Sunshine at last

Today is a beautiful day!

The sun was already shining when I woke up at 6:30 this morning (which is a nice departure from what we've been having lately). Teddy works all day today, then he's driving 4 hours north to his parents' home for the weekend. Its his best friend Ian's birthday on Saturday, and Teddy wanted to take a little something for Ian's 10-year-old sister (whom is quite fond of Teddy, I've heard ;). I told him he could take one of the big whelk shells I brought back from last week's excursion to Wallops Island. Then I remembered that they've been in a bag on the front porch, soaking in the rain all week. Ew. So, since the sun is shining, I set them all out to dry (and stop stinking). And then, I remembered that we have a huuuuge stash of shells from our trip to Florida in February that we still haven't set out to dry! So I set those out to dry (and stop stinking) too. I think Teddy may have already thrown away the sea urchins, because I can't find them anywhere, and they were the stinkiest. Oh well.

These are from Florida:

And these are from Wallops:

Notice, I have them all laid out on a barbecue grill. That's right, a grill. Why? Well, we won't be using it anytime soon, because...

Some starlings have decided it is perfect to build an enormous next, with 3 tiny blue eggs in it.

PS- how do you like my new banner? That's a photo my professor took in Curacao... and that is me, Teddy, and my friend Mary on top of Mt. Christoffel. Amazing.