Bye Bye Birdie

The glory and warmth of the August sun shining into my home.

I am truly blessed.

Patrice shared some sweet time with her Opa during her time here.  He has not been feeling well and has found movement much more difficult - fine motor skills and walking.  He was quite down when we arrived, but after we arranged a phone call with his sister and spent some time with him, his countenance changed and there were smiles.  I love this picture of the two of them.

Anita returned from Vancouver with a hand splint following surgery.  Hopefully the operation was successful and she will have full use of her hand again after so many years of it being compromised.  As you can see she's dipping into the heavy drugs to manage her pain...

We spent a morning at the lake with Lisa and her grandkids, something I have barely done this summer.  

Her youngest Grandson was busy checking his Instagram account...

It was fun to watch the kids interacting and to be at the lake, despite the low hanging smoke over the valley.

Another fun evening was spent outdoors with Becca joining in before she moves to New Brunswick to live out her dream of attending Art School.

I'm so proud of her for making this big move and not giving up on what she has desired for so many years.

The sun is often red during this smoky season making for some interesting landscapes.  

Unfortunately my camera isn't able to pick up on all the colours, but it's been other-worldly.  

Weeks of grey sky have gotten a little old and it's so exciting when we see some blue peaking through.

The air quality is very poor and people with lung issues have really been struggling.  Apparently there are hundreds of forest fires burning across the province.

Sadly, this seems to be the new normal for summer in B.C.

When I came in after the guests had left I found Birdie caught on something at the bottom of the cage. He has been having a hard time since he lost his beak a few months ago and he has been relying on Snowball to feed him. I had been wanting to find a humane way to put him out of his misery and Daniel was going to help us  do this soon.  

I freed Birdie up but he just lay in my hand struggling.  I tried to give him a drip or two of water to see if I could revive him but it was a lost cause.  He flapped around in my hand and couldn't get himself upright and I watched in dismay as he grew weaker and weaker.

Finally I lay him on the bottom of his cage on a towel so he could be in his familiar environment while Anita researched the effect of alcohol in numbing a bird's pain.  

By the time I had gotten the bottle and went to the cage to give birdie some relief he was already gone.

Our dear little Blue Bird is finally out of his misery but this place won't be the same without him. 

He has brought so much fun and joy and lovely songs into our home.

There were tears and many heavy sighs...