"A tale of two birds.............

It’s been a long time since I last posted a blog………but I really wanted to tell these two stories……. seems quite apt to use the title “a tale of two birds” hopefully calling to mind Charles Dickens famous novel “A tale of two cities”………..referring to the contrast of life in London and Paris before and during the horrifically violent French Revolution. Today marks 500 days since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine and I recently heard part of the moving story of a 12 year old girl who suddenly found herself in the middle of a war. She is at present safe in the UK but what a marked difference between her experiences in the two cities she has lived in so far. She longs to go home………..

Charles Dickens writes It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Yeva writes Everyone knows the word 'war'. But very few understand what it truly means. When you find you have to face it, you feel totally lost, walled in by fright and despair. Until you've been there, you don't know what war is.

And so to our our two birds………. the first one we named Nancy…….. she really blessed me one day when I was getting Percy the Penguin (metal statue down at our local hospital) ready for the Coronation of Charles the third……. I was there putting down a knitted flower carpet and bedecking him in a knitted crown, robe, sceptre and orb. I was remembering other times when a whole group of us would go down to dress all the penguins with knitted goodies and feeling a little sad that covid and other things had changed all of that and I was on my own that day. Then I became aware that one of the resident rock doves was closer and more fussy than usual and when I went on my hands and knees to arrange the flower carpet I saw a ramshackle nest and what looked like two ping pong balls underneath Percy. I realised it must be a nest and moved away gently encouraging ‘Nancy’ to get back on her nest, which she did and stayed there the whole time I was finishing the installation. I felt very blessed indeed!

And then there was Sid………. Sid came to visit after one of our Stormie Tots sessions down @no49……. he seemed to be hanging around a lot and coming very close which was unusual for a seagull. We put some water down for him being reluctant to feed him as we did not want flocks of seagulls coming down on the toddlers when we were again in the backyard eating our snacks. He drank deeply from the bowl and looked as if he was trying to take off but couldn’t manage it. So we left the water with him and carried on packing down when we heard this terrible squawking sound and rushed out to find that he was being attacked by a very angry looking gull. We chased his aggressor off and put the water bowl underneath our slide and encouraged Sid in. We phoned to gull rescue team and left Sid praying that all would be well……….

Nancy and Sid’s stories affected us deeply…….. one tale had a happy ending and one did not. On a later visit to the hospital I found a dead rock pigeon in the penguin enclosure and a life partner mourning her passing and subsequently found the two little ping pongs still on the nest. Poor Nancy…….. Sid however it seems, lived to tell his story…….. when the rescue team arrived they round the water bowl but no Sid and no bits of Sid anywhere…….. so we think he recovered and got away and in fact we are 99.9% sure he came back the following Wednesday to visit and say “thank you”……….. fanciful you may say but I am reminded of Jesus’ words “Do not worry about your life…….. look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

I do not know what season you are in at present, whether you are in the best of times or the worst of times…… but I will tell you what I do know…….. your Heavenly Father loves you and will provide for you what ever you need both now and for eternity.

Revie G Saturday 8 July 2023