Trying

Julian is the boy on the left - stretching tall to impress Hannah & Princess.

Sunflower envy

I love sunflowers and have had precious little success growing them. Needless to say, these photos weren't taken anywhere near my home. I took these photos a few weeks ago while driving the back roads of upstate NY.

Hand feeding a baby finch

This little one has taken up much of my time over the past 2 weeks. I found Sammy cold and barely alive on the aviary floor - a victim of the dreaded "gouldian finch baby tossing syndrome". Even after warming him in my hand for hours, I couldn't get him to open his mouth for a feeding. Along came hubby with the magic touch, who "tickled Sammy's chin", which caused him to start begging for food. And he hasn't stopped since.





Day 2 - here he is with a little food in his crop.






Day 5 - he's growing, but not as quickly as he would if his biological parents had kept him.





Day 13 - Sammy was too busy travelling (and eating like a pig) last week to pose for photos. As you can see, he's really progressing.






Day 14 - He has a full crop, but that's not stopping him from begging for more food.

A surprise in the country

Over Labor Day weekend, we left the absolutely beautiful (finally a bit cooler) weather of Lake Gaston and headed north to upstate NY for our annual family reunion at my sister's house. Up there we found equally beautiful weather and we enjoyed every minute of our roundabout back roads drive from my sister's house back to my parents' house on Monday.
The scenery was mostly farm houses and corn fields, so we were shocked to see these gold domes peeking above the trees.





It's the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville NY.








Beautiful!