One hundred years of pigeons
So last night was a blue moon in Tucson.
Which, as all of you smart readers know, means that it's the second full moon in a month. And according to the experts there won't be another one in Tucson for 18 years. I actually watched this one rise because of my kind neighbors.
See, I came home to smoke pouring out from behind my house with an attendant fire truck. After I determined that my house wasn't on fire - thank God - and it was just the empty lot, I looked around and saw all my neighbors sitting out on their porches and walls watching the show.
My neighbors across the street - Sue and Michael - live in this beautiful old church that they've renovated.
Sue is an artist and she uses the nave area - to the right of the bell tower in the picture above - as her studio and she and Michael live in the parsonage. It's the most beautiful studio space with vaulted ceilings and those gorgeous arched windows. So feel free to hate her :) I would but she's really nice, plus she invited me up into their bell tower last night to watch the sun set.
Apparently when they moved in, this bell tower was a pigeon roost with dozens of pigeons living in it. Also, pigeons apparently live on top of their dead and the church was built in 1914 so as the pigeons died their carcasses just drifted down under the bell and piled up. Almost one hundred years of pigeon detritus was layered in that bell tower. Sue has a long funny story about how to clean out a bell tower. There are people who do that. They catch the pigeons one by one in a big butterfly net and have a huge "pigeon vacuum" to clean out the skeletons, poop and feathers. And once it was done she decided she wanted to be able to get up in the turret.
So, now you can climb up into the bell tower via a ladder - with an attendant framed poster of Led Zepplin "Stairway to Heaven" :) - and then another ladder in the bell tower and a trap door and suddenly you are standing in the turret looking out over all of Tucson.
So my neighbors and I stood in the bell tower and watched the firemen put out the fire as the sun set and this beautiful harvest blue moon rose while drinking wine.
And in a stroke of unintentional genius, my neighbor Tom was drinking Blue Moon beer with us. He says he just happened to have it in his refrigerator :)
Have a good weekend everyone. They say a blue moon is a good omen. I hope it is for you.
Which, as all of you smart readers know, means that it's the second full moon in a month. And according to the experts there won't be another one in Tucson for 18 years. I actually watched this one rise because of my kind neighbors.See, I came home to smoke pouring out from behind my house with an attendant fire truck. After I determined that my house wasn't on fire - thank God - and it was just the empty lot, I looked around and saw all my neighbors sitting out on their porches and walls watching the show.
My neighbors across the street - Sue and Michael - live in this beautiful old church that they've renovated.
Sue is an artist and she uses the nave area - to the right of the bell tower in the picture above - as her studio and she and Michael live in the parsonage. It's the most beautiful studio space with vaulted ceilings and those gorgeous arched windows. So feel free to hate her :) I would but she's really nice, plus she invited me up into their bell tower last night to watch the sun set.
Apparently when they moved in, this bell tower was a pigeon roost with dozens of pigeons living in it. Also, pigeons apparently live on top of their dead and the church was built in 1914 so as the pigeons died their carcasses just drifted down under the bell and piled up. Almost one hundred years of pigeon detritus was layered in that bell tower. Sue has a long funny story about how to clean out a bell tower. There are people who do that. They catch the pigeons one by one in a big butterfly net and have a huge "pigeon vacuum" to clean out the skeletons, poop and feathers. And once it was done she decided she wanted to be able to get up in the turret.So, now you can climb up into the bell tower via a ladder - with an attendant framed poster of Led Zepplin "Stairway to Heaven" :) - and then another ladder in the bell tower and a trap door and suddenly you are standing in the turret looking out over all of Tucson.
So my neighbors and I stood in the bell tower and watched the firemen put out the fire as the sun set and this beautiful harvest blue moon rose while drinking wine.
And in a stroke of unintentional genius, my neighbor Tom was drinking Blue Moon beer with us. He says he just happened to have it in his refrigerator :)Have a good weekend everyone. They say a blue moon is a good omen. I hope it is for you.
posted by KBARRETT at 12:05 PM
4 Comments:
how beautiful is that! plus, it sounds like a magical way to spend the evening. wish i had been there.
me too! you would have loved it!
What a charming story; thanks for sharing. I may have to feel free to hate your neighbor for her wonderful living and working space, as I am currently living and working in the same identical space. Which we're taught in a physical impossibility, but which is in reality merely a physical unpleasantness.
Does this mean you take the form of a pigeon and fly around in Tucson every occasionally?? :)
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