Saturday, January 23, 2010

Meet Murray



This is him as an adolescent, hard at his English lessons. 



I miss this bird. 


13 comments:

  1. Long live the book? What will he make of the e-reader? Sweet bird...

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  2. Delighted to meet Murray that was! A charmer.

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  3. Murray was the sweetest, most affectionate bird ever.

    Pen - parrots have dry tongues, so at least there'd be no dribble to play havoc with the electronics of the e-reader! His strong strawberry beak is another matter, however. (Remember how that old dictionary from you & R kept him occupied for weeks?)

    ><

    And speaking of books... Guess what, Mim? Today, the postie delivered 'The Dark Opens.' I am thrilled and looking forward to a big open circle of time to immerse myself in your words...

    I've just unpacked the book and it fell open on 'Saturday morning' (which it is, over here in NZ) -

    '... Maybe it's because I can do anything
    I want in my sleep that when I get up
    I feel like a fish the ice fisherman
    dumped on the snow-coated ice...'

    Ah, what the *... I'm not going to be able to wait till tonight or tomorrow. You - or your book - will have to come out on the town with me today. Thank you!

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  4. What a perfect name. And that sideways look - love it.

    I feed a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets when it's cold and wet. Played some NZ bird song I have as ringtones on my mobile. Played a Kiwi - no response, in fact, a look of disdain (cheeky sods!). Played a Tui - a loud squawk from the male, a quiet mutter from the female "really dear, do you have to make so much noise". Played an Australian Magpie (gorgeous song) - they took off! Wise birds - no desire to be skewered.

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  5. I'm thrilled that "The Dark Opens" has reached you on the other side of the world and hope you enjoy the poems.

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  6. I imagine Murray would be the fan of a well made fedora. He has such an interesting face.

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  7. Clever lorikeets indeed, lmrb! I love your line 'Wise birds - no desire to be skewered' - They'd be terrific in a poem.

    A pair of tuis - regular visitors to my garden - have an adolescent son of whom they are immensely fond and proud. Their tolerance is quite something - he makes a great show of flexing his muscles, both attitudinal and vocal. We get to hear the same riff over and over again as he tries to 'get it right'. He's like a car whose engine has difficulty getting going on frosty mornings. He's tenacious alright - once he's got those first few notes sorted, there's no stopping him! I sing to the birds when I take them their breakfast; the same modest call each day... one of the bellbirds has picked it up and calls back like a copycat. It warms my heart every time!

    Have you played bellbird song to your lorikeets? Friends and family overseas love to hear their song in the background when we talk on Skype.

    In Africa, the fish eagle and hardeedas were the calls that felled me (and simultaneously made my spirit soar). In NZ, it'd be the song of the bellbird and the rarely heard booom of the kokako.

    Happy days to you over in Sydney. L, C

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  8. Mim - I'm feasting.

    More from me I've reached the end of the banquet.

    Thank you!

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  9. Hi Radish - thanks for visiting. A well made fedora would have been the perfect hat for this bright bird. His black necklace and strawberry beak gave him a look of elegance and mischief.

    I am trying to find my pic of him nibbling daintily on a peonie, his willow-green plumage startling amongst an extravagance of pink petals.

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  10. A parrot that ate the dictionary, Lol! I trust he was an eloqunet bird?

    PC xx

    Ps: am not too flash yet, awaiting surgery to get rid of a grumbly and useless organ...

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  11. Murray certainly had a way with language, PC. I wouldn't say he was eloquent in English, but he was nevertheless marvelously expressive and communicative. We did our best to meet him on his terms; in the way of many English-speakers in foreign countries, he was a whole lot better at our language than we were at his...

    Sending you good thoughts, PC, as you walk your way through your current health challenges. Go gently, L, C

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  12. Please feel free to play around with the skewered image, if it inspires you.

    My inspiration – Currawongs and Mapgies that frequently zoom past my balcony, somehow staying under the eaves and clear of bricks and mortar, and just inches from my nose. Snap, snap go their beaks. Thump, thump goes my heart – then I laugh!

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  13. Thanks for the prompt, lmrb! (see my newest post)

    Birds that zoom deserve a bow, I reckon. I will have to Google Currawongs now!

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