Today we went to Mass in the gym, and we were a little late so we had to sit way up front. The choir director chanted the sequence for Corpus Christi in Latin, and lately he also has the cantor chanting the first half of the psalm verse (they used to chant the whole verse), then the second half the choir does fauxbourdon like we used to do at the Lutheran church, and then we the congregation sing the antiphon between verses. I was a little bummed because during the Offertory the choir sang a piece, then the congregation was supposed to sing "The One-Eyed Angel Song," i.e., "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence," which my regular readers no doubt remember is one of my very favorite hymns, but the choir director decided there wasn't enough time so he doodled around on the organ long enough that we could have sung at least two verses. That was disappointing, but then after Communion the choir sang a setting of "Anima Christi" (which I always pray after receiving communion) written by the composer Gerald Near, who I'd like to note once babysat me when I was a little kid.
It was a lovely day, so we went to Cherokee Marsh and took a walk. We saw swamp irises and water lilies.
Then we went to Stricker's Pond and had a great birdwatching day there. There was a great blue heron not far from us.
Across the pond, we could see an egret and a heron in the trees.
It looks like the egret is trying to tell the heron something.
In another tree, there was a bald eagle.
Here is the heron close to us again.
Here is a better view of the egret in the tree.
Then the egret came down and joined the heron close to us.
Look at this proud mallard dad with his ducklings!
The egret seems to be pondering its reflection.
This is a super weird view of the heron in the water.
Here are a couple more shots of the bald eagle, and some turtles.
As we walked around the pond, we got a closer view of the heron in a tree.
And a really close view of the bald eagle.
Then we saw a mama wood duck and her babies.
Here is the heron in the tree again.
Then the bald eagle flew down and joined the heron in the water. It appears to have captured a goldfish. I think people let them go all the time in this pond when they are sick of them. You can see a red-winged blackbird harassing them.
The eagle flew off, chased by blackbirds.
Then we went to Dunn's Marsh and saw two egrets.
In the evening we went to Rich's house to bid adieu to Mr. Icon, who is heading back to Alaska tomorrow. Rich made brownies, and El Vegetariano, Luxuli, and Kathbert were there too. Then Luxuli left and Hockey Girl came. Rich gave me a tiny piece of brownie, per my instructions. Hey, this diet seems to be working - I lost four pounds last week.
It was such an active day! Travalon is totally worn out.
This photo makes me laugh because the perspective is so funny - Niko looks huge! He looks like he's the size of Travalon's head, when really he could fit in the palm of my hand. Also, notice all our sailboat art even though neither of us actually knows how to sail, although I can fake it if someone else is in the boat with me to give me instructions.
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