Thursday, May 25, 2017

It is rain that grows flowers not thunder.


First light. Sophie finds not one, not two but three dead birds on her early morning garden patrol. A dead Woodpecker, a dead Nuthatch and a dead Swallow. The culprit may be a large bird of prey that's nesting in the field behind The Old Farmers house.

The Woodpecker and the Nuthatch are brought through the house and deposited in the kitchen. The Swallow is taken upstairs to where 'The Font' is showering. An unnatural silence tells me 'The Font' has been presented with it. The woodpecker and the Nuthatch are merely dead. The Swallow was killed a few days ago and is now ( in canine terms ) alluringly pungent.

After the Swallow is disposed of Sophie is told she's a walking advert for cat ownership.

She takes this as a compliment. Her day has started swimmingly.


The notice boards have gone up for the parliamentary elections. Only one poster has so far been pasted up. A former government minister who's brother rented our flat in London for a couple of years after we started our European wanderings. What a small world .


Bob and Sophie are told to sit still while a parade of pre-schoolers are shepherded along the road. The children are going to visit a restaurant to see how food is prepared. God help the chef. There are five teachers and twenty little ones. A group of good children lead the way with another group of four year old angels following on behind. In between are a gaggle of monsters who willfully disobey every command. The noise level is thunderous. Three boys are leaping on and off the kerb into the roadway. Another is pretending to be a flesh eating Zombie while another is refusing point blank to move. One of the teachers has got to the stage where she's considering infanticide as a career option. The little boy who's refusing to move bursts into tears. The story pours out. It seems his elder brother has told him that as part of the restaurant visit he's going to be cut up into little pieces and served as lunch.


Later in the day, while cutting the grass, Angus finds two ( indeterminate ) birds legs on the lawn. Is it possible Sophie brought three birds into the house because she'd already recycled a fourth ..... and possibly a fifth ?

Everything will become clear with the passage of time.







14 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

Teachers are true heroes.
Hope the fourth bird has not reappeared in any form...
Cheers, Gail.

Coppa's girl said...

The ratio of one teacher to four little ones sounds slightly excessive, but obviously not enough.
Two extra bird's legs on the lawn.....definitely another best day ever for Sophie !

Taste of France said...

I suspect a few of the adults are not actually teachers but either assistants (who earn far less) or parents (been there, done that).
Cats would bring in even more bird victims than Sophie does. Count your blessings.

Angus said...

What seemed like a good idea in the staff room in April seems less like a good idea with each step towards the restaurant.

Swan said...

I love the top picture. The lighting is lovely . Don't birds of prey eat what they kill?

Unknown said...

A sad disarray of feathers has been our only evidence of an attack by a bird of prey. Some years ago we had a border collie that was fast as lightning and able to catch songbirds. There was no malice on his part but much unhappiness on ours. As stealth hasn’t been among Sophie’s many skills, hopefully this isn’t what is happening.

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

There's a special place in heaven for people who work with children and the elderly.

Could the birds have ingested a pesticide?

Angus said...

I think that with Sophie's sturm und drang hunting technique the birds have nothing to fear. The falcon on the other side of the lane is a different matter.

Angus said...

The evidence points to a bird of prey but we'll see if any more winged 'discoveries' are made by Sophie before passing final judgement. We can feel 100% sure that the diva has not developed stealth.

Angus said...

I thought so but perhaps the falcon is highly territorial ?

Emm said...

That's a lovely first picture. The ROF's gate is beautiful.
Bravo to the teachers and assistants for the school outing. I like that the little ones are learning early on about their food.

BaileyBobSouthernDog said...

Oh Sophie, you little "scavenger "! We know you want us to believe you stalked these poor birds and claimed them as your trophies. However, we know you too well! A diva wants things presented to her on a silver platter. Nice touch bringing them in the house!

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

It must be time for baby birds to fall from nests. That's the favourite around here.

BaileyBobSouthernDog said...

Me again. Regarding your story of "What a small world" ... While in New York, we toured a Frank Lloyd Wright house overlooking Lake Erie. There were eight people in our tour group. I saw a husband and wife I knew I had seen before, but where? When there was a break, I asked them where they were from, they replied Ohio. Then they asked where I lived, and I answered Georgia. They told me they had a daughter who lived close to Atlanta. The husband told me he liked the Botanical Gardens in Atlanta. I asked if they went to the Dale Chihuly exhibit there last year. Bingo! We were all at the gardens on the same day, within the same hours. What a small world indeed!