In Which there are Raptors

I had a luxurious and lazy morning, meeting El, Ticia and OSS at 10 a.m., after they dropped Vampi off at the airport, and had naps and breakfast.
Then we headed over to the raptor centre. We started our tour with Bob, who showed us a bald eagle (which obligingly coughed up a pellet for our education and amusement) a peregrine and a red-tailed hawk. We then spotted the Birdchick, who greeted us with a cheerful “Fiends!” We all turned and responded as naturally as if we had never been greeted any other way, but some of the schoolchildren in Birdchick’s group looked at us rather nervously.
We continued with Bob to visit some owls and more hawks, then Birdchick came back to steal us, and took us to meet a kestrel, red-tailed hawk and horned owl at closer quarters, which was fantastic. And also allowed us to see that the Birdchick’s hair is clearly modelled on the colour scheme of the hawk - protective coloration, perhaps?
Luckily for us, the Birdchick was then free to join us for lunch. We went to ‘Good Earth’, which has some awesome food - Chicken and Caramelised Pecan salad with raspberry vinaigrette, for on, and chicken and cashew salad with avocado were both delicious, and the mini desserts (shot glasses with chocolate mousse and strawberries) were also delicious. It turns out that both Ticia and the Birdchick are past masters at balancing spoons on their noses. Who knew? Lunch lasted for a long time, but it just flew by.

We then had to say goodbye to OSS, flying back to Chicago, then Ticia & El returned with me to the Sofitel, to admire my swanky hotel room, and to have coffee. Being easily amused, we were happily occupied for some time reading the room service and information leaflets - this place has a ‘Romance Concierge’ which led us to speculate on the other types of concierge who might come in handy. We feel that a pillow fight concierge, to maintain good supplies of pillows (and perhaps tactical advice) would be useful….

As evening drew in I drove Ticia back to Stillwater, and we have supper in the pirate bar (Yaaaar!)
I was so proud of myself for getting lot only slightly, and only once, en route back to the hotel…