I've been keeping the birds steadily supplied with suet this week, while we're off work. I said to Dave the other day, "Is it possible for a parakeet to be overweight?" Because if it is, these birds are in trouble. They eat their weight in suet balls, although they drop about a third of it on the ground, I think. The pigeons and smaller birds get it there.
As you can see, the parakeets are in competition with the woodpecker, who seems to rule the roost. I imagine it has a sharp, painfully strong bill.
Dave and I went on an outing yesterday. We went to lunch down by Covent Garden -- a French brasserie that was passable but nothing to write home about -- followed by a play. We went to a matinee of Neil Simon's "Plaza Suite," which is being re-staged with Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker in the principle roles. We enjoyed it a lot, and of course it was great to see the two of them acting together. Some of the comedy is very physical and requires a lot of slip-sliding across the floor and that kind of thing, and they did it very well.
I wish I'd thought to take a picture during the curtain call -- apparently that's a thing now, because everyone else was doing it -- but oh well. Here's the show's Instagram page, which will show you what it looks like!
I think it's the first time I've seen Sarah Jessica Parker onstage. I saw Matthew Broderick way back in 2004 in a Broadway show called "The Foreigner," which I don't remember much about now.
We had some time to kill before our lunch and walked around Covent Garden, where we spied these very gay phone boxes. I didn't look to see whether they still have phones in them.
We've also watched some interesting stuff at home. On Wednesday night we rented "Dogman," Luc Besson's new movie about a drag performer and dog lover who lives off the grid and gets tangled up in some criminal shenanigans. It was a strange film but very watchable.
Then, last night, I watched "Last Stop Larrimah," a two-part documentary about a tiny town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Back in 2017 there were only 11 residents of this town, and one of them vanished, apparently the victim of a criminal act. It was a fascinating documentary and it showed how even a tiny group of people in the middle of nowhere can manage to nurture toxic grievances and resentments. Doesn't say much for our humanity, does it?
20 comments:
Ripley started on Netflx last night with Andrew Scott. It is very good. am glad you enjoyed your day.
The phone boxes look great.
When I read that you rented Dogman to watch, I immediately thought of you going to the dvd rental shop and bringing the dvd home. It rather shows how out of touch I can be. And no, we've never rented a movie using our tv.
I love the phone boxes and am curious about what’s inside other than the flags.
The birds photo is wonderful.
I love Plaza Suite and would especially enjoy seeing those two together.
If I recognize correctly, these parrots have recently been living here freely. They have multiplied amazingly and drive other birds from their territory, and it is very possible that birds can also suffer from overweight.
Those are not gay telephone boxes, they are wild ones.
I would have enjoyed seeing them. Nice to see SJP talked about for something other than her hair color and aging. Not in the play obviously but, I believe, she has greying hair now, and god forbid, wrinkles that she carries proudly. As she should. No one comments a whit about how Matthew is aging.
Love the phone booths ... maybe Gay Superman uses them to change into his spandex.
You resisted checking inside the phone boxes? The parakeets are lovely, though I'm guessing noisy.
Whenever one of my kids performs in a concert, I have to view the entire thing with 50 to 100 cellphone backlights shining back at me as parents attempt to record the whole thing. Do they every watch it back in entirety when they get home? Do they even absorb what they are witnessing or are they too focused with getting the perfect shot?
This is starting to show up now even in adult performances. I miss the days when it was taboo to take a picture from your seat. Those who wanted to record it, went to the back of the auditoriums to set up their gear. One could watch the entire performance without distraction.
I'm always surprised to see those parakeets at your bird feeder. I just always think of them locked in a cage. They certainly are getting large.
I've been watching the "Great Pottery Throw Down" which is fun but strange at times. (Like the British baking show but with pottery). They have odd challenges for the potters some times - like they had to make a toilet! What an odd thing to have them show their pottery skills as it even had to flush or it would count against them!
lunch out and a play? sounds like a date.
I'm guessing no phones in the boxes simply because public phones are a relic of the past.
That just sounds like a really nice day! I would love to see that couple in Plaza Suite. I love how they've managed to somehow live their highly public lives in an as understated and private way possible.
Your bird photo is terrific. Parakeets and woodpeckers together. Sort of, anyway.
You have had a great week. The movies sound good, SJP does not disappoint. Those phone booths are cheerful, colorful art forms. Love them. I could easily find a place for one in my garden. Seeing parakeets at your bird feeder surprised me. I was unaware they live wild in the UK.
Phone boxes are fabulous and clever and so cheerful! I would love to be on the creative -do-things-to London committee. ( having just spelled "committee"- realizing that it has redundant letttersss- why?)
I hope you got decent seats- Excellent evening for you guys. I have read reviews, all good.
Great shot of those beautiful birds! That play sounds great. I saw Matthew Broderick with Nathan Lane in "The Producers" years ago when I was working in Chicago. That was a hilarious show.
Love the rainbow phone boxes.
I like Bob's comment about a gay superman emerging from one of those phone booths.
My favorite Luc Besson film is The Fifth Element.
I haven't seen a good Neil Simon show in a long time but Plaza Suite has a terrific script and I bet they would bring their wonderful real-life chemistry to the stage. The phone booths look great and I love your birds!
Rachel: We just started it last night! Seems much darker than the movie.
Andrew: You've never rented a streaming movie? SO much easier than the DVD store!
Mitchell: I wish I'd looked inside!
Yael: Yes, they are an invasive species that are expanding their range in the UK. There are tons of them around London. I know they're ecologically bad but I can't feed the other birds without also feeding them!
YP: Wildly colorful!
Elle: I hadn't seen comments about her aging, but the pressure is always greater on women -- STILL. I think she looks amazing!
Bob: Ha! Now THAT would have been a reason to look inside!
Boud: I didn't resist, exactly -- I just didn't think of it!
Ed: I agree. We see this at school concerts, where parents record everything, even though the school makes its own professional-quality video and posts it to the web site.
Ellen D: I've never seen that pottery show but I've heard of it! The parakeets are not little ones like budgies -- they're basically parrot-sized. (Which begs the question, what's the difference between a parrot and a parakeet? I've looked it up before but I couldn't tell you now.)
Ellen: Yeah, I think they're probably empty. Some pay phones are still functional but the boxes are so disgusting I'd never use them.
Ms Moon: I think it says a lot about them as a so-called "Hollywood couple" that they're able to work together and commit to a project like this. There were tons of people standing around the stage door waiting to see them afterwards.
Susan: They live wild, but they're not native. It's possible to buy old phone boxes in the UK. Shall I send you one? :)
Linda Sue: We had good seats and yeah, why all those letters?!
Sharon: I never saw "The Producers." The tickets were too hard to get and I didn't feel like competing.
Wilma: It's quite an image!
Kelly: I think I saw that movie, but I can't quite remember now! Probably if I look up the plot I'll remember it.
Jeanie: They worked together so well, which is to be expected of a married couple, I suppose!
YP, of course I feel immense sorrow and pain for every innocent person who is killed anywhere in the world, unfortunately terrible things happen in war, and I wish all of this would not happen, but your comment, at least in terms of my feeling, was not in the right place, you could also think for a moment about Our pain without waving in front of us the horrific results of this war.
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