Life As A Hummingbird
I eased behind the huge mass of nesting material and took a firm hold of
several strands, I then pulled back, quickly, to pull them free. The jarring
concussion, which followed, took me by suprise. I tried to get my bearings as
the ground rushed up to meet me and recovered about two feet from the ground.
After that near miss I climbed back to the altitude I had been at and started
searching for my tormentor. I realized that I had grabbed hold of a human's hair
and that he had not been happy about it. He was rubbing his head and throwing
immense volumes of noise at me. Hummingbirds make mistakes just like everyone
else and more than most when trying to build and protect a nest.
I decided that I should look elsewhere and settled on a lovely little spider
web. I dove toward it, feeling the thrum of my wings and hearing the whoosh of
the wind flowing past. The web glowed gold in the morning sunlight and dew drops
hanging from it shone like liquid fire. A gnat flew too close and I captured it
with a snap of my long tongue. Snaring a long piece of the silk, I immediately
ascended, looking for my tree. My mate was awaiting my return, and was soon
rewarded as I pulled up to the carefully camouflaged nest. I passed the silken
strand over to her and left to find some food.
The humans are very good to us and hang tremendous reservoirs of nectar from
various limbs and rafters. The containers come in all shapes and colors but they
all have red bases. I headed for one of these and saw one of my rival males. He
instantly attacked, chirping his anger at my intrusion. I counterattacked and we
began a dogfight. Up and down, we came, zooming into space and plummeting to the
ground. Although he was a willing and able opponent, I eventually wore him down,
and he then left the scene. I held a precise hover as my tongue formed a tube,
then I began slurping the sweet nectar from the feeder. Although I only weigh
about one half of an once, I consume twice that much food every day. I captured
a dozen mosquitoes on my way back to the nest and then sat on the nest to keep
the eggs warm while my mate went in search of food.
Sitting in the nest is a luscious feeling. The eggs are warm and the inside
The sky was a chill gray and a startling white gold sun, like some strange potentate from the east, was rising beyond the black woods that surrounded Timberboro. (82)
and European society scrambled to find a cure to this mysterious disease. This study ponders the effects of medieval methods of treatment on this once ravaging disease.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, medicine was hardly the enlightened profession it is today. Medical practices were often barbaric, employing methods that had been used for centuries, yielding little or no results and often killing the patient with a different affliction than the original ailment. Leeching (or blood letting), purgation, poor liquid diets, and cold water dousing were common practices as late as the 1850's. Even after newer, more effective methods of medical treatment had been introduced, many of the physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries hesitated to use them. Fearing the loss of their reputations, they hung on to superstitious beliefs, doubting the effectiveness of su...
...rst option is following the path of Rosaura and being selfish and conventional. This option is not advisable in today’s world as one needs to be open-minded to survive in this world. However, if this path is followed, one will have to face many miseries in life. The second option would be to break all the social and cultural barriers, like Gertrudis, and follow the command of their own heart. This may lead to happiness but eventually one becomes lonely as the society loses respect for such people. Above all else, the third option is to maintain a good balance between the first two options and follow the middle path, like Tita. This means that one should not totally restrict them self to traditions and customs, but at the same not cross all the customary boundaries and be unconventional. The middle path ensures stability in one’s life and according to me is the safest.
Medicine in the middle ages was basic during a time when there were terrible illnesses, limited resources, and lack of medical knowledge. Despite not having access to all the advanced technology, medical knowledge, and amazing resources as we have today, they managed to treat some illnesses and diseases. The physicians were not able to figure out what caused the illnesses. There was not any access to antibiotics in the middle ages, which made it nearly impossible to cure the more critical diseases.
Daily life was occasionally exceedingly hard to fathom. Medicine was immensely limited, but some methods were tested in hopes of finding a secure lead to restoring health. That fact that there were no antibiotics during the middle ages is what turned the hard times into the absolute most difficult times. ...
I awoke before the first rays of sunlight had passed through the dew-covered trees to the west today. It had rained the evening before, and the smell of wet leaves and grass was still lingering in the air.
There weren’t many trained doctors in Europe in the Middle Ages . In Paris in 1274 there were only 8 doctors and about 40 people practising medicine without any official training and they didn’t really understand how the body worked and why people got sick. When making a diagnosis doctors might consult medical books, astrological charts and urine samples. Some doctors believed disease was caused by bad smells or small worms, or the position of the planets or stars. They also charged very high fees, so only the rich could afford them.
Gasping in terror I awoke and shot to my feet. He was gone, but where, how long had I been here and ...
Bumba was exhausted from all his vomiting. He sat and watched as
No, it wasn’t out of euphoria, no it was secretive as I let the bulletproof fabric descend down her back, creeping down her dress making a trail along her spinal cord. Secretly, moving my hand to the product, I positioned my hand right atop of it, gliding the item to slip to her hip bone. Withdrawing my hand, I placed it upon her cheek slyly.
Closer and closer to the calm water, I began sinking deeper in the sand. It was comforting, the silence, tranquility, and warmth of the faint sun. There is a slight breeze, warm, but cold and lonely. I could smell the scent of fish blowing through my hair and body. The sun was still fading, slowly but surely the day was almost over. About half of it is gone now. I could see shades of blue, red, purple, and pinkish-yellow. They were mixed with puffy clouds that lined the beginning of the sky and the end of the water. I noticed the darker shades on the bottom of the lower clouds.
passed by me, the whirlwind scooped up a dormant pile of leaves lying next to
When I took a peek, I gaped cross-eyed at the foreign object jutting out of my nose and smiled. I don’t remember what state of mind I was in when I walked into the parlor, but I left victorious!
In other hand, sound or music could cure one’s stress. Different people deal with different music; some people like rock metal, pop, soul music, jazz and so on. Music could let people’s mind feel calm as well relax. Listening to music can have a very relaxing effect on people’s minds and bodies, especially slow or quiet classical music. This type of music can have a beneficial effect on dealing stress. Relaxing is a way most important to settle down the emotion; when emotion calm and relax, stress will be gone away. As music can absorb our attention, it acts as a distraction at the same time it helps to explore emotions. This means it can be a great aid to meditation, helping to prevent the mind wandering. Greenberg Jerrold give example of how music make one clam, “When people are still baby in their mother’s womb, the heart beat always affect them through which it has bring calm and protective to them.” (2004, p.199). Hence, a sound, a rhythm, a beat has naturally direct send message to one’s mind that bring him calm, relax, safe just like a baby under protection of a mother.