Today's word of the day is rectrix, a noun for any of the quill feathers of a bird's tail that are important in controlling flight direction. Grace has amazing, bright red rectrix that she fans when she's angry. Unfortunately Grace never really learned how to fly safely and honestly its just too dangerous to be flying in a house (ceiling fans, pots on stoves, windows, etc.) so we never get to see her red rectrix in flight.
Grace has been fun to bring camping. She loves to travel and seems to get a kick out of camping. During the day she has a big cage outside to spend her time in. She whistles and talks and makes sure that whatever we eat we share a bit with her. I usually don't let her out of the cage outside as I'm afraid something would startle her and she'd catch a breeze with her wings and be gone. She's too precious to us to take that chance. Sometimes I'll hold her in my hand with my thumb firmly over her feet. We usually leave her locked in her cage when we go out for walks. Its not unusual to come back to find her in a whistling contest with a neighboring camper. She whistles one song, the camper returns with the same song, she does another one, and so on. She's quite musical and often people can't believe that its a bird playing the game with them!
Today is the anniversary of John Lennon's death. The local radio station has been playing his music and recollections from people all day. I find it interesting how much his celebrity has influenced. I can't help but think it strange, and a little sad, that someone like Mother Teressa (or any number of selfless people) who gave her whole life to others just gets a passing comment, if that. Perhaps they should have been songwriters. Its a comment on our society. But maybe its just as simple as the fact that we still play John Lennon's music so he is closer to our conciousness than the others. Music is a very powerful communicator that can touch a person at their very core.
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