BOOKS, BOOKS & MORE BOOKS.. BUT ONE WENT BACK UNREAD!

Life is far too short to stuff a mushroom, or so the saying goes. In our house, the saying is we read all manner of books except those that are boring! Last week she came across one that.. well.. she just could not get her 'teeth' into it, if you pardon my expression.

It started painfully slowly and then got progressively slower and slower as the pages turned, equally slowly! What a dreary book.. and as we conider it our duty and want to prevent you from being bored.. it was called 'An American Spy' by Olen Steinhauer.

She reads all sorts of books and it is very, very rare that she comes across one that she cannot finish, there was once a second book by a writer whose first book she was crazy about, it was cleverly written with a brilliant plot and a totally unexpected ending, but the second book, well, yawn would be way too polite to describe it!

She has tried to remember the writer's name but it has gone, lost in the mist of time, sadly neither can she remember the title of the first book.. ah well, such is life.

She agrees with Arianna Huffington when she says "that she won't finish a book that she is not enjoying" and as she is in the midst of clearing out surplus or unwanted stuff from our home, the other thing that she also agreed with, is this.

"Let go of something that you no longer need.. it could be resentments, negative self-talk, or a project you know you are not going to complete".

On to today and other stuff. It may well have been sunny out there but, oh dear, what a lot of work has, and is still being, done in this little flat. For today it the was dusting, polishing and paintwork washing day.

Then she decided to wash the hall rug! It's a BIG rug, it went into the bath with cold water and liquid washing detergent. It soaked for a while, she went at it with a scrubbing brush, then turned on the power jet to rinse it, it is now dripping on two racks over the bath, 'hopefully' it will be dry in two days time!

She had such a lovely surprise today, tingaling-tingaling went her mobile.. Ooooh, it was her very dearest friend Tom (Lampson) calling from New York City. Such a good chat, that is the bad thing about being retired, she doesn't get to see her friends overseas. She hasn't been to NYC for nearly seven years and it is a very long ten years since she was last in either Aspen, Glenwood Springs, San Francisco or Los Angeles.

Sigh.. Never mind.. perhaps they'll come here? But she finds that friends are not travelling so much, those that do are, mostly, visiting family members who live overseas. But people are staying closer to home or taking holidays in their own country of residence. Zaira hasn't been here since May 2005!

Early supper for us to night, she has a load of laundry to do, tomorrow is vacuum day and she'll do a sweep and tidy up outside. She might even get the power hose out to wash the steps which could do with a wash. there's always stuff to do, isn't there?

Grrr.. those wretched weeds and grass will be just LOVING this sunny, warm weather! For the fruit trees sake, she is hoping that we don't have a cold and windy snap after this warm March, which is whar happened last year, grrr, fierce cold winds blew ALL the Cherry blossom off her trees!

What can one do? Not a lot..

YumYum time in the YumYum HQ.. be good.. and stay safe and warm in those icy, wintery bits of America, Tom said he cannot remember ever being this cold in New York. Brrr.

GeeGee Parrot.
March 7th 2015.

OUT.. OUT.. DONATE.. MET HER OLD COAT IN THE STREET.. TAKE BACK.. CHANGE.. PURCHASE.. ARRANGE MUSEUM TICKETS.. TAKE BACK.. AND COME HOME..

The sunshine has gone to her head, I can't remember when I have seen such action around here! Let me explain the rather curious title.

The first out was a recycling trip, we do not need all these empty plastic tubs, the pile of which seem to grow ever upwards, so whoosh.. they all went off to the Recycling Depot in Danvers Street.

The next jaunt was to our local chemist, she had blitzed two small cupboards of out of date medicines and old vitamins, chemists are quite happy to dispose of them for you and she also dropped off some defunct batteries.

The next trip was back to New Horizons, a brilliant place in Cadogan Street which is staffed by volunteers and works in conjunction with AGE UK, their food is truly delicious and very reasonably priced. They have all manner of classes and activites every day, five days a week.

