eye of the beholder

i opened a book the other day and this feather spilled out. i smiled. i had found this guinea fowl feather in the gutter of our village in southern france. it’s not a feather i would ever come across in minnesota. our village in languedoc had an abattoir (poultry slaughter house) on the outskirts of town–it likely came from there. (the french love guinea hen.) regardless of it’s prosaic origins, i felt fortunate. it’s a beautiful feather. out of the ordinary. a lucky feather. i placed my newly re-found lucky charm on my desk for the past several days.

just now, i googled guinea fowl to double check the spelling of guinea for this post, and saw that i can buy 100 guinea fowl feathers, just like mine, on eBay for $6.99. so, lol, maybe not so unique. but mine is still special.

guinea fowl feather