In celebration of my sweet LOLA returning home after being rehomed for 7 months, I am reposting one of my favorite posts featuring LOLA in 2010 and my previous Garden in Paradise. Enjoy!
Her name was Lola...
She was a show girl!
Yes, thanks to Barry Manilow, we have the perfect intro for my sweet umbrella cockatoo and constant gardening companion, Lola. (Don't you see the resemblance?)
(courtesy of TMZ)
Not into Barry? How 'bout some Kinks?!?! They sing about Lola, too!
Ok, well, the point to all of this is 1) I love my bird! and 2) She loves to garden with me. Any kind of gardening, actually.
For instance, Lola loves to mow!
She enjoys our daily garden inspections. She makes my job a bit more challenging since I keep a keen eye on what's going on in my garden, but also must be on guard for hawks that may enjoy her for dinner or for the numerous plants that would send her to her grave in the blink of an eye. Of course, as you all know, we no longer fear the dreaded Oleander! Alas, I digress.
Back to daily garden inspections...
Here's Lola inspecting the citrus crop of the Ponderosa Lemon last year (one of my favorite shots of her - adourns my sidebar).
Today, she wanted to show me all the blooms on the navel orange tree.
She also wanted to demonstrate how the orange is edible, even for birds.
Lola was sad to point out that the bananas will take quite some time to bounce back after the long cold winter. She misses hiding in the extra large foliage.
But she's happier to show me the plumeria beginning to sprout,
and the fresh buds of the newly saved (from the garbage pile) crinum lily.
Of course, my son felt that he wasn't getting any air time so here he is sporting his "Fun Guy" (fungi) T-shirt!
I really must give credit to Tros "In the Shade of a Nut Tree..." for giving me the inspiration to blog about Lola after reading about garden companion, Charlie. Check out Tros' blog and post about Charlie titled, "A garden would not be complete..." (http://goodiefoodie1.blogspot.com/2010/03/playing-catch-up.html )
I'm also participating in Katarina's Blooming Friday. Please be sure to check out all that's blooming there (http://rosorochris.blogspot.com/ )
23 comments:
Beautiful story and pictures..
Costas
Your son's t-shirt is hilarious! His sense of humour's after my own heart :D
And speaking of hilarious, that picture of you mowing the lawn with the bird is awesome!! Great post. There are so many funny things in it...Barry Manilow does look like a cockatoo in that pic! LOL
And now I'm going to be singing, "She walked up to me, and she asked to dance...I asked her her name..."
Awww, I love your Lola! That photo of her mowing with you is awesome!
Dear Kimberly, I was totally enchanted with this posting and, for the first few moments only, I assure you, I could not believe that Lola was, is, real. How absolutely superb and what an amazing garden companion, and definitely different. Certainly a change from cats and dogs!
By the way, your lawn looks magnificent. Call me old fashioned, but I do like to see well kept grass. Yours is positively manicured!!
This post had me laughing from the start. Lola is quite the star. Your son is carrying on the sense of humor in the family, I see. Great uplifting post to see us into Spring! And yes, your yard looks terrific.
Cute Lola! Your crinum lily looks very happy to be saved.
I just got a plumeria cutting this week from my coworder, can not wait to plant it and see it blooming! How long does it take for plumeria to bloom after the cutting is rooted?
Oh I just love Lola! And she has the perfect name...she IS a showgirl!
Lola is beautiful! You are very lucky to have such a companion.
Wonderful shots of Lola helping you around the garden. Your gardens look lovely in spite of the cold winter we've had.
FlowerLady
What an unusual yet delightful gardening companion. I love the picture of Lola on your lawn mower. Your son's shirt is very cool. I wish my gardening companion (my dog) wouldn't keep digging holes while trying to help ;-)
Kimberly,
I guess you have the original Bird of Paradise there with Lola. She really adds an exotic tropical touch to your garden.
Lola is adorable...and she mows the lawn too! Perfect! I hope her beloved banana foliage comes back soon.
That is so cute! My pet iguana liked to ride around the house on my head, but wanda the iguana wasn't guite as perceptive as lola! I think you need to do more photos with lola showing us around the garden, maybe make it a recurring theme! How about a book? I'm getting carried away...
Lovely Lola is a showgirl! Great photos! Enjoyed seeing Lola inspecting everything!
(And I love the Kinks.. If truth be known, that Barry Manilow song, too. Now it's playing in my head : )
You are livin' the life, my friend!
Hilarious! I love Barry in the ruffles and feathers. How lucky that you have such a delightful companion. I wish I had some help mowing the lawn.
Lola is beautiful and seems to be a very intelligent bird. I can see she is quite attached to you and your (her) garden! Your son is cute ,too.
Lovely pictures of Lola. She is so cute. Have a nice weekend/Gela
I love Lola! How cool that you can bring her outside with you and she can be your garden inspector. It really is fun learning about other gardeners pets, especially the more uncommon ones.
As soon as I saw your post I had to send the link to one of my garden gal pals! We fondly call her the 'Bird Nerd' (her backyard gardens have become a all-season bird santuary) and she will go wild over your garden inspector!! What a great way to tour your garden - way, way cool!
aloha kimberly,
oh what a sweet companion and she mows too, how can you beat that! if she comes and visits here i have alot of fresh papayas, bananas and citrus now..oh does she love avocados?
hey i love the shirt...i want one...do you know where i can get that?
have a great weekend!
ha! what a fun post. I love Barry's song and see Lola dancing along. That's so cool that she just hangs out in the garden. Your son's shirt is very cute too.
What a sweet companion! It would be horrid for her to become lunch to a buteo! As much as I love hawks, I hate to see them eating birds of any kind excepting maybe a blue jay. Clever post! ;>)
Thanks for the link to my Charlie. I must say, your gardening companion is much more exotic! than mine. Does she not just fly away?
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