What the Birds Know

It's no secret how much I love living in Salem. We have so many amenities, and among them is the Peabody Essex Museum. A couple of months ago, a group of local volunteers started collecting saplings and working together to build what seemed like a giant bird's nest in the middle of downtown. What they were doing is collaborating with artist Patrick Dougherty to install the PEM's first outdoor sculptural commission. After watching the installation process, I finally got to visit What the Birds Know, also known as Stickwork.

What Birds Know was surprisingly beautiful. The installation will be up for a year, so it will be interesting to see how it responds to our New England winter. Sadly for me, one bird apparently knew the exact moment to poop so that it would land on me. I've been told this is supposed to bring good luck, but so far I'm unconvinced.