All the donations she gave yesterday went to this charity, it is simply marvellous and supports a huge amount of LOCAL people.

She dropped off the items she was donating and turned left to go to the library to change books but what did she see walking towards her? One of her old coats! She loved this coat but it was surplus to requirements, it had lived in New York City and came back when she retired. Yes, it was her coat and the very elderly woman wearing it looked very snappy in it!

She smiled at the woman and whispered "You're wearing my coat and it looks wonderful on you".. the woman grasped her hand and said "oh, bless you, I absolutely love it because it is so warm and yet so light", on they talked, it turns out her name is Elizabeth, that her brain & speech is as sharp as a tack, she's ninety five and lives in Sloane Avenue.

"To thank you for my lovely coat, would you care to join me for lunch at the club next Wednesday and stay for the quiz?", she asked my mum. "I'd love to do that, thank you" she said and so they agreed to meet next week at their (over 50's) club.

Into Holland & Barrett on the King's Road to take back some things that she cannot use, good, the credit went kerching back onto her card.

Next stop was the library to change some books.. more on books in my next post.. then she caught a bus down to the North End Road market, where she plucked a minute amount of money out of the bank and went off to plunder Karen's fruit and vegetable stall.

Yum, eight crisp apples, six persimmons, two celery, two HUGE fennel bulbs and a bowl of big fat carrots.. all for a fiver.

As she was plodding back home from the bus stop, she thought she felt tired and then realised it was way past three of the after noon clock and she'd eaten our egg before ten of the noon clock! She was HUNGRY & THIRSTY!

Lunch was simple, fish on the griddle with the remains of last nights noodles and vegetables, a little kiss and a cuddle with me for five minutes and off she went out again but just with her basket.

First to the V&A to ask "Where are my tickets for the Savage Beauty show?", grovel-grovel went the Membership desk, we are very sorry that they have not yet been sent out, they'll go out first class post on Monday". "Thank you and have a pleasant week end" she replied and left to take things back to another shop.

She had purchased several items but when she got home, she realised that she already had them! No point in duplicating stuff, besides the seeds she already had were of a better variety. Customer Service said "No problem, please put your card into the reader", goodie, another credit went kerching back onto her card, another "Thank you and have a pleasant week end", as she smiled and left the shop.

Warm.. she's too warm in boots! She never thought the day would come when she would feel or say that as it has been so dreary and wet this winter but yes, it is now time to wear proper shoes again! Yippee and what shoes! Beautiful elegant black shoes from Italy, bought from Zaira's cousin in 2005. What! It cannot be ten years ago that she was there with my greatest fan. But yes, it's ten years ago!

She finally got home. What a lot of to'ing and fro'ing was done today, it is highly satisfactory to get one's chores done, don't you agree? A cup of tea and an apple was her tea snacket, she tapped my post for me and now we have settled down for the evening.

Tomorrow is another busy day, she has a huge bag of dried Lavender to drop off to a friend who sells exquisite antique linens, there are more chores to do at home, one of which, is to get her black shoes out of the back cupboard.

We are looking forward to a pleasantly busy week next week, we have guests arriving on Monday, she has a dinner with friends on Tuesday, the lunch and the quiz with Elizabeth on Wednesday and she'll be joining Susan and her other Rotarian friends 'Singing with Dementia' on Friday afternoon.

Those weeds look as if they'll live to see another week.. but not for long.. no sirree!

Domani, manana, tomorrow.. We'll be back and we'll be talking about books.. reading them.. not nibbling them, as I have ashamed to say that I am guilty of doing, "I can't help it Your Honour, the spines are so crunchy!"

GeeGee Parrot.
March 6th, 2015.

A QUIET DAY SPENT POTTERING ABOUT AND CLEARING OUT.

She has gained wisdom with age, well, a little bit. In olden days she would have gone to the allotment because, eureeka, it is a fine day today. Not very hot but you don't want hot when you have to dig big beds and do ghastly amounts of weeding.

