A number of things come to mind when I hear the word “bird”–a Thanksgiving turkey, maybe, or a rude hand gesture–but I’d like to offer you some better options. In this family, our favorite “bird” is Brittany.

I don’t remember when or why her sisters started calling Brittany “Bird,” but it stuck. Even these two cuties are in on it.

They call her Birdo, or maybe Bird-o, I’m not sure how it’s spelled. But I’m thinking of birds especially this week, because Brittany has recently taken some great photos of Australia’s gorgeous bird life. Enjoy!

And maybe not as beautiful, but impressive all the same is the rare Cassowary. This photo was taken with a long lens. You can’t get this close to a Cassowary without serious repercussions. There’s a sign in the area reminding people to be “Casso-wary.” It says to remember they are WILD and they HATE you (with all caps for the essential details). They have massive CLAWS and they’re always ANGRY.  Hence the zoom lens. Still, they were pretty excited to see this one in the wild.

And now we’re back to turkeys.

Brittany and Andy had an excellent trip celebrating their birthday week, the 12th (Brittany) and the 18th (Andy). The 18th was also Helen’s birthday, an impressive 96 now (but she always was impressive). Hope it was happy, Helen! The 18th also would have been David’s and my 45th wedding anniversary, which hit me a bit harder this year than I expected, but I was surrounded by dear ones throughout that week and weekend, then had a lovely Thanksgiving with other treasured friends. What a treat.

I’m thankful for all my memories of past festivities and even memories of hard times when others showed up in various ways. I hope you, too, have wonderful memories and people who show up when you need them most. I want to be that kind of person.

There will likely be more from Australia in the months to come, but if you can’t wait and this post didn’t give you enough birds, here are a few links to other posts with birds. Try here and here and here and here.

And now one last bird photo from days gone by in France.

I miss my La Rochelle friends. J’espère que vous allez très bien, Pascale et Jacky. I will forever be grateful for all our adventures.

Blessings on all of you this holiday season!

. . . and vice versa, of course. Mid-August, people traveled from far and near to celebrate the wedding of niece Ellie and her now-husband, Vivek, whose extended family came all the way from India. It was held at this magnificent historic New Hampshire hotel, Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa.

It’s a long way to travel for a weekend, so I started the week at Lake Sunapee, where the sun allowed only one day of paddle-boarding, but it was beautiful all the same.

Friday morning, the 18th, the Sunapee contingent, including Helen . . .

. . . headed north into the White Mountains.

The weekend was packed with charming people and gorgeous color.

There was beauty all around to appreciate. But a few highlights had nothing to do with décor or nature, like the Sunapee cousins’ dance–choreographed by a friend of the bridal couple–for the Friday night Sangeet.  Considering this was well into the evening and a few cocktails may have been consumed before we took the stage, we weren’t bad. Cute kids always help.

A few non-dancing family members took videos. This one is short and accessible enough to load here. Plus, you get a glimpse of the bridal couple. I left the carpet shot at the end so you can hear all the wild cheering. Just saying. We PRACTICED. 

https://videopress.com/v/bt1fx3M2?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

If you found me (in the middle), you may have . . . suggestions for improvement. 😉 Yes, I know I need to work on my “Sprinkler” and my clap counting, but still. It was SO MUCH FUN. 

Now I’m back from the east (coast, that is), and this past Sunday, north met south–or mostly reconnected–for a neighborhood happy hour, and it was also delightful. We all live on one smallish, T-shaped street, which makes it manageable to sort of know everyone. I love that. 

I was sorry to miss Beckett’s birthday while I was gone, but it looks like he had a pretty good weekend without me!

So this month, I’m wishing for you times of connection with new friends and old. Cheers!

And as always, grace and peace.