Discover Top Posts Tagged with #eb white

#eb white #1950s #letters

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter--the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these trembling cities the greatest is the last--the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh yes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.

-E.B. White, Here is New York (1948)

#quote #nyc #eb white

Life-List Series #7: TRSW

Common Name: Trumpeter Swan Species: Cygnus buccinator

Description: A large white swan with a red lip and black bill Motto: Have trumpet. Need work.

Conservation: Least Concern Range: Alaska and Western Canada and north-central United States during the breeding season, and coastal British Columbia and central United States during the nonbreeding season and migration Habitat: Marshes, ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, and other freshwater bodies of water, occasionally bordering wheat and corn fields during migration

Food: Grasses, corn, wheat, grains, tubers, aquatic plants, some invertebrates, and very occasionally fish and fish eggs Breeding Info: Loosely monogamous, single-brood, biparental leafy mound nesters with clutches of 1-9 eggs Sound: ko-HOOOH

Ornithologist's Notes: So, obviously, these guys look incredibly similar to the Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus), which makes sense as they're sister species. Where the Tundra is a species with some variation in size, the Trumpeter Swan is HUGE. The largest swan species in North America, these guys are called Trumpeters because of the iconic noise they make. And I'll get to that in a second, don't you worry. Anyway, the image above is an approximation of their relative size, but just know that the Tundra is significantly smaller than the Trumpeter, and the Mute is...close in size to the Trumpeter. I'll rig up a comparison image one of these days, probably when I get through all of the Anseriformes on my life list.

Life List Notes: I love Trumpeter Swans. They're big, they're beautiful, and they happen to be one of the birds that inspired my love of birds as an adult. Thank you to E.B. White, and the book The Trumpet of the Swan, which was one of my favorites as a kid. Looking back on it now, it has some...issues, admittedly, and it's very old-fashioned, but I loved it all the same. It actually got me into jazz music (the main swan is named Louis) too, and I ended up going to Cornell University for my undergrad, which was E.B. White's alma mater, so it means a lot to me! And that's why it was incredible to see these guys (kinda out of their range) in central New York, right in White's stomping grounds, for the first time many years ago. Big, loud, gorgeous, memorable...I love 'em. Plus, it's the last swan I'll be drawing for this, because I haven't seen Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus) yet, and need to do more birding outside of the USA.

Previous: TUSW

Next: MUDU

The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the song of summer’s ending, a sad, monotonous song. “Summer is over and gone,” they sang. “Over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying.”

The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year—the days when summer is changing into fall—the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.

Everybody heard the song of the crickets. Avery and Fern Arable heard it as they walked the dusty road. They knew that school would soon begin again. The young geese heard it and knew that they would never be little goslings again…. Mrs. Zuckerman, at work in the kitchen, heard the crickets, and a sadness came over her, too. “Another summer gone,” she sighed….

“Summer is over and gone,” repeated the crickets. “How many nights till frost?” sang the crickets. “Good-bye, summer, good-bye, good-bye!”

… A little maple tree in the swamp heard the cricket song and turned bright red with anxiety.

~“Charlotte’s Web,” E.B. White

#e b white #eb white #charlottes web #charlotte’s web #it’s fangirling not obsession #e.b. white #charlotte's web #in every time & season

E.B. White, On Dachshunds:

"There is a book out called Dog Training Made Easy, and it was sent to me the other day by the publisher, who rightly guessed that it would catch my eye. I like to read books on dog training. Being the owner of dachshunds, to me a book on dog discipline becomes a volume of inspired humor. Every sentence is a riot. Some day, if I ever get a chance, I shall write a book, or warning, on the character and temperament of the Dachshund and why he can’t be trained and shouldn’t be. I would rather train a striped zebra to balance an Indian club than induce a dachshund to heed my slightest command. For a number of years past I have been agreeably encumbered by a very large and dissolute dachshund named Fred. Of all the dogs whom I have served I’ve never known one who understood so much of what I say or held it in such deep contempt. When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes. He even disobeys me when I instruct him in something that he wants to do. And when I answer his peremptory scratch at the door and hold the door open for him to walk through, he stops in the middle and lights a cigarette, just to hold me up." - E.B. White

#dachshunds #eb white #much weenscussion on the blog this evening #but i cannot sum them up better than the master did here #(my battered little copy of strunk and white is like a religious text for me)#every line of this is a biblical truth #you don't train them #you can only negotiate

Children’s books with Winnie the Pooh vibes

1. Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik

It is a collection of stories about a bear cub doing various woodland activities and adventures with his family. Cozy and cute, with short, simple sentences. Gives a childlike perspective similar to Winnie the Pooh stories. Maurice Sendak does the illustrations (he illustrated Where the Wild Things Are).

2. Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel

Animals doing various fun activities together. Short, simple sentences that give a childlike point of view similar to Winnie the Pooh. Vintage-y illustrations.

3. Tales of Oliver Pig/Tales of Amanda Pig by Jean Van Leeuwen

Stories of piglets doing human activities. Same short, simple sentences as the others, giving the same childlike perspective. Earlier copies of Opiver Pig are illustrated by Arnold Lobel (who wrote and illustrated Frog and Toad).

4. Teddy & Co. by Cynthia Voigt

Stories of a group of stuffed animals having various adventures. Some of them have similar personalities to Winnie the Pooh characters, and some are different.

5. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond

A bear having various adventures in the human world. He bumbles through learning about various human things and has a delightful personality like Winnie the Pooh. He also loves orange marmalade, similar to Winnie the Pooh’s love of honey.

6. The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White

An animal doing human things to make his way in the world. I think the illustrations are what make it Winnie the Pooh-esque to me, because the stories are more cohesive than the others, which are more sequential or just a compilation.