The sea-wash never ends. The sea-wash repeats, repeats. Only old songs? Is that all the sea knows? Only the old strong songs? Is that all? The sea-wash repeats, repeats.
[Sea-Wash by Carl Sandburg originally appeared in the February 1920 issue of Poetry magazine. Listen to Sea-Wash at the Poetry Foundation.]
13th March 2012
On this day, six years ago, Algy’s adventures began… here on Tumblr @adventuresofalgy
As you can see, Algy was a much younger bird in those days. Like most birds, Algy’s appearance was somewhat different when he first hatched out of the egg, but in due course he acquired his adult plumage 🙂
Even as a very young chick, however, Algy loved poetry, and he loved the sea, which washes up on the beach beside his home in the wild west Highlands of Scotland. So his very first post for The Adventures of Algy featured a photo of him perching on a rock in the surf close to his home, reciting Carl Sandburg’s poem Sea-Wash.
Algy has been sharing his adventures on Tumblr for six years, and although they are now published on other platforms too, Tumblr is his first love and his true home, and the place where he finds the majority of his friends. Over time, Algy has acquired many thousands of friends, from all around the world, and it has been his great pleasure to get to know you, to share this Tumblr world with you, and to see all your wonderful images and your unique points of view.
Algy hopes that this happy situation will continue for a very long time to come 🙂
He sends his fluffiest thanks and hugs to you all – for your friendship, your “likes” and comments and reblogs, your enthusiasm, and for brightening his life with your own wonderful images and thoughts. He loves you all, and so now…
Let’s Party!
Algy’s Amazing Tumblr Birthday Party is just about to start over on his sideblog @lovefromalgy 🙂
The party will include a fantastic exhibition of images and greetings from Algy’s friends, a very special offer on all Algy’s books, and many fluffy surprises…
Some of Algy’s kind Tumblr friends have expressed concern for his welfare in the horrible January weather experienced in the West Highlands of Scotland, and his friend @skyoverhamburg suggested a fluffy scarf, so Algy wanted to reassure his friends that he does indeed have a fine wee bonnet and shawl to wear when necessary, as modelled here by Algy himself for an illustration in his latest book The Magical Midwinter Star. And when the weather gets really nasty, Algy sneaks into his assistant’s house and snuggles up on the sofa with his fluffy friends 🙂
Algy hopes that all his friends will keep warm and well in the northern winter, and sends you all extra fluffy hugs to help warm you up xoxo
[Signed copies of the hardback editions of all Algy’s books are on offer at reduced prices from Algy’s own web shop during January 2017.]
What? One of Algy’s famous Tumblr parties with all his Tumblr friends, and lots of fun and fluffy surprises, treats, and special offers connected with his new book 🙂
How to join in? Submit one or more images, or post on your own blog and send Algy a link – your own original work, please. Details below… And of course come along and enjoy the fun on the day, and late into the night 🙂
Submission details…
Submissions can be made at any time from now until the end of the party. Here’s the link to the Submit form again:
Send all your fluffy friends, beautiful images to celebrate midwinter and the magical midwinter star, and any images of – or inspired by – Algy’s new book, The Magical Midwinter Star 🙂
Photographs and art work are both very welcome, but only submit your own work, please.
Or you can post on your own blog and send Algy a link. Please be sure to send him that link, as he won’t necessarily see your post, even if it’s tagged. (Tumblr does not always work as it should…)
Algy sends all his lovely Tumblr friends around the world many wingfuls of fluffy Christmas hugs from the West Highlands of Scotland, and wishes you a very happy and peaceful holiday weekend xoxo
And Algy has a present for you all – the Kindle ebook edition of his new bookThe Magical Midwinter Star is FREE TO DOWNLOAD ALL WEEKEND, 24th and 25th December. Suitable for children of all ages from 5 to 95 🙂 Don’t miss it if you would like some joyful and unique midwinter holiday reading, direct from the wild west coast of the Scottish Highlands…
Algy is posting this illustration from his new book especially for all his dear friends in Berlin and other parts of Germany.
He is so terribly sad that a tiny minority of human beings seem to be such cruel monsters, and they make the world appear such a dark place. But Algy never forgets that the vast majority of humans are really kind – including so many of his dear Tumblr friends – and that there are far, far more people in the world who go out of their way to do good and help others than there are who deliberately do harm.
Algy hopes that even in these times of darkness, you will always see the light that continues to shine. Algy loves you all, and sends you lots of extra special fluffy hugs xoxo
p.s. Algy apologises for using the “photographers on tumblr” tag for an image which is not photographic, but many of his German Tumblr friends follow that tag and he wants to make sure that they see this post 🙂
FREE KINDLE EBOOK DOWNLOAD ALL DAY SUNDAY 18TH DECEMBER
Algy is delighted to announce that the Kindle ebook version of his new book, The Magical Midwinter Star, has just been published and will be FREE to download all day tomorrow, Sunday 18th December – just in time for you to check it out to see whether you want to include a printed copy of the book in someone’s Christmas stocking 🙂 The offer applies to all Amazon sites around the world.
Because the Kindle book is brand new, Amazon have not yet linked it to the print versions, so please go to your local Amazon site on Sunday and search for The Magical Midwinter Star. Algy will post some direct links tomorrow.
As this story is about a midwinter celebration and is suitable for all winter holidays, Algy wants to share it with you over the holiday season. So the Kindle ebook will also be FREE to download over the Christmas and New Year weekends – on Saturday and Sunday 24th and 25th December, and on Saturday 31st December and Sunday 1st January 🙂
On St. George’s Day, Algy tries to take special care of dragons, to make sure that they come to no harm. As he flew over the great sea loch, he noticed that a spiny sea serpent was struggling to make its way back out to sea against the tide, so Algy watched from the stony beach to make sure that the dragon managed to return safely to the ocean 🙂
Algy perched on a rock and admired his reflection in the thin film of water which the receding tide had left to cover the damp sand. He was in high spirits, as his assistant had just made her first sale featuring Algy’s image on Redbubble, so he opened his beak and sang a happy fluffy bird song to the seagulls and other sea birds who were going about their business on the beach.
Algy wishes you all a very happy Sunday, and hopes you will have good reason to sing a happy song too 🙂
At last… Algy is making his debut on a range of colourful merchandise and prints at Redbubble!
Algy hopes to add a lot more images of himself over time – both illustrations and photographs – but he thought he should start at the very beginning, and this is how he arrived in the land of his adventures 🙂
Each year on 17th March, Algy dyes his hair green in honour of St. Patrick’s Day, as many of his friends are at least partly Irish 🙂
As he dozed happily on top of the dunes, watching the Quiet Burn down below winding its way slowly across its sandy bed to the sea, Algy noticed that all the winter-brown grasses had turned bright green too. He dreamed that he had flown across the sea to the Emerald Isle, which was not so very far away, and was reclining on the green grass there, watching the Irish skylarks dancing reels in the sky as they sang their lovely songs in Gaeilge…
Algy wishes all his Irish and part-Irish friends around the world a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day today xo
The Adventures of Algy 