I have an aunt who recently joined our family after getting married to my uncle. She lived in Saigon, Vietnam for all her life and moved here to Australia after the wedding. She was awestruck that we live like kings - houses with multiple spacious rooms, massive tvs, fridges, microwaves and air conditioners all being commonplace.

She came over to our house one day and saw the budgies. She was so delighted. She asked me, "How do you paint your birds like that? Or do you dye them?"

I laughed until I realised she was dead serious! It baffled me for a bit until I realised - she had never seen a colourful bird before! She might have seen the few local birds that are left in the city - sparrows, maybe a mynah.

I imagine what it would be like to have only seen brown and grey little birds from a distance, and then seeing the vibrant feast of colour that a budgie holds - and I appreciate them all the more!

I might just have to take her to see some of our local rosellas and lorikeets

Yes, My wife is from Samoa and they don't have many brids there at all, except those evil indian minor birds that came over on a boat and took the place over. But when you think about the vast colours our birds have here in Australia we are a pretty lucky bunch of people. And better yet we get to keep them at our house and admire them every day...

 

I really have to go shopping today

yes you are all very lucky, we have pretty birds but not like AU

l can't imagine not ever having to see a colourful bird, only the less colourful ones. she must have been so amazed at the site of all your colourful budgies.

Yeah. You forget how lucky we are. I know I take things like that for granted... I just don't think.

What an amazing story Chryso ... & yet kind of sad too. I guess we do take things for granted. I am wondering what her world looked like where she grew up & how strange it would make me feel to see it & know the differences we have.

 

We share the same planet ... we are all the same people inside, blood & hearts & souls !

 

Yet different Worlds. And here I am about what ? 4-5000 miles away from you all in OZ ? & other places & I can smile & laugh & talk to you here in BBC everyday & see your smiling faces on your photos & your birds.

 

What a Wonderful World. Eh ?

Chryso,

 

that was so lovely. Stories like that do make us appreciate what we have more. I am sure she would love to see flocks of beautifully coloured birds in the wild.

 

NickNack, it sure is a wonderful world!

 

 

Feathers.

Yes I agree it is a wonderful world…pity us collectively as humans don’t look after it that well…there is a good chance we will stuff it up.

 

I often think that there couldn’t be a more beautiful & wonderful place than what we had in the natural world, but for a lot of us it doesn’t seem enough & through greed we may loose a lot of it…sorry to bring in such a mournful thought into something beautiful, but it’s true I think.

 

I often think that if we were so intellegent [as we often think] we would have been smart enough to realise what we had...but in our ignorance we thought we could make it better.