Busy weekend

There has been much excitement and entertainment this weekend. Last week school started for Kitty and the Mancub, but thanks to a public holiday on Thursday and a training day for teachers on Friday the weekend arrived rather fast. A couple of fun days led up to the highlights of the weekend, with Saturday largely being spent at the horse trials (yep, you'd better believe it! They happen even in Arusha). We were all well educated about dressage and the like, even if we didn't manage to stick around long enough to see the 'proper' bits (according to Kitty, at least), when they were doing some show jumping... Still, educational and quite a social event too!

I think the clothes are probably better suited to UK...

The stables round the back were fun too!

And then this morning the children and I left Mama in bed (though, I confess she didn't sleep though our departure...) and headed off with a box of nets and assorted equipment to a friend's house out on the edge of town to introduce the children to the joys of bird ringing, hoping to catch a few migrants as well as the local colour. Kitty hasn't seen ringing for so long she'd completely forgotten what it was about and was extremely excited - to the point that when I woke her this morning she didn't complain at all, but got dressed in a great rush! The Mancub, it would seem, has never had the opportunity to get involved at all. Which shows just how many of my activities have been curtailed by the joys of immigration issues. None the less, this morning we were determined to set these things to rights and after watching the sun rise on our final approach we were soon sipping coffee, waiting for the rest of the crowds to arrive and the first birds to crash into our nets. Unsurprisingly, although the catch was rather less busy than it could have been, there was an awful lot of interest from an awful lot of children (and plenty of visiting adults too!).

"I think you'll find it's a Whitethroat..."

"Can I let it go?!" White-browed Scub Robin

Yellow Bishop

After the first couple of net rounds Kitty discovered that one of the party was busy making pancakes in the kitchen, and I lost them for a bit! The Mancub returned for more birds, but Kitty soon discovered a bookshelf and nipped out only for viewing pretty birds after that! And (strangely) despite saying yesterday that she really wanted to catch a lovebird, when we did eventually get one she didn't come out at all! The Mancub, meanwhile, was perfectly game to let it go, provided I guaranteed it didn't bite him (having already drawn blood for the poor ringer...). Much excitement all round!

The wary approach to lovebird extraction...