Today, Katya excitedly enlightened me, she had
spied a hedgehog* in the garden. Bursting with the news, she had come running
into the house and up the stairs where her parent was busy working: ‘Mommy,’
she exploded, ‘I saw a rat outside!’ (Whoa, we’re talking full-blown Alice in
Wonderland stuff here!)
*Derived from Middle English, heyghoge
– heyg (‘hedge’), because
it frequents hedgerows, and hoge (‘hog’) because of its piglike snout, hedgehogs a)
are a
relatively primitive group of placental mammals, b) have changed
little over the last 15 million years, c) are NOT rodents but come from
a different family generally shrew-like in form, with long snouts and short
tails (in fact, share a distant ancestry with shrews), d) are primarily nocturnal,
e) are omnivorous, feeding on insects, snails, frogs and toads, snakes, bird
eggs, carrion, mushrooms, grassroots and berries, f) have about 5,000 to 6,500
quills on the average, g) have a gestation period of six to seven weeks, h)
hibernate, when required, and i) are fairly vocal and communicate through a
combination of grunts, snuffles and/or squeals, depending on the species (of
which there are 17). These curious little creatures are also known by the names urchin, hedgepig and furze-pig. (By any other name, do
they smell as sweet?!)
From my perch in the sky, I saw land in the lawn
of my garden a bird I had not seen before and did not recognize. I brought my
binoculars over with me, and keep them hanging by their strap, handy to whip
out at a moment’s notice – so got a good look before it disappeared into
someone else’s garden. I spent a good long time searching online to see if I
could identify it – to no avail. Just now, as I was doing my usual back and
forth to Synonym.com, what should I see but a clue: a small interactive ad with
the pictures of a jay, a partridge and a brambling. And what was particularly
pronounced about the jay? It was the very bird I’d been hunting for! (Oh, man,
that Thesaurus.com – what a great resource!) Turns out it was a Eurasian jay*,
very different from the old familiar scrub jay I’ve often seen in my backyard,
so didn’t recognize it at all – in particular that distinct patch of blue on its
lower wing and striking black and white markings on its rump.
*Eurasian jays a) are part of the family Corvidae
and, as such, are closely related to other corvids, namely crows, ravens, and
magpies (the birds I primarily see AND hear many times every single day), b) have
a vast range that extends from Western Europe to southeast Asia and even into
northwestern Africa, from tropical wet forests to the long, cold nights of the Arctic
to the high temperatures of the most arid deserts, at elevations from sea-level
to high mountains, and exist just as easily on islands as in crowded urban areas,
c) are omnivorous and have high cerebral capacity, helping them to take
advantage of numerous opportunities for feeding, d) as mentioned, are smart,
with excellent memory, curiosity, sociability, and opportunists – able to find
solutions and solve problems as much in the wild as in laboratory experiments,
e) are monogamous with strong pair-bonding during a season, and often for life,
and as such, with their social organization, regularly defend their territory. Living in close proximity, and having had a
connection since time immemorial, this family of birds has become very popular
in human culture. They are found in folklore, legends, literature and a variety
of artistic expressions. Their voices are used to accompany hard images
associated with difficult situations such as terror, distress, and death. Crows
are frequently used as a symbol of death in literature and art. According to
Bernd Heinrich (Mind of the Raven), in addition to the close physical association
of corvids and humans, this link was forged a long time ago, as he argues that ‘the
close relationship between ravens and wolves has been replaced by a bond with
humans, the new dominant drive-hunting predator.’
Today, Saturday, I attended two church functions –
okay, okay, admittedly not LDS Church functions, but functions, nonetheless! I
started out at St Stephens Anglican Church, where they were having a Food and
Craft Fair from 10-noon – with promises of ‘bread, chutneys, chocolate treats,
lemon curd, marmalade (can anything be better than the 59p lime marmalade I get
from Aldi?), jams (or the tart cherry jam for 79p from the same place?!),
knitted goods, hand-stitched delights, Christmas cards and tree ornaments,
decorations, paintings, wood crafts, jewellery, . . . and much, much more!’ Who
could miss out on that? Not me!
This is the church where Leah goes for Stay and
Play (refer to DAY 103), so I have been there several times before myself. It
is literally two blocks straight up the hill from my house, on Selly Park Road.
(Oh, I just LOVE my central location.) I found out about it from a little flyer
on the kitchen table near the spot where Myfanwy eats her breakfast. I asked
Leah if she was planning on going, assuming she was, but their day was already
pretty full. (Well, I wasn’t missing an opportunity to see, smell,
taste, and touch all those things!) Leah had also indicated that she didn’t think
there’d be that much going on – just a small fair.
