Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Birdie, Birdie in the Sky.... Um....

Is this a resting or a roosting pigeon? Hard to tell...

Whoops. Nope. Guess not. This pigeon is lounging in the grass. No clue why, but there you have it. It didn't appear injured, but it sure looked comfortable and wasn't too disturbed by my being on the other side of the fence photographing it.

As to the title of today's post, I grew up in a family where we said a prayer before each meal. Normally, it was all pretty formulaic, but every once in a while one of us would be a smart ass and improvise with a little ditty our hilarious mother taught us. It went like this:

Birdie, Birdie in the sky,
I see some cocoa.
Amen.

The end result would be irreverent giggles as we dug in (or tucked in, as the Brits say.)

Sometimes, when my siblings and I go to Mom's and Dad's for dinner now, we still say that prayer.

Obviously, you never outgrow being a smartass. Or enjoying a good laugh. I'd like to think God laughs right along, too!

UPDATE: 07.22.08... My cousin, Arlene, reminded me that the actual words to the Cocoa Prayer are:

Fishy, fishy in a bowl,
I see some cocoa.
Amen.

Thanks, Bee! Getting older sucks!

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 07/08

6 comments:

Virginia said...

Do pigeons nest in the grass? I have no earthly idea. They are pretty tame these days I think. Good shot.

Joy said...

It is looking at something, so it must be planning an attack?

Many thanks for your visits to Norwich Daily Photo. I hope that you enjoy the colours of summer on my blog.

joy

Rob said...

Not sure about pigeons, but our mourning Dovessit in the grass...usually under the bird feeders.

As for childhood smartass... I once mouthed off to my Pop..in Jr. H.S. of course. He says to me is an only a father could have stern voice with an element of fear, "don't get smart with me". of course being a young teenage dumb kid, I replied" That's what I go to school for."

I was 3 steps ahead of Pop, racing up the basement stairs for the garage, grabbed my bike and tore out of there. I stayed clear until sometime after 10 PM skipping dinner.

Lessons learned the hard way.

Maya said...

hah, I see you couldn't get your pigeon to fly either!

Arlene said...

Okay, I thought it was fishy, fishy in a bowl, I see some cocoa. Amen. My mom gets all huffy if I tease her about this! I learned it from your mom & I'm laughing out loud right now! I needed that!

Janet Kincaid said...

Virginia: I don't know. This was the first time I'd seen this.


Joy: It was looking at me, wondering, I'm sure, if I was going to climb over the fence to come closer.


Rob: Oh, I have stories like that, too. Sometimes, it's a miracle I'm still not grounded!


Maya: Ha, is right! I have the same problem with dog pictures. They're all cute and frisky until you point a camera in their face and then, nothing. My parents dog is the exception: he licks the hell out of the lens. Just what I don't need, dorky dog!


Arlene: Actually, you're right. It is fishy, fishy in a bowl. I thought it was birdie, birdie because I had this bird on the brain and I ended up thinking birdies and smartass prayers.

Geez, getting old sucks! And now, I know I'm going to get a call from Mom telling me I got the words all wrong! I'll never live this one down. ;-}