The Garden School Tattler

I was surprised to read the comment on the blog that included parrot bashing. Most of you don't know that Edith and I have thirteen parrots at school. Most of them were born at the school and as they come out of their nesting boxes, Edith's delight is always worth noting. "Oh, look at him. He's beautiful." Parrots are stunning birds right from the git go.

I've owned and raised parrots for over thirty years. Parrots are one of the most interesting and intelligent birds I know. I've also raised robins and starlings (starlings are outstanding animals) and chimney swifts. But parrots are my delight because they are so funny and so beautiful. At home I have a walk in cage. It's empty now, except for an occasional sick wild cat, and my parrots are all down at school in a double wide walk in Robby made.

If you are looking for a gift animal for a child, a love bird makes a wonderful pet. They are best when they have someone to love - like another bird. They climb more than they fly, so a long cage is a good idea. Parrots are wonderful flyers. They have a strong body and take to the air with great delight. They appreciate being allowed to fly and will fly around the house if given a chance. I think with someone at home most of the time, one would only need a nesting box mounted on a high wall and not a cage at all.

Parrots are funny animals. They will approach nearly any food with interest and will "share it with you." They are very loyal, very endearing and very long lived. Their health is a matter of good seed, a cuttle bone, gravel and grit and good clean water. They will take care of treats all by themselves if given a chance. Watch the fruit bowl!

The problem with parrots is not the mess as you would expect - they are fairly clean birds and their droppings actually make excellent plant food. It's their call. Parrots are loud! They have a shrill monotone voice. Unlike a song bird, their deep demanding voice seems to caw rather than call. They seem to caw first and then copy a little like a dirge. It seems a bit lacking in creativity. I've always wondered if putting a song bird close to them would change the dirge.

Now to move from parrot bashing to something of substance. Images. An image is a writer's description that allows someone to see what they see. A cash register receipt has no images. A poem is full of images. A well written piece for a column has a variety of news, information and images to make people laugh and to make people think.

People who know me know I love an image. But an image is not a category, a pigeon hole or a label simply because an image is ever changing. It's a glimpse, a peek at something, and in the next seconds it could change. A label is a unfair assault on the ability of a human to make changes. "He's retarded!" "She's a labeler." "He's stupid." We once had a young teacher who could not refrain from labeling everyone around her, and when she was taken to task for this, she left the school and began to label us in a most disturbing way.

We've had a lot of children come through the school who have been labeled by psychologists, social workers and other teachers which is unfortunately a crutch for people in those jobs who are uncreative enough to use images. We always nod graciously at the labels and go about doing our own thing. Mostly, the labels can be pealed off with enough images.

But no harm done. It's a beautiful day and my family has already gathered today. My husband gave me a lovely bird feeder for my birthday with a cat on it. William took the tape measure outside to measure the cat. Jack got out the deck of cards to practice his tricks, and Molly and Rob drank coffee with me. Katy left for Alabama today just as Brendan called from Jacksonville and I got to talk to Elizabeth. Anne hopped in the jeep to go shopping for my barbecue later. It's a faculty fest. See what happens when you let them grow up with a lot of freedom? They experience life with great gusto.

By the way, the picture is of the last battle site in Gettysburg. There were originally 90 cannons. It was sad. Katy and I took a long two hour car tour of the whole battle ground. More pictures to follow. It was eerie and sad - not to label but to draw an image - it was whistlingly eerie with strange shadows and an intermittent stillness. If you listened, you could hear the cries in the wind. The terrain differs greatly from large open fields to hilly and rocky sites where some of the bloodiest battles were fought.