Our feathered friends

We have new customers at our bird restaurant since we opened a "take-out" section. The two grease and seed balls that we hung on the window shutters were nearly finished, so I broke them up and scattered the remains on the window ledge. It was an instant hit with the great tits. They had never stopped for a meal before; only the blue tits frequented our fine establishment. The new customers like to get a nice lump of food from the buffet, then fly to the neighbour's (Monsieur Soup) wall to eat their meal.

There's a tree opposite the window, about 50 or 60 ft away. We call it the "launch tree." The birds congregate there, then launch themselves towards our window, flying in an endearing bouncy fashion. They land on the two telephone cables just outside the window and take turns to help themselves to the food. Peter observed one of the blue tits hanging upside-down on the cable, with only one foot on it, the little show-off!  The great tits tend to chase the blue tits away if they dare land on the ledge at the same time, even if they're at the other end, hiding behind my herb pots...

The restaurant

Launch tree and "waiting" cables

A well behaved customer

We know that these things are pretty trivial for seasoned bird watchers, but as beginners, we're fascinated by them. The great and the blue tits are like teenagers from rival gangs; it's quite entertaining to watch their antics...


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This great tit turned up after I had published the post. He was facing the wrong way, but he did come to the ledge for a nibble, eventually.

Uh-oh...

Surreal conversation

This is quite funny.

The lightness of marble

I came across these pictures and I find it incredible how the artist managed to create the illusion of lightness and transparency from a hard material like marble.

The artist is Raffaele Monti (1818-1881).

Motherhood

Detail

The Sleep of  Sorrow and the Dream of Joy

Detail

A Veiled Vestal Virgin

Detail

So proud of my niece!

Guest post by CC

[CC kindly sent us some photos of her niece Laura's time in Africa. I put the post together by copying CC's comments on the blog and what she wrote in the emails.]

Laura is traveling to a small village named Naivasha. It is 1.5 hours from Nairobi and she is going on a volunteer program to help children in an orphanage/school for 4 weeks. I am so proud of her for wanting to do this you cannot imagine it. She had wanted to do something like this and researched it for the past year. She is 19 years old and has traveled extensively with all of us but this is a wee bit different --- She is really looking forward to it as are all of us (her family) and I have no doubt it will be etched in her memory forever.

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I want to thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes for my niece Laura --- I am so grateful for them --- and she is too!

My sister has been able to speak with her only once, but she sends her photos and texts when she goes into town every few days (to use their wifi..:-) ) She is extremely happy, she said the kids call her mom and she gets spontaneous hugs all the time... I am soooo happy for her. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I do have a few photos she has snapped and sent:

En route to Nairobi

The resort where she goes to use wifi ... What a beautiful view (and what a difference
from where the orphanage is... poor little ones ... Sigh)

Most of these orphans have HIV---kind of abandoned at this place. It is run by a private couple -- they have no funding -- just donations. Every time I feel humanity is just getting worse and worse, I find out about these stories and smile, realizing there are more wonderful people than not. Thankfully!


[Thank you, CC. Laura is as beautiful and as generous as her auntie... ]