Day 38: At the Edge. Gonna Jump. Gonna Fly.

The painting on this feather is of Otto Lilienthal preparing for a small ornithopter flight on August 16, 1894. He was a ground-breaking German aviator ((Berlin’s busiest airport bears his name) and the first person to make repeated successful gliding flights (he was an inspiration to the Wright brothers).  Because he was gliding, he had to find (and build) high jumping-off places. I find myself at the edge of my own metaphorical cliff (well, perhaps more like a hill with a tower I’ve built—like the sorts of things Lilienthal constructed). The move is here. I load the U-Haul tomorrow and drive the day after. Not completely sure where all of this is going to land me. I’ve got a good glider and I can steer. But a lot depends on the wind and how well I ride it. I haven’t made this jump before.

Length of Feather: 9”
SOLD

Day 37: Gliding to Germany

This is a commissioned Duo Discus glider that is on its way to Germany. My mother was an active member of the American Red Cross when she was in high school and college (I love the photos of her in her uniform. She looks sharp.); She traveled to Poland and Germany in 1968 with the organization. While she was in Poland she took a flight in a glider similar to this. We were talking on the phone this morning about how she’d love to get back to Berlin someday to see the absence of the Berlin Wall. Her father had a half-sister who got stuck on the East side of the wall when it went up. We still have the notebook where he kept track of the care packages of things like sugar, coffee, and clothing (things hard to come by in East Berlin) that he sent. Half of the packages made it through, the rest stolen by postal officials.

Length of Feather: 9”