These English birds are critically endangered. However if you watch this video, the only thing that will be endangered is your ability to survive the cute.
Family visit went really well. Me happy. We laughed, we bonded, we toured the garden. As far as we’re concerned if Katie’s beau makes her happy (which seems evident “I’m gaining weight… I know I’m happy” BF: “Well there’s always that gym membership you paid for and don’t use”) and they speak to each other lovingly and respectfully (which so far they do) nobody is going to complain. They are now living together, and candidly I am very happy about it. (“Don’t the young people marry these days?” I remember Grandma saying).
Saw Keith yesterday. His response to a five minute long rant by the business owner where he worked was “I quit”. I hasten to add that it was a five minute rant that combined racism and misogyny in such a toxic stew that he felt compelled to leave. (“If he had kept his comments confined to my shortcomings with respect to this customer transaction I could have sucked it up. But telling me that we should stop serving customers of a particular ethnicity? blecchh.”) I am VERY proud of him. He’s off finding other work now, and reaffirming old ties with previous employers.
On the ferry trip outbound to my folks’ place I sang and played Otto on the uppermost deck for a while, and three people thanked me afterwards, including somebody specifically calling out the Tapioca Song (and she ASSUMED I WROTE IT. SCORE!) But what really did me in was the little girl in the pale pink dress who scooched up next to me and was trying to sing harmony along with me under her breath. I wanted to pick her up and stick her in my pocket, but I’ll just have to content myself with noting one of the more beautiful memories of the last while.
Awe, thanks for posting the video clip of the baby sandpipers. Jim would not be happy to know that my first response was “OMG, I want to adopt them”.
Haw!