On the other side of the world there is a country called Tanzania. Actually, it was called Tanganyika. Then, in 1964, the island just off her coast in the Indian Ocean called, Zanzibar, was added. They combined the two names and came up with Tanzania! (I would have named it, Tangabar, but then it would sound like a candy bar with a little ‘zip’!) This blending of two words is called a “portmanteau.” I must have learned this word sometime in my life, perhaps while reading Lewis Carroll’s book Through the Looking Glass, but forgot it. This is a great word. Look it up! It’s a French compound word meaning “coat hanger!”
But, I digress… Ah… Tanzania. My “zia” would be proud – my aunt in Rome. She loved to travel (particularly to the Italian coast looking for live music to dance to); but, she also loved to travel around the world with Pavarotti, stitching costumes as they fell apart. She was a “ziabee” – aunts who fly?
Where was I? In Africa – home of lions, zebras and giraffes, oh my! And one chicken named Leona. When anyone asks, “Where’s Leona?!”, it is hard to tell since she is one “chick-a-bee” (chickens who fly). There is Leona, the original, the one-and-only. Then, there is also little Leona, called Leonina. Lately, everyone asks for Leonina to take with them on an adventure. She is younger and much more fit. She is the adventurer - only weighs 2 ounces (including her yellow, ripstop sleeping bag). She folds up neatly into a 2″ x 4″ package so that she can climb the top of Mt. Everest or any other hard-to-reach place in the world (she’ll be heading for the North Pole soon!). And, not only is she light as a feather, but she is beautiful. Carefully crafted by one of America’s finest puppet-makers, she is hand-painted with a leather-like beak and comb. Really… a fashionista!
I believe this is the reason that Leona, the nonna of all Italian chickens, sits on my bookcase each day looking down on me with great expectations that her day will come once again. The story goes… Leonina was in Boston (actually, she traveled down to Rhode Island for the weekend) and she got stuck in a snow storm. As I packed the night before leaving for Africa, I pulled Leona off the shelf and carefully layed her on the very top of my duffle bag. She fit perfectly! I understood. Older, not as agile, not as beautiful, but still game for fun and new adventures…
The decision was made. Chick-a-bee on the Tangabar Express!
