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…

In which there is Birding, and more Rock, and a Knife

Despite having been up partying ‘til late, and being woken by a thunderstorm at 4 a.m. a selection of us were up and breakfasted in order to go birding with The Birdchick at the Richardson Nature Center.
This time, it was Jess, Mr Jess and Phiala who braved my driving. A swarm of around 15 fiends met the Birdchick in the parking lot, and were immediately shown a yellow bird (a warbler, I believe) we hen headed to the visitor center where we spent some time in the observation rooms, watching the bird feeders - there were some wild turkeys wandering around, and on the feeders themselves we saw ruby throated hummingbirds, woodpeckers and nuthatches, as well as squirrels, chipmunks and sparrows.
Sharon took us out on a short walk to try to spot more birds, which we duly did! We did not see the indigo buntings but we did see a pilated woodpecker, bluebirds, goldfinches (which really are gold, unlike the kind we get in the UK) cardinals, which are red and shiny, and which I fund exciting as we don’t have them, but which are a very common here. We came t a small lake where we were able to see and egret and a pair of eagles, as well as sundry frogs and dragonflies.
The Birdchick was a perfect guide - it was fascinating. a great experience. When we got back to the center we met Na, who had accidentally been left behind L and Aleta, who ad gone back to collect her, and then the entire group, including the Birdchick, decamped to Burger Jones’, where on her guidance we tried the Poutine and the fried cheese curds. Neither of which I would have tried on my own, but both of which were very tasty.
In the afternoon we visited Uncle Hugo‘s (whose profits will no doubt show a small but significant Fiend-related blip) and I believe that a large contingent of fiends also went to Dreamhaven, but we headed back to Stillwater instead, in order to nap ahead of the second Paul & Lorraine gig.
Which rocked once again. The Unicorn song was played . There was audience participation. Need I say more?
In addition to all the visiting and local fiends who were also there last night, Chris “Mr Billy Bones” Lincoln and his wife Mary came, so there was an impromptu signing, and there was, once again, enthusastic audience participation... At the end of the evening, after the music was over, here was the ceremonial opening of the Mystery Box brought by Phiala. This marked the return of the Famous Exploding Knife, repaired, sharpened and etched with it’s name… FabLo was happy as only a girl who has just been given a new and very sharp exploding knife can be.