Chooks

I've posted pictures of these neighborhood chickens before.  They are the perfect distance from our house for us to take a relaxing evening walk to say hi before starting Elliot's bedtime routine.  Especially great on warm evenings like we had last weekend.  

As we got closer, I started saying to Elliot, "we're going to see the chooks."  The word rolled right off my tongue, even though that's not usually what I call chickens.  It took me a minute, and then I realized that that's what my Nana, who is from Australia but immigrated to the states during WWII, called her chickens when I was growing up.  And then I realized it's also what one of my favorite blogging moms, who is also an Australian, calls her chickens, too.  And, yes, the more I looked into it the more I learned that chooks is really what they call chickens in Australia.  And if you listen to the little feathered friends, it really does sound like they're saying, "chook, chook, chook, chook."

The other thing that I love about our neighborhood walk to see the chooks is that the house that owns them has turned their corner lot into a community gathering place.  This is fairly common in Portland, and I feel so lucky to have one this close to our house.  In addition to having their chicken run and garden come right out to the sidewalk (which is very inviting), they've also build this corner sitting area and have a community board for posting neighborhood events.  The bench is a cob structure and they've put in this beautiful mosaic that Elliot really loved exploring.