Hey everybody, this is Mac. It's November and getting cold here on Cape Cod. The tourists are gone and my bike shop is serving mostly only locals until next spring. When a damp wind is whipping along the bike path, visitors don't tend to rush in and ask to rent bikes for a family of five for a week. I still have business from my dedicated regulars, but I don't mind a more relaxed schedule for the off season.
So I'm hanging out in my tiny house behind the shop more than usual. Somebody's happy with the plan: my African gray parrot, Belle. I'm wicked allergic to cats and dogs, so she's the only pet I can have.
We have fun chatting and she's super smart. Right, Belle?
"Belle's a good girl. Gimme a kiss, Mac."
You can't help but laugh, and laughing is great during the dark days of late fall. I throw her a kiss.
"Snacks, Mac? Belle's a good girl. Belle likes snacks."
I bring her a chunk of frozen carrot. I switch on my wireless speaker and bring up Pharell Williams' "Happy" on my phone. You haven't lived until you've seen a parrot dancing to that song. Makes me laugh every time.
I hope you've had a chance to pre-order your paperback of Murder on Cape Cod from Barnes & Noble. My author says it'll be out on all platforms in all formats a year from December, but for now, B&N is your exclusive source.
And keep dancing!
Readers: What experience with birds have you had, domesticated or wild? Maddie will send her last ARC of the new book to a commenter here today.
Maddie Day creates the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. As Edith Maxwell, this Macavity- and Agatha-nominated author writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction.
Maxwell is President of Sisters in Crime New England. She lives north of Boston with her beau and two cats, and blogs here and with the other Wicked Cozy Authors. You can find her on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, and at her web site, edithmaxwell.com.
Posts
I adopted a parrotlet and at 7 am and pm he went bananas! Squawking, whistling, making crazy bird sounds! No clue what always happened at 7 in his former home.
ReplyDeleteAmazing.
DeleteOur friends have an African Gray. He is fun to talk to.
ReplyDeleteMy friend has one, too. She collects phrases for me!
DeleteWe had parakeets for pets when I was a kid. Now we love feeding the wild birds and love to relax on the front porch and watch them. We see everything from hummingbirds to eagles.
ReplyDelete2clowns at arkansas dot net
Was blessed to have already read this wonderful book. HIGHLY recommend it!
DeleteI've never had a bird :( But I do love feeding the outdoor birds. We had a woodpecker that would knock on the door if the feeders were empty.
ReplyDeleteFunny!
DeleteWhen our now 40 something children were
ReplyDeleteyoung kids they wanted birds. We had parakeets for quite some time and we had a few that got egg bound and it was really upsetting to our daughter so we stopped replacing them when they passed away. I did enjoy their chirping and singing sounds for the years we had them and I know our daughter really was happy we let her experience owning and caring for birds....then fish. And cats and a dog and then kittens that had been found. We had quite an assortment and happy to have experienced all of them with our children.
Wonderful.
DeleteMy ex had a pair of love birds, they were cute. I wouldn't let him have any birds when we were married because of the cat. I'm a cat person and only a cat person. I can look at them outside or in other places and appreciate them and their beauty but I don't like seeing birds caged up. Thank you so much for a chance for your last copy. I am a huge fan of Cape Cod and know I would enjoy your book.
ReplyDeleteCool, Paula.
DeleteI love birds, we have had many from canaries to love birds and everything in between Another of my love's is Cape Cod, I can't wait to read this book. Thank you for the chance to win
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
DeleteI have ecperiences with birds other than watching bird shows at zoos & etc. My son was horribly afraid of birds when he was young.
ReplyDeleteI hope he got over that!
DeleteI am not a bird person. I was bitten by my great grandmother’s parakeet when i was about 4, so i was afraid of birds growing up. A few years ago, I had to care for a parrot as part of house sitting duties. It wasn’t my favorite part of the job, but I made it! Thanks for the chance! cking79503(at)aol(dot)com
ReplyDeleteOuch! Thanks for the idea for a future plot. ;^)
DeleteMy most amazing experience with birds was when we lived in Australia. My backyard was filled with cockatoos and other beautiful parrots. We named one Joe Cocker. He would come up to the sliding glass door and knock with his beak to let me know that he would like some seed please.
ReplyDeleteThat's very cool, Alice.
DeleteI love birds - I have three feeders in my yard. I love to watch them jcook22@yahoo.com Never had a pet bird
ReplyDeleteLove bird feeders.
DeleteI love all animals including birds. This sounds like an exciting book and I would love to read it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Donna.
DeleteI've never owned one, but have had friends that do, love them. Can't wait to read your book
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI had a parakeet named Bacchus who sang along to classical music. I also seem to attract parrots, who like to land on me. Once at the Evanston Zoo, a little side trip on a work relocation, a macaw landed on my shoulder. A keeper appeared and yelled, "What are you doing?"
ReplyDelete"Just standing here, not doing anything."
"He's not supposed to be out here."
"Tell him. He's not hurting anything, though. He just seems to like me."
I stood still, he retrieved his bird. Only the keeper seemed upset. The bird and I were "chill."
Chill. I like it!
DeleteFirst a question--"My author says it'll be out on all platforms in all formats a year from December," ??? A year from December? Perhaps this year in December?
