Valley of the Bird Singer

Many thanks to my good friend, lenaspieltblues, for her assistance with the research and the German. Lena, you made this video possible! Vogelsänger Tal (Foglesong Valley) was the valley of my grandmother's people. Translated from the German, it means "valley of the bird singer" or "valley of the one who sings like a bird." This valley is only a few ridges away from my house. I went out with a camera today, on this beautiful spring day, to see if I could capture something of this valley in honor of my grandmother. She died when my father was 12 so I never got to meet her. She and her mother and grandmother all kept journals and they also saved their letters. I've read their papers at least a hundred times and it feels as if I knew these women personally. **************************************** Translated from the journal of BES --- "This valley was tended by my father and my mother birthed her children here. I flowered and grew here, a girl turned into woman by the sun and wind. He splashed water on my bare feet and laughed, and I fell hard in love. He left in a buckboard but came back for me, a woman adored. We rode away from the church, friends singing, white flowers in my hair. No bride was ever happier and rising slowly, I looked back at the only home I'd ever known, hazing into the blueness of the west ridge, my mother's tears catching the sun like broken mirrors. The valley of the bird singer, once my true home, now left finally for a wild lad from Scotland, a ...