Spiced Blossoms

Audra State Park, which straddles the Middle Fork River just to the east of Buckhannon, is most famous for the enormous sandstone outcroppings that jut from the river's banks and the reef-like clarity of its brisk pools and rapids. It's an ideal spot to beat the heat from an oppressive (almost summer) day. Added bonus: in early June, smooth azalea (Rhododendron arborescens), also known as sweet azalea, starts to bloom along the moist slopes and river banks of the Applachian Mountains from Pennsylvania to Tennessee.

“Buck Moon Owl”

Kevin O’Donnell

hello i have added another fiber arts to my skill set. be prepared for lots of embroidered insects and botanicals bc my days of embroidered pet portraits are far, far in the future

Ohara Koson - Monkey in a Persimmon Tree,

Potamotherium, a genus of caniform carnivoran from the Miocene epoch of France and Germany.

It was a 1.5 m. long primitive relative of pinnipeds.

 Let’s say you’ve got a city where there’s tame white doves everywhere. They’re not pests, they’re regarded as sacred, holy protectors of the city, and the whole city cares for them and feeds them like they’re pets. They’re so tame because it’s a social taboo to hurt or scare one. Nice pretty doves :)

 Then someone points out that even if they’re not seen as pests, doesn’t having a completely unchecked feral pigeon population - that not only isn’t being culled, but actively fed and cared for - mean that there would be bird shit absolutely all over the place?

 A part of you wants to say no, because these are your nice, pretty doves. To explain that there’s a reason why they’re not shitting all over the place, maybe they’re super-intelligent and specifically bred and trained to not shit all over the place. The logistics of how, exactly, could anyone breed and train a flock of feral birds go unaddressed.

 An even worse solution would be to not have those birds, editing them out of the world. No, they spark joy, you can’t just toss them out!

 Now, consider: Yes, yes they would, but the city also has an extensive public sanitation service that’s occupied 90% of the time by cleaning bird shit off of everything. One of the most common last names in the area actually translates to “one who scrapes off dove shit”, and it’s a highly respected occupation. And thanks to the sheer necessity of constantly regularly cleaning everything, the city enjoys a much higher standard of cleanliness, and less public health issues caused by poor public sanitation.

The Augsburg concept has one big pigeon house every 500m in which wild pigeons are fed, protected from weather and have nesting opportunities. Cities doing that have WAY less uncontrolled populations (since they can take out eggs if they feel they need reduce the population), way less shit AND a healthy population since it’s easier for veterinarians to notice and get to sick animals.

So I’d say one can of course still keep your general idea……but there’s also those MASSIVE palace-like pidgeon houses and only the most worthy are allowed to enter and directly interact with the pigeons (feed them, heal them, clean their lodgings). One big entrance for the human servants (priests??) and millions of small holes for the pigeons.

Lotus