ReplyDeleteAs to birds, our niece has an African Grey parrot. They are wicked smart! He fools her dogs by calling them by name and asking if they want to go out. Gets them really wound up!
More amazingly, there were three dogs and one died. The next morning the bird greeted the remaining dogs as they came downstairs, as per usual. But one dog was missing. He started calling, by name, for the missing dog, going through all of it's nicknames!
That is correct, Libby - except the author should have clarified: "all OTHER platforms and formats." This year's release is only paperback only from Barnes & Noble. It's an exclusive between Kensington and B&N and is quite frankly an experiment. None of us is quite sure how it will fly!
DeleteMy daughter got a cockatiel for her 10th birthday. She taught him different words and she would play uno with him. When I got my sun conure, Mango, the two birds would "talk" together. I enjoyed those birds.
ReplyDeleteFun!
DeleteI had a parakeet when I was a kid
ReplyDeletesgiden at verizon(.)net
Cool.
DeleteI don't have any experience with birds, except for feeding the outside birds. I think parrots are beautiful birds and I would really like to see them in the wild. Belle sounds like an amazing pet,looking forward to reading more about her.
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks!
DeleteWhen I was younger I attempted to birdsit my cousin's Parakeets. My brother had the lovely idea of use picking up the birds from my grandparents on his bicycle. Meaning we were bought on the seat and the birdcage was on the handlebars. I'm guessing you might have an idea of where this story is going. He hit a bump, I lost my grip on the cage and the birds flew away.
ReplyDeleteOh no! I hope they survived.
DeleteWhen I was growing up my Dad won a parakeet at a carnival & we named him Bobbie & we got him to talk to us, so much fun. Thanks for your generosity. lindamay4852@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteVery fun.
DeleteI haven't had any personal experience w/ owning a bird, but a friend owned a ton of them and they were fun to visit. I also love watching birds year-round from our sunroom.
ReplyDeleteI love watching birds from inside, too.
DeleteI don’t have any birds but I love to watch them outside and keep the bird feeders full to watch them eat all day
ReplyDeleteI used to work with Florida Scrub Jays. We had a permit allowing us to feed them in order to get them close enough to record leg band colors, count juveniles, map territories, etc. My office was in the field, near a couple of overlapping Jay territories. In spring and fall, I'd leave my door open for fresh air. It didn't take them long to figure out there were peanuts in my office. They would squawk from the roof, land on the door and look at me, even fly into my office and sit on my desk or cabinets in search of peanuts.
ReplyDeleteI've never owned a bird, but I've had friends with birds and I've enjoyed them. They're such unique creatures! somesmartcookle at aol dot com
ReplyDeleteLove watching the birds that visit the feeders in my backyard.
ReplyDeletejtcgc at yahoo dot com
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little we had parakeets and canaries. ckmbeg (at) gmail (dot) com
ReplyDeleteI had a blue parakeet through my elementry years. Rhubarb would fly to me and land on my shoulder. Loved that bird so much!
ReplyDeleteI have never owned a bird, but my cousin and a friend have! Thanks for this chance! lindaherold999(at)gmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteGrowing up we had the occassional parakeet. In high school, my brother brought two birds into our house; a cockatiel and an african gray a year or two later. At some point he brought them to college with him. Thanks for the chance. ematov (at) comcast (dot) net
ReplyDeleteEileen, you are our lucky winner! Please email your snail mail address to me at edith at edithmaxwell dot com.
DeleteGrowing up in a Chicago apartment, cats and dogs weren’t even an option back in the day...at least not for me. A parakeet was my first pet. He was allowed to fly around the apartment where he pecked at mirrors and chatted to himself. He may have damaged some lampshades...Unfortunately, he flew off my shoulder and out the door one day...never to return...sad day for a youngster...but maybe a good day for the lampshades?
ReplyDeleteI’ve never had any types of birds as a pet, but my grandmother had a parakeet that talked a lot. In his cage was a plastic pink bird, and this parakeet would sit next to it and peck it and snuggle with it and say Petey loves Pinky! It was a really cute and entertaining little fella. Kuzlin(at)aol(dot)com
ReplyDeleteEileen AW is our lucky winner! Thanks to everyone for entering. Eileen, please email your snail mail address to me at edith at edithmaxwell dot com.
ReplyDeleteEveryone else, my publisher has a 25-book Goodreads giveaway going on until November 9! Check it out here (scroll down a little to see the the giveaway): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41593091-murder-on-cape-cod
When I was a little tike I got chased around the yard and bit on the butt by my Papaw's mean goose. I keep a respectful distance from geese to this very day, nearly 50 years later lol
ReplyDeleteDonah42 at aol dot com
A friend of mine has an African Grey. He's quite the talker.
ReplyDeleteI took care of a friend's 2 birds once. An interesting experience. doward1952(at)yahoo(dot)com
ReplyDeleteI've always been raised with birds in our household. We had parakeets and canaries when I was young. My mother adopted 2 cockatiels named Betty and Jack. They used to drive my father nuts because they whistled whenever he was around. Our family then adopted a double yellow headed Amazon parrot who had a previous owner named George which was also my brother's name. Needless to say it would yell for George among many other thinks. Birds can be great company all depending how much time the owner wants to put into their care.
ReplyDelete