Polly Wanna Cracker?

Yesterday it rained so we went shopping. Tanya needed jeans so we went to our favourite store “Kansas” which caters to the blue jeans crowd and carries stuff in our sizes too. She got two pairs of jeans, I got a couple of dressier belts than I’d been wearing (when I find them big enough to go around, I buy them), a pair of soft brown Levi cords and a Tanya-approved Wrangler cowboy shirt. Sum total: US$100, CA$125.

Most of their clothes are made in Turkey, where I know there is a Levi factory. The cords carried the usual LEVI stamps on the inside, assuring us that the company had been in business since 1850 and had been supplying quality copper-riveted jeans to the world for 630 years. That is a bit like my “Genuine Certitied” Rolex that I bought for $40 in Silk Alley in Beijing.

Today was warm and sunny. The dogs were curled up together in the sun, sheltered from the wind and acting like they had NEVER entertained thoughts of killing each other. They had been in lock-up for three weeks since their last bloody bout and had behaved like angels the whole time. I took them for a walk Thursday and they behaved completely. While I was sitting on my half-way bench for a rest, Volk even came when I called him and allowed me to pet him. And when we got home, both dogs came for their treat and went into their pen like little lambs. Same again today. Twice in a row doesn’t make a trend but does make a nice change.

Tonight Masha called and invited us to come and visit for the evening. She had apparently been quarreling with her parents and wanted someone on her side. So we got there about 7:00 pm and entertained her or she us for a couple hours. She had a big cardboard box on the bed that she could play inside and was shouting and screaming till I threatened to send her to Canada. So she got a cushion and I threw it into the box trying to bean her with it. Then she got her books so I read Green Eggs and Ham to her while she sat on my knee. It had been a long while since I read that book.

After that, she got out her toy parrot which now had batteries. The parrot repeats what you say to it. If you say “Awwk (whistle) Polly wanna cracker?”, it repeats back in a parrot voice, while flapping its wings “Awwk (whistle) Polly wanna cracker? Awwk (whistle) Polly wanna cracker?”

This reminds me of one joke that always made Ella laugh no matter how often she heard it. Sailor takes a girl up to his room to show her his parrot. To get the parrot to talk, he says, in time honoured fashion, “Polly wanna cracker?” The parrot says “You crack ‘er, Mate, you brought ‘er home”.