But no, the plots will be still be there next week, she has to do the gargling with hot water to keep the wound clean, so she spent the morning gathering up glass and plastic things for the recycling centre and put those into the giant bins, then she took three loads of donations to AGE UK and.. gave away Little Wicker Wheelie!

She looked at him, then at me and said "I can only wheel one WW at a time, somebody else will love him, shall we let him go?", so he has gone, sniff, for he was even older than big WW but she's right.

Her set of blue glass plates and glasses were taken to the charity, along with most of Constances's blue Hyacinth vases, she just kept two and gave away the rest. A pile of pretty summer blouses, some shorts, have also gone, they were, alas and alack, either too small for her or things that she'll never wear again.

Her last holiday in the sun, a proper holiday and in proper sunshine was seven years ago. She would never use these pretty things on the allotment, it's much better to let other people wear and enjoy them now.

And several suitcases went, she simply does not need them any more, gone are the days when she used to have to take lots samples and swatches to show clients, she has large, medium and a small sized case. That's all she needs.

She's had a bright idea, which is to photograph her remaining stock of lamps and email the photos to a few of her old clients.. Nicky Haslam, John Stefanidis, Tony Collett, Brian Wade etc, they need lamps all the time and they are several pairs of lovely lamps ready and waiting for them.

Then when she was putting some things into the store cupboard, she saw the big jars of Mandarine Vodka, it's been infusing for four months, she has strained the fluid and has bottled them up for next Christmas. Tomorrow she is collecting Seville Oranges from Karen, who now has them on sale for ten for one pound!

I see a Marmalade making week end ahead of us, it is a good thing that we collect jam jars, isn't it? For she'll do Lemon Marmalade as well, home made jams and marmalades are easy to make if you have proper equipment and I don't see her giving away her copper jam 'kettle' in a hurry, although she HAS given away her full sized Fish Kettle with its' lifting tray.

She will, almost certainly, NEVER cook a big wild Salmon again. That's why she had it, for catering dinner and lunch parties, she used it for Kabir's party, she gave them poached wild Salmon and a Casserole of Venison.. with lots of other delicious yumyum.

It seems strange to see these items going out of our home, she is giving away a lot of very good stuff but she is thrilled when somebody looks at it as she puts it out and says "Oh, that's just what I need" and puts their donation into the pot and away it goes to a new home to start its' new life.

For she doesn't need or use these things anylonger, they are just sitiing in cupboards when they should be being loved and used.

But those naughty old weeds are still there and the grass is getting longer by the day and next week she will have to start the beginning of their demise.. no, you don't have to feel sorry for them, they're taking up space where we will soon be planting LOTS of all different types of beans, beetroots, peas, courgettes / zucchini and squashes. Slurpy summer, autumn and winter vegetables!

Now, it's tea time, a hot gargle for her followed by a herbal tea and seeds for me. FlapFlap.

GeeGee Parrot.
March 5th, 2015.

THE EARLY PATIENT.. GETS SEEN FIRST!

It is funny (as in funny peculiar, not funny haha) how things turn out, is it not? I am referring to the cancelled appointments and her storming of the Bastille.. aka the call centre.. of the hospital and her refusal to take 'no' for an answer.

Yesterday was the dreaded wisdom tooth pulling day and so, rather than be late and get into a tizz, she woke up early, gave us our scrambled egg, washed and left the house leaving lots of time to get to the North End Road where the dental surgery is. She arrived at 11.15 for her 11.30 appointment, the receptionist told her dentist and one of his team came up to get her.

Oh, thank heavens for Dr. Shah (her old dentist) and his advice about injections in the gum.. 'Drop your shoulders and breathe through your nose'.. as two horse sized injections were slid almost entirely painless into her gum.

The dentist did some de-scaling and clean up work whilst waiting for the anaesthetic to numb the area, then proceeded to remove her lower right wisdom tooth. There was no pain but having the two roots, it meant that it took quite a bit of manipulation, for they're mighty big, these teeth!

