A wedding, a flock of cowbirds, and a good book.

Here's what we've been up to lately...

Two weekends ago, Dan and I along with my mom and my brother attended my cousin's son's wedding. (I guess that makes him my second cousin? Or does that make him my first cousin once removed? I'm not good with all the technical names for family relationships.) 

It was such a beautiful wedding! It was held at Adaumont Farm in Trinity, NC.  What a lovely venue for a wedding!

Here's a quick picture I took as we headed to our seats:

I failed to take any pictures during the reception but the indoor space was gorgeous and the food was absolutely delicious.  The bride and groom were so sweet and I just know they are going to have a wonderful life together!

Last week was Peter's spring break.  He and some friends spent 5 nights at Tybee Island, GA.  It was pretty chilly but it sounds like they had a good time anyway.

He sent me a couple of beach shots.  

One afternoon there was a St. Patrick's Day parade on Tybee and the boys enjoyed that.  They also spent one day  in Savannah. They decided to spend the last night in Hilton Head, SC with some other friends who were there for spring break.  Then he came home and spent the weekend with us!

It was so nice having him home for a couple of days.  I'm always happier when my babies are home. :)

Speaking of my babies....

Okay...my BIRD babies... Even though it's been very cold here, I put out my hummingbird feeders.  I want to be ready when the scouts get here so they make sure to tell the rest of their friends that the crazy bird lady has her feeders out again this year.  I also got some new feeders.  They are much more sturdy and nicer quality than my previous hummingbird feeders.  My brother and Dan think they look old-fashioned and a little granny like.  Maybe they're right, but I think they're pretty though.

 

 

I'm interested to see if the hummingbirds and the other birds get along or if having all of their feeders close together will cause problems.  One day last week, about 10 fairly good sized birds landed on my platform feeder and cause quite a scene.  They were extremely hateful and chased other birds away.  I finally had to go outside and chase them away! A quick google search revealed that they were brown-headed cowbirds.  I only saw a couple more the next day so I'm hoping they stay away. Apparently they like to destroy eggs of smaller songbirds.

 

And in non-bird related news, I've been trying to read more. I recently read Verity by Colleen Hoover and while I enjoyed the thriller aspect of the book, I did NOT enjoy the romantic aspect of it.  There were too many well-described "love" scenes if you get my drift which felt like I was reading pornography. 

Thrillers and murder mysteries are my favorite book genre at the moment.  It's also my favorite tv show genre as well.  I love First 48, Forensic Files, Dateline, and any good crime documentary. I've spent way too much time lately on the Alex Murdaugh trial but was glad he was found guilty.  Now I'm interested to see if Buster had anything to do with Stephen Smith's death....

I just finished  The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I thoroughly enjoyed it and finished it in 2 1/2 days.  There were twists and turns and I was never really sure "who did it" until the very end.  And bonus - no gratuitous sex scenes! Probably a lot of you have read it as it's been out for a while and it was made into a movie.  But if you like a good suspenseful story and haven't read it, I definitely recommend it!

I went back to the library this morning and picked up a couple more books.  I'll let you know what I think of those when I'm done.  

Have you read any good books lately?  What's your favorite genre?

Car issues, spring break, and of course, birds.

Last week was full of car issues but on Friday (the 24th) I still managed to drive down to Charlotte to pick Sarah up, drive her back home for a doctor's appointment and then drive her back to Charlotte. (My brother drove with us and we walked around campus with him.  He went there too and was shocked at all the changes to the campus in the last 35 years.) Her spring break started last Friday and some of her friends were coming to Charlotte for a concert and spent the weekend with Sarah and Gabi.  

Gabi drove Sarah home on Sunday evening and then on Monday we went BACK to Charlotte to pick up Sarah's car.  (Hoping and praying we don't have any other issues with it but I think we got a lemon so I'm just waiting for the next issue to appear.)

Sarah has spent the week relaxing but we did manage a Target run, a Starbucks run, and after four stores found the lotion she has been searching for. (EOS Body Lotion in Vanilla Cashmere scent).  She and I checked four stores together but she estimates that she checked 15 stores in Charlotte and they were always out.  It smells really good and I guess some influencers were talking about it online which was making it hard to find.  

She and Cheyanne spent some time in downtown Winston taking pictures and  this one is my favorite:

She is now in Raleigh hanging out with Joe and I think she is planning to see Peter too while she's there.  Then she'll head back to Charlotte on Sunday evening and her spring break will be over.  Just a couple of months and her freshman year will be over.  I can't believe how fast it's all going.  

She's having a really great school year. She's made a lot of new friends, she's extremely involved in the Emerging Leaders program, her grades are wonderful and she's definitely excited about her major.   I'm so proud of her!

Peter's spring break will be the week after next. He will be spending a chunk of it at Tybee Island with friends and will be spending some time here at home.  I'm excited to see him.

Before I end this post, I have to mention my birds!  Now that the weather is warming up, we are seeing lots of new species at the feeders.  We now have dark-faced junkos and wrens and sparrows!  I also spent some time this week trying to figure out if what I had been calling chickadees were in fact nuthatches but alas, they were chickadees.  At least now I know for sure. :)  

This morning  I noticed a mourning dove in the yard and this afternoon one flew up to the window, landed on the sill, and stared at me.  It startled me because doves are pretty big.  I also witnessed a very aggressive titmouse scaring away a timid chickadee this morning.  The titmouse did not want to share the feeder.  I think I need to have a talk with him.  There's plenty of food to go around.

And Dan wonders why the house is always dirty....