This Idea Is For The Birds

There are times in life when you experience unusual situations that leave you wondering just how different people’s lifestyles are from one another. Sometimes the event is so unique that it becomes simply unforgettable.

Several years ago, I had the occasion to visit a woman who lived alone in a fourth-floor walk-up in Israel. Unlike the United States, in Israel, there are no screens on the windows, so when someone opens a window, there is nothing to keep out any flying insects from entering the apartment. I walked into this woman’s apartment and she offered me a seat in her living room, where the window was wide open with the laundry hanging from different lines right below the ledge.

Opposite the sofa were two large bird cages containing several parakeets and large blocks of birdseed suspended from different areas within the cages. We were relaxing and passing the time when a sparrow flew in the open window and without missing a beat, few directly for that block of birdseed hanging suspended inside one of the cages. He grabbed some seed and hightailed it back out the window. My initial reaction was, “Wow, this is surreal!” Just as I finished thinking that, another bird came flying into the house in the same manner, grabbed a beak full of birdseed, and circled right back out the window.

I was so shocked by the scene that I started staring out the window while the parakeets in the cages were chirping and tweeting and jumping all over the cages, trying to peck at the birds as they flew in. Just then, a series of sparrows began flying in and out, performing the same dance to the cages, then out the window again, and I realized the woman was nonchalantly continuing the conversation without missing a beat, so, unable to contain myself, I asked her what it was all about.

Her answer to me was that the parakeets were jealous because she regularly left the window open so all the birds could fly in and out and it was all wonderfully friendly and leibidik. I stood up and looked out the window, then down at her laundry and without missing a beat, suggested that she strongly consider hanging her laundry out a different window.

Well, my friends, this is not the end of the story. Recently I made an appointment early one morning to visit a new client. She welcomed me at the door with a robe and a rimmed cloth hat on her head, and invited me into the kitchen to join her for a cup of coffee. As I entered the kitchen, there were two parakeets flying around the kitchen perching at various places. Sitting down, I decided to tell her the story of my visit to this woman in Israel and what had transpired.

As I finished telling her my story, she giggled a little and said, “I can really relate to that story. Every morning I put this robe on over my clothes and this old hat on my head so I can have breakfast with my birds and then be able to take them off with my clothes in pristine condition so I can go to work.” I sat there, stunned. Not only had I never thought I would ever experience anything even remotely close to what I had seen in the woman’s apartment in Israel, I never thought I would encounter someone of the same mindset who thought they had found the solution for the side effects of having birds flying all over the place.

I kept thinking, “How can I delicately tell this lady that although the robe protects her clothes, customers seeing her house will not be as sympathetic as to how it affects everything else.” Since I realized that short of diapering the birds, there was no perfect solution that a bird-lover would accept. Finally, I said, “Have you ever thought of portable drop cloths that we can remove before showing your house?”

Her answer was one for the books: “Great idea, but forget the idea of portable drop cloths. I have plenty of old sheets that I can leave draped around the kitchen, and then throw them in the washing machine at the same time I wash my old robe and old hat. That should solve the problem, right?” I realized then and there that it was going to be a long day—and a long listing. 

Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a Licensed Real Estate Broker (Anessa V Cohen Realty) with over 20 years of experience offering full service, residential, commercial and management real estate services in the Five Towns of Long Island as well as the tri-state area. She can be reached at 516-569-5007 or readers are encouraged to send any questions or scenarios by email to [email protected].