Monday, September 17, 2007

Pigeons (Again?)

I was on my way to where I work downtown, was running a bit early, so I decided to pop up to the parklet above the parking garage on 6th Ave for a breath of smog-filled air and a time out. There is a fountain there, and lots of benches. When I arrived, there was a man feeding the pigeons. I sat nearby and watched the pigeons congregate and eat. When he noticed me there, he came over and asked me if I would like to feed the pigeons. I thought about it for a second: "Okay!" He let me disperse the honey roasted peanuts (not the pigeons' favorite, too sweet) and the pigeons seem to take to me. One the man called an albino pigeon, due to it's predominance of white coloring, landed on my hand. "Wow," he said, "That one has never approached me before. The albino ones are usually more scared of people." It sat on my hand for a while, then again on my arm, then landed on my hand again and let me transfer it to my leg, and even stroke under its neck with my index and middle fingers. Is it possible pigeons are my totem animal? Anyways, this guy's name is Jimmy, and he has a website, so be sure to check it out: http://into.mysite.com/


Later that weekend, I was buying a birthday present for a 3 yr old at Barnes & Noble. I wanted to get my favorite book for that age range, not one I grew up with, but one I learned about at a Beginning with Books training. I bought the first and one sequel. It wasn't until I got home that I realized the coincidental (or not?) main character of these stories was a pigeon. Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus, and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, by Mo Willems.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wow, I think you really are connected to pigeons somehow! I'm gonna try to find that book to read for my picture book class.