For many years I listened to the radio show “The Natural World” on my morning commute. The Natural World was broadcast on KLCC and hosted by John Cooney, who would travel around the Valley exploring the world around us. Within his broadcasts John always included the sounds of our natural world in the background — usually birds chirping and water flowing.

In November I learned that John was in hospice. The news caused me to reflect on the inspiration he had given me over the years. Of course I was inspired to explore the places he had been, however I also realized that John had inspired me creatively as well.

At that very time, I was working on a project for a class at LCC that involved doing my own recordings, and I had purposefully chosen a project that involved recording birds song.

Using these sounds I created an “audio card” to share with John, thanking him for the years of inspiration that he provided. Not knowing John or his circumstances, I created the audio card quickly and sent it to him as soon as I could.

Now, with my class was over, I have remixed the audio and uploaded the podcast to SoundCloud. I also created an accompanying image which I think shows the merging of nature and sound.