the bird tree

I really want to record this dream so I will remember it.

I dreamed my body had become very large and round and I felt very unhappy about it.

As I walked, I came upon a gathering of all my former school teachers and some children running around in a field. I noticed a big, old tree stump and walked over to it.

I was dismayed to see one teacher who had really upset me many times during my school years. I ignored her questions and walked over to the tree stump.

It was about six feet high and four feet in diameter. I peered inside and saw all kinds of birds I've always wanted to see. Rare and unusual and beautiful birds. Most eye-catching was a giant hummingbird with a brilliant red breast. It shimmered in the light. There were also big, plump wrens with delicate black and white stripes. I knew there was an unlimited variety of wonderful birds to be found here.

At the top was a golden eagle. It was nesting there, like the queen of the birds. When I got my camera out to take her picture, she got up and flew up above us in a great circle. As she opened her massive wings I saw there were actually eight wings. Six major ones and two smaller ones.

I pressed the shutter down on the camera, hoping for multiple shots and let go as she settled back down on the stump. I then realized that my camera battery was dead and I did not have a second charged one in my bag.

The teacher who bothered me was so busy talking she couldn't see this great creature. Someone called her away (thank you!) and I could look closer at the birds.

In the bottom of the stump was a secret world like a dollhouse for fairies, except little animals were playing in there. A tiny little girl walked up to me and asked if she could play with them. Of course, I said and she went inside. Mice pulled her in a little wheeled cart. I really wanted to take a video of it. Her parents told me the eagle was flying again and I looked up to see those enormous wings overhead. They made a gorgeous wooshing sound in the air.

Help return Dina Babbit's paintings

Dina Babbitt was a prisoner at Auschwitz during WWII. Her life was spared because she could draw and paint. Instead of going to the gas chambers, she was set to work painting portraits of various people the SS were conducting experiments on. Dina survived the camp and became a professional artist, living in the United States.

A few years ago, someone found six of Dina's paintings from Auschwitz. They were given to the Auschwitz Museum. The museum contacted Dina to tell them they had the paintings and asked for her help in identifying the people in them.

These paintings are deeply significant to Dina. They represent that fact that she is alive today. She has asked the museum to return the paintings to her. With everything in her life taken from her during her time at Auschwitz, these paintings are the only part of herself left behind.

The museum refuses to give back the paintings. I wrote to them asking for them to be returned to Dina and their stance seemed to be that a museum's collection is more important than the healing that the paintings could bring to any one person's life.

If this story interests you, feel free to read more details at the sites listed below, and contact the museum yourself [muzeum@auschwitz.org.pl] to see if you can help move this along. Given the purpose of the museum, you would think they could show copies of the paintings (with Dina's permission) and return the originals to her.

Dina now has terminal cancer. Her remaining days are uncertain. Imagine if she could have this last wish.

Resources
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1006/return_paintings.php3?printer_friendly
http://freedinasart.wordpress.com/
Facebook Group: Return Dina Babbitt's Paintings
There's also an excellent interview with Dina on CBC radio (search podcasts)
Also see Return Dina Babbitt's Paintings group on Facebook.

what will Obama do?

From an interview with John Robbins from The Fresh Network:

"When Jimmy Carter was president he installed solar panels on the White House. So he personally was making an effort to live more sustainably but more importantly everything that happens in the White House is a statement to the country. Reagan took the solar panels down, and Bush senior kept them down. Under Clinton, Gore put them back up but when Bush Junior arrived he took them down again!"

You can read the entire interview here:
http://www.fresh-network.com/acatalog/how-to-live-sustainably.html