A brief musical interlude with
Miss Bo and I... (original music courtesy of Richard Rodgers, original lyrics, not the ones below, courtesy of Lorentz Hart). Please play the audio clip, it jollies up this post no end...
Villa Beau Bo/Palais du Bo/Casa Bo/Peep PalaceA home by any other name
Have you met Miss Bo?Have you met Miss Bo? Someone said as we shook hands,
She was just Miss Bo to me.
And then I said, Miss Bo, I'm a girl who understands,
You're a fowl who must be free.
And all at once, she peeped, and all at once she meeped,
And all at once I felt I knew Miss Bo intimately.
And now I've met Miss Bo, and we'll keep on meeting till she flies,
Miss Bo and I.
Have you met Miss Bo? Someone said as we shared worms.
By then Miss Bo and I were family.
And then I said, Miss Bo, you're a girl without concerns,
you know one day you'll be free.
All at once Miss Bo pecked my hand, and all at once Miss Bo took the stand,
And all at once I realised Miss Bo owned me.
And now we know how things between us stand,
Miss Bo and I.
"What," asked Granny Were, nudging me with her beak in a way best described as indelicate, "are you feeding this chick? Huh?"
"Mixed grains, seed, crushed peanuts and the odd crushed and shelled snail," I replied, quivering under her beady gaze.
"What? No worms, no bugs, no beetles, no grubs?"
I shook my head and chewed my lip.
"Shame on you!" squawked Granny, clipping me roundly about the ear. "Get yourself out there and start looking for bugs and beetles this minute!"
Since that conversation, D and I have spent and inordinate amount of time grubbing in the compost heap, cultivating mealworms and
darkling beetles, and hunting down slugs. And Miss Bo has proved to be a right piggy. As soon as she sees one of us appear with the jar, she's over like a shot and the poor unoffensive beetle is wolfed down before you can say mopani worm! You'll get the idea from the pictures below...
Grubbing in the compost
Ooh bugs!
Wait, Bo, I'll give them to you.
Don't worry, I'll take them right out of the jar! Darkling beetles, yum-yum!
A bird on the shoulder is worth two in the, er...
An evening cuddle, Miss Bo and I.
