Esplanade’s Pet Parade

With this issue we are beginning a new feature introducing Esplanade pets and their owners. We pet owners feel privileged to live in a condominium that allows our feathered and furry friends. Although pets do require care and attention, they offer wide-ranging benefits to their owners like reducing stress, getting exercise, meeting others, and offering unconditional love! This issue highlights Merlin, the beloved cockatiel of Jessie and Eric von Hippel, who left this earth this past September at the age of 21 but will be remembered with many stories and much love. If you have a pet you would like included in our newsletter, please contact Jessie von Hippel at jvhippel@me.com or Jane Hilburt-Davis at j.hilburtdavis@comcast.net

Before Google and Craigslist, there was the Want Advertiser, a local weekly classified publication founded by a Sudbury family in 1957 that we all consulted for buying and selling a wide range of items. It was there in 1998 that we found a Brazilian woman lawyer in Roslindale who was breeding cockatiels to support her family while her child was undergoing long treatments at Children’s Hospital. Christiana, our daughter, asked her for the “friendliest” of the baby chicks to take home to the Esplanade, and that is how Merlin became an important part of our family and flock and Christiana’s constant companion. Merlin made young Christiana feel needed and special by imprinting on her after she fed him from a syringe as a baby. He greeted her whenever she entered the room by flying and landing on her head or her hand and sharing a conversational chirpy song (presumably about all the tasty seeds he had eaten that day and the rugs, shoelaces, or computer cords he had thoughtfully helped to unravel). When he was still very little, she taught him to wolf whistle, and if she whistled it at him first, he would respond in kind, although he never quite got the hang of saying "pretty bird." And he became the subject of many elementary and middle school writing projects of hers. Of course, despite his cautious inquisitiveness and sidewise glares, Merlin knew a good perch when he saw one, and he was known for making a dramatic entrance, soaring into the living room or kitchen for an impressive crash into the windows or hopefully softer landing on any picture frames, books, and even people’s heads where he proceeded to employ his distinctive crest to great effect. Then, one day, as is the bittersweet practice of children, Christiana, our son-in-law Andrew, and our son Eric went off to explore the world more widely. Would we take care of Merlin temporarily while they were away? Of course! Then Christiana adopted a shelter cat that she dearly loves and is with her to this day, clearly not the ideal home environment for a free-ranging bird like Merlin. So, long story short, Merlin’s temporary residence in Eric’s home office became permanent, and he grew to accept us as part of his household. Happily, Eric found Merlin to be a joy! For the past ten years or so, Merlin’s cage was always open, and he too worked from home, constantly waddling around the office, periodically raising his crest or begging for another bread crumb snack, thereby diverting Eric from his own thoughts to wondering what Merlin was thinking. Often he would rush out to the living room in the morning to examine Jessie’s coffee cup with its many family pictures or proceed to shred the newspaper, a very satisfying task. He would also join unwary guests or family members we hosted, fearlessly strolling around amongst the many novel pairs of shoes and feet available for his examination. And many Esplanade residents knew Merlin because he lived in the concierge office with Karen Pirello when we were away for a week or so or because he welcomed visitors to the seventh floor with his lively chirp. Merlin was a happy, busy, beautiful bird who enjoyed a full life in his Esplanade habitat and as a beloved part of the von Hippel family. His final resting perch is nearby in young Eric’s backyard. We will all miss him and are grateful for his time with us. —Jessie von Hippel