Tutti helps to bake; Kokola's bell

A bit haphazardly I started to bake a sticky fruit pudding today. I kept thinking of Anthony Bourdain's emphasising the concept of mise en place - having one's head together, all organised, all ingredients ready, stocked.. you get the drift. I demonstrated the opposite - last minute rushes trying to find ingredients, dropping the blender on the floor, realising I didn't have any nutmeg although i was sure it was there last time. Anyway the lovely aroma emanating from the oven now makes it all OK.

Tutti flew to the kitchen bench to check out my chopping the dates, raisins and figs. He was very polite as usual, just hovering around hopefully but never presuming to step onto the chopping board and help himself. I gave him a little piece of date and he gratefully ate it. Finished, he looked up, asking with his eyes if he could have more. He got a little piece of fig. Loved it too.

I've figured how to get Tutti to fly to my shoulder every time I call. He doesn't respond to Come here Tutti. But soon as I say "Want to see Pepi?" - instantly he flies to my shoulder. Pepi the budgie is outside the front door in the porch enclosure. I don't take Tutti to go see Pepi everytime he flies to my shoulder, but I do it often enough to keep him responsive!

Kokola was hysterical today. I gave him a little round bell which I stuck to the inside of his cage. He loved playing with it, but he made short work of the fixture each time & the bell would fall to the floor of the cage. So I left the bell on top of his cage. Kurt came along & played with the bell and Kokola got real excited, screeching, hanging upside down and all his words rolled into one long muddled sound - kokola-kokola-hello-go-to-bed-go-to-bed.., throwing the bell off the cage top to Kurt, then Kurt throwing it back to the cage top, and Kokola screeching & throwing the bell off. It was hilarious to watch. I'd never heard him at this decibel!