Friday, October 7, 2011

Reflections: A New Kind of Post

Both M & G have been fortunate enough to travel all over the world.  From time to time, we are going to look back and reflect on some of the trips we've had and what they mean to us now.  We hope that you enjoy these diversions. 

A Red-Tailed Hawk in Medford!


Red-Tailed Hawk Atop Grace Church

Close Up
You can see the red tail
We got a great surprise returning from our run this morning: two large and puffy Red-Tailed Hawks perched on the pinnacle of Grace Church next to our apartment!

We made great use of our new binoculars and our new Massachusetts Bird Guide to confirm the species, although G called it first.

This was especially exciting for G, who flipped out and scared the last red-tailed hawk we saw by running towards it.

What a great reminder that that slowing down and observing the world around us can yield unexpected and wonderful surprises!- 

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Making Music: Honk Parade 2011

This weekend we went to the Honk Parade, which we've documented in the video below.  Since the video does a pretty good job of explaining what Honk is all about, we've decided to use this post as an opportunity to reflect on what Honk meant to us.

What struck me (Grumpus) the most about Honk was the welcoming atmosphere that surrounded the day.  It didn't matter if someone was dressed as a praying mantis, pushing for a Free Tibet or advocating for a Free Bradley Manning, everyone was comfortable with letting their quirky sides show.  I fear that, as people become increasingly concerned with the image their project through their online avatars, they will shy away from taking risks and letting their hair down in public.   It's ironic, but the reason that we keep this blog is to make sure that we continue to try new things, to go on adventures, to report on our interest in birds even if those things don't make us cool or hip.  We use a medium dedicated to projecting our carefully crafted image to the world in order to keep ourselves from living a boring, scripted life.