Tea Kettle, Tea Kettle

Birders will often describe the song of the Carolina wren as "tea kettle, tea kettle" which is an accurate mnemonic.  What people sometimes fail to say is the the song is sung at an incredibly loud volume considering the diminutive size of the bird.  If can take a few years off your life if you are busy doing something outside and a Carolina wren suddenly bursts into song just above your head.  Volume notwithstanding, they are delightful little birds, inquisitive and surprisingly tolerant of humans.  Meaning that it was pretty easy to walk out to the deck this morning and grab a few shots when I saw this one in the cherry tree.  

We took mom and dad for lunch at a local farm-to-table restaurant in town today where we were able to sit outside and enjoy a beautiful fall day.  After lunch we stopped at home, picked Jax up and headed to the park where we walked several miles.  Jax (and the humans) are now satisfactorily worn out and relaxing.  

The only slightly sour spot in the day was when I was getting up from my chair at the restaurant.  The chair leg caught on the table leg and I went down.  Nothing terrible but I suspect I am going to have a couple of spectacular bruises and I've twisted things in a few places.  And my dignity definitely took a hit, which is probably the worst of it.  

We had a huge chocolate chip cookie after lunch which I think counts as my dark for the day since it did have big chunks of dark chocolate in it.

xo
Debbi