Well, yes, it was a small fair, she was right – but
a fun fair! With Leah’s thoughts on the subject, I had gone with pretty low
expectations. One of the first persons I bumped into was Diana (well, besides
Libby, that is – Leah’s friend, the curate‘s wife), whom I know from church
(our church – the Harborne Ward). Diana is a counselor in Primary, plus her
little boy, George, is one of our regular special friends in the nursery. Diana
also attends Stay & Play, so it wasn’t unexpected that she’d turn up there.
She said her husband, Adam, was working that day so she and her daughter, Poppy,
and George were out for the morning on their own. It was through Diana that I
began to see the possibilities of hidden treasures at the Food and Craft Fair.
She showed me a small stained glass tree ornament she had gotten, as well as a
really precious knitted teddy (name for any stuff animal) that Poppy was
clutching tightly. They headed for home and I went exploring.
I met a lot of especially nice
people who I really enjoyed chatting with – plus there was a stained glass bee
that had my name all over on it, as did several of those little teddies. Then,
as if that weren’t enough, I came upon this booth whose concept I really think
was clever: everyone donates that kind of ‘adorable’ gift aunt so&so or
your nana gives you – that you really don’t want but don’t have the heart to
throw out either; then these unused items are put up for sale. (You know, ‘one
man’s junk is another man’s treasure.’) Well, you should just see the treasure
I found – something I have always wanted but didn’t feel right about spending
the money for. One of those clocks like the National Audubon Society makes
available (Gardner’s World, with crystal movement), where a different songbird
chirps the hour. (Having put in the batteries, and read the instruction sheet,
it is cool to see that they’ve thought of everything: it doesn’t sing from 10
at night until 6 in the morning.) And for 5 pounds, no less – brand-spanking new,
too, still in its box and everything. Wow! (check it out below)
After seeing all there was to see – and sampling a
couple of the bakery goods – I walked up to the Selly Oak Methodist Church on
Langleys Road. (This church is
definitely more than two blocks up the hill from me, but that’s okay. If I can
find it (that’s the real thing), distance is really not an issue.) I had picked
up this flyer somewhere, can’t remember for sure where, I’ve had it for SO
long. They were having a Suitcase Rummage – the premise being people set up
their items (new or used) either in or surrounding a suitcase, and people,
well, rummage through it. According to the flyer, addressing the sellers, this
is NO car boot sale, so presentation is a must! Actually, as far as I was
concerned, a car boot sale was EXACTLY what it was – my favorite thing! Not
only lots of goodies, but more friendly people (I don’t know just what’s come
over me, but I sure have been enjoying conversing with people – everywhere I
go! Joking and kidding around, asking questions, sharing answers – it is just the
most satisfying of things!) I picked up a lovely carpetbag from a friendly lady
about my age, and her daughter – really a piece of luggage, I suppose (I am
going to make good use of it!); three necklaces from a convivial gentleman who
was a lot of fun to banter with; plus a vintage leather wallet with brass
fittings. (The baby dress and children’s game are from a charity shop I passed
on the way between the two churches. All in all I spend less than £20 – the bee
and the bag by far the most expensive items.)
This evening Martin took two of his best girls out
to dinner to celebrate their birthdays – and I got to tag along! Leah’s birthday is in two days, and the three
of them have had this annual event going for a while now – where Martin treats.
The other woman was Pauline, a fun single woman in our ward – a dear friend of
both Leah and Martin whose birthday is a day after Leah’s. We went to a
restaurant by the name of Rajpoot, ‘the connoisseur's choice of Indian dining for
three decades,’ in Cotteridge (another burgh of Bham). Martin has been going to
this particular establishment since his college days, back before Leah was even
a twinkle in his eye. Seems that at that point, back in the day, it was run by
the present owner/manager’s father. Martin and friends had frequented it often
and got to be good friends with this man who treated them like royalty. Leah
said the young man did not necessarily want this for his life’s work, but got
no choice! It has been his desire to really raise the level of the cuisine and
service of the restaurant – and I’d say he’s done a bully of a job. He was very
solicitous and came to inquire after our dining comfort several times during
our meal. Needless to say, the food was – yu-um!
Photos_
1- sonic
2- Alice thought she had never seen such
a curious croquet-ground in her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls
were live hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to
double themselves up and to stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches.
3-
Eurasian jay
4-5 (held over for today's theme from DAY 130)
Brer Rabbit anticipating his sanctuary (aka the briar patch)
inside the Bullring Shopping Center
6- St Stephens Anglican Church
7- red poppy wreaths - a week following
Remembrance Day – outside St Stephens (as mentioned previously, continuing to
memorialize those who gave their lives during major world wars appears to be a
much bigger deal here in England than in America - refer to DAY 126)
8- Selly Oak Methodist Church
9- loot
