Another Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated the first birthday of my grand-niece Emily.  As usual, the clan rallied around to make it a delightful time.   At first Emily wasn't sure about this cake business, but she quickly got into the swing of things and made short (messy) work of her birthday cupcake.  I think her verdict was that it was quite acceptable!

Her cousins were there to help in the celebration.  The older girls got into the bubble-making with great gusto, but the younger children got more pleasure out of chasing them (or just ignored the whole thing).

At one point Elizabeth seemed to be bestowing birthday blessings, but I think it was just a friendly head pat.

Jake kept himself amused with Emily's Easter bunny, which makes delightful music when you get it started by pressing a paw.

I'm not sure Emily understood what all the fuss was about, but she seemed to take it in stride.

And old Auntie Em had a great time, too!

For family folks interested in more photos, check my Picasa site at  http://picasaweb.google.com/ejoyce2

Birthday Buddies Bash

A group of ten of us often do things together--go to movies, go to a cappella shows, go out for meals, and the like.  We also celebrate any birthdays in the group by having lunch or dinner together.  This month we celebrated, belatedly, the April birthdays of Sweet Suzanne and Jovial John. 

Mike provided the hats for all of us.  Of course, the honorees got special ones.  

We were really blessed in having Helen and Gerry with us once more.  Gerry has been fighting some rather serious health problems, but he's perking along nicely now and once again able to join the Tenacious Ten as we celebrate life's little victories.

John is our "Social Secretary to the Stars" and Joy keeps him in line!

John's son Lynn and Lynn's wife Angela are stalwart members of the group.

Last, but certainly not least, is Dave.

It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and Mimi's fed us well.

Spring at Last

Yes, I know spring has been around for a while, but it isn't really spring in my yard until certain things happen.  The wood thrush and Baltimore oriole need to come back and the white-throated sparrow must go elsewhere to nest.  The osprey must do his mating call in the air above the house.  And the mallard couple must come back to graze under the feeder.  All those things except the latter had come about, and finally the mallard couple quacked the announcement of their return and their need for food, please, and preferably NOW.  It must be the same couple from last year, because when I asked if they were hungry and headed to the shed to retrieve food for them, they only backed off far enough to give me space to put the food.  None of this hasty retreat business for them this year!

They seem to have a pattern so far.  They show up between 8 and 9 a.m. for breakfast and come back for a late afternoon snack around 5 or 6 p.m.  After they have eaten their fill, sometimes they take a "rest break"

Any leftovers get taken over by the latest squirrel crop.  I think this one is cute even if he is a bushy-tailed rat!  He's tiny enough to be a recently "fledged" baby.

Welcome back, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard!

Birding Weekend in Mid-week

Each year I devote one weekend to what I refer to as my "bird my brains out" weekend.  I make a two-day intensive trip to Chincoteague NWR, birding at multiple points on the way down and back.  Since it is migration season for all kinds of birds, my goal is to find a minimum of 100 species (unless it rains, in which case I have to be glad if I get 80 or 90 species).  This year because of scheduling demands, I ended up taking two days in the middle of the week for the trip instead of a weekend.  I tallied 110 species, some heard and identified, some seen.  Many of the birds are too small and too fast and too hidden by leaves to photograph, but some of the larger ones are more cooperative.

I knew I was in for an interesting couple of days when I spotted this little yellow "gas hawk" early in the trip.  There must have been a special show somewhere nearby, because there was also a little bi-plane that got away before I could stop the car and get out the camera.  Not a beautiful shot, but it was taken from the car window.

Chincoteague NWR is on Assateague Island in Virginia.  It's a barrier island and very much subject to storm damage.  Nor'easters are particularly hard on this island, and they had a wicked one this winter.  What do you do when a storm eats your beach?  You get out the heavy equipment and do what you can to put some of it back.

It's a losing battle. The next storm will just wash it away again. Your tax dollars at work, but it's necessary to preserve habitat for species that are rapidly losing places to stop in migration, and/or to call home,  species like the great blue heron, for example.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And the great egret--

And the dainty snowy egret with her yellow slippers--

As I was cruising around the wildlife drive, a smoky mist began to creep over the marsh.  I couldn't decide if it were smoke or mist, and since I had a bit of a scare with fire in NC the previous week (see the previous blog entry), I began to look around.  I can't smell things worth beans, so I couldn't tell what it was.  I took a picture or two to try to capture it.

The salt sea air (less than a mile from this site) masked any real "flavor" in the mist.  Finally I decided it was just ground fog, but it certainly had me going for a bit.  Near sunset the ground mist started rising to meet the clouds.

In Ocean City on the way home, I got behind this truck.  Guess what he was delivering!

As I said earlier, it was a rather strange trip.  As I got closer to home, scooting along Rt. 50 at 55 or 60 miles an hour, I suddenly had to come to a screeching halt.  Traffic in front of me was completely stopped for about 3/4 mile.  I could see ambulances and police lights in the distance.  (The land there is flat and in farm crops.)  There was no way to turn around or turn off, so there we sat for almost an hour in the 85 degree sun.  What we were waiting on were two of these "gas hawks".

Two medical evacuation helicopters came in, one at a time, and hauled away accident victims.  When I finally was able to drive past the scene, I was amazed that anyone survived to be hauled out to a critical care hospital.  The car was on its back in a field, and big chunks of it were widely scattered.  It made me glad I had stopped a couple of miles back to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.  Otherwise, I might have been closer to the scene than that!

A good trip, but a rather strange one.  I was happy to get home in one piece!

A Merry Chase

On a recent trip to NC to visit family and friends, I got to meet a grand-nephew of whom I had only seen pictures, since he lives in Wisconsin. His name is Chase, and he's active and good-natured and very bright. He's also just a bit shy, and his way of showing affection (to those except his mother) is to bump fists with you.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
He's fond of cars of all sizes and will occupy himself a long time playing with one.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We celebrated his second birthday while I was there. He did a fine job of both eating and wearing the cake!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After cake it was time for presents.  Cousin Brandon and Megan gave him a Tonka police car that made very satisfactory noises when you pushed the buttons on the back.  If it hasn't been subjected to a "batteryectomy" by the adults in the household by now, I would be greatly surprised, but he loves it.

It kept him occupied for hours, and it went everywhere with him--presumably even to bed!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I really enjoyed the chance to get to know him and to see the rest of the family, too.