And suddenly, there it was, her poor old tooth. He put a small roll of gauze into the hole and told her to bite down onto it. Then he raised her up, switched off the light and told her to close her eyes and lie quietly. There was no rushing her out, that was for sure, he wanted her to be and feel completely 'ok' before she left his surgery.

The nurse gave her a pain relief pill to swallow and a little plastic bag with the instructions of she has to do for the next two days and a few little gauze rolls to replace the one he put in. Upstairs she duly signed the extraction form and left.. in and out in under twenty minutes!

Onwards.. to the hospital!

Where her next appointment was for 15.40.. I know, she was going to be extremely early but there was no point in coming home and then having to go out again. A 74 bus came along which took her down Lillie Road where she got off and caught a 190 to the hospital.

Up into the ENT at 11.45 and there was the lovely woman who had told her about the Call Centre! She looked at my mum, laughed and said "well, well, well.. what brings YOU here today?", my mama laughed and told her what had happened, there was another receptionist on duty as well and she said "WHAT? They actually let you IN, but they keep that door locked, even we aren't allowed in". They all laughed and she handed over the letter with the new time.

They said "You've got hours to wait, it was now 11.50, so she took out her book and settled herself for the long wait. But what was this? The lovely Renee, who had tested her and recommended the scan, was calling her! "We want to test you to see if that infection has gone away, we gather you have had a really bad attack of influenza, poor you, come this way" and into the testing cubicle she went. Beep.. beep.. ping.. ping.. bomp.. bomp.

And then back to her chair in the waiting area, it was now 12.10.. three hours and a half hours to go.. there was now another patient waiting as well.

A nurse appeared and wiped the clinic board clean, then wrote the new clinic name together with the relevant specialists' names and their assistants. There he was.. Mr. ENT man. Then a flurry of people arrived. A young man stopped and asked "who are these patients", the receptionist explained, he smiled at them and disappeared.

Five minutes later, he reappeared with a smile, said her name and asked her to come through. He explained who he was and asked her to talk him through her problem, he showed her the results from the test that Renee had just taken and explained to her what was going on. That there is significant loss in her right ear which is unexplainable, there is also fluid behind that ear drum and 'much' more.

"That you are now directly under Mr. .......'s care, we are scheduling you for an MRI scan to establish what, if anything, has and is causing this loss, we will also be addressing the fluid situation, we know you've had the infection which has pretty much cleared up but if the fluid does not go, we will put a Grommet into the right ear and the 'much more' was discussed..".

Nice man.. very thorough.. her gave her a form to give to the receptionist, she said her thanks and goodbyes and left his room, the other patient had disappeared, there was new person sitting there, she handed the form to the receptionist with a smile, the woman looked at her watch and laughed, then they both laughed as she left the clinic at 12.40.. Three hours before her appointment was due..

Now you see why you should always be as early as you can be for any appointment.. For this early bird DID indeed get the worm!

GeeGee Parrot.
March 5th, 2015.
PostScript: I am happy to report that the toothless hole has remained pain free (aided and abetted by two heavy duty pain killing pills), that it has not bled and that at midday, she'll start two days of gargling with hot salty water.

THE WEASEL WHO FLEW & THE MALAYSIAN WOMAN WHO RODE.. WHAT'S THE CONNECTION?

You would have to have been asleep for the past two days in order to miss that wonderful photograph of a Weasel flying through the air on the back of a very startled looking Green Woodpecker.. but I wonder if you saw the picture of a Malaysian woman riding a scooter?

Now, of course, you are wondering why I said there is a connection? Read on, Dear Readers, and all will be revealed?

The naughty Weasel had planned to 'mug' the bird and make that Woodpecker his lunch but Woody went into Harrier JumpJet mode and took off! Much, I would think, to the Weasels' astonishment who had to cling on to the front of Woody's wings in order to stay safely on-board.

