The Birds of Christmas

Christmas Cardinal painting 2006

Lo the birds of Christmas

are searching for some seeds

on winter's frosty mornings

so remember nature's needs,

and toss a little fodder

to our feathered friends

in thankfulness for songs they sing

when this long winter ends.

~Kathie Adams Brown (December 9, 2004)

The Colors of Christmas

Christmas Nana

Christmas Mouse 1998 by Kathie Brown Acrylic on posterboard

I love to go to Nana’s house
at happy Christmas time
I love to eat the turkey
And smell the Christmas pine
I love to see her smile
And bustle round the house
Making everything just perfect
For each grandchild and each spouse
And though my Nana’s little,
Only ’bout five foot tall
Her heart is quite enormous
Filled with love for one and all!

~Kathie Adams Brown (1985)

Skywatch Friday: Swainson's Hawk

Swainson's Hawk, Acrylic on canvas paper 9" x 12" by Kathiesbirds

Blue sky, brisk air,
An autumn gathering of raptors
Over green agricultural fields
Where raptors walk like chickens
On-the-ground,
And fill the hedgerows like blackbirds
With branches sagging from the weight of it all,
And the sky above full of feathered bodies
circling, circling, circling,
All in restless waiting
For the flight south to wintering grounds
There’s safety in numbers
Until you come home
In spring.

~Kathie Adams Brown (11-13-08)

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Bird on a Wire at Sycamore Canyon.

Paralyzed

If I move through this fluid world
I am caught in a cast iron pose
These rigid arms and legs
A never ending reminder
Of movement.

~Kathie Adams Brown (10-19-08)

One Single Impression Prompt 34: Never Ending

Cast Iron Ballerina Painting Acylic on Canvas by Kathie Adams Brown 2005

Skywatch Friday: God's Eyes

Starry Sky painting by Kathiesbirds acrylic on canvas 9-25-08

Is God up there in that starry sky?
Is he gazing down on me?
When I look up in midnight blue
Can I see his eyes
in starry skies?


~Kathiesbirds (July 25, 2008)



To see more views of the Sky visit Skywatch Friday.


Please Visit Sycamore Canyon to see my other Skywatch post Monsoon Night.


To read about what inspired this painting visit A Gentle Morning.

Skywatch Friday: Idaho Autumn

King Mountain Autumn acrylic on canvas 1999 by Kathiesbirds

One Single Impression: Autumn

In the Big Lost River Valley
a golden mantle is
thrown across the land
with the sweet scent of drying hay,
and damp cottonwood leaves
tossed like coins along dry creek beds,
where soft amber light shimmers
on the rugged shoulders of King Mountain,
Autumn comes to Idaho as a golden event.
~Kathiesbirds (September 18, 2008)



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Visit Sycamore Canyon to view a my other Skywatch post: Raven Chasing a Redtailed Hawk

Atmospheric Questions

(Mt. Fagan Sky July 26, 2008 Acrylic on Canvas by kathiesbirds)

Can I ever grasp this great expanse

this wide vault,

this atmosphere?

I reach to hold it to my breast,

I fling my arms towards emptiness.

Why do I want to gather it,

this wide expanse of openness?

~Kathiesbirds (July 25, 2008)

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Skywatch Friday: King Mt. Summer's Blush

(King Mountain Summer in Idaho 1999 acrylic on Canvas by Kathiesbirds)

The setting summer sun
caresses the gentle slopes
of the Lost River Range
King Mountain blushes
behind fragrant stacks of gold--
summer bales of winter sustenance

~Kathiesbirds (July 3, 2008)

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Click on the link to see a monsoon sky in Sycamore Canyon

Skywatch Friday: Idaho, My Love

King Mountain in Spring painted by Kathiesbirds 3-18-99 Acrylic on Canvas

Idaho, wild Idaho,
I long for you so much!
You are in my heart
You are in my soul,
And I desire to be in you.
What is this hold you have on me?
Why this terrible love?
You are a place, just a place,
On earth.
You draw me as a lover,
With a love I’ve never known before.
Why do I feel this need
To be immersed in You?
I want your mountains surrounding me,
Your aspen trees,
Your golden sunlight.
I want your wild-ness.
I want your rivers pouring over me,
Your wildlife running through my eyes,
I want to see eagles playing in the skies
Once again.
I want the Sandhill Cranes to dance
In pastures near the cattle,
I want to see a pelican
Fly overhead at lunch,
Or Great- Horned Owls perched
On phone poles in the morning
When I am hanging wash out to dry
With potato fields beyond.
I want to see newborn lambs
Gamboling across the landscape,
Or bald-faced calves in spring,
Curled in the pastures
When I am driving into town
On highway 93.
Idaho, my Idaho,
How I love you, love you so,
When will I return my love
To my place of being?

~Kathiesbirds (March 28, 1998, revised June 5, 2008)

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Moonlight Princess

(Painting by Kathie 1999 Acrylic on canvas)

Moonlight Princess

She peeps around the corner as the moon reaches its full height,
A strange tingling now posses her as her eyes drink in the sight,
The bluish glow it beckons her, the field is coaxing sweet,
with a glance to see that she’s alone, she rushes out and greets it.
A magic world it is to her, by virtue of the moon’s transforming power,
Everything glows mysteriously; every leaf, every stone, every flower.
She know with every trembling limb who she is and what she’s here for,
With a leap, a twirl and then a bob, she dances on the grassy floor.
The little princess of the night is calling to the stars
She dances with the wafting clouds, with Venus, Moon, and Mars.
The breeze soon joins the graceful dance, cavorting on the lawn,
It bends the trees and tossed leaves and whispers to a fawn.
The little fawn trembles too, basking in the Moon’s light,
and then as if beyond control its heels kick with delight!
Soon a rabbit joins in frisking; in unity they pirouette,
If the moon stayed up forever, they’d probably be there yet.
But fingers of sunlight soon start reaching
To draw back the curtain of the nighttime sky,
So rabbit, fawn and princess, must bid the moon good-bye.
As each one takes a final leap, a pirouette, plee or bow,
The day bursts full upon them; the moonlight—gone for now.
Yet they will wait most eagerly and mark each day, it’s true,
‘till 28 have come and gone and the Moon is at its full,
Then out in the field the rabbit will come, out of the woods, the fawn,
And out of the house the Moonlight Princess,
All to dance upon the lawn.

~Kathie Adams Brown (November 11, 1984)

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