The Brookston Family Blog
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While we were at Sarah’s folks for Mother’s Day, Porter and his cousin Julien played a duet for us on the piano. It was more in the style of Schoenberg than Beethoven, but it was fun to hear all the same.

Aunt Margaret watches the two cousins piano duet.

Even in her finest frock, Alice is ready for action. She found a soccer ball and stated dribbling around the backyard.

“Hey, look what I found.”

“Look out, Mia Hamm.”

“Here I come!“

Believe it or not, this is Sarah’s last week at her current job. Beginning June 1st she’ll be starting a new job, hopefully realizing her full potential.

Art, the gift that keeps on giving. Our budding Cassat, Alice, didn’t just give Grandma a Mother’s Day gift, she made her a work of art. And not only that, she did it for us live right on the sliding glass door so we could witness her artistic genius at work.

Alice making Ruthanne’s Mother’s Day gift.

The finished piece, entitled “Flowers for Grandmama.”

When I was little, in second grade to be exact, I fancied myself a bird enthusiast. I most likely got it from my Aunt Helen, who always had a number of bird feeders in her back yard along with a pair of binoculars and a bird book by the back window. I loved being able to identify all of the different birds. I still have a warm spot in my heart for birds to this day. In second grade, for some reason, I was especially keen on one particular bird, the American Goldfinch. I’m not really sure why. Perhaps I liked its bright gold and black plummage. Perhaps the flouride in the drinking water turned my brain to mush, who knows? Anyway, I even had a “Goldfinch Club” that I formed with about four or five of my friends being the only members. Naturally, it was a male-only club as was de rigueur for clubs started by seven-year olds. I don’t remember anything about the club’s function, assuming it even had one.

Anyway, the backyard of Sarah’s parents also has a number of bird feeders and attracts a lot goldfinches. I’ve taken photos of them before but this weekend was my first chance with my new camera and its 10x optical zoom. I’m still learning how to get the most of the camera but a few of the shots didn’t turn out half bad.

Two goldfinches flying to the feeder.

A full feeder.

Sticking his head in to get some seed.

An all-gold feeder.

Emerging from the feeder with a seed in his mouth.