All ended happily though.. with Woody getting rid of his non-fare paying passenger and Weasel with one hell of a story to tell his grandkids!

Now we come to the Malaysian woman, whose name we don't know..

She was going about her life walking down a road when a Mugger on a scooter espied her handbag. So he stopped, put his scooter up on its' parking stand, ran over and stole the woman's bag and ran off.. FORGETTING his scooter!

The woman ran to the scooter, jumped on and rode off.. hotly pursued by her handbag thief! She also got away. YIPPEE! So the connection is getting a Free Ride. You couldn't make these stories up if you tried, they are just TOO good!

She is pretty dopey but all went well and we'll post about her medical appointments later. Its' doze time here.

GeeGee Parrot.
March 4th, 2015.

ON GETTING TOUGH WITH PEOPLE. SHE CAN'T LOLL ABOUT ALL DAY.. THINGS TO DO & PLACES TO GO.

Pity that, isn't it! I like having her at home under my feet, it keeps my toes warm. Mind you having had the radiators on since the boiler men left has warmed the flat up properly. As I said yesterday, it maybe sunny out there but "it ain't 'alf cold" as Linda, her beloved lampshade maker, used to say.

But we are most fortunate that we ain't in New York City where it has been snowing again, what a winter most of the States have had but not nearly enough snow or rain has fallen in California where they need it most desperately And certainly not enough snow has fallen up in Colorado to feed the mighty Colorado River. Montana and Wyoming need lots more snow too.

Lake Powell is looking pretty dire, she was SO lucky to visit that extraordinary place in 1999, back then there was no problem with the water level.

Ooooh, she got angry today!

The hospital sent her a letter confirming the date and time for her scan but the second letter she opened was to cancel it! Grrrr. They are already in her black-book because they farted about and were late giving her the date and now to cancel it ON THE SAME DAY. GRRRR,

So she asked if she could leave the shop before 4.00pm and HOT-FOOTED it to the hospital, where by very devious means, she was actually able to locate the whereabouts of telephone booking office.

And she hammered on this door until someone let her in.. she spoke to the man who opened the door and showed him the two letters. He motioned her to a chair, took the letters and went to speak to a woman who was, obviously, in charge, who called her forward and tried very hard to brush her off.

She wasn't having it and, armed with her knowledge of the NHS Patient Charter, told this woman what she could with her suggestion that she go back to her GP and ask him to make another appointment. The woman had most certainly never been spoken to in this tone of voice before, in fact, I doubt if any out or an in-patient has actually ever been into this call centre before.

She huffed and puffed, so my mum just sat down and said "well, I am not leaving until you give me another VALID appointment. If you don't do so by 5.00pm, I will go straight down to lodge a formal complaint against you and this office with PALS.. Patient Advice Liason Services.

Miraculously.. after much telephoning and tapping of her keyboard, the woman said "I have got you in to see Mr. So & So TOMORROW at 3.40pm, is that ok?" She smiled, showing her teeth, at the woman and said "Yes, thank you, now that wasn't too hard was it?" and left. Then skipped off to the bus stop.

She has to go again to the dentist tomorrow in the morning for the extraction of one of her bottom wisdom teeth, she'll then go to the hospital and spend a couple of hours reading a book, for there is no point in coming home, only to have to go out again It is bitterly cold, for the sky is bright and there is not a cloud in the sky, but, oh, her ears and whiskers.. it is extremely chilly-billy!

So that was today.. Miz Diane and Thierry have arrived in France, they are will be staying with us next Monday night. We are having a quiet night and have had an early supper of two delicious fresh Mackerel Fillets.. all that was missing was a dollop of Gooseberry sauce!

Gardening note to mum.. remember to pick and make lots of Gooseberry Sauce this summer!

We will write again tomorrow upon her return from the hospital.. say a prayer please. Thank you.

GeeGee Parrot.
March 3rd, 2015.

THE 40th ANNIVERSARY CAME & WENT WITHOUT HER CELEBRATING..

