Ok…so the body part collaborative project took on a life of its own. It just COMPLETELY ignored my schedule. Though it still is. Coming to me in flashes, revealing itself slowly over time. It will come when it is ready. Maybe.
In the meantime, I want to collaborate again. The energy is too impressive not to act on. So, CURRENT PROJECT…
BIRDS
(some birds I met on Ile de la Cité)
I never much cared for birds. I respected and envied their talent and beauty. However, I have had a few run-ins with birds, a few too many in this gal’s opinion, that left me feeling cold. But they have been undeniably present these last couple years, feeling all filled with wisdom and symbol. And germs. All types, all in very different places and circumstances, and in undeniably meaningful ways. I am tired of looks aghast when I reveal I don’t care for birds.(It is the very same look I get when I inform others I don’t like cake. Get over it. I like pie.)
Teach me. Tell me your bird stories. If you care to. Not the gushy ones, but rather the stories of connection and wonder. Then, as birds do in building their nests, please suggest to me a bit of something I can collect (within reason and preferably not perishable). One can post them here as comments or send them to heartbeatgal@gmail.com
I know. Left field. But I feel it. I may not like them any much more in the end, but they have things to tell us. Or better, things to tell me through you.
Mull it over. Just a thought. In the meantime I’ve got a Toucan to think about.
heARTbeatgal
TheheARTbeatgal 
November 2nd, 2011 at 11:25 pm
Birds. . . thought provoking. . .I have to admit, I had to dig deep in thinking about connection and wonder – and then I remembered looking at a nest that had fallen from a tree, and being amazed at the tenacity of the bird who had constructed it. The nest was tough – had fallen out of a tree, a long way out of a tree, and bounced on the ground. . . and was still in one piece. It was a little worse for wear, but the essential parts had been so firmly and carefully woven together that it didn’t come apart. How does a bird take remnants, twigs, and mud, and build something so strong? I laughed when I thought about trying to do that myself. I can only imagine what a pile of muck that would turn out to be for me. Now, I’m wondering what and where my ‘nests’ are – what have I been working on in a really messy way that isn’t too pretty, but is quite strong. I think of my work, my friends, my family. . . and the messy way those things all come together and apart. Thanks for reminding me to think about what I see, and to look for what’s special about it. . . I never did care for birds, either. I might enjoy them a little more again – I really love butterflies. What do you see in them?
November 2nd, 2011 at 11:26 pm
Hmmm. . . oh, yes. Collections? Photos of nests . . .
November 2nd, 2011 at 11:54 pm
yes…excellent. Nests are key.
The input is great.
In a way, I was also thinking about nests earlier and about about how Toucans roll themselves into balls to fit inside holes in trees that serve as nests.
If I had a wish, I would wish for more input.
…but I am not going to lie…I am going to need a lot more than just one wish if I am to get any at all. Just sayin’
November 6th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Birds? love em.
Did you ever notice how every evening around sunset the birds gather together for cocktail hour and talk about their day?
my dying mother once appeared to me in a vision in the form of a huge black bird, big enough to wrap its wings around me.
If I could be any creature, i would be a bird. Well, not really. But somebody would.
“Hey, have another. You can’t fly on one wing.”
November 6th, 2011 at 8:38 pm
so burn hole then? heART!
November 6th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Seriously, seriously dearest collaborators…here is what I’ve got. The image is forming but it is coming from here and frankly it is a little grim in a comforting maternal earthy oneness thing:
“I remembered looking at a nest that had fallen from a tree, and being amazed at the tenacity of the bird who had constructed it…the essential parts had been so firmly and carefully woven together that it didn’t come apart.”
“Toucans roll themselves into balls to fit inside holes in trees that serve as nests.”
“my dying mother once appeared to me in a vision in the form of a huge black bird, big enough to wrap its wings around me.”
Thank you, yous.