For Dad

Had to post that picture!

Also, even though I think New Years is overrated, best wishes to everyone for 2010!

Yes I love Lol’s.

Nothing to say

I’ll let them say it:

See more…

Ziryab, Past and Present

I saw a blackbird outside my kitchen window yesterday. It is a beautiful bird, and has a beautiful voice. I found out that the males sing to mark their territory. I hope that means he will be staying!

The bird made me think of a famous blackbird in history. Ziryab was a genius of a musician, fashion designer, and gourmet. He was called Ziryab, which means “blackbird,” for his dark complexion and melodious singing voice.  Originally from Persia and Iraq, he traveled to Andalusia where he revolutionized their music, food, and fashion.  Check out this article about him:

Flight of the Blackbird

Written by Robert W. Lebling Jr.

If you eat asparagus, or if you start your meal with soup and end with dessert, or if you use toothpaste, or if you wear your hair in bangs, you owe a lot to one of the greatest musicians in history.

He was known as Ziryab, a colloquial Arabic term that translates as “blackbird.” He lived in medieval Spain more than a thousand years ago. He was a freed slave who made good, charming the royal court at Córdoba with his songs. He founded a music school whose fame survived more than 500 years after his death. Ibn Hayyan of Córdoba, one of Arab Spain’s greatest historians, says in his monumental Al-Muqtabas (The Citation) that Ziryab knew thousands of songs by heart and revolutionized the design of the musical instrument that became the lute. He spread a new musical style around the Mediterranean, influencing troubadours and minstrels and affecting the course of European music.  Read more…

Meow!

There have been two or more cats fighting outside my window for at least a week now.  Sometimes they sound like kids, but then they make distinctly cat-like yowls.  If I catch another mouse, I’m going to throw it out the window to add some fun to their party!

Oh, I start teaching English tomorrow!  I hope I can do a good job.

Speaking of cats…

“At the beginning of her introduction to Lorraine Chittock’s book Cats of Cairo, Annemarie Schimmel wrote: “When the British orientalist E. W. Lane lived in Cairo in the 1830’s, he was quite amazed to see, every afternoon, a great number of cats gathering in the garden of the High Court, where people would bring baskets full of food for them. He was told that in this way, the qadi (judge) fulfilled obligations dating back to the 13th-century rule of the Mamluk sultan al-Zahir Baybars. That cat-loving monarch had endowed a “cats’ garden” where the cats of Cairo would find everything they needed and liked. In the course of time, the place had been sold and resold, changed and rebuilt; yet the law required that the sultan’s endowment should be honoured, and who better than the qadi to carry out the king’s will and take care of the cats?”  Continue reading “Cats in Islamic Culture…”

Birdwatching in Jordan

There’s not too much birdwatching in Amman. Mostly we see a lot of sparrows and doves, both the grey and brown varieties. I guess you need either a lot of trees and/or a lot of water to have a lot of bird varieties. But yesterday I did see this beautiful bird (like the one above) outside my window, in the pine trees. It’s a bee eater (a European one), which makes sense because there are a lot of bees swarming in that tree all the time.
I identified the bird by going to this page. This guy has a lot of great bird pictures (that’s where these pics are from). By using his site, I was also able to identify a bulbul (like the one below) outside my window last month. Unfortunately, neither the bulbul nor the bee eater has returned. I hope they do.

You betta recognize!

Hey. This is BG here, andI’ve got something to say. First of all, why did you call me BG? What’s wrong with “falcon slayer” or “valkyrie?” And then you baby-talk me in front of the mockingbirds! Now how do you expect me to get any respect around here?

And what’s this with changing my brand of food? I’m a bird of discriminating taste. So quit telling people I’m finicky, cause there’s a big difference! I have feelings too. I’m a sensitive bird. Don’t tell me you didn’t see that volume of William Birdsworth under the food bowl!

Now that you know I’m so cultured, why aren’t you taking me to Jordan with you? You don’t think I can handle it? And if anyone tries to quarantine me I’ll bite them! My beak’s nice and sharp from that cuttlebone. Come on, I fit in your purse, and I’ll be really quiet during the security check…”

 

Goodbye, BG. I’ll miss you!

Leave my backyard alone!

Ok, I know I live in an apartment, and the space behind my apartment is not technically my backyard, but…

I have a picky bird who leaves much of his bird seed behind.  So, when I change his bowl, I usually throw the leftover seed into the backyard so the birds outside can finish it.  I also keep a tray of food on the window sill.  Well, maybe because of all these seeds, I soon had some cool plants growing outside that my neighbors didn’t have.  Until someone from the apt complex came and sprayed them one day and they all died, as did my dreams of having a bird-seed garden.

Soon, the seeds attracted birds.  I have a couple of cute little house finches that come pecking around for seeds, and also a new pair of birds I hadn’t seen before.  After looking at bird pictures on the internet for awhile, I found that they were Brown Thrashers, which is actually the Georgia state bird.  They’re really pretty, and don’t seem to be as afraid of me as the finches are.  I’m hoping they build a nest in the bushes beside my window.

 Now, whenever someone comes to do yard work behind  my apartment, I’m always afraid they will scare off “my” birds!  I’ll just have to leave enough bird seed to guarantee that they will come back!