Yes, just think.. for FORTY years she has lived in this little flat. There was a time when she was earning lots of dosh.. aka money.. and thought about selling it and finding somewhere else slightly bigger and WHAT a good thing she didn't, for now she is not working, it suits us perfectly.

Yes, it would be useful to have a spare bedroom, she could put up her sewing machine and have a cutting table and also a larger YumYum HQ but thinking about it, we don't have people staying all the time, she doesn't sew all the time and as she managed to cater for one hundred and forty people out of this tiny space.. here we shall remain.

FORTY years.. Richard, the man who was here working on the boiler and she were laughing about it, his son is now thirty seven and she can remember him being born. She had long blonde hair with not a trace of grey to be seen.. she was also about thirty pounds lighter!

For many of her friends, they only have ever had the one entry in the address books for her, she has had a couple of different email addresses (which are still valid but not used very often) but has had the same landline telephone number for all these years.

Moving swiftly along, it took Richard and Brian over four hours to do the work and as they had to be working outside cutting metal and wood, the front door was open shut open shut and the flat got SO cold, it may have been bright and sunny out there this morning but it sure was extremely nippy!

People who know the flat will be astonished to think of her catering for so many people out of our tiny YumYum HQ, it was for the post production party of Octopussy, the party was given by Kabir and Susan Bedi in their house in Bedford Gardens, Kensington.

Do you remember the (still) very good looking actor Kabir Bedi? He played the baddy in this James Bond film, has done lots of work in the USA, the Italians adore him and he worked here also. She knew them because Kabir's cousin, Mala Tandon Lal, was an old friend of hers.

Susan and Kabir's son Adam now lives in Bombay, as does Kabir but she has no idea what happened to Susan, for they divorced many years ago. Some people literally disappear, don't they? Another woman who disappeared is Eileen Burnap, last heard of living near San Francisco.

An old friend of hers, Terry von Pantz, told her that she divorced Bartlett Burnap and that he now lives in Palm Beach with his (new) wife Candida. That Eileen's children, Cristiane and Ian, who must be now in their forties, are known to be close to their father but what happened to their mother?

This was in the days before the internet and mobile phones, the Burnaps moved back to America in the late 70's, luckily she finds that people tend to retain the same email addresses even if they move countries, this certainly make life easier!

We are writing this in bed because the flat became so cold that she had to put the heating back on to warm it up and whilst it warms up, we see no point in shivvering in state in the sitting room. Bed is a cosy place, we have a good reading light and a bag each of almonds and dried apricots and I have her head to sit upon.. it keeps my toes very toasty!

But she and I are now going to have a szooze, aka doze, she has to go upstairs and give Tereza a little something for her birthday but that's isn't until six of the evening clock.. yawn..

GeeGee Parrot.
March 2nd, 2015.

SHE CALLS ME, I AM ASHAMED TO TELL YOU, VARIOUS RUDE NAMES.. MISS RED BUM & STINKYBIRD ARE JUST TWO OF THEM..

She read an article to me last week.. it was sent to us by a Swedish friend and it was about birds. One small paragraph made us laugh and we think you should laugh too.

There is a bird in Sweden is called the Zigenarfagel, which translates to Gypsy Bird, and its' name is now being changed to the English name Hoatzin.. it is also called the Stinkbird!

Much work was done today! With people coming to stay, beds had to be made, dusting will be done the day before they arrive. The boiler man is coming tomorrow between 10 -12am, so that cupboard had to cleared so he can get in and look at it properly.

Laundry done, food eaten, papers read, budget fixed for the month, bills paid.. a day of chores.

Apparently Spring is a'coming and Easter will be very warm but not quite yet.. brrr.. they say we are in for another cold snap, it is a good thing then that they are coming to service the boiler, is it not.

Now we are off to the smallest YumYum HQ in the land, to partake of a light collation before I tuck my head between my wings and go to sleep. But I hope you have all enjoyed the extraordinary story of Emily the Elephant going home to her human family to give birth to her baby in what she knew to be a safe and loving place.

