These pictures came to me by a chain mail.

Masters Of The Field

Up above gathered on a field of clouds
crowded a lot down in the lowlands
Waiting for their time
Waiting and calling, calling out for rain
to leave the skies down in the lowlands
Masters of the field

Wings wind set in the teeth of the wind
The old beasts feathered wild beasts
Masters of the field.

Eagle dancers, wings that shape the wind
Carving the clouds into spirit
Sufis of the air

Dervish dancers summoning the sun
To tint the mist down on the lowlands
Masters of the field
Wings wind set in the teeth of the wind

Old beasts, feathered, wild beasts
Masters of the field

Last Saturday, as the young lady at check out counter of my local library checked my books out, I looked around and behind me.  On a displaying desk there were many boxes that looked like video tapes.  I asked her what they were and she told me they were audio books.  "Inside each box there is a small device look like an ipod with a few buttons.  Plug a head phone in and maneuver these buttons and you can listen to a book," she said.  I asked her if she ever listened to any of them. She replied that she had listened to The Abortionist’s Daughter of Elizabeth Hyde.  She said it was good.  There were quite a few books displayed and I saw The First Choice of Nicholas Sparks.  However I chose the Abortionist’s Daughter because of its controversial title.  I listened to it when I sat on the train to work and on the way to return home. 

The book begins with the murder of the abortion doctor, Diane.  Listeners will have to guess who the killer is. The murderer could have been her husband of 20 years with a few domestic unresolved conflicts throughout their marriage, or the doctor’s bratty 19 year old daughter, Megan who was fighting with Diane about a trip to Mexico that Megan had wanted it as a Christmas present, or Megan’s boyfriend, Bill, who was unable to let go of Megan after they broke up, or Reverend Stephen who opposed abortion, or an unknown drug dealer whom Diane owed a lot of drug money as Bill reported to the police.  Although there are some parts the author discussed and described some graphic pictures of abortion and the pro and con between the pro-life and pro-choice, the book mainly is about solving a murder case.  The book is very interesting.  I am hooked by the intriguing plot as well as the family relationship between husband and wife, mother and daughter, and love and the death of love.  While I am totally absorbed in the murder case.  It is completely refreshing to see how the young detective Huck Berlin and Megan falling for each other.  Elizabeth Hyde is skillful in building a character like Doctor Diane Duprey who does abortion however she chooses to carry to full term and raise her son although she knew the boy would be heavily retarded.

The down side of this audio book is I cannot rewind to certain parts that I miss or skip certain parts if I want to or I cannot speed it.  If I miss something I have to listen to the whole chapter again.  If I want to skip I have to skip a whole chapter.  When I got the book from my librarian, I was kidding to her, maybe I would be addicted to audio book.  I think I am now, it is much lighter than to carry a book on the train, and I can give my eyes a rest.

To Be By Your Side - Nick Cave

Across the oceans
Across the seas,
Over forests of blackened trees.
Through valleys so still we dare not breathe,
To be by your side.

Over the shifting desert plains,
Across mountains all in flames.
Through howling winds and driving rains,
To be by your side.

Every mile and every year
for every one a little tear.
I cannot explain this, Dear
I will not even try.

Into the night as the stars collide,
Across the borders that divide
forests of stone standing petrified,
To be by your side.

Every mile and every year,
For every one a single tear.
I cannot explain this, Dear,
I will not even try.

For I know one thing,
Love comes on a wing
For tonight I will be by your side.
But tomorrow I will fly.

From the deepest ocean
To the highest peak,
Through the frontiers of your sleep.
Into the valley where we dare not speak,
To be by your side.

Across the endless wilderness  
where all the beasts bow down their heads.
Darling I will never rest
till I am by your side.

Every mile and every year,
Time and Distance disappear
I cannot explain this. Dear!
No, I will not even try.

For I know one thing,
Love comes on a wing and tonight
I will be by your side.

But tomorrow I will fly away, in wind

Love rises with the day
and tonight I may be by your side.

But tomorrow I will fly,

Tomorrow I will fly,

Tomorrow I will fly.

Below is an old post.  I just obtain the sound track of the movie Winged Migration.  Upload two songs To be by your side sung by Nick Cave and Master of the Field sung by Robert Wyatt.  I do not know the reason, perhaps due to incompatible recording technique, it shows error in coding.  I wish to share these two songs but I do not know how.  Maybe xanga can do something about this.

Click on picture to enlarge.

"Snow geese fly 2500 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Artic lands."  (Vietnamese "migrated" half the earth to America).  "They fly often with thousands of miles, beset with danger, for a single reason:  to survive.  Their migration is a flight for life."

"For every migration, there is a promise.  A promise to return."

They left in winter and return in spring.  By the fall they start the cycle once again.

Sometimes, I wonder what we can see in the view of birds.  Do they realize that they  have seen a lot of wonders that  human may not see in a life time?  Somewhere in this earth, there are holes as large as a small pond blowing bubbles by gas buried deeply below the earth, bursting water into the air, and forming gas again ready for another bubble. 

An avalanche

If you click the photo to enlarge it, you will see the newly hatched bird is pushing another egg out of the nest.  Perhaps survival skill is innate.  To secure the mother's feeding for himself and only for himself, the bird pushes his sibling out of the way. 

