggest fears. But when it comes to wildlife, it seems all the barriers come down. Come to think of it, that's how I began talking with a Jehovah's Witness here at the park--we weren't talking religion, but about mallards' growth and about the differences between crows and ravens.

God knows I want to relate His Love to others BUT AM SCARED STIFF OF PEOPLE. So He doesn't belittle me for my timidity; rather, He uses my avid love for art and living things to get me to want to open my mouth. What a wise, loving Father, and I'll say it again: how good it is to be His.

THE BOULDER

Although I planned to tell a story to cormorants who came to the pond on the other side of the park--and I needed to get over there before they went home (they don't live here); I completely forgot about it when I began to sketch at the boulder at Carp Walk.

"There are carp there!" I could hear people comment, narrowing their eyes to see what the artist could be drawing. Maybe a few guessed the crow added interest. Few would've guessed it had been the ROCK I'd seen the dragonfly stop on, mallards rest under, sparrows scamper around, small animals hide from predators.

Lots of us go to a place called "church" for the togetherness it affords, or some want to shine in front of others, and some want a feeling of security or religion. How many of us go for the Rock Himself and lose ourselves in our longing for Him?