Wrinkly Bits
A Blog by Gail Cushman
Day One, he gave me a partridge in a pear tree. How lucky for me! What in the world could he give me that would top that, I thought to myself. I looked outside, the sky was pure blue and the mountains were snow-covered and pure white, making a for a picturesque day in the Treasure State, AKA, Big Sky country, but I didn’t see any partridges nor a pear tree. Neither. Living in Montana already makes me one of the luckiest people alive, but he didn’t follow through on those two items, so what would happen on Day Two?
The song goes, “On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.” Does that mean three more birds, in addition to the partridge that I should have? That would be four birds. We have several kinds of doves nibbling at our bird feeders, but no turtle doves. Apparently turtle doves are unique to Europe, back to the Germans again. So, if Cowboy is going to give me something on Day two, what would it be?
I think it would be turkeys, the kind that are big, ugly, and gobble. We have a few of those roaming around the neighborhood, usually a couple, although sometimes they bring friends and we have a dozen. They are fun to watch as they clean up the left-overs from the bird feeder the shells, seeds, and other mysterious edibles that only turkeys would love. And it fits the song: two gobbling turkeys, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Day three coming right up. The lyricist of this song seems to have a fetish for birds, so tomorrow, you will learn all about French hens. Stay tuned!
My Wrinkly Bits series has five books, four stories (Cruise Time, Out of Time, Wasting Time and Flash of Time, plus, a compilation of my first hundred blogs, entitled Bits of Time, in the vein of Erma Bombeck) silly enough to make you laugh. Enjoy and laugh as you read stories about people my age coping with the adventures of life as a senior citizen. Available on my website: gailcushman.com
