The end of one year..

..and soon the beginning of another...many good wishes to all the friends of the Aviary for the New Year. May it bring joy and beautiful moments to all ..

xx
Lea

About Libraries

The journeys I have made are few, so my good friend Noa, who is a passionate traveler constantly surprises me with information about the unknown places he has visited. Today we walked together, conversing about the Library's new keeper. (Old miss Philomena Biblio had stepped down as Librarian due to her failing eyesight, poor dear kept storing the Deadliest Poisons in the Dearest Possessions section, which upset many an old lady when looking for old beloved pie recipes)
Anyway, Noa talked about libraries he had visited that were very different to ours, where the books that were stored were not personal journal entries of the inhabitants of the place, but were written by a few select people! I was dumbfounded! How could a handful of people possibly know what the world is about?...as it looks so different to each individual human being! How much knowledge would be lost! Our Library stored all the personal journals of every single person who ever lived or visited St Francis...above is one of my entries to such a journal that is now stored hopefully under the right section, in the Library.

Alone I write and paint...

Nefrine and Jana brighten up the darkest skies with their luminous feathers

  

Sometimes the world can seem a huge scary place to live in...even on my small Island...Within my garden and myself I find my sanctuary, where I am safe to dream and write and paint...

Selene, the Dawn Bluebird

Proud Selene and her tiny, sepia spotted eggs

I usually wake up when dawn breaks...even if I wished to sleep more it would be impossible as the bird songs at dawn are the loudest and most melodious throughout the day.
Selene is the first to break the silence... if I did not  know any better I'd say she stays up all night waiting for the first ray of sun to burst through the dark blues of the sky... Today though things were a little different, as Selene did not utter a tweet...Worried obviously by the overwhelming silence at daybreak, I rushed over to her nest to find her busily arranging her newly laid eggs with her beak and bursting with motherly pride...

Prologue

Yesterday 5:42 p.m....under the lemon tree...one of the many bunnies that made their appearance in April popped into the garden to say a quick hello...and probably to admire Yasmin, with her black and white feathers...

I do get the words journal and journey mixed up frequently... probably because I never go on a journey without one...Not that I get away from the Garden very often - too much to do! None the less I do believe life to be a journey in it self. And a journey is less interesting when you have no one to share it with...Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.

 Lilymoon's Note:

Lea lives on the island of St Francis, one of the many tiny isles that make up an otherworldly mosaic on Lazuli Ocean... Aged only 13, from the day her young hands were strong enough to open the heavy lock on the door to the Aviary Garden, her work has been to take care of the Aviary and its colourful residents...Now a grown woman, when not taking care of day to day chores she spends her time studying the nature of birds and her environment. These drawings are from her personal collection of notebooks...essentially fragments of her feelings and her world.