About this item
A gift from an overseas relative, Graycie, an African Gray parrot, arrives in the Gardiner home not long after the birth of their first child, adding the responsibilities of parrot-hood to their newfound parenthood. Jenny Gardiner and her husband were hoping for a docile, beautifully plumed, Polly-want-a-cracker type of companion - but patchily feathered, scrawny, ill-tempered Graycie was the furthest thing from what they envisioned..In Winging It , Gardiner shares in vivid and hilarious detail the many hazards of parrot ownership, from endless avian latrine duty to discovering the multiple ways a beak can pierce human flesh. Whether she's swearing at the dog, mimicking the sound of the smoke alarm, or bobbing to the beat of the kids clapping for her amusement, she brings the family joy, laughter, and, sometimes, tears.
About the Author
Hi! I'm the author of the #1 Kindle bestselling novel SLIM TO NONE; the award-winning novel SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER; the memoir WINGING IT: A MEMOIR OF CARING FOR A VENGEFUL PARROT WHO'S DETERMINED TO KILL ME (Simon Spotlight/March 2010); ANYWHERE BUT HERE; ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE; and WHERE THE HEART IS; as well as the essay collection NAKED MAN ON MAIN STREET. I also have a short story in Wade Rouse's fabulous anthology of humorous dog stories, I'M NOT THE BIGGEST BITCH IN THIS RELATIONSHIP that features such authors as Jen Lancaster, Rita Mae Brown, Sarah Pekkanen, and more. I've published two stories for Kindle: THE GALL OF IT ALL: And None of the Three F's Rhymes with Duck, and IDOL WORSHIP: A Lost Week with the Wackos and Wannabes at American Idol Auditions.I've had pieces appear in Ladies Home Journal, the Washington Post and on NPR's Day to Day. I joke that I honed my fiction writing skills while working as a publicist for a US Senator. Other jobs I've held have included: an orthodontic assistant (learning quite readily that I wasn't cut out for a career in polyester), a waitress (probably my highest-paying job), a TV reporter, a pre-obituary writer, and a photographer (claim to fame: being hired to shoot Prince Charles--with a camera, silly!). I live in Virginia with my husband, three kids, two dogs, one cat, one rabbit and a gregarious parrot. In my free time I study Italian, dream of traveling to exotic locales, and feel very guilty for rarely attempting to clean the house. Visit me at my website, www.jennygardiner.net; my blog, www.jennygardiner.net/blog/ ; my facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/jennygardinerbooks , or twitter http://twitter.com/jennygardiner
