Talking bird

I was sitting in the lounge room trying to make a decision, when I heard the unmistakable chatter of a tame bird, just outside the back door.  There were other birds calling too, one sounding like a magpie out in the big gum near the back fence, but this sound was quite distinct, with whistles and very human sounding words mixed in.

So I crept over to the door, expecting to see an escape pet bird parading around.  Instead, there was a single magpie, standing not 2 metres away, looking boldly at me through the screen and twittering and chatting in the most conversational way. 

Despite their many and often pretty calls, I have never heard a magpie talking like that.  Ever.  So I tiptoed away to get the video camera.  But the bird saw that camera, stopped its talking, and then flew off.

If only I could’ve understood what it was saying.  It might’ve been some good advice…

Quotalicious - 40th birthday

It’s never too late to be what you could have been. ~ George Eliot

So, it's my 40th birthday today and it brings with it a swirl of emotions.  Mostly I'm feeling grateful for the hope that I might even make it to 50, 60, 70 or beyond.  Which is not something that those of us who have danced with the crab-footed fiend take lightly.

To celebrate this most expected and surprising of days, I've decided to gift myself the very most awesomest gift I can:  the gift of owning my writer-ness.  Publicly.  This means a blog with my actual real name on it (stay tuned).  And formalising my potentially-writing-for-publication-and-payment status with my employer.  And getting myself a copy of the Australian Writer's Marketplace.  And allowing that it's perfectly ok to meander down that path in a sedate fashion, balancing all the other elements of my life for the greatest possible JOY combination.

This is going to be a sweet, sweet year.