Monday, June 1, 2009

the love family


This past weekend, when we heard all about Barrie, the K9 officer,
we were also told about this beautiful swan family, who built a nest
on the grounds of our local criminal justice facility. They have been
fondly dubbed "Bonnie and Clyde Love" and their new baby, "Duke".
Did you know most swans mate for life? So romantic.
.
The word "swan" is derived from Old English swan, akin to the
German schwan and Dutch zwaan, in turn derived from Indo-
European root swen (to sound, to sing), whence Latin derives sonus
(sound). Young swans are known as cygnets, from the Latin word for
swan, cygnus. An adult male is a cob, from Middle English cobbe
(leader of a group); an adult female is a pen.
.
I love swans. To me, they symbolize not only beauty, but serenity
and purity. My auntie sometimes calls me "Swanie", after the Hans
Christian Andersen tale. My friend, Edna St. Vee, wrote a haunting
poem, which I've posted before, about swans. It evokes thoughts of
the struggle between beauty, a sense of purpose and the complexes
of reality.
.
.
I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over.
And what did I see I had not seen before?
Only a question less or a question more;
Nothing to match the light of wild birds flying.
Tiresome heart, forever living and dying,
House without air, I leave you and lock your door.
Wild swans, come over the town, come over
The town again, trailing your legs and crying!

Wild Swans
Edna St. Vincent Millay
.
I wish I could take credit for these marvelous photos, but there
were taken by officer Phillip Hetzel.

45 comments:

  1. Wow,I am first ... WOOT WOOT .. love swans, they ARE romantic .. and please tell the photographer how wonderful his shots are!

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  2. beautiful. the pics and you words. my wife was the swan princess in ballet once. she is still my swan.

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  3. I love wild and tame birds. My parrot comes to sit on my chair while I'm at the computer. It's the only time she doesn't bite me.

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  4. A lovely reminder that beauty is all around us. Thank you for lovely pictures and poetry.

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  5. Wow! Her poetry packs a wallop. Oh yeah.

    What a great portent for your system of justice to have nesting swans on the property. Wow.

    Swans are truly beautiful. Soulful, graceful. Wow.

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  6. Beautiful creatures! Romantic and all for sure but I always think of a P.G.Wodehouse story in which a self-important British gent at a country house weekend party is marooned naked (for some Wodehousian reason) on a tiny island in the middle of an ornamental lake in the company of "a very irritable and nasty-minded swan.'

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  7. You know I am a huge bird lover and swans and doves have always held a special place in my heart. I am glad this one has found a loving home to nest. I think she will have loads of protection.

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  8. onderfull blog..
    ypur blog is nicely.. your content is important to bloggers other. please give me some comments and FOLLOWER me.
    I like for all... i will visit again

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  9. Aren't they gorgeous?! Their nest is so perfectly constructed. Beautiful.

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  10. Wonderful story Willow, our swans Fred and Ginger have become proud parents too. Say hello to your English cousins on my blog.

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  11. How beautiful....God is amazing with HIS creatures...CHEERS! Michele

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  12. love in it's simplest form.
    thanks for sharing the great pics!

    have a blessed week!
    -Tracie

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  13. I wrote a short story about an encounter with a pair of swans I had with my mother about a month before she died that is too long to put here but what surprised to most about it was how huge they were, the male, cob, was taller than I was.

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  14. Hello Willow,

    Obviously, swans are of the moment, what with you and Michael. They always look so proud and graceful.

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  15. I wish I had Swans on the pond!
    Your friends poem is lovely Willow.

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  16. Wonderful! Reminds me of the swans down in Groton (the Queen Mum herself had gifted to the town )some are still there, tho' generations have passed.

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  17. Lovely photographs and words willow - I love swans.

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  18. The swans often come thru Indian Valley in March, sometimes quite close to us-- they didn't this year, but I always love seeing them when they do. Really enjoyed this.

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  19. I love swans, too. They give such a sense of peace. Have seen them singly, in pairs, and as a grown threesome (odd, in many ways), but never with their young. Tremendous pictures. And the poem is perfect.

    The peonies on your sidebar are gorgeous, btw. Jane Kenyon wrote "Peonies at Dusk" which just might suit...

