28 August 2005
Lovely Leigh on Sea. We went back again, if you can believe it. This time, we rode the c2c train from Fenchurch Street (only 42 minutes -- it takes me that long to get from here (London) to Highbury and Islington (also London)!), and we took the mermaid princess with us (one would assume her natural home is the sea, after all).
It was high tide, so I was able to capture photographic proof that all you American wise-guys should think twice before declaring something an empty lot, ready for retail harvesting. You see, every few hours, it goes from this to this. A side by side comparison:
While in Leigh, I bought the fabric for this bag for my mom (who shouldn't look if she wants to be surprised!). She asked me to make a bag like mine (which I love), only bigger. I'm not used to working on this slightly larger scale, so I hope my mom will like it.
Oh, how sad. The birds have a 16" strip of fabric in their cage, and Frankie finally managed to get it to the nest, after hours of work. I tried to take a picture of it hanging out of the nest, but it fell down the second before the shutter went. Sad. Oh well -- it keeps them busy and stops them from trying to rip apart the paper that lines the floor of the cage.
Speaking of things ridiculous and bird-related, Frankie and Ira have become the umpteenth animals to train me. I feed their never-ending hunger for nesting materials by sharing my fabric scraps with them, and we've gotten to the point where I can hold a scrap through the bars, and one of them hops over to take it from me.
Ira, in particular, has figured out that 'the lady' means 'coveted scraps.' He hops over to the nearest perch when I stand by their cage, and he get very excited if he can see my hands. You might've thought that birds don't have different expressions, but he leans down and quickly inspects my hands with one eye and then the other (silly side-of-the-head eyes).
It's sweet, really, but the problem lies with feeding them treats. They don't like anything I put in their millet clip (except millet, of course), but they're happy to eat from my fingers. I wind up standing by the cage with my arm held up while they leisurely snack, taking turns and occasionally going for a sip of water. With any luck, they'll be happy to eat their treats out of one of the empty food dishes once they know the treat's not evil, though I'm sure they're fine with the current situation.
Wow, gorgeous photographs as always, Anna!
And do take comfort that eing bird-trained is infinitely better than being bird-brained!
posted by Laura at August 29, 2005 03:47 PM