Friday, April 28, 2006

An exaltation

of larks.

A charm of hummingbirds.

Who thinks of these?

I love them.

I was just visiting AmyAble's blog. She wants to do a Carnival of Mothering but would like to find another name for it. I suggested sifting through some of the collectives used for animals (not that we mothers are animals, mind you ....) But some of these are just so charming. Other favorites:

a murmuration of starlings
a kindle of kittens
a congress of owls
a convocation of eagles
a descent of woodpeckers
a shrewdness of apes (no, not for naming moms, just noted here for the clever factor)

See this extensive list for more.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My Maria just read a book called, Because of Anya by her current favorite author Margaret Peterson Haddix. She liked it so much she insisted I read it. It is about a little girl with alopecia areata. (I noticed Amy had a link to it) I thought your girls might like to read the book.

Alice Gunther said...

These really are great! I especially love "a murmuration of starlings."

Karen Edmisten said...

Thanks for the book recommendation, Andrea. I'll look for it. I think Anne would be especially interested.

Alice, I love "murmuration" too.