We had a tiny little birthday BBQ for my 25th over at my mom’s, and it was fun, except for the wee bit of rain - first time in 25 years that it rained here on August 2nd - but at least it allowed us to barbecue and the rain didn’t ruin anything except our sitting in the garden afterwards.

Despite the rain, I had fun, spent my day with the people closest to my brain - my dad, my mom, her husband, my half-brother and my grandmother - I often find myself wishing for more people to spend it with but afterwards I’m always relieved that I didn’t have to spend time chit-chatting with people who on any other day wouldn’t give me the time of day, and - truth be told - vice versa.

For as long as I can remember it has always been rain-free and hot on my birthdays, hence I’m, like.. barely dressed.

There are some more pictures on my Flickr here.

For my pigeon loving readers on wordpress, here is Charlie - the 3rd pigeon to have been born on our balcony since April ‘07 - with a nice set of feathers, taken last monday where he (or she) is probably around 3 weeks and 3 or so days old, catching some.. color in the sun - click the pics for enlargement:

Startled by my presence, Charlie hid behind the flower pot for a bit, and came back out again for another pose (he did that 2 or 3 times, so either Charlie’s a very curious pigeon, or was so scared he didn’t know what to do - after all, he’s only seen me 2 or three times):

I don’t think Charlie’s parents are the same as Frankie’s, I haven’t recognized either of them, so I think it’s a different couple altogether.

There are more pictures I’ve taken around the neighborhood this past week in my Harderwijk - July 11-16, 2008 set on my Flickr account, they’re not spectacular, but it was my first week leaving the apartment again since mid-April so everything is new to me, haha.

Look what dad and I found on our balcony last wednesday! That’s right, a wee little baby pigeon! Last thing I expected to find there in the end of June, but there it was, a little baby pigeon! His, or her, name is Charlie (my friend Ticara came up with the name.) Full name is Charlie Bourbon Borgesius, and he/she looks exactly like Frankie did! Haha.
Comparing several photos of Frankie with this one, I think Charlie is about 9 to 11 days old. You can click the picture for enlargement.

How about that? I wasn’t even aware of the fact there was a new egg, I haven’t checked the balcony a lot lately, apart from the fact that the last several months a few new pigeons found our balcony suitable to hang out, so I have no idea which of these pigeons are Charlie’s parents.

Finally some Frankie news! The last 2 weeks it has been impossible to take a decent look at Frankie let alone a picture what with all his (or her) hiding, but since this weekend I’ve seen Frankie outside his hiding place near the nest, walking around on the balcony and I’ve seen him fly, though I have no photographic evidence of that. ALAS!
But I did snap some photos of Frankie today, sunbathing on the balcony ledge with his/her dad in the afternoon (click to enlarge):

And a little later this evening when I dropped in to say hello, Frankie was wandering near the balcony door but when he/she saw me he quickly flew onto the safe balcony ledge again (click to enlarge):

On a little separate note, if you see my name changing a couple of times; I’m trying to decide on a new one that fits. I had for the most part made my decision but someone made me doubt it, haha.

At last, I’ve finished that painting I’ve been working on since March.
It just sat there on top of my currently non-functioning speakers for the last few weeks waiting for me to finish the dreadful details and yesterday I finally got it done.

The story sort of goes like “FIRE! I go out the window, you take the teddy bear and the fire escape!”

I don’t know what happens to the spiders, I don’t even know what they’re doing in the painting, just a scare-factor I guess, and they probably burn at the end of the story.

Acrylics on aquarel paper, 30×40 centimeters. Simply click it for an enlargement.

(more…)

Who is the lucky lady who is proud to present her personal best pigeon-in-flight photo yet? That’s right, a lot of ladies, but this is my blog so today it’s me!;)

This was the result of my attempt at communicating with Carlos today but I don’t think I did it right, unless this means “Follow me, I know a rooftop where we can talk more!”:

I bring new pictures, only not of Frankie because the last few (rather sunny) days he has been sitting in such a well covered spot, that I can only see a bit of his side and tail feathers.
Well, only if I get on all fours and am almost lying on the concrete, so that ’s not gonna be a picture you’d want to see.

But I did get to hang out a bit with Carlos, his dad. For the past week Carlos had been awfully quick to fly away whenever I would show up, but today he allowed me to get so close I could almost touch him. He’s surprised with it himself, see?
All pictures have a larger view when you click ‘em.

And this is from Tuesday, Carlos taking off when my presence suddenly reminded him of some errands he needed to run:

My Mom’s 17-and-a-half year old cat, taken on April 7th:

My Mom’s other and younger cat, Mickey, having a little nap on March 31st:

How about that, cats and birds in one post.

Not a lot to report on Frankie today, except that for a moment I thought someone had stolen him when I didn’t find him sitting in the spot he’d been sitting the past 2 weeks. See, what else is a girl to think? Makes perfect sense that I thought someone had climbed six floors up, lifted Frankie from the nest and climbed back down.
Anyway, when I came closer I saw he was sitting in the shades, hiding from the sun.

So, Frankie and I had fun today; I made fun of his hair, he just looked at me; I told him how I have a dentist appointment this Wednesday; he just looked at me and after that we sat together in silence for a while.
Either he’s a good listener or he’s just very bored with me, he hardly moves a muscle when he spots me.

How cute is that, Frankie tilting his head to look up at me, before he got bored with me (bigger & better pic):

Of course we need a close-up! (bigger & better)

It’s all good and well that he’s looking cute, but how are those feathers coming along? After dinner I realized I didn’t really get a good photo of how his feathers are progressing, so after dinner I went back for that. But see, he’s gotten bored by now. (see a little better)

I don’t think it’s right to assume he’s gotten used to me a little, but he doesn’t startle as much at my presence like he used to, which would be awesome, I don’t like scaring tiny things.

I didn’t think Frankie had changed this much since yesterday’s post, but his feathers have grown considerably since then, from a hint of such to something you can actually call feathers. And he’s starting to lose more and more of that yellow fuzz.