the war in the garden

The magpies are settling in now! they arrive at promptly  7am sitting  on the garden chairs in the courtyard and shouting  loudly for breakfast. i take the little mince meat balls from the fridge and the seeds for the doves and the ducks and wander outside whilst the water is boiling for my coffee.

Boomps comes with me wandering innocently around my feet and watching, watching and brooding.

This morning, overwhelmed by feline longing he dived at one of the magpies who shouted at him and lazily lifted up onto the clothesline. Boomps pretended it was the mince he wanted and stalked back into the house. I found him later curled up on my bed beside my Teddy - proving for all time Teddies are universal comfort!!

The ducks have decided that since the magpies eat in the courtyard they will as well - they have also decided they like the little minced meat balls and so waddle up hurling obscenities at the magpies and try to scarf as much of the mince as they can.

the magpies ignore them as they do all creatures that cant fly or feed them!!

The only creatures unaffected by all this are Frank the elderly lilac point, whom we suspect has Alzheimer's and is often unaffected by anything we can see but will stand crying and lost in the hallway until we find and cuddle him and the doves who live in the tree above the duck house and sing irrespective of what is going on.

I stood next to one of the magpies yesterday afternoon and looked it in the eye - it looked straight back at me clear eyed and unafraid and I almost put my hand out for it to walk up - I wonder if it would have!