Speckle's Last Photo

Description

Journaling reads:
Even before we had officially moved to Dordrecht, she was already part of our lives. While on a sunny afternoon, after a day's work on the house, we were enjoying some fries and the view on our roof terrace, she carefully came from behind a few roof tiles to take a look. She was immediately very curious and soon dared to come very close to us. We initially put some fries on the floor in front of us so that she could join us for dinner, but she soon ate the fries right out of our hands. We called her Speckle, because of the white speckled pattern in her feathers.

After this day she came to visit us more and more and it didn't take long before she took her partner Sparkle to visit us as well. He did not dare to approach us so quickly and for a while he watched from a distance as Speckle kept interacting with us. But after a few days he had become as familiar with us as his partner and their daily visits became part of our morning ritual. The moment we woke up every morning they were already quietly waiting outside our bedroom window. And if only Sparkle was there, every time he saw us wake up, he'd run off to pick up Speckle and they'd come back together for a nice breakfast.

Together, Speckle and Sparkle have also had several nests on and in our house. Unfortunately, they were not always successful, but in the more than three years that we have lived in Dordrecht, they have managed to raise two of their children into adults in our house. The first was Diva who was born in the former dining room chimney and a year later came Dash who was born in the basement window frame.

When they had a nest, Speckle was always the one to keep the eggs and newborn pigeons warm at night and went out during the day to gather food while Sparkle looked after the nest in her place. Whenever there was a conflict or rivalry between and with her children, she was goodness itself and would always calmly and quietly keep doing her own thing.

On December 6, 2021 I was still finishing the fencing outside on our balcony when Tim left for work in Rotterdam. From the Pelserbrug he waved me goodbye and said that he saw Speckle sitting on the ground just past the bridge. He quickly snapped a photo which he sent to me and walked on to the train station. In the photo I saw Speckle sitting by a circular hole in the ground with her feathers a bit erect, as she always does when she's cold. I thought she might see the hole in the ground as a nice place to make a nest, but was concerned about its safety as it was situated on a public pedestrian path. As soon as I was done working on the balcony I went to the bridge to take a look for myself, but unfortunately I didn't see her there anymore. In fact, we didn't see her at all after that day. The quick photo Tim took of her with his cell phone that day is the last photo we have of her.

Since she faithfully delighted us with her visits every day for more than 3 years, we were immediately worried when we did not see her for several days. Sparkle still came by on his own, but was visibly not himself. Dash and his girlfriend Dot, who spent every afternoon on our roof terrace, also disappeared without a trace not long after. In the meantime it is clear that something must have happened, but we have no idea what exactly that could have been. Maybe it was indeed not a safe place on the ground and she was grabbed by a dog or a cat. Maybe the people I've heard setting off firecrackers and other fireworks all day have thrown fireworks at her. Maybe she had walked to the street a few meters away and didn't see a car coming. Maybe a pigeon fancier found Speckle, Dash and Dot such beautiful, well-maintained specimens that he wanted them for his own dovecote. Maybe they have contracted the same intestinal disease, Adeno-Coli syndrome, that caused Mocca to die 1.5 years earlier. Maybe they were all affected by the bird flu that is prevalent throughout the Netherlands. I heard on the news this week that there is a much more contagious bird flu variant this year than other years and that it has had disastrous consequences. In the Netherlands, the infection first appeared on October 26, in Zeewolde, and since the turn of the year, the spread of the disease has been rapidly increasing. This variant was probably brought to the Netherlands by migratory birds and waterfowl such as geese and gulls in particular contract the disease. It is a terrible disease that affects the birds neurologically. “Sometimes dead birds just fall from the sky,” I heard them say on the news.

I've been trying to stay optimistic for a long time thinking that maybe they thought it was getting too crowded in the city center and just found a quieter spot elsewhere. This could be a possible reason for Dash and Dot, but I also know very well that Speckle would never just go anywhere else without Sparkle. It is mainly the uncertainty and not knowing what could have happened that keeps occupying my mind all the time and ensures that I do not yet dare to mourn her. The unique white speckled pattern in her feathers has always allowed me to recognize her from afar and I still look for her whenever I see pigeons somewhere in the city, hoping to see her once again.

To create this layout I used items from the following bundles:
- Empty Rooms by Allison Pennington
- Vintage Kids by Mommyish
- Summer's End Pastiche by Rebecca McMeen
- Coffee O'Clock by Pink Reptile Designs
- Just Imagine by Rachel Jefferies
- Falling Slowly by Bella Gypsy