by Jill Severn | Apr 4, 2016
John James Audubon, born to French parents, emigrated to the United States in the 1800s and became North America’s foremost ornithologist, naturalist and chronicler of birds. His paintings and his life inspired the Audubon Society, dedicated to protecting waterbird populations. Here are some samples of his paintings.
Here’s part of an editorial tribute to Audubon in today’s Olympian newspaper, written by Jill Severn.
“Audubon’s contribution to our appreciation of birds and the natural world they inhabit is incalculable. But there are also vital lessons from his life history. Today, he is a hero, lionized for his pioneering role as an artist, ornithologist, and writer. But if he were to try to do today what he did as an 18-year-old – that is, to flee from war and immigrate to this country with a fake passport – he would be deported instantly. Had this country done then what we are doing now, Audubon might well have died young under Napoleon’s command, without ever painting a single bird.
“So today, as we celebrate Audubon day and watch the absolute freedom of birds in flight, we might consider foregoing the labels that confine people – draft-dodger, illegal alien, Muslim, and others not fit for print. And instead of worrying so much about the risk of letting people in, we might pause to wonder what we are losing by keeping people out.”
You can read the entire editorial here: http://bit.ly/1MWylvS
by Jill Severn | Mar 13, 2016
By Jill Severn —
My neighbor’s flowering cherry tree had a pink blossom blizzard this morning. It didn’t take much wind to set it off; the tree has been blooming its heart out for about a week, and all those petals were ready to let go and fly through the air. It’s a good sized tree, and I am quite sure we got into the billions of airborne petals swirling and dancing their way to earth.
Now there are pink drifts in his driveway, along the street, and in the grass. The wind has died down, and the tree-weather has calmed to occasional brief showers.
Still, it looks every bit as fluffy and pink as it did before, so I have more to look forward to as I sit at my dining room table, sipping coffee and gazing out the window.
by George Le Masurier | Dec 22, 2015
Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to haul out the writing pad and let you know what happened to the Swenson family this past year.
I hope you look forward to getting our annual Holiday letters as much as I look forward to writing them. I had a hard time tracking everyone down this year because some of you rascals changed addresses without telling me.
Where does the time go? Seems like the paper cuts on my tongue have just healed from sending out last year’s letters.
As you all know by now, Uncle Seymour died this year. We figure it happened around noon on Friday ,though we didn’t find his body until Monday morning, after traffic on the 17th St. bridge died down some (whoops, bad choice of words).
Seems he got stuck in that nasty Friday afternoon rush hour and had a heart attack right there in the right lane. Nobody noticed he was dead ‘cause the old pickup just stopped and folks kept on merging around him.
He never did look too good, so folks thought he was in one of his funks again.
Bud was supposed to get a titanium hip replacement this year, but MSP said they’d only pay for one made out of sheet metal. He’s been a good sport about it, and the grand kids kinda like it, too, because they have so much fun sticking fridge magnets on his backside.
Our oldest boy, Bobby, gets out of jail soon. He promised to stop hacking into big business databases and sending out viruses. The FBI might even give him a job.
My sister’s family is doing well, though. Our precious nephew, Clarence, who turned 8 this year, has decided to stay in school and play fifth grade basketball instead of entering directly into the NBA draft. You can’t beat the value of a good education.
Her little one, Isabella, was elected president of her preschool. We weren’t too pleased with the attack ads she plastered in the entry way, especially that one alleging the Jenson boy had incurable diaper rash on his butt. But I guess that’s just toddler politics.
We ran into a wee bit of financial difficulty this year because of that man Mr. Steph. He sent us an e-mail promising to share his “many millions of dollars” if we’d just give him our bank account number. We never did hear from him again, but we’re all hoping he got out of Nigeria alive.
Anyway, it’s been a pretty good year despite the car getting totaled and that nasty fire in the living room. But my leg’s all healed up, so why not look on the bright side of things?
Well, that’s all for this year. Hope things are looking up for you, too.
The Swensons