From left to right: Bald eagle is spotted in Yellow Stone Park, Greater Sage Grouse in Idaho, (?).  The last picture is the picture of a strange bird whose name I forgot to write down.  When they search for food, their wings spread and cover their head.  Look like someone wearing a cloak and kowtowing with their hands forming a circle in front of them.  Ahh, you have to see the Grouse when they flirt and fight.  Their chests pop in and out like a drum, and sound like the sound of a drum too.

If you click on the fourth picture from left, you will see a group of geese.  They look like just a trace of cloud in formation.  The seagulls nest on cliff and rocks in the last picture from this row. 

Dances of the birds.  The phoebes walk on water.  The red crown cranes dance on a pond in Japan.  Cranes and swans reportedly pair for life.  Just like many couples marry for a long time, they walk the same way, the same rythm.  They argue too.  Couple in love, their arguments sound like a song to us. Hoang Vy post your argument with Tai for us to see. 

The red crown swans dance, a dance of love, in the Arabian desert.  It is surreal to see these birds.  They are very graceful.  I thought they only existed in Chinese painting.

Birds migrate several thousands miles.  In the first picture from left the birds passed by the twin towers.  Houses in an exotic country.  If you enlarge this picture you will see a flock of birds flying low.  Passing by the Eiffel tower, and the Great Wall of China

Indian preservation. In their migration, the birds seek refuge in the shade of the car and drinking some water leaking from the car and flying with the horses.

The first picture reminded me something I had seen in Vietnam.  A net that is used to catch tiny fish, shrimps, or crabs in Southern Vietnam rural.  It may be strange to you but we who live far from home always look for something that resembles or represents a memory, a piece of life we have left behind.  In the second picture you will see in the background the poplar trees.  Something is very familiar to people who live in the Europe or North America, but Vietnamese may find them interesting.  The last one depict the birds in a field full of wild flowers. 

Click on the first one you will see the Liberty Statue.  Second one, I love the look of the stone house. 

This looks like the state where I am living.  Each fall, when the maples turn color, the snow geese fly above, leaving behind them melancholic cries like a sad song.  Their voice sometimes sounds desperate, as if they try to catch their breath with each wing flapping.  In the air, there is fragrance of autumn, the smoke of burnt wood, trails of smoke swaying in the cold air, and sweetness of warm apple cider.  Each time that I hear the song of migrating birds is each time I remember a fable about a little boy sitting on the neck of a giant flying bird, his scarf flying wildly, . . .

The whooping cranes in Vietnam.  They are the image in Trịnh Công Sơn's song Như Cánh Vạc Bay, vai em gầy guộc nhỏ như cánh vạc về chốn xa xôi.  The limestone mountains are in Northern of Vietnam.  A boy rode a buffalo cart.

Every mile and every year,
For every one a single tear,
I cannot explain this, dear,
I will not even try.

For I know one thing,
Love comes on a wing,
For tonight I will be by your side,
But tomorrow I will fly.

The pictures are copied from the CD Winged Migration.  Lyrics are from the song To Be By Your Side of Nick Cave. 

Saturday I went to the library.  On the way out I saw these berries

These are pictures taken inside a store selling toys for wealthy children.  A dinosaur for 5000 dollars and a cubic for 10 bucks compare to 5 bucks in a regular store. 

Taking a bunch of kids from 21 to 10 year old to Bridgewater Common mall to see Desperaux and Curious Life of Benjamin Button, I walked around the mall and took pictures until a security guard told me that I was not allowed take pictures inside the mall.  I wonder if this country is going insane or these guards just do that so they can feel being useful. 

Happy New Year to all!

Browsing the net and Xanga, there are so many new posts and resolutions.  My page is still Dec 30^th, 2008.  I have caught a cold since Christmas, so this is the cold that lasted from 2008 to 2009.

I have two guests since December 26.  Although my guests do not bother me but I can’t concentrate to write.  Do not get me wrong.  I am not blaming on them, I just can’t concentrate when there are so many things going on around me. 

Just like any Vietnamese family we have a large extended family where uncles, aunts, and in-laws are considered family.  My two guests are the favorite of this extended family; therefore, everyone is fighting to have them over.  Despite my dread of cooking, I should not worry about my cooking skill because the two guests have not once had dinner with me.  I have made room, new comforter and bed sheets.  The first night they arrived, about bedtime they prepared to leave to another family member.  I have to threaten that I will be angry if they keep rejecting my offering. 

After the first few nights waiting for my guests to return having dinner with me, I realize that is not going to happen.  Look like there is a determination or a pre-arrangement that my guests are busy somewhere at dinner time.  It is a relief for me that I do not have to worry about what to cook or how to cook or if they will like my cooking.  I just cook as I usually do and it is up to my guests if they will eat with me.  As days went, I have started to wonder if I am infamous for my cooking or my difficult personality.  You never know what your family talk behind your back. 

The way it unfolds makes me thinking of a detail in the book Gone With The Wind.  As Scarlett prepared an extravagant birthday party, all people came to see Melanie although she did not have any goodies.  They came to play and sing at Melanie's house and also as a way to spite Scarlett.  Although I am not as rich as Scarlett and my other relatives are not in anyway as poor as Melanie, still I have felt an intentional slightness.  I wonder why I always feel I have not tried hard enough to win people’s approval. 

Anyway, I open my home and my heart, it is up to people to accept them.  I am not going to let their slightness bothering me or feeling bad about myself.