Crying Loon

The day after getting my second dose of the pfizer vaccine I felt completely sore and wiped out, with a good sized headache. I actually took a couple of days off work and mostly just lay around the house.

What better time to think about Wabi-Sabi photography? This is something I learned about on blipfoto of course, when I came across an entry I really liked by LesleyAlsford. So, while shuffling around the house thinking about beauty in the imperfect, broken, and decaying, I was naturally drawn to this loon on the front porch.

This loon actually has a couple of hooks on it and is a coat hanger of sorts. My wife seems to recall we picked it up at a thrift store once upon a time. As you can see, it got broken at some point and was glued back together.

Here's the thing - I like it better this way. It reminds me of a story I used to tell kids around the campfire when working at an environmental education center in Rhode Island many years ago. It's an origin myth of sorts about how the loon got its plaintive call. For me, this flaw in the object adds a level of meaning that wouldn't be there if it had remained intact.

I could direct folks to the book, but I think this sort of thing is best passed along by word of mouth. Big props to Mrs. Bray, who really seems to relish her retelling of the story.