Pied-Billed Grebe

 

Today Anna Banana II and OK Cap came to Mass and brunch. Unfortunately, Anna Banana II is headed back to the wilds of North Dakota tomorrow, so that was the last I'll get to see of her for a while. We found some tulips with bulbs strewn on the sidewalk between our church and the restaurant, so I brought them home and planted them near some other tulips in front of our condo. We'll see if they survive... Travalon and I picked up Rich, and the three of us went to the Arboretum. The magnolias are past their prime, and of course the crabapples aren't blooming yet, so it wasn't that lovely in that part. We went into the woods, to the wetland boardwalk and the Teal Pond. Here are some photos.

After we dropped Rich off, Travalon reminded me that I thought I had seen swans near the Union Terrace, so we parked right by there and took a short walk. The "swans" were just buoys (cut me some slack, I saw them quickly from a great distance), but Travalon did get photos of the clear water and the skyline.

Because of that second walk, I missed my family Zoom meeting. Then I had Irish class, and the rest of them are all gung-ho for an intensive Irish weekend coming up, but I can't stand the thought of sitting in front of my computer for two solid days when the weather is getting so nice. (I didn't tell them that.) Then we talked about whether we can play musical instruments, and they were all fascinated to learn that I am, in fact, a (very) semi-professional musician. One found our band's website, so we watched a video of my band playing a Norwegian waltz. Afterwards, Travalon and I went down to the dock, and we saw the pied-billed grebe. It's so cute! It's just teeny.

The catamaran I love is already out. Hopefully we can get our own boat out soon.

And here is a male cardinal.

We did see the wood ducks down at the dock, and they were really close. They didn't fly away immediately, so Travalon got ready to take a photo... and then they did fly away. I was hoping by now they realized that we humans can't go into the water, so there's no need for them to skedaddle.

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