Lullaby for a Duckling: Go To Sleep, Little Baby

Monday was a perfect spring day on campus. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the flowers were blooming. Penn State's lovely campus never looks any better than it does in mid-April. Everyone I passed was SMILING, that's how gorgeous a day it was!

I made my way to the duck pond and discovered two treats: 1) there are now at least FOUR painted turtles in the pond (I had only seen two of them last summer, and I showed you a photo of one of them here); and 2) one of the mama ducks has a whole brood of baby ducklings!

The little family of ducks walked all around the duck pond and its environs: tiny, fuzzy ducklings scattered hither and yon, while the mama's soft, constant cackling reminded them to stay close.

And then the mama decided it was time for a nap break, so she settled at the edge of the pond, near the shallows, and called her babies over for their nap. They all toddled over, one by one, while we strangers gathered around the edges and cooed, united in our enjoyment of their absolute cuteness. In the end, there was just the mama and this pile-o-ducklings.

I took many pictures of the ducklings, so it was hard to pick just one shot. But in the end, I chose this one because I liked the totally played-out look of the little fellow in the middle of this photo. It sank down and closed its eyes. Some of the other ducklings scampered over and around it, taking longer to go to sleep. (It almost looks like the sibling just behind it is trying to say whisper something in its ear.)

The soundtrack to this photo is a lullaby for the ducklings. I couldn't pick just one, so today we get TWO songs for our soundtrack. The first is the absolutely awesome Go To Sleep, Little Baby, from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, sung by the outstanding trio of Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Gillian Welch. (Every song on the movie soundtrack is good; I highly recommend it.)

The second is the song Hush, Little Baby, performed by The Bluegrass Babies; it's a fun version and I think watching the video will make you smile. My favorite part is near the end of the video, when the four mice sitting in the upper right corner get out their triangles and join in. Enjoy! :-)