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  20. Beautiful photos and story of the squatters on state property. Love the poem as well. Unusual to have only one cygnet, it may of course be due to the moral attitude f their landlords...

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  21. They are very beautiful, and appreciated, it seems. Life is really good sometimes, isn't it?

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  22. lovely, sweet and beautiful

    You know Willow how I love animal totem meanings - here is Swan from linsdomain.com - seems quite apt for Willow of the Manor

    Grace, Beauty, Power of Self

    The Swan is one of the most powerful
    and ancient of totems.

    As you begin to realize your own true beauty, you unfold the ability to bridge new realms and new powers. Swan can show you how to access the inner beauty within yourself and in others.

    A Swan totem heralds a time of altered states of awareness and the development of intuitive abilities. Swan people have the ability to see the future, and to accept the healing and transformation that is beginning in their lives. Accept your ability and go with the flow. Stop denying you know who is calling when the phone rings. Pay attention to your hunches and inner knowledge, and Swan medicine will work through you.

    The Swan's call teaches the mysteries of song and poetry, for these touch the child and the beauty within.

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  23. Beautiful story of the police swans. A swan family lives in the lagoon behind the little cottage we stay at each summer, there is no better essence of peace than seeing those swans glide through the salt marsh. So comforting.

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  24. aren't those swan chicks just the cutest?

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  25. wow! what a beautiful post. edna st. v. and swans with a baby! my family used to take my bruvver and i down to chester near the border with wales and there were swans there. i couldn't believe how white they were and how big! it is really rare for me to see swans nowadays, but even in pictures they have a grace and a presence about them that leaves me almost breathless. this was a stunning post willow. thanks.

    steven

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  26. these photos are poetry. thank you.

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  27. ohhhh omg!!! so sweet!!!!!!! i have never seen baby swans, so so cute and beautiful!!! thanks so much for sharing.

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  28. Very nice photography and a love story to be sure. I like things like this. I wish we had more wildlife babies. They all have a hard time finding a safe place to call home.

    I left a response about "Flory" but in case you don't find your way back here is what I said...

    I don't know. All of the family that I knew are deceased now. I used to sleep with one of the boys, Bob, while my mom was downstairs helping another Flory into the world. She was a midwife and I was always going somewhere, sleeping with somebody in a strange bed waiting on the baby to cry so we could go home.

    Abraham Lincoln
    My Birds Blog

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  29. What wonderful photos and thanks for the lessons of swans!

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  30. Lovely post and interesting facts. I never quite get over the noise swans make when they take off - it's like a powerful engine revving up.

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  31. I knew that Canada geese mate for life, but I did not know this was true of swans. Great photos of the Love family. I enjoyed the poem. I am going to reread Yeats' "The Wild Swans at Coole."
    Have a great evening.

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  32. I love these beautiful photos of mother and chick er or cygnet? I'm always learning over here at the manor.
    Your bouquet of peonies in the sidebar are lovely!

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  33. Tell the officer who took the photos that he did a wonderful job! Not only is it just precious it is a great photo!

    Thank you for another wonderful post. I so enjoyed it, as do I all your posts, Willow.

    My time had been restricted lately to working for the newspaper. So many graduations in several counties, festivals, and whatever pops on during the day - summer is so hectic for me.

    I try to keep in touch with my favorite bloggers. That means You!

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  34. So beautiful...both the pictures and the words.

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  35. My husband and I used swans as a theme in our wedding ,because of the one mate for life thing. They're also beautiful.

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  36. Ahhh....love the photos and the poem (no surprise, eh?)

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  37. Beautiful! We have swans here at our lake, and they're so elegant with those long necks. The turtles in the lake camp out at the nest every year and it gives me the creeps, because I know they're after those little baby signets.

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  38. Oh I do love those swans! How tender and loving! The poem is wonderful too.

    (And they've got long necks!!)

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  39. oh my how GORGEOUS the photos are! I've never seen a baby swan believe it or not .. til now. Thanks to you Ms. Willow!

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  40. Swans are one of my favourite types of birds, and the photos are lovely, Willow. The poetry fits in so well. Thank you for sharing these.

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  41. wonderful poem, thank you. swans have a beautiful serenity, to sit and watch them is a peaceful thing indeed

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)