Lenny Lee - Creatures, Critters, Georgia on my Mind, Red Arrows ...

Lilac Breasted Roller - c/o Kruger Park

Lest we forget – personal letters or postcards cheer us all up – my mother loves her letters and cards, and Lenny – “our” Lenny Lee – whom someone described as a talisman ... loves his cards!

We had a Lenny Lee blogfest in June set up by Theresa, Sharon and Shannon ... he’s one special lad ... and we sent him some cards – real ones .. those cardboard-paper things .. you know what I mean – remember them?!

I spotted Lenny up and about again around the blogosphere ... and thought I’d send another card or two with a letter – nothing like a surprise through the post. 

Lenny’s smiling face lit up .. and he replied with an email ... which lit my fire and cheered me up enormously ... and now I’m passing on our cheer.

I started this blog because I had letters back from friends and family ... saying please don’t stop your letters – they’re so positive and so informative (about how my mother was doing following her strokes, and the sorts of things we were discussing) ... a blog was born. 

It’s a two way process ... my mother got letters and cards, I replied and the process was repeated ... much as blogging – a post, a comment and a reply.

Back to the important one – Lenny!!  Here’s how he starts his email:

hi miss hilary!

wow! what a neat surprise i got in the mail of a cool postcard all the way from england. wow! how cool is that!  i love that bird. its sooooo pretty and i like how its got a lot of different colors. it looks just like a blue bird that we got her in georgia. it sorta for its shape looks like a carolina wren that we got here. i love those little wrens.

The bird he’s referring to is the Lilac Breasted Roller found in Southern  Africa .. such a descriptive name ..  Lenny’s email goes on (I’ve put the odd capital in ... and made a few paragraphs) ...  

A House Wren .. Rene or Renoir?

Could you believe a little while back a girl and boy wren got through a hole in our house and builded a nest in a hanging plant we got in the kitchen.

My bother sebastian name them rené and renoir.   They stayed there for the whole winter and came in and out of the little hole. We didnt fill up the hole cause it was cool haveing those wrens.

They didnt get afraid of us and we put a little bowl of water on the table and some seeds and they came and drank and ate. In the morning they did a real pretty whistle before they got outside.

After their eggs got born and the wrennettes (that what my one brother called them ha ha) got big they didnt come back any more. I’m doing a attachment for you of a picture of a carolina wren and a bluebird ... hope you like it.  (I do Lenny .. posted above - sent via Dropbox ... this kid has got some teaching to do to bring this old bird back in the UK up to date!)

Barn Owl

We got lots of birds that come at our back yard.  We got lots of trees round our house and a big woods at the back.  We got squirrels and chipmunks and rabbits in the day time and at night we got raccoons possums foxes and sometimes coyotes.

One time we even saw a flying squirrel.  It was way cool. Oh, we got a big ol hoot owl that comes round some times. My brother Andrew build a critter cafe on our deck and that how come we got lot of them coming at our house for dinner.

I got a little video of a raccoon thats my friend and I named him ‘cashew’ cause he loves eating cashew nuts and I gave him some of my brothers one time and now thats all he could want. He likes strawberry jam too. I’m gonna see if I could find that vidio and send it so you could see it.  (Hi Lenny .. I did see the video - amazing ... but I'm not clever enough to put it here .. perhaps you can put it up in your next post?)

Wow its way cool that you had a air show. I could like to see that. Its neat how those planes could so all those tricks and I like when they get that smoke coming out the back.

Thanks again for the thinking of me and sending me that cool postcard.  I love getting surprised in the mail.

I hope your mom is doing ok. I do prayers for her and for you.

...big hugs from lenny 

Well ... from me to all of you – I sure hope this has cheered your weekend ... it has mine ... easy post!!  What an absolute treat though ... and I know my mother, if she was well enough, would be delighted too –

Red Arrows escort Concorde at the flyover
for the Queen's Golden Jubilee 2002

Lenny – you’re an inspiration to know ..  have a glorious weekend with your family ... and very definitely with big hugs from me ... we can learn so much from the eleven year old you!

Here’s a video of the Red Arrows practising over Cyprus (an island in the Mediterranean Sea) ... with the song Queen booming away in the background .. everytime I see the Red Arrows now – that song comes into my head – even at the Royal Wedding earlier this year.

For some reason for someone so unmusical .. 'Georgia On My Mind' – also comes into play too ...  and I learnt that it is the song of your State written by Hoagy Carmichael ...

Lenny Lee Blogfest post - Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud ... 

It is with enormous regret that I need to tell you that one of the Red Arrows crashed earlier today ... with peace we think of them all and the family at this very sad time.


Hilary Melton-Butcher

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