Happy Friday!

Happy Friday, friends! How was your week? Are you extra, extra glad it’s Friday? Today marks less than a week until I get to hop on a plane back to Maine and see my family and friends for a few weeks. I usually don’t let myself get too excited or even think about the trip until close to getting on the plane, because then it’s all I can think about. But so many friends and acquaintances here have been asking me lately that my resolve has failed me. It’s all I can think about. Because we’re going for a shorter time than we did last year, we’ve also had to start planning sooner than usual. On this trip, we have two new babies to meet! I get a little teary just thinking about that. Two new lives came into the world while we were across the ocean and we finally get to see teeny tiny faces we’re going to watch grow up for years to come. It keeps making me so sappy!

Oh, and chicken news! Lorraine had quite a scare yesterday but will hopefully be re-joining the flock today. Her eggs got all blocked up and we were very scared she was a goner. But she has made a miraculous (if slightly expensive) comeback and should be a-okay and back to laying eggs very soon. Fingers crossed!

In other bird news, on my Vayable tour this week, we were strolling through St. Stephen’s Green and happened upon this whole swan family with six fuzzy baby swans! It was amazing and I probably would have stayed and watched them flapping around for an hour if I wasn’t expected to keep the tour on track! If you happen to be anywhere near Stephen’s Green soon, go seek out the swans. But try to be quiet and not get too close. Gosh, it would be a hard place to raise a swan family – while we were there this woman was trying to get her 2 year old to go feed the swan babies. Terrible, terrible idea, especially since swan parents are very protective of their fuzzy babies.

This weekend, Michael and I are getting the house ready to have someone rent it for the time we are away. We’re so grateful we found a wonderful woman who’s willing to mind the cat and the chickens while we’re away! But there’s tidying and packing and all that to be done before we leave next week. We’re also joining friends for the NCAD senior art show opening tonight, then maybe stopping by the Taste of Dublin (in my list yesterday of 13 things to do in a Dublin summer!), and hopefully soaking up some of the sunshine that’s forecast (who are we kidding, I’ll believe it when I see it!).

Have a happy, sunny, bird-filled weekend, friends!