HOW LONG DO BLACKBIRDS LIVE?

For the last three years we have had a male blackbird jealously guarding a large berried climber during the winter on the back wall of our small garden. Every year he appears around this time when the berries have really started to come out and attacks all birds, including female blackbirds who dare to land on the shrub. Often there has been quite a fight with other birds and he makes such a noise, fascinating to watch. He has just appeared again this year but is not quite so aggressive, actually letting a female blackbird stay for a short time on and off during the day and then playing with her in the grass afterwards. My question is - is he the same one or son of blackbird?

LIFE'S HAPPY SPLINTERS!

Adam was home for a few days this week for a churchy appointment which meant he had to dress the part -he rarely does as he likes to be more casual - it is usually, jeans, jumper and his clerical collar on top - so I don't often see him really dressed up as a cleric and even more rarely go out in public with him dressed like that. We all went with Adam to Dublin yesterday and spent part of the time going round the shops and then having lunch. It was really amusing seeing people's reactions to his collar, one man crossed over in front of us - whistling and craning his neck to check out what Adam was wearing, nearly knocking down some shoppers! During lunch we had a lovely encounter with a lovely elderly lady. We were chatting over the day's event and suddenly Adam was grabbed and hugged by this little lady! She kept telling him how handsome he was for a priest and he teased her for while before telling her that in our church he could marry. She was so happy to see a young man like him she kept coming back with more lovely comments much to the amusement of the other diners around us and when we left a few minutes later everyone was smiling and nodding to us, it was really lovely and made Adam's day as he does not always have such a nice reaction.

READY TO LEAVE

LIFE

Today I decided to do some tidying in the study and came across some items that brought back some powerful memories.

I first of all I found my wedding veil worn 38 years ago when I married in a double ceremony with my younger sister, I remember my mother walking us proudly down through the church to begin the ceremony. In 1970 this was unheard of but because our Dad had died and one parent could not do the honours we only wanted our Mom to give us away. I remember it caused much comment but everyone agreed that it was a lovely sight.

The next item I found was my Mother's 1984 Diary, which I have not been able to read since she died and have still not read, a lot happened in 1984.

The last item I found was a smiling photograph of Simon taken for his Master's Degree which was lovely as he rarely smiles.

Life