Sunday 27 July 2014

The Hoopoe Excuse.


It is proving difficult to write a blog about Bodrum this month as I've only been there for 48 hours in the last 30 days, but looking through my photo album has provided inspiration.  This photograph is a recent favourite.  I was siting on the terrace in June, reading a book, when this bird swooped over my head and perched on a nearby pine.  Luckily, I was reading on my ipad so I switched apps and took this shot. I hadn't seen a hoopoe for a while so was very excited to catch this one on film.  I always feel that I'm living somewhere exotic when a hoopoe visits. 
The sight also took me back over 20 years to our first weeks in the house. I was so overwhelmed by the number of birds in the garden that I used to spend most of my time with binoculars and no time with a duster or vacuum cleaner.  I'm not very house-proud anyway but with the wildlife distracting me, the house was getting progressively more untidy.  When my old friend Jane visited, she berated me for my messy house. I stood my ground, giving the hoopoes in the garden as an excuse.  She has never let me forget this and blames hoopoe-watching for anything I forget to do.  
I'm using the hoopoe excuse now - there are plenty of jobs to do in my mother's house in Dorset, but I'm writing about this beautiful crested bird instead.

13 comments:

  1. B to B, Why watching hoopoes is a perfectly legitimate reason for not doing anything else, let alone cleaning one's house!

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    1. I'm glad you agree. I think we will get on like a house on fire.

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  2. Housework is such a waste of energy. You clean. It gets dirty again. You don't need an excuse not to do it, but this is as good as any x

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  3. Beautiful hoopoes. Worth dropping everything for.

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  4. . . quite agree - life is far to short (especially this end of the line) to bother about such tedious details. We generally vacuum once the gecko droppings become a health hazard - much more fun to watch them tail thrashing and listen to them squeaking at each other.

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    1. I'm not even sure that I still have a vacuum cleaner.

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  5. Give me the hoope any time over dusting and ironing....

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    1. I just blame the dog for all the dust and hair balls under the sofa

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  6. Housework in Bodrum was like painting the Forth Bridge and who wants to paint in 40 degree heat?

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  7. Says the man whose house was worthy of a design magazine centre fold.

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  8. A woman after my own heart! Almost anything is more fun than housework, but hoopoes are a perfect reason to neglect it. :)

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