VATICAN CITY - A pair of doves seemed to prefer the company of Pope Benedict XVI to the great outdoors on Sunday when he had trouble convincing them to take flight in a traditional peace gesture.
The first dove hesitated on the windowsill of the pope's Vatican apartment for a long spell before flying off, while the second flew back into the room before flying out again.
"They want to stay in the pope's home," Benedict said, flanked by two children.
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Pope+peace+doves+slow+taste+freedom/6069248/story.html#ixzz1ktvrU4qE
A white dove, who looked like Central Casting had selected him to play the Holy Spirt in a Hollywood movie, landed in my garden many years ago and stuck around. He arrived in the summer when the impatiens were blooming and he would strut around, chest all puffed out, among the flowers. He loved unpopped popcorn and would eat out of my hand. When I would return home from work, he would land on the door of my car as I opened it, wings backlit, gorgeous, as I grabbed my gym bag to come in. He would be quite demanding though, insisting I feed him.
Winter came, and Dave---that's what my son named him---was still holding his vigil on the garage roof. I just loved this bird. He had so much personality and you could see his bird brain working---if he spied the jar that had popcorn in it, he would prefer to eat from that than from my hand, as as soon as his head was inside the jar, and he didn't see me, well, I wasn't there. Smart!
And he left credentials the size of quarters on the sidewalk and all over the garage roof, and that didn't make my husband happy. One day he caught him in his hands and asked me if I wanted to keep him, and if so, I should cage him, because he was not going to put up with the offal all over the place. Otherwise he threatened to put him in a pot and cook him!
So, I found a family that would be willing to take Dave, feed him, keep him in their backyard. I drove him over to another part of Kanata, and left him.
Then a couple of days later I got a phone call. Dave had escaped. He had squeezed around someone's hand while his water and food was being attended to. Oh well. But then, a day or two after that, I heard cooing. I saw little pigeon prints in the snow. And there he was! Dave came home!
If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you . . . .you know the cliche.
I tried again, tricking him with popcorn to get back in the cage. But he escaped again and came home. So the family gave up.
I brought him to the Wild Bird Care outfit and they found a home for him. I brought him there and he got out of his cage and perched on the back of an office chair. People walked by and Dave, cool as he was, just edged over a bit, otherwise unfazed. Such an awesome bird.
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