Winding Down

It is a quiet week here at Chez Picky.  Work has been mostly calm, home has been mostly calm, weather has been warm & calm.  Finished a soap order, finished a pair of socks, started some fingerless gloves.

My sweet Billy Bird is winding down, though.  All week he has been quiet and sleepy.  he eats, drinks, preens and moves from the floor of the cage to the perches, but is sleeping a lot and even lets me pet his head - he must be feeling poorly.  He is at least 24 years old and that is a good age for a cockatiel.   His lady Peaseblossom and I are both giving him extra attention but I am not sure he will be with us too much longer.  He has been an excellent birdie & his talents include saying he is a pretty bird and mangling "The Entertainer".

The foster kittens are settling in at last and the dog is almost letting me sleep through the night.  They love watching the parrot and the rat loves chasing them around the bedroom.

Tonight it is time to hang out with my birds and rest up for work tomorrow.

Beach Day

On a whim, I asked a friend if I could join her on a beachcombing adventure. Happily, the answer was yes and we had a lovely visit and trip to a beach by her house.

We investigaed tide pools - anemones! hermit crabs! kelp! - and looked between the rocks for he treasure of the day: sea glass.  We found quite a few likely pieces and I learned how to judge when one is "ready" and when one needs more time in the ocean to get a lovely patina and texture.

I also found a pretty cowrie shell, a hag stone (a rock with a hole that goes all the way through) and an interesting piece of coral.  We checked to make sure it was long dead, it bounced around in my pocket with the other rocks & glass, the family examined it when we returned, it waited on the counter while we had drinks, dinner, dessert and coffee and it wasn't until I was walking out the door that I saw the little notch in the underside... with a very irritated hermit crab in residence!   Jen ran him back to the sea and I hope he will be fine. I could have sworn I checked that peice a hundred times. Well, a dozen times anyway.

It was a really great adventure & visit and I think there will be more beachcombing in my future.

Lambtown 2014