Strange pigeon women

Yesterday I was talking to my friend Simmi on msn. She often has interesting ideas, sees things in novel ways. Simmi said,
'I've been thinking about starting a flickr photo group about 'Strange Pigeon Women'.'
I knew immediately what she meant. In every town there are those quirky people, women who are always out there in their pink or floral or tweed coats and headscarves, rainhats, rollers even who feed the pigeons or crows or seagulls.
'Go for it,' I said. She did. You are cordially invited to post strange pigeon women photos from your own town.

This of course set me off thinking about the strange pigeon women. Are they the same ones who push their belongings around in supermarket trolleys? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps they're just someone's nan who refuses to waste anything, who takes the crusts of bread in a paper bag and goes to where the pigeons are waiting for her. I'm someone's nan, I could do that. Perhaps I already do. Around here, not so many people wear long coats, I must look like a crow myself sometimes.

Then on the TV screen this morning, there she was, the ultimate strange pigeon woman. The president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. She was dressed in traditional African style so she looked different. 67 years old and the first democratically elected woman president in Africa. In Liberia they call her both 'Iron Lady' and 'Maman Ellen'. Described in the segment as a 'brilliant economist' she intends to put women into key posts in her government. She sat down on a step and looked up at the assembled worthies and journos and said,
'And if the men who are already in post don't do a good job, then we'll replace them with women.'
Afterwards, there she was, pictured on the steps of the government building surrounded by women who held positions of responsibility, the French minister for foreign affairs, the ex-president of Sri Lanka.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is a woman to watch and yet there is more. When the elections were going on, her nearest competitor was an ex football player. Yes, she beat a footballer. You go girl!

A character from TV that Simmi and I both admire and yet who was unpopular, was Captain Janeway from the Star Trek series 'Voyager'.
To me, Janeway was a woman in charge who managed to stay a woman, unlike so many who have to become men to succeed. Janeway was feminine, maternal and yet still strong. She was the exact opposite of the kind of woman many men like to deal with, she was older, 'handsome' rather than pretty. And she had the most difficult job of all the Star Trek captains because her ship was lost in another quadrant, she couldn't just call on the might of the fleet to back her up, she had to make the decisions alone, knowing when to stick rigidly to protocol and when to bend, when to consult.
Janeway as strange pigeon woman? Well, maybe not, but she was an individualist.

Individuals, women with strong, independent personalities who don't care what other people think. Some say weird, I say who knows what lurks beneath the strangeness. Post those pics, hell pose for them if necessary.
Strange pigeon women of the world, your hour has come.