So we have sent a reallyreally BIG thanks to MaryLou for sending us the link.. ML, there are lots of wet-eyed readers judging by the amount of emails we have received regarding this post.

Oh, that all wild animal were safe and not hunted for their skins or their ivory.

FlapFlap.

GeeGee Parrot.
March 1st, 2015.

MAD MARCH HARES, WHITE RABBITS & SUNSHINE! PLUS WHO REMEMBERS NELLIE THE ELEPHANT?

                               "WHITE RABBITS".. well, did you say it? If no, why not?

But of course, it is now the month of March and really we should be talking about mad March Hares and we will, later.

For here, in deepest Knightsbridge, it is the most glorious day, old sun has come out to play and is shining his torch on a very big wide angled beam, he must have recharged his batteries for we haven't seen such strong sunlight since I can't remember when.

What a difference! Last week, Debbie Goaty mum and she were shivvering in Marylebone and today, if she didn't have a LOT of housework and ironing to do, she would have gone to the allotment.

It was always thought that it was only the male Hares who boxed but recently and much earlier than usual, there have been sightings of female Hares giving each other the odd black eye. There was a wonderful set of photos in early February showing a pair of fully grown (read BIG) females dancing about and they were certainly not pulling their punches. 

The writer said 'it is rare to see Hares fighting so early, maybe they know that Spring is coming earlier than expected'. So HAS Spring sprung on March the 1st, which should be the first day of Spring, if Winter months are December, January and February and Summer months are June, July and August?

Who knows, we'll have to wait and see but she's not putting mock furry hat away yet, that's for sure.

It is going to be a very Animal based day today, for my next post is SO important that it is going to be  written on one subject only.. ELEPHANTS.. and here is a taster.. who remembers this song, these are the two last verses..

'The head of the herd was calling
Far, far away
They met one night in the silver light
On the road to Mandalay
So Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety trump
Trump, trump, trump

Oooooooooooo

'Nellie the elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump
Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And trundled back to the jungle
Off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump'.

Ooooh, if ONLY all Elephants could be so free as Nellie..

This post on March Hares had to come out first 'cos of White Rabbits, but stay around, for Elephants are coming right up.. trump, trump, trump!

GeeGee Parrot.
March 1st, 2015.

EMILY ELEPHANT PACKED HER TRUNK & SAID GOODBYE TO TSAVO.. OFF SHE WENT WITH A TRUMPETY TRUMP BACK HOME TO HER HUMAN FAMILY!

NO! I am not telling you any porky-pies or gross fibs! This extraordinarily wonderful tale was sent onto her by MaryLou last night.

Orphaned, at one month, after being separated from her herd. Emily was taken to Daphne Sheldrick's Elephant Orphanage and reared by keepers. She was released into the Tsavo East National Park, Kenya, when she was old enough to take care of herself and became part of a herd with other orphaned elephants.

Last December, just before Christmas, she and the other elephants walked back to her old orphanage in the park, the Voi rehabilitation unit, with a very special purpose.

She was coming 'home' to give birth. It is said that elephants never forget, she remembered how she was treated with care and love by the keepers when she was growing up and chose to come back to give birth to her baby in what she knew to be a safe place.

Writer Vicky Croke for 90.9wbur Boston's NPR news station.. www.thewildlife.wbur.org wrote:

'Never could there be more tangible proof than her willingness to share her precious wild born baby with them, even allowing them to witness the birth of little 'Emma'. It was all captured on video (witnessing the birth of a wild elephant is a rarity, even for dedicated field biologists).

Emma is doing well and Emily's herd of ex-orphans have remained in the orbit of the Voi stockade choosing to visit the keepers and the dependent Voi orphans every day'.

Hello.. are there any dry eyes out there?

GeeGee Parrot.
March 1st, 2015.
PostScript: Somehow this post has slipped